Sample: Configure More than Four Partitions on a BIOS/MBR-Based Hard Disk by using Windows PE and DiskPart

For image-based deployment, boot the computer by using Windows PE, and then use the DiskPart tool to create the partition structures on your destination computers. For more information, see How to Apply Images by Using DISM.

Note

Windows PE reassigns disk letters alphabetically, beginning with the letter "C", without regard to the configuration in Windows Setup. This configuration can change based on the presence of different drives, including USB flash drives. In these DiskPart examples, the partitions are assigned the letters "U", "V", "S", "W", and "R" to avoid drive-letter conflicts. After the computer reboots, Windows PE automatically assigns the letter "C" to the Windows partition. The Utility1, Utility2, system, and recovery image partitions do not receive drive letters.

The following steps describe how to partition your hard drives and prepare to apply images. You can use the code in the sections that follow to complete these steps.

Save the following code as "PrepareMyPartitions.txt", and then run the script by using the DiskPart tool to automate the configuration of the Utility1, Utility2, system, extended, Windows, and recovery image partitions:

select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=100
format quick fs=ntfs label="Utility1"
assign letter="U"
set id=27
create partition primary size=200
format quick fs=ntfs label="Utility2"
assign letter="V"
set id=27
create partition primary size=100
format quick fs=ntfs label="System"
assign letter="S"
active
create partition extended
create partition logical size=75000
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="W"
create partition logical
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery image"
assign letter="R"
set id=27
exit

After you create the partitions, you can use a deployment script to apply the Windows images on the newly created partitions. For more information, see Samples: Applying Windows, System, and Recovery Partitions by using a Deployment Script.