-
- INTRODUCTION
-
-wimlib is free and open source software that is available on both UNIX and
-Windows. This file provides additional information specifically about the
-Windows version of wimlib and the command line tool "wimlib-imagex" that is
-distributed with it. It does not obsolete the generic README.txt, which you
-should read too.
-
- WINDOWS DISTRIBUTION
-
-For the convenience of Windows users, the Windows distribution of wimlib is a
-ZIP file containing the following items:
-
- * wimlib-imagex.exe, a command-line tool to deal with WIM (.wim) files that is
- similar to Microsoft's ImageX. This is a ready-to-run executable and not an
- installer.
-
- * The documentation, including this file, the generic README.txt, and
- PDF documentation for wimlib-imagex in the 'doc' directory.
-
- * Various DLL (.dll) files, including the wimlib library itself, which are of
- little concern to you if you are not a developer.
-
- * License files for all software included. These are all free software
- licenses.
-
- WIMLIB-IMAGEX
-
-wimlib-imagex is intended to provide a usable Windows-native equivalent to
-Microsoft's ImageX. The main limitations of wimlib-imagex compared to
-Microsoft's ImageX are the following:
-
- * Mounting WIM files is not supported on Windows.
-
- * The LZX ("maximum") compression ratio is several percent worse that
- Microsoft's implementation.
-
-However, wimlib-imagex provides a number of advantages compared to Microsoft's
-ImageX:
-
- * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands that can be used to
- work around the lack of mount support. These commands are very fast
- compared to mounting and unmounting images with Microsoft's ImageX, so you
- may prefer them anyway.
-
- * wimlib-imagex offers fast multithreaded compression, so making WIM images
- can be much faster.
-
- * wimlib-imagex provides a better XPRESS ("fast", or default compression)
- compression ratio than Microsoft's ImageX.
-
- * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command to remove wasted
- space from WIM files.
-
- * Whenever possible I have included improved documentation and informational
- output compared to Microsoft's software.
-
- * wimlib can correctly save and restore some combinations of data that
- Microsoft's ImageX runs into bugs on --- for example, uncompressed files in
- compressed directories, or files with alternate data streams and multiple
- hard links.
-
- * wimlib is free software, so you can modify and/or audit the source code.
-
- ADDITIONAL NOTES
-
-Currently there is no graphical user interface available for wimlib or
-wimlib-imagex and I do not plan to make one. It's recommended to use
-wimlib-imagex in scripts to avoid having to interactively enter commands.