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.