VistaPE is a project for WinBuilder

WinBuilder

WinBuilder is a free application designed to build and customize boot disks based on Microsoft Windows .-Scripts:Scripts are the building blocks of Live CD compiled with Winbuilder are used to build the core components of the Live CD, for adding applications, and for configuration of a specific...

 to create a Live CD

Live CD

A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...

 based on the kernel of Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

.

VistaPE uses technology from and largely resembles Windows Preinstallation Environment

Windows Preinstallation Environment

Windows Preinstallation Environment is a lightweight version of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2 that is used for the deployment of workstations and servers...

 2.0 (from Microsoft), but has a graphical shell, expanded set of supported devices and functions, and can run almost any Windows program.

Features

• Possibility to either fully or partially load VistaPE at startup into memory (boot.wim)
• Support for a large number of SATA/RAID/SCSI/NIC drivers (thanks to the DriverPacks
  DriverPacks
  The ' project is an open source project. The goal is to simplify the creation of a "uniform" Windows installation CD, i.e. an installation CD that works on every piece of hardware, without having to go look for other drivers after the installation....
  
   project).
• Able to read and write NTFS/FAT32/FAT/Ext2/Ext3 partitions
• Full networking support
• Automatic hardware detection (PnP)
• Booting from CD/HDD/UFD/Network
• Compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista
• A wide range of programs and shells (Explorer, LiteStep, BS Explorer ...)
• No limits regarding the maximum number of open processes
• Automatic creation shortcuts for programs
• Ability to remove VistaPE boot media while VistaPE is running (using boot.wim)
• Full multilanguage support

Portable applications

It is complicated to install applications on the RAM of a Live CD, and all the changes made to those programs and the installation itself will be lost once the computer is rebooted, so a good alternative is to use portable applications, that can be run from either the Live CD, or from a USB flash drive

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

 connected to the computer; there is even software dedicated to create those portable applications (VMware ThinApp

VMware ThinApp

VMware ThinApp is an application virtualization and portable application creator suite by VMware that can package conventional applications so that they become portable applications...

, Virtual Application Studio or others

Portable application creators

Portable application creators allow the creation of portable applications . They usually use application virtualization.- Creators of independent portable applications :...

).

See also

• BartPE
  BartPE
  BartPE is a lightweight variant of the 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, similar to Windows Preinstallation Environment, which can be run from a Live CD or Live USB drive....
  
  
• Reatogo-X-PE
  Reatogo-X-PE
  Reatogo-X-PE is a Live CD builder. It can create a Live CD of Windows XP and is based on BartPE. Currently it is the most complete Live CD of Windows XP, since it includes Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer, applications other XP Live CDs don't include.- Limitations :The builder for...
  
  
• nLite and vLite
• Windows Preinstallation Environment
  Windows Preinstallation Environment
  Windows Preinstallation Environment is a lightweight version of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2 that is used for the deployment of workstations and servers...
  
  
• WinBuilder
  WinBuilder
  WinBuilder is a free application designed to build and customize boot disks based on Microsoft Windows .-Scripts:Scripts are the building blocks of Live CD compiled with Winbuilder are used to build the core components of the Live CD, for adding applications, and for configuration of a specific...
  
  
• Live USB
  Live USB
  A live USB is a USB flash drive or a USB external hard disk drive containing a full operating system that can be booted. Live USBs are closely related to live CDs, but sometimes have the ability to persistently save settings and permanently install software packages back onto the USB device...
  
  
• List of live CDs
• VMware Workstation
  VMware Workstation
  VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 computers from VMware, a division of EMC Corporation, which allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual machines and use one or more of these virtual machines simultaneously with the hosting operating system...
  
   or VirtualBox
  VirtualBox
  Oracle VM VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products...
  
   to use a Live CD without burning
  Optical disc authoring
  Optical disc authoring, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc authoring , is the process of assembling source material—video, audio or other data—into the proper logical volume format to then be recorded onto an optical disc .-Process:To burn an optical disc, one usually first creates an...
  
   the ISO image
  ISO image
  An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
  
  .
• Windows To Go
  Windows To Go
  Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 that allows the entire system to run from USB mass storage devices such as flash drives and external hard drives....