PE Builder Plugins (2003-2007)

Plugins for BartPE/Windows PE/WinBuilder that add applications and system components to the preinstalled Windows environment bootable from CD/USB.

What is it again?

Windows PE was introduced by Microsoft in 2002 to provide a live Windows environment that can be booted from an external medium (CD-ROM or USB drive) on any hardware. As an operating system that cannot be permanently modified (remember that a CD is read-only), it has a wide range of usage scenarios ranging from system inspection/recovery tasks over kiosk mode applications to any situation where a customized environment is needed. It became exceptionally popular for recovery, replacing the very limited MS-DOS and Recovery Console environments that had to be used before that.

The first versions of Windows PE were limited to members of specific Microsoft licensing programs, excluding many interested users. This lead to the creation of Bart's PE Builder by Bart Lagerweij, a free tool that creates a Windows PE-like system from the files of a Windows XP Setup CD.
When PE Builder added plugin support in version 3, it quickly surpassed Windows PE in popularity and features. Since then, people from all over the world contributed plugins to extend the functionality of the bootable environment, enabling even more use cases. To distinguish that environment from the original, it is commonly called BartPE.

PE Builder development ceased in 2006, but this didn't mean the end of Windows preinstallation environments. For one thing, Microsoft started to offer Windows PE free of charge to all its customers beginning with Windows PE 2.0 (based on Windows Vista). Another de-facto successor to PE Builder is the WinBuilder tool, which can build even more extensively customized environments from multiple versions of Windows.

My plugins

Plugins by Detlef Willsch

These plugins have been written by Detlef Willsch and hosted by myself over the years. As they cannot be found anywhere else on the Internet, I continue to host them here.

  • BitDefender 9 Professional Plus Plugin - Version 3.2

    Adds the BitDefender 9 anti-virus application. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • BitDefender 10 Antivirus Plus Plugin - Version 1.4

    Adds the BitDefender 10 Plus anti-virus application. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later and WinRAR 3.30 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • BitDefender 10 Free Edition Plugin - Version 1.0

    Adds the BitDefender 10 Free anti-virus application. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later and WinRAR 3.30 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • Drive Image 7.0 Plugin - Version 4.7

    Adds the hard disk imaging application Drive Image 7.0. Requires the .NET Framework 1.1 Plug-In, Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later, and WinRAR 3.30 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • LightScribe Plugin - Version 1.0

    Adds support for the LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology under BartPE, e.g. together with Nero 7 or Nero 8. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • Nero 7 Plugin - Version 2.3

    Adds the burning program Nero 7. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • Nero 8 Plugin - Version 1.3

    Adds the burning program Nero 8. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

  • SpeedCommander 10 Plugin - Version 1.0

    Adds the file manager SpeedCommander 10. Requires Sherpya XPE 1.0.2 or later.
    Download for PE Builder 3.x

Other plugins

Most PE Builder resources have vanished from the Internet by now. A notable exception is the reboot.pro forum (home of WinBuilder and successors).
Apart from that, archive.org still has copies of the original PE Builder page (with a link list), the once thriving CD Forum, as well as my PE Builder link list from that time.