Blancco PreInstall executable allows activating Blancco Drive Eraser software ISO in Windows PE environments, from command line either manually or by a script. Blancco PreInstall installs the Blancco Drive Eraser ISO on the local drive and reboots the system to Blancco Drive Eraser software. Alternatively the system can be shut down after activating Blancco PreInstall, and the Blancco Drive Eraser software will run on next boot.

Blancco Preinstall WinPE Process:
1) The target machine is booted to WinPE OS (for example by PXE/USB/CD)
2) BlanccoPreinstall.exe is executed (from the WinPE boot media, local drive or network drive). The Preinstall can be launched from the command line or automatically with a script, pointing to the Blancco erasure client ISO image on the WinPE boot media, local or network drive.
3) Blancco Preinstall installs Blancco erasure client software on the local hard drive and additionally also automatically reboots or shuts down depending on the used parameters.
4) The computer boots from the local drive to Blancco Drive Eraser software (which runs independently on its own Blancco operating system)
5) Depending on the configured ISO image settings, Blancco will detect the connected hard drives on the target machine, connect to the Management Console / Blancco Cloud for licenses, erase the drives and send the report back to the Management Console or save the report on a local USB drive.

Example. In this example both BlanccoPreinstall.exe and the ISO image are on the same X: drive (for example on the WinPE ISO image or on a network drive). The image parameter sets the path to the ISO image (actual erasure software). The --force parameter will suppress the warnings and popup messages during the Preinstall launch and the --reboot parameter reboots the machine after the Preinstall launch, after installing Blancco on the HDD. Please find more detailed instructions in the Preinstall user manual page 10.

Blancco PreInstall User Manual

Blancco PreInstall files (contains 32 and 64-bit BlanccoPreinstall.exe files)

    a. The win32\BlanccoPreInstall.exe is for general use

    b. The x64\BlanccoPreInstall.exe is for 64bit WinPE.

Two use case examples below:

EXAMPLE 1. In this example we have WinPE media on a boot media (CD/USB), and BlanccoPreinstall.exe and Blancco ISO image in the same folder on the boot drive or on another USB drive.

To boot Blancco in WinPE environment:

1) Copy BlanccoPreInstall.exe and the Blancco ISO image file (Blancco.iso in this example) on a USB stick or on the WinPE boot media.

2) Boot from the WinPE media.

3) Wait for the WinPE to load into the command prompt.

4) Insert a media that holds the Blancco Preinstall software and the ISO.

5) Enter a command to install the software: (x:\BlanccoPreInstall.exe --image="x:\Blancco.iso" --force --reboot).

6) The above command installs Blancco Drive Eraser on the hard drive and the computer reboots automatically.

7) The erasure software starts, if booted from the local HDD/SSD.

Blancco PreInstall can be also installed from the command prompt or using a script that is built into the WinPE image. The command should be as follows:

BlanccoPreInstall.exe --image=<path to Blancco iso file> <additional parameters>

Microsoft TechNet walkthrough for creating a Custom Script in a Windows PE image.

EXAMPLE 2. In this example we execute Blancco PreInstall which is located in the root of WinPE image and define full path to a Blancco image that locates on the network drive X (network drive needs to be mapped separately via net map command) using /image parameter. We also define force parameter to skip all confirmation popups.

“%SYSTEMDRIVE%\BlanccoPreInstall.exe” --image=“x:\Blancco_images\Blancco.iso” --force --reboot