Create Windows PE or Linux Bootable Media Easily
What Is AOMEI Bootable Media and What Is It Used for?
AOMEI Bootable Media is a kind of rescue media like Windows recovery media or Linux live CD. It contains a lightweight version of Windows (called Windows PE) or a Linux system and includes the AOMEI Backupper. You can use it to restore the system backup created by AOMEI Backupper especially when your windows system has crashed and cannot boot up correctly.
How to Create AOMEI Bootable Media
AOMEI Backupper Standard allows you to create both Windows PE (WinPE) and Linux kernel based bootable media easily, to be used as rescue media for emergency usage. Before that, you need to download freeware AOMEI Backupper Standard and install it on your computer.
How to create bootable Media:
1 Insert a blank CD-R/-RW, DVD-R/-RW disc or plug in an empty USB stick into your pc.
2 Start AOMEI Backupper, click Tools, select Create Bootable Media. Two versions of bootable media are available:
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Windows PE-based bootable media: A more flexible, customizable (add custom drivers) rescue media. You can start the backup/restore/clone process within it.
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Linux kernel-based bootable media: A functionally restricted rescue media. You can use it to perform restore and clone operations only.
Create Windows PE Bootable Disc
1. Select the "Windows PE" option. After selecting "Windows PE", the “Download Windows Creating Environment from internet” option will be displayed. If the option is ticked, the Windows Creating Environment will be downloaded before making Window PE. When there is a network connection and it is detected that the system does not have a WinPE creating environment, this option will be ticked automatically.
Backupper will check whether the system meets the corresponding requirements. If not, the Windows Creating Environment may need to be downloaded. Or, Windows AIK/ADK may need to be installed.
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You may need to install Windows AIK(Windows XP/7) / Windows ADK(Windows 8 later). Starting from Windows 10, version 1909, you also need to download the Windows PE Addon and run the included installer after installing the ADK. Learn about Windows AIK/ADK and WinPE Addon and how to install it.
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Starting with AOMEI Backupper version 4.0.4, you can download a pre-built Windows PE from the AOMEI server, by selecting "Download WinPE creating environment from the internet", Windows AIK/ ADK is no longer required.
2. Click Next to start the bootable media creation process.
You can also choose "Explore ISO File", which allows you to create an ISO image file, you can burn this ISO manually via a third-party burning tool. Learn More: How to burn ISO to Disc.
Note: You can also click the "Add Driver" button to add the “inf” files of that driver you need on your computer.
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3. Wait for the process to complete and click "Finish".
Create Linux Bootable Media
Creating a Linux-based bootable media is similar to the steps used to create Windows PE bootable media. The only difference is that you can create this kind of bootable media without additional requirements, so there will be no need to download and install Windows AIK/ADK.
Tips:
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AOMEI Backupper allows you to manually add additional drivers when creating a Windows PE bootable media.
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AOMEI Backupper is unable to create bootable media on a GPT type USB stick or external hard drive/SSD.
- The created bootable media supports both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes. But Bootable disks made by 32-bit systems only support the traditional legacy boot mode. If you need to support UEFI boot mode, please first tick the “Download Windows Creating Environment from internet” option and then recreate the bootable disk.
Notes:
1. Some older computers may not support booting using a USB stick. In such cases, opt to create a disc instead. To cover all possibilities, it is advisable to create both types of media.
2. After you successfully create the bootable media, when do you need to use it? As mentioned initially, you need to make use of a bootable media when your current system fails to boot up.
3. When you use the bootable media to start the computer up, you can, on the one hand, bank up the important data from the computer, or on the other hand, restore operating system back from a previously created system or disk image.
4. AOMEI Backupper is a professional and powerful system image creating and system recovery software. Besides that, it can also back up and restore file/folder, partition and hard disk as well as clone system, hard drive, and partition.
How to boot the crashed computer up using the bootable media
1. Insert the bootable media (CD, DVD, or USB stick) into the computer, turn the computer on and press the required key for your system to enter the BIOS/UEFI. NOTE: different computers use different keys to achieve this. Typically, it will either be the Del key or the F2 key. Press this key repeatedly immediately after power-up until you see the BIOS/UEFI screen.
2. Once in the BIOS/UEFI, locate the Boot menu and look for the "Boot Sequence" or something similarly named. Within this section, alter the boot priority/sequence to ensure the inserted CD/DVD or USB stick is at the top of the list. Save the changes (usually by pressing the F10 key and confirming) and the computer will automatically restart and will boot from the inserted bootable media.
If you haven’t got a bootable media when accidents happen, don’t worry, you can create one immediately on another healthy computer, no matter the type of PC, just as long as it has AOMEI Backupper installed on it (The free version is sufficient).
FAQs:
Q: You received the message: “Failed to create the bootable USB device...” when you clicking "Tools" -> "Create Bootable Media" to create the bootable media.
A: In the "Select Bootable Media" dialog box, choose "Export ISO File" instead of "Burn To CD/DVD" or "USB Boot Device" to create an ampe.iso file, and then burn the ISO file to USB, CD, or DVD via third-party burning tools.
Q: When selecting to create a WinPE bootable CD, a window "Detects that there is not any writable disc, please insert a writable disc. Click "yes" to continue, or "no"." prompts up.
A: Please just create a WinPE ISO with AOMEI Backupper and then manually burn the ISO to the CD with a third-party burning program. Please check the instructions here.
Q: The creation of a bootable CD process is stuck at 99%.
A: We advise you to create a WinPE ISO (Third option: Export ISO File), then burn it to your CD manually via the third-party burning tool (Such as Ultraiso, Rufus, ISOtoUSB, and so on ).
Or, you can try to create a WinPE bootable USB via AOMEI Backupper. There is no problem when creating a WinPE USB.
Or, you can try to create a WinPE bootable CD/USB via AOMEI PEBuilder.
Q: The program exits abnormally during the creation of bootable media.
A: We advise you to directly run makedisc.exe under C:\Program Files (x86)\AOMEI Backupper
Please also tick the "Download WinPE creating environment from internet" option when creating bootable media. Also, you can try to download and try AOMEI PE Builder to create a bootable disc.
Conclusion:
When your computer is not booting and you need to copy important files from your computer or reinstall your system, you need to use a bootable disk to boot your computer into PE to copy files or reinstall your system. AOMEI Backupper can help you to create a compatible bootable disk easily and quickly with this feature.