Windows Imaging Format: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:12, 29 February 2020

Revision as of 01:58, 3 September 2020

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| name = Windows Imaging Format

| icon =

| extension = <tt>{{mono|.wim}}, {{mono|.swm}}, {{mono|.esd</tt>}}

| mime = application/x-ms-wim<ref name="x-ms-wim">{{cite web|url=https://reposcope.com/mimetype/application/x-ms-wim|title=application/x-ms-wim|accessdate=2019-03-10}}</ref>

| genre = [[Disk image]]

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| extendedfrom =

| extendedto =

| magic = <code>{{mono|MSWIM\0\0\0</code>}} / <code>{{mono|WLPWM\0\0\0</code>}} for wimlib [[Pipeline (Unix)|pipable]] variant<ref name="wimcapture">{{cite web|url=https://wimlib.net/man1/wimcapture.html|title=WIMCAPTURE|language=en|date=2018-11-24|accessdate=2019-03-10}}</ref>

}}

The '''Windows Imaging Format''' ('''WIM''') is a [[Computer file|file]]-based [[disk image]] [[file format|format]]. It was developed by [[Microsoft]] to help deploy [[Windows Vista]] and subsequent versions of the [[Windows]] [[operating system]] family, as well as [[Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799284%28v=ws.10%29.aspx|title=Windows Imaging File Format (WIM)|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|accessdate=24 Feb 2014}}</ref>

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The primary advantages of being file-based is hardware independence and [[single-instance storage]] of a file referenced multiple times in the filesystem tree. Since the files are stored inside a single WIM file, the overhead of opening and closing many individual files is reduced. The cost of reading or writing many thousands of individual files on the local disk is negated by hardware and software-based [[disk buffer|disk caching]] as well as sequential reading and writing of the data.

WIM files can contain multiple disk images, which are referenced either by their numerical index or by their unique name. Due to the use of single-instance storage, the more each successive disk image has in common with previous images added to the WIM file, the less new data will be added. A WIM can also be split (spanned) into multiple parts, which have the <tt>{{mono|.swm</tt>}} extension.

WIM images can be made [[booting|bootable]] (WIMBoot). Windows [[boot loader]] supports booting Windows from within a WIM file. Windows Setup DVD in Windows Vista and later use such WIM files. In this case, BOOT.WIM contains a bootable version of [[Windows PE]] from which the installation is performed. Other setup files are held in the INSTALL.WIM.