Intel® vPro™ Use Case Reference Design - Enhanced Remote Repair with WinRE

Starting with Windows* Vista, Microsoft* has included a bootable recovery environment called Windows* Recovery Environment (WinRE) with their Windows* operating systems. When a PC will not boot or Windows needs in-depth repairs, WinRE can be used to correct the situation. Coupled with Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT), these tasks can be performed remotely. This document outlines creating a WinRE .iso image for remote use with Intel® vPro™ technology. It also covers the basics of remote boot and access to WinRE.

When a PC will not boot or Windows needs in-depth repairs, WinRE can be used to correct the situation. WinRE includes many useful tools that aide in or automate Windows repair and backup image recovery. Further, WinRE is based on WinPE. As such, all WinPE functions such as mapping network drives, editing the registry, and so forth are also available in WinRE.

When coupled with the Intel® vPro™ technology IDE Redirection, WinRE can be used remotely from a help desk. This removes the need for a desk side visit in order to make use of WinRE.

This document covers building WinRE. There are two options. The first is to use WinRE with the default build, optionally adding LAN drivers. In this configuration, WinRE may be used remotely with any system that has Intel AMT 6 or greater and KVM Remote Control configured. The second option is to make modifications to WinRE to allow it to be used remotely from any system that has Intel AMT 2 or greater.