First off- thanks for the incredible work, 7-zip outshines any similar application.
Wim support in latest versions is very nice future, thanks.
Two questions:
1) Is it possible to create bootable wim files? Similar to when using imagex /boot ….
The goal is to extract boot.wim from 7/Vista/Server2008, modify it and create a new boot.wim file, without having to use Microsoft wim drivers and tools, e.g. on XP/2000 systems and/or when 1GB WAIK is overkill.
Now 7zip creates wim file, although no compression used, but this wim file cannot be used for booting, bootmgr complains about not finding \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe.
If on the same BOOT.WIM apply :
imagex /boot /info boot.wim 1
this wim file, created by 7zip can be used for booting, at least in preliminary tests.
2) Any plans in near future for compression when creating wim files?
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I don't plan to improve WIM code more. It's difficult. But I can fix/add simple things if I know how.
The initial idea to support wim creating was the hope that maybe it's possible to use larger dictionary for lzx than dictionary in original imagex. But some tests showed that lzx in imagex decoder doesn't support large dictionary. So there is no big sense to write additional code for same things, if there is imagex already.
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Would have been so helpful if we could create and edit bootable wim files from 2000/XP/2003/Vista why not Linux too, without having to stick to Microsoft's limiting conditions, e.g. no redistribution permitted and huge WAIK download just to be able to edit a single file.
Anyway, thanks for your reply and once again for the brilliant program.
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Anonymous
-
2011-09-26
I'm a fan of ImageX and also SmartWIM too.
SmartWIM uses the same syntax as ImageX and above and beyond is able to create delta .wims between images. So, if you have image A which contains files '1', '2' and '3' and image B which contains files '1' and '2' you can create a delta .wim that contains file '3' without having to /Apply both images, create a new directory with the different files and recapture like you would with ImageX.
That being conveyed, SmartWIM doesn't have the /dir like ImageX does… so I use both tools.
First off- thanks for the incredible work, 7-zip outshines any similar application.
Wim support in latest versions is very nice future, thanks.
Two questions:
1) Is it possible to create bootable wim files? Similar to when using imagex /boot ….
The goal is to extract boot.wim from 7/Vista/Server2008, modify it and create a new boot.wim file, without having to use Microsoft wim drivers and tools, e.g. on XP/2000 systems and/or when 1GB WAIK is overkill.
Now 7zip creates wim file, although no compression used, but this wim file cannot be used for booting, bootmgr complains about not finding \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe.
If on the same BOOT.WIM apply :
this wim file, created by 7zip can be used for booting, at least in preliminary tests.
2) Any plans in near future for compression when creating wim files?
I don't plan to improve WIM code more. It's difficult. But I can fix/add simple things if I know how.
The initial idea to support wim creating was the hope that maybe it's possible to use larger dictionary for lzx than dictionary in original imagex. But some tests showed that lzx in imagex decoder doesn't support large dictionary. So there is no big sense to write additional code for same things, if there is imagex already.
That's pity :(
Would have been so helpful if we could create and edit bootable wim files from 2000/XP/2003/Vista why not Linux too, without having to stick to Microsoft's limiting conditions, e.g. no redistribution permitted and huge WAIK download just to be able to edit a single file.
Anyway, thanks for your reply and once again for the brilliant program.
I'm a fan of ImageX and also SmartWIM too.
SmartWIM uses the same syntax as ImageX and above and beyond is able to create delta .wims between images. So, if you have image A which contains files '1', '2' and '3' and image B which contains files '1' and '2' you can create a delta .wim that contains file '3' without having to /Apply both images, create a new directory with the different files and recapture like you would with ImageX.
That being conveyed, SmartWIM doesn't have the /dir like ImageX does… so I use both tools.
http://www.smartdeploy.com/Products/Downloads.aspx?sid=65ED8839-79CA-E011-A5C8-0050568C0003 Also, SmartWIM is free for non-commercial usage.