WIM+System+Image

the Microsoft Windows Imaging Format (WIM) image format. Instead of the sector-based image formats, which are rather common these days, the WIM image format is file-based. Using a file-based image format, WIM provides several benefits over other formats:
 * This WIM image format is hardware-agnostic, meaning that you need only one image to address many different hardware configurations.
 * The WIM image format also lets you store multiple images within one actual file. For example, Microsoft can ship multiple SKUs in one WIM image file. You store images with and without core applications in a single image file. Also, you can mark one of the images as bootable, allowing you to start a computer from a disk image contained in a WIM file.
 * The WIM image format enables compression and single instancing, thus reducing the size of image files significantly. Single instancing is a technique that allows you to store two or more copies of a file for the space cost of one copy. For example, if images 1, 2, and 3 all contain file A, single-instancing stores a single copy of the file A and points images 1, 2, and 3 to that copy.
 * The WIM image format allows you to service an image offline. You can add or delete certain operating system components, patches, and drivers without creating a new image. Rather than spending a few hours updating an image, which you do now with Microsoft Windows XP, for example, you can update an image in minutes. For example, to add a patch to a Windows XP image, you must boot the master image, add the patch, and then prepare the image again. With Windows Vista, you can simply service the image offline.
 * The WIM image format lets you install a disk image on partitions of any size, unlike sector-based image formats that require you to deploy a disk image to a partition that's the same size or larger than the source disk.
 * Windows Vista provides an API for the WIM image format called WIMGAPI that developers can use to work with WIM image files.
 * The WIM image format allows for non-destructive deployment. This means that you can leave data on the volume to which you apply the image because the application of the image does not erase the disk's existing contents.

ImageX Features
ImageX itself is a rather straightforward program, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. It's a simple, command-line drive utility that you run from the command prompt or from Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). In other words, you interact with ImageX the same way you interact with Xcopy. I hope the fact that it's a command-line utility doesn't discourage you. I prefer that my disk-imaging tools have command-line interfaces because they make it incredibly simple to script a tool's use. And the batch-scripting features in Windows Vista are so capable that there isn't much I can't script ImageX to do. ImageX's core features let you capture a volume to a WIM file and apply a WIM file to a volume. For example, the command to capture an image is nothing more than **imagex /capture C: image.wim "Name"**. The command to apply an image to a volume is simply **imagex /apply image.wim 1**, where 1 tells ImageX to apply the image from the file image.wim that has the index number 1. Of course, ImageX includes numerous commands for maintaining images and using them in creative ways. Table 1 provides an overview of these commands.
 * Table 1. Overview of ImageX Command-Line Options**


 * /append || Appends a volume image into an existing WIM file ||
 * /apply || Applies a volume image to the specified drive ||
 * /capture || Captures a volume image into a new WIM file ||
 * /commit || Commits the changes made to a mounted WIM ||
 * /compress || Sets compression type to none, fast, or maximum ||
 * /config || Uses the specified file to set advanced options ||
 * /delete || Deletes an image from a WIM file with multiple images ||
 * /dir || Displays a list of files and folders within a volume image ||
 * /export || Transfers an image from one WIM file to another WIM file ||
 * /info || Returns the store's XML descriptions for the specified WIM ||
 * /ref || Sets WIM references for an apply operation ||
 * /scroll || Scrolls output for redirection ||
 * /split || Splits an existing WIM file into multiple read-only WIM parts ||
 * /verify || Verifies duplicate and extracted files ||
 * /mount || Mounts an image, with read-only access, to the specified directory ||
 * /mountrw || Mounts an image, with read-write access, to the specified directory ||
 * /unmount || Unmounts the image mounted to the specified directory ||
 * /? || Returns valid command-line parameters for ImageX ||

 با عرض سلام و خسته نباشید،  برای ساخت یک Answer file، از ابزار ** Windows System Image Manager ** که در بسته ی ** Windows AIK ** وجود دارد، استفاده می کنیم  به وسیله این ابزار می توانیم تنظیمات ** Image ** ویندوز را مشاهده و درصورت نیاز با ساختن Answer file مناسب، آن را ویرایش کنیم. با ** SIM ** همچنین قادر خواهیم بود درایورها و بسته های نرم افزاری دیگر مانند سرویس پک را بهصورت offlineبه فایل Image اضافه کنیم.