4 wimlib is free and open source software that is available on both UNIX-like
5 systems and Windows. This file provides additional information specifically
6 about the Windows version of wimlib and the command line tool "wimlib-imagex"
7 that is distributed with it. It does not obsolete the generic README.txt, which
12 The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items:
14 * wimlib-imagex.exe, a command-line tool to deal with WIM (.wim), split WIM
15 (.swm), and ESD (.esd) files that is inspired by Microsoft's ImageX and
16 DISM. This is a ready-to-run executable and not an installer.
18 * Very short batch scripts (e.g. wimapply.cmd) which are shortcuts to the
19 corresponding wimlib-imagex commands (e.g. `wimlib-imagex apply').
21 * The library itself in DLL format (libwim-15.dll). wimlib-imagex.exe
24 * The documentation, including this file, the generic README.txt, and
25 PDF documentation for wimlib-imagex in the 'doc' directory.
27 * License files for all software included. These are all free software
28 licenses. COPYING.txt is the main license, and it refers to
29 COPYING.GPLv3.txt and COPYING.LGPLv3.txt. The other licenses are for
30 third-party software included in the library.
32 * Development files in the 'devel' directory. These are only needed if you
33 are developing C or C++ applications that use wimlib.
35 Note that there are separate ZIP files for 32-bit (i686) and 64-bit (x86_64)
36 binaries. They are both fully supported, but you should prefer the 64-bit
37 binaries when possible as they can be noticeably faster.
41 wimlib-imagex supports most features of Microsoft's ImageX as well as some
42 features that are supported by DISM but not by ImageX. wimlib-imagex also
43 supports some features that neither ImageX nor DISM support. Some of the
44 advantages of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are:
46 * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow
47 you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them.
49 * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command which removes
50 wasted space from a WIM file and optionally recompresses it with stronger
53 * wimlib includes advanced implementations of all compression algorithms used
54 in WIM files. They usually outperform and outcompress their Microsoft
57 * wimlib-imagex supports solid WIM files and LZMS compression, for example as
58 used in ESD (.esd) files. (These are partially supported by recent DISM
59 versions but not by ImageX.)
61 * wimlib-imagex supports imaging a live Windows system. Just use the
64 * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either
67 * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and
68 informational output compared to Microsoft's software.
70 * wimlib and wimlib-imagex are free software, so you can modify and/or audit
73 However, some limitations of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are:
75 * On Windows, wimlib-imagex does not support mounting WIM images.
77 * wimlib-imagex has no awareness of Windows "packages".
81 It's recommended to use wimlib-imagex in scripts to avoid having to
82 interactively enter commands. However, note that wimlib-imagex is largely just
83 a command-line front-end for wimlib, and it's possible to use wimlib's API in
84 other front-ends or applications. Currently there is no official graphical user
85 interface available for wimlib or wimlib-imagex. However, an unofficial, beta,
86 Windows-only graphical user interface that provides a thin wrapper around
87 wimlib-imagex can be downloaded at
88 http://reboot.pro/files/file/485-wimlib-imagex-command-line-compiler/.
92 As with other open source software, advanced users may choose to build wimlib
93 from source, potentially with customizations. Although wimlib's build system is
94 designed for UNIX-like systems and is easiest to use on Linux, it's possible to
95 build Windows binaries on Windows using Cygwin with MinGW. To do this, follow
96 the instructions below. For the sake of example, I'll assume you are building a
97 64-bit version of wimlib v1.13.6.
99 Run the Cygwin installer, available from https://www.cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe.
100 When you get to the package selection screen, choose the following additional
101 packages from category "Devel":
104 - mingw64-x86_64-binutils
105 - mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++
106 - mingw64-x86_64-libxml2
109 Download wimlib's source code from https://wimlib.net/downloads/wimlib-1.13.6.tar.gz.
111 Start a Cygwin terminal and run the following commands:
113 cd /cygdrive/c/Users/example/Downloads # (or wherever you downloaded the source to)
114 tar xf wimlib-1.13.6.tar.gz
116 ./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32
119 If successful, the new binaries "libwim-15.dll" and "wimlib-imagex.exe" will
120 have been produced in the .libs directory.
122 By default the binaries are built with debug symbols. If desired, you can use
123 x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip to strip them.
125 libwim-15.dll will be linked to several other DLLs which you will need as well:
127 - libxml2-2.dll, which also requires:
132 These DLLs can be found in "C:\cygwin\usr\x86_64-w64-mingw32\sys-root\mingw\bin"
133 and must be placed alongside libwim-15.dll for it to run portably. But see
134 below for an alternative.
136 Building 32-bit binaries is very similar, but you'll need to replace "x86_64"
137 with "i686" everywhere in the above instructions, and libwim-15.dll will also
138 depend on libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll. Note that you can build both 32-bit and 64-bit
139 binaries from the same Cygwin installation, provided that you install both the
140 mingw64-i686-* and mingw64-x86_64-* packages; and you can run the Cygwin setup
141 program to install more packages at any time.
143 In the official binary releases from wimlib.net, libwim-15.dll's dependent
144 libraries are linked in statically rather than dynamically, so it does not
145 depend on any DLLs other than standard Windows DLLs. If you want to do this,
146 install the following additional Cygwin packages:
148 - p7zip (category "Archive")
149 - autoconf (category "Devel")
150 - automake (category "Devel")
151 - git (category "Devel")
152 - libtool (category "Devel")
153 - ghostscript (category "Graphics")
154 - wget (category "Web")
156 Then, in a Cygwin terminal, clone the git repository, checkout the wimlib
157 version you want (if you don't want to build the latest master branch),
158 bootstrap the repository, and run the Windows release script:
160 git clone git://wimlib.net/wimlib
162 git checkout v1.13.6 # example only; omit if building the master branch
164 ./tools/make-windows-release x86_64
166 The release script will download and build libxml2 as a static library, then
167 build wimlib, then do some final tasks and bundle the resulting files up into a
168 ZIP archive. If successful you'll end up with a file like
169 "wimlib-1.13.6-windows-x86_64-bin.zip", just like the official releases. For
170 32-bit binaries just use "i686" instead of "x86_64".