Waik

I am learning to use WAIK to create a WinPE iso. I am all set up and have done the first two steps of the walk thru from the help files. I don't quite understand this step.
I guess I need to add imagex now but say when i boot from the iso I want app abc.exe to run do I add it also or do I need an msi file to install it?

Here is where I am at:

Step 2: (Optional) Add additional customizations

This step is optional, but recommended.
Using ImageX, you can add applications and scripts to your Windows PE image that you might need while working in Windows PE. ImageX is a tool for capturing and applying images during deployment scenarios. For example, at a command prompt, type:
copy "C:\program files\<version>\Tools\<architecture>\imagex.exe" C:\winpe_x86\iso\
where <version> can be Windows OPK or Windows AIK, and <architecture> can be x86, amd64, or a64. In both of the previous examples, the tools are not loaded into memory during a Windows PE RAM boot. The media must be available to access the tools.

You may want to take a look on this site to get another perspective:
Multi7PE

Also here people are doing all kinds of booting type stuff:
reboot.pro

As for the line in the step, it looks like it's copying imagex program to the image in case you want to run it from the Disc. Just replace <version> with the name of the WAIK folder if using WAIK and <architecture> with x86 or amd64 or whatever your processore platform is. I played around a bit with WAIK but it was a few years ago. Never got into it heavy.

It's probably a bit easier to use a wrapper tool that itself uses WAIK. Saves you from some of the nitty gritty details.

Thanks for the reply Miles. I got by that first post. I have an iso that boots. It pretty fundamental. A dos box comes up waiting for a command when I close it the rig reboots. Sounds allright to me. I will save that iso and try to customize it. I will have a look at the link you provided. One silly question before I start reading.

I am going to add an app to the iso. Haven't picked one yet probably should be a file manager. When you do an install the app writes to the reg and creates a directory etc.
When I add an app to this iso thru customization steps in waik do I need to add an install file or can you just add the directory and files from an install i have on my disk?

I think it would vary by the app. Some would need no settings. But I would look at that Multi7PE. The file manager bit is already built in. The last time I played around with WAIK was configuring VistaPE. That hasn't been updated as far as I know since 2008. I would try here:
Win7PE - reboot.pro

On just about all those boot environments the piece that's already debugged is the Explorer type app. Also on that forum you get super experts on all things bootable. I found out there how to put a Windows boot menu on a USB key. Kind of like the way you could boot Linux from a diskette that loaded the Linux from your HD. If your boot menu gets broken stick in the USB key and boot to it. There's the menu. Like the Linux diskette trick, you have to make a USB key menu booter per machine. It's specific to the particular HD install. But I digress. Instead of relying on my memory I would check out the Reboot site. It's free and most all the software is user written free software. Often you can get the author to answer your questions directly on a forum.