I have been experimenting with making a WinPE 4 and I am trying to get explorer.exe to run. I know windows 8 has not been finalized and things might change in the final version but I just wanted to experiment with it a bit and see if I can get it to work.
So far I can run explorer from the command window and it starts but the desktop and taskbar are not working correctly. Both the desktop and taskbar are blank. I can right click on the taskbar and start task manager but no icons are created on the task bar to show running programs. I can right click on the desktop and select create new folder but nothing appears on the desktop. A new folder is created at X:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\desktop, its just not visible on the desktop.
I can also right click and select personalize and the control panel will open.
Here is what I have done so far to get explorer working:
After mounting the winpe.wim,
I used dependancy walker to get a list of all files needed by explorer.exe. Copied all of these files into the mounted wim without overwriting any existing files.
Copied folders:
Windows\en-us
System32\en-us
System32\migration
Windows\Branding
WinSxS\common-controls
WinSxS\gdiplus
All .cpl, .exe, and .msc files from system32.
I have exported from the install.wim registry hives:
Software\Classes
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Set System\ControlSet001\Control\ProductOptions\ProductSuite=Terminal Server
I have also tried importing the entire Software key from install.wim.
I have replaced all “C:\” with “X:\” and all “43,00,3a,00,5c,00” with “58,00,3a,00,5c,00”
Removed all references to "RunAs"="Interactive User"
I also tried copying all dll files from install.wim system32 without overwriting anything.
These are about the steps that have worked for passed versions of windows so I don't know yet what might be different for windows 8.
Any other files I should add? Services maybe? Any registry changes I should make?