From aff77ce561d22e470bb6fb7df0df734bbb646725 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eric Biggers Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:13:56 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] Update README.WINDOWS --- README.WINDOWS | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------ 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index 0ebea29f..66babca3 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ 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: +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), split WIM (.swm), and ESD (.esd) files that is inspired by Microsoft's ImageX and @@ -30,38 +29,41 @@ ZIP file containing the following items: WIMLIB-IMAGEX -wimlib-imagex provides most features of Microsoft's ImageX, plus additional -features. Perhaps the main limitation is that mounting images from a WIM file -is not supported on Windows. However, wimlib-imagex provides a number of -advantages compared to Microsoft's ImageX, including but not limited to the -following: +wimlib-imagex supports most features of Microsoft's ImageX as well as some +features that are supported by DISM but not by ImageX. wimlib-imagex also +supports some features that neither ImageX nor DISM support. Some of the +advantages of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are: - * 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 provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow + you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them. - * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command to remove wasted - space from WIM files. + * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command which removes + wasted space from a WIM file and optionally recompresses it with stronger + compression. - * In some cases, wimlib-imagex uses simpler command-line syntax. For - example, integrity tables are treated as persistent, and in some cases image - names need not be explicitly specified. + * wimlib includes advanced implementations of all compression algorithms used + in WIM files. They usually outperform and outcompress their Microsoft + equivalents. - * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and - informational output compared to Microsoft's software. + * wimlib-imagex supports solid WIM files and LZMS compression, for example as + used in ESD (.esd) files. (These are partially supported by recent DISM + versions but not by ImageX.) - * On Windows, wimlib-imagex 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. + * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either + ImageX or DISM. - * wimlib-imagex also supports ESD (.esd) files, except when encrypted. (These - use a newer version of the WIM file format.) + * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and + informational output compared to Microsoft's software. * wimlib and wimlib-imagex are free software, so you can modify and/or audit the source code. +However, some limitations of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are: + + * On Windows, wimlib-imagex does not support mounting WIM images. + + * wimlib-imagex has no awareness of Windows "packages". + ADDITIONAL NOTES It's recommended to use wimlib-imagex in scripts to avoid having to -- 2.43.0