# Table of Contents
- [Installation](#installation)
+ - [Windows](#windows)
+ - [UNIX-like systems](#unix-like-systems)
+ - [Installing distro package](#installing-distro-package)
+ - [Building from source](#building-from-source)
- [WIM files](#wim-files)
- [ImageX implementation](#imagex-implementation)
- [Compression](#compression)
- [NTFS support](#ntfs-support)
- [Windows PE](#windows-pe)
-- [Dependencies](#dependencies)
-- [Configuration](#configuration)
- [Portability](#portability)
- [References](#references)
- [History](#history)
# Installation
-To install wimlib and `wimlib-imagex` on UNIX-like systems, you can compile from
-source (e.g. `./configure && make && sudo make install`). Alternatively, check
-if a package has already been prepared for your operating system.
+## Windows
To install wimlib and `wimlib-imagex` on Windows, just download and extract the
-ZIP file containing the latest binaries. For more details, see
-[README.WINDOWS.md](README.WINDOWS.md).
+ZIP file containing the latest binaries. All official releases are available
+from [wimlib.net](https://wimlib.net).
-All official wimlib releases are available from
-[wimlib.net](https://wimlib.net).
+For more details, including directions for how to build from source on Windows
+if desired, see [README.WINDOWS.md](README.WINDOWS.md).
+
+## UNIX-like systems
+
+### Installing distro package
+
+To install wimlib and `wimlib-imagex` on UNIX-like systems, first consider just
+installing the package provided by your operating system, if there is one.
+
+For example, on Ubuntu and other Debian based systems, run:
+
+ sudo apt install wimtools
+
+On Fedora and other Red Hat based systems, run:
+
+ sudo dnf install wimlib-utils
+
+On Arch Linux, run:
+
+ sudo pacman -S wimlib
+
+### Building from source
+
+To build from source instead, first install the development files for libfuse3
+and libntfs-3g, if they're available for your operating system. For example, on
+Ubuntu, run:
+
+ sudo apt install libfuse3-dev ntfs-3g-dev
+
+Then, if you're building from the git repository instead of from a release
+tarball, install additional build dependencies and run the bootstrap script:
+
+ sudo apt install autoconf automake libtool pkgconf
+ ./bootstrap
+
+Finally, configure, build, and install the software:
+
+ ./configure
+ make
+ sudo make install
+
+In addition to the standard options, the configure script accepts the following
+options:
+
+- `--without-fuse`: Disables support for mounting WIM images. The `wimmount`,
+ `wimmountrw`, and `wimunmount` commands won't work. This removes the
+ dependency on libfuse3.
+
+- `--without-ntfs-3g`: Disables support for capturing or applying WIM images
+ directly from/to NTFS volumes. This removes the dependency on libntfs-3g.
+
+The `mkwinpeimg` shell script also has some optional dependencies that you can
+choose to install:
+
+- `cdrkit` (for making ISO filesystems)
+- `mtools` (for making disk images)
+- `syslinux` (for making disk images)
+- `cabextract` (for extracting files from the Windows Automated Installation Kit)
+
+Mounting WIM images also requires the FUSE kernel module. When you try to mount
+a WIM image, the FUSE kernel module should be automatically loaded. Mounting
+WIM images is only supported on Linux.
# WIM files
simplify the process of creating and customizing a bootable Windows PE image,
sourcing the needed files from the Windows installation media or from the WAIK.
-# Dependencies
-
-This section documents the dependencies of wimlib and the programs distributed
-with it, when building for a UNIX-like system from source. If you have
-downloaded the Windows binary distribution of wimlib and `wimlib-imagex` then
-all dependencies were already included and this section is irrelevant.
-
-- `libfuse3` (optional but recommended)
-
- Unless configured `--without-fuse`, wimlib requires `libfuse3`, for mounting
- WIM images using [FUSE](https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse). Most Linux
- distributions already include this, but make sure you have the `fuse3` package
- installed, and also `libfuse3-dev` if your distribution distributes
- development files separately. FUSE also requires a kernel module. If the
- kernel module is available it should automatically be loaded if you try to
- mount a WIM image.
-
-- `libntfs-3g` (optional but recommended)
-
- Unless configured `--without-ntfs-3g`, wimlib requires the library and headers
- for libntfs-3g to be installed. The minimum required version is 2011-4-12,
- but newer versions contain important bug fixes.
-
-- `cdrkit` (optional)
-- `mtools` (optional)
-- `syslinux` (optional)
-- `cabextract` (optional)
-
- The `mkwinpeimg` shell script will look for several other programs depending
- on what options are given to it. Depending on your Linux distribution, you
- may already have these programs installed, or they may be in the software
- repository. Making an ISO filesystem requires `mkisofs` from
- [`cdrkit`](https://www.cdrkit.org). Making a disk image requires
- [`mtools`](https://www.gnu.org/software/mtools) and
- [`syslinux`](https://www.syslinux.org). Retrieving files from the Windows
- Automated Installation Kit requires
- [`cabextract`](https://www.cabextract.org.uk).
-
-# Configuration
-
-This section documents the most important options that may be passed to the
-"configure" script when building from source:
-
-- `--without-ntfs-3g`
-
- If libntfs-3g is not available or is not version 2011-4-12 or later, wimlib
- can be built without it, in which case it will not be possible to capture or
- apply WIM images directly from/to NTFS volumes.
-
- The default is `--with-ntfs-3g` when building for any UNIX-like system, and
- `--without-ntfs-3g` when building for Windows.
-
-- `--without-fuse`
-
- The `--without-fuse` option disables support for mounting WIM images. This
- removes dependencies on libfuse and librt. The `wimmount`, `wimmountrw`, and
- `wimunmount` commands will not work.
-
- The default is `--with-fuse` when building for Linux, and `--without-fuse`
- otherwise.
-
# Portability
wimlib works on both UNIX-like systems (Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, etc.) and
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / commitdiff