1 .TH IMAGEX 1 "March 2013" "imagex (wimlib @VERSION@)" "User Commands"
3 imagex \- Create, modify, extract, mount, or unmount a WIM (Windows Imaging Format) archive
5 \fBimagex append\fR \fIarguments...\fR
7 \fBimagex apply\fR \fIarguments...\fR
9 \fBimagex capture\fR \fIarguments...\fR
11 \fBimagex delete\fR \fIarguments...\fR
13 \fBimagex dir\fR \fIarguments...\fR
15 \fBimagex export\fR \fIarguments...\fR
17 \fBimagex info\fR \fIarguments...\fR
19 \fBimagex join\fR \fIarguments...\fR
21 \fBimagex mount\fR \fIarguments...\fR
23 \fBimagex mountrw\fR \fIarguments...\fR
25 \fBimagex optimize\fR \fIarguments...\fR
27 \fBimagex split\fR \fIarguments...\fR
29 \fBimagex unmount\fR \fIarguments...\fR
32 \fBimagex\fR is able to deal with archives in the Windows Imaging Format (.wim
33 files). Its interface is meant to be similar to Microsoft's imagex.exe program.
35 To do its work, \fBimagex\fR uses \fBwimlib\fR, a library which provides
36 interfaces for manipulating WIM archives. You could wimlib in your own programs
37 if you wanted to. wimlib's public interface is documented.
41 There is a separate manual page for each \fBimagex\fR command.
43 .SH SUPPORTED FEATURES
45 The following general features are currently supported (note: this is not a
49 Create a stand-alone WIM from a directory or NTFS volume (\fBimagex capture\fR)
51 Append a directory or NTFS volume onto a stand-alone WIM as a new image (\fBimagex
54 Apply an image from a stand-alone or split WIM to a directory or NTFS volume
57 Mount an image from a stand-alone or split WIM read-only (\fBimagex mount\fR)
59 Mount an image from a stand-alone WIM read-write (\fBimagex mountrw\fR)
61 Delete image(s) from a stand-alone WIM (\fBimagex delete\fR)
63 Export image(s) from a stand-alone or split WIM (\fBimagex export\fR)
65 Display information about a WIM file (\fBimagex info\fR, \fBimagex dir\fR)
67 Change the name or description of an image in the WIM (\fBimagex info\fR)
69 Change which image in a WIM is bootable (\fBimagex info\fR)
71 Combine split WIMs into one stand-alone WIM (\fBimage join\fR)
73 Split a stand-alone WIM into multiple parts (\fBimage split\fR)
75 Support for all WIM compression types, both compression and decompression (LZX,
78 WIM integrity table is supported (\fB--check\fR option to many commands)
80 WIM XML data (parsed and written using \fBlibxml\fR(3))
82 .SH DIFFERENCES FROM MICROSOFT IMAGEX
84 While similar to Microsoft's "imagex.exe" program, this program is designed for
85 UNIX-based systems and by the nature of the platform cannot be exactly the same
86 as Microsoft's version. In addition, I have added additional useful features
90 Because Microsoft designed the WIM file format to accomodate Windows-specific
91 and NTFS-specific features, wimlib must have two separate image capture and
92 application modes (although the \fBimagex\fR subcommands for the modes are the
93 same): one for general image capture and application, and one for the capture or
94 application of an image specifically from/to an NTFS volume.
97 Microsoft's version has some weird limitations, like it won't let you extract a
98 WIM on a shared folder, and it requires some commands to be run only from
99 Windows PE and not from regular Windows. This version does not have these
100 unusual limitations, although it won't actually run on Windows anyway.
103 There are bugs in Microsoft's WIM library and I obviously have not included the
104 same bugs in wimlib, although in some cases I have had to work around bugs for
105 compatibility purposes.
108 wimlib's \fBimagex\fR offers the extra command \fBimagex optimize\fR,
109 which lets you easily remove wasted space in a WIM (which can arise after
110 a WIM image is appended or mounted read-write).
113 wimlib's \fBimagex\fR also offers the command \fBimagex join\fR, which lets you
114 easily join the parts of a split WIM.
117 wimlib's \fBimagex apply\fR supports keeping files hard-linked or symlinked
118 across WIM images when extracted from a WIM. So you can, for example, extract
119 different versions of Windows from an install.wim without using much extra space.
122 wimlib's \fBimagex capture\fR supports combining multiple separate directories
123 and files together in a configurable way to create a WIM image.
126 wimlib's XPRESS compressor is better than Microsoft's.
129 wimlib supports multithreaded compression, which can make it much faster to
130 create compressed WIM files.
133 wimlib's \fBimagex capture\fR supports a special mode where UNIX file modes,
134 owners, and groups are stored.
137 wimlib's \fBimagex mount\fR and \fBimagex mountrw\fR are much faster than
138 Microsoft's versions for some reason. I don't know what they have their program
139 do that takes so long to simply set up a mountpoint.
142 wimlib's \fBimagex mount\fR supports mounting an image from a split WIM, but
143 Microsoft's software does not.
147 Note: \fBwimlib\fR and \fBimagex\fR are experimental. Use Microsoft's
148 imagex.exe if you have to make sure your WIM files are made "correctly". Feel
149 free to submit a bug report if you find a bug.
151 Some parts of the WIM file format are poorly documented or even completely
152 undocumented, so I've just had to do the best I can to read and write WIMs in a
153 way that appears to be compatible with Microsoft's software.
157 Report bugs to ebiggers3@gmail.com.
160 .BR imagex-append (1),
161 .BR imagex-apply (1),
162 .BR imagex-capture (1),
163 .BR imagex-delete (1),
165 .BR imagex-export (1),
168 .BR imagex-mount (1),
169 .BR imagex-mountrw (1),
170 .BR imagex-optimize (1),
171 .BR imagex-split (1),
172 .BR imagex-unmount (1),