As of the 1st August, 2013 Microsoft will no longer deliver pre-built Windows PE Boot media to manufacturers worldwide (CD, USB flash drives, etc.). While we regret this decision from Microsoft, for those O&O products affected we can offer our customers simple alternatives for creating a bootable medium.

What this means for us as of 1st August, 2013:

We can no longer offer or deliver any pre-built Boot CDs or USB sticks based on Windows PE with our products.

What is still permitted after 1st August, 2013:

We can give you the means to create your own Boot CD/ USB stick.

What does this mean for you?

Microsoft’s decision means we cannot sell you pre-built Boot CDs or ISO files for download and burning that are based on Windows PE. However, we can enable you to download the required operating system upgrades from Microsoft itself and create your own bootable CD or USB flash drive. This is of course entirely Microsoft-approved and we will help you through each step of the creation process.

Why doesn’t O&O offer a boot CD based on Linux?

Instead of a Start CD based on Windows PE some manufacturers offer a Linux boot CD to circumvent the ban by Microsoft. There is however a major problem here: not only us a bootable Linux distribution more complicated to use than Windows PE, it cannot recognize or support a whole range of hardware components, which in the worst case can mean that your computer simply will not work with a Linux boot CD.

Because we always want to offer you the best quality for your computer we have decided to provide you instead with the facility to download and self-create a boot CD based on Windows PE – all approved by Microsoft of course. We remain a committed Microsoft Partner of many years standing.

Which products from O&O Software are affected?

This affects all current O&O products that require a boot CD.

For the following products we offer you the possibility to download the operating system upgrades required to create a Boot medium:

  • O&O DiskImage
  • O&O BlueCon
  • O&O Migration Kit

Since it is currently not technically possible to create a boot CD for O&O Partition Manager, this is the only O&O product that can no longer be sold from 1st August, 2013.

All other O&O Software products are of course still available as before.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We believe however that the solution we have found means you continue to benefit from the best possible technology and compatibility when using an O&O Software product.

Your O&O Software team