I'm building a BartPE disc and I want to add some third party software. How do I go about this with the standard .exe install?

Start by having a look at the htm files in *builder\help and then go through the content of a few simple plugins, especially their .inf and .xml files.

A plugin for your application/program may already exist, ask/search the forum and the all powerful net for BartPE plugins.

Find info on creating plugins here: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/help/english/pluginformat.htm

Find info on nu2menu here: http://www.nu2.nu/nu2menu/

Find info on environment variables here: http://www.wilsonmar.com/1envvars.htm

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Depending on the complexity of the software you are trying to create a plugin for you may need some or all of the below mentioned applications/software or none of them, further you may need completely other tools, your choice, here are some stuff to get you going:

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Get Universal Extractor here: http://legroom.net/software/uniextract

Get a few of the Sysinternals Process Utilities here: http://technet.microsoft.com/da-dk/sysinte...28en-us%29.aspx

Get InstallRite here: http://www.epsilonsquared.com/installrite.htm

Get ConvRegToInf here: http://www.paraglidernc.com/utilities/utilities.htm

Get PapaTomTom's PluginBuilder here: http://www.paraglidernc.com/Files/PluginBuilder351.zip

Get Ini2Inf.cmd here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...st&p=135619

Get Regshot here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/regshot/

Get RegCrawler (30 day trial) here: http://www.dcsoft.com/products/regeditx/regcrawler.htm

Get Reshacker here: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

Get ExamDiff here: http://windows.dailydownloads.net/sv/pdf_a...8-0-3-download/

Some people use Autoit: http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

and there are a lot of other useful tools out there to aid in tracking changes made by a running program, converting reg to inf, write ini to inf etc.

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Info on plugin creation using InstallRite: http://users.telenet.be/Robvdb/how_plugin.htm

Install InstallRite, run it, configure it, make a snapshot of your system, install your software, run the newly installed software, use its functions, close it, then review the install.
Look for installed files, registry settings etc.

Do reg dumps, convert with ConvRegToInf, compare inf-files with ExamDiff

There are additional things that you might need to do using the other tools previously mentioned.
Such as running filemon, regmon etc to see in realtime what the program is doing, like calling other system files, writing to registry etc.

If you are trying to add a small application (e.g. single exe), you can test it by just adding it. The builder has a "Custom" option to include files and folders from a specific directory. Once booted use a file explorer to dig for the exe and try to run it. If it works, then it's no sweat making a plugin for it, if it errors out try moving the application (all files) to the RAM drive and try again. Some apps need "space" to expand, they can be expanded into RAM prior to app starting, use cmd-file or RAR to do that or consider FBWF.

Another cool "trick" is to add the InstallRite + DAO-MSJEt plugins e.g. the one by Joshua to the build. In combination with FBWF you can install your application on the cd while running the booted BartPE. This will not work for all applications though.

Get Joshua's version of the FBWF plugin here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...st&p=138273

Once I use this to possibly get my software to work, how would I go about adding it to the start menu in its own section?

You read:

http://www.nu2.nu/nu2menu/

plus the help files included with pebuilder in the help directory.

Well before I spend a lot of time working on some programs. Would apps from PortableApps.com work? Anyone have any up to date versions of Malwarebytes, Firefox, AV scanners, etc. that work with BartPE?

I have added some programs to the Program folder of my BartPe. How do i reference the program in my nu2menu? Example, one that I want to reference is \Program\TrendMicro\Housecall.exe .

Wheels are round. They should stay that way.

How about you try UBCD4WIN and pay close attention to how it is designed.
You will probably find everything you need already included.

I thought the point of a forum was to help someone. I don't want one that is already done for me. I want to recreate it for myself with things that i want and more up to date items.

The forum is here so people can help each other... in fact what hilander999 suggested was just that... so you would have access to many examples... or so you could find a solution that may already exist. Don't be rude to the suggestions you are given or you may find you don't get any more.

You asked how to get a menu item added ... Yet bengt had already listed links to that info already and you just ignored it. It does no good for people to make suggestions or point you at the information you asked for IF YOU NEVER READ IT or even take the time to learn what it is telling you.

Links seemed to not be what you wanted, you know, reading is such a drag.
Examples are another way to learn.

Wheels are still round. What shape are yours?