Windows® 10 IoT Enterprise is a special version of Windows 10 designed for OEMs to build IoT/Embedded Systems. To help to create custom images, the Windows® System Image Manager (SIM) tool allows PC Manufacturers, IT Managers, and IoT/Embedded Developers to automate the installation of Windows operating systems. SIM allows developers to install applications, device drivers, and Windows updates along with the Windows operating system. The ability to automate operating system installation helps to remove any human error that can occur with manual installation. The ability to maintain and support many platforms over a long life-cycle is also an important asset in today’s ever-changing technology. To perform all these tasks, a solid workflow to develop the image from the ground up is important. This 2^nd edition dives deeper into the development process.

Development Workflow – A development process that has been in use since Windows XP Embedded and evolved over the different Windows Embedded releases. The development workflow provides the best-known steps to create and maintain a custom image using System Image Manager.

Security – Windows security features and terminology have changed since Windows 10 was first released. The current security features are discussed in clearer detail and integrated into the larger lockdown.

Synchronous commands scrips – SIM doesn’t have a setting for everything. The downloads for the book contain some of the popular scripts for custom settings such as audio volume level, sticky keys, network IP setup, hide the taskbar, and visual effects.

Other tools – the book covers the Shell Launcher, UWF, and Key Filter utilities from Annabooks, as well as, other tools for partitioning disks and setting Group Policy.

Footprint reduction – various tips to help reduce the image footprint for systems that have smaller drive space are discussed.

Performance – discover how to get the best performance out of the system.

Low-Speed Bus API – creation applications that access GPIO, SPI, I2C, and UART is presented.

There are 17 chapters with hands-on exercises to focus on the workflow and specific features. The final chapter pulls all the topics together to walk through the workflow to create a weather station device that sends data to Azure IoT Central.

Windows® 10 is the latest and possibly the last Windows operating system from Microsoft. Embedded/IoT developers have taken advantage of desktop operating systems since the early days of the PC. From MS-DOS to Windows 10, many development tools have been created to help integrate the desktop OS into an embedded system. Rather than have separate embedded and desktop versions, Windows 10 includes many of the lockdown features that used to only be available only in Windows Embedded versions. Now everyone is working from the same operating system. Best of all the development tools are now the same. Windows® System Image Manager (SIM) allows PC Manufactures, IT Managers, and Embedded Developers to automate the installation of the Window 10 operating system. SIM allows these developers to install applications, device drivers, and Windows updates along with the Windows operating system, which helps to automate the image installation process and reduce any human error that can occur with manual installation. Also, the ability to maintain and support many platforms over a long life cycle is an important asset in today’s ever changing technology. Starter Guide for Windows® 10 IoT Enterprise provides the basics to get you started.

Real-time from Theory to Practice covers the details of developing real-time applications for Windows Embedded.

eBook edtion is available on Annabooks Online Store

A couple of developers noticed that the latest Windows 10 IoT Enterprise release is booting up slower than the older releases. Their investigation also noticed a boot time difference when UWF was enabled versus a clean install of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC without UWF. Since there has been more than one report on the same issue, a little investigation was needed. This paper goes over the boot time results for several Windows 10 releases with and without UWF enabled, and discusses the issue why UWF has an effect on boot time. 

UP Square (UP2) Board Firmware Settings to Enable SPI/I2C/GPIO/UART for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise - January 2021

Article discusses the BIOS settings to setup the UP2 Board’s 40-pin HAT connector for GPIO, SPI, I2C, and UART for use with Windows Apps.

UP Board Firmware Settings to Enable SPI/I2C/GPIO/UART for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise - December 2020

Article discusses the BIOS settings to setup the UP Board’s 40-pin HAT connector for GPIO, SPI, I2C, and UART for use with Windows Apps.

Windows ADK: Checking Run-Time License Key Activations with the Volume Activation Management Tool - November 2020

Windows Activation can be challenge for an Embedded/IoT devices. No one wants to see the activate now water mark appear on a fielded system. What can really be a trap is the limited number of activation per license key and how quickly the number goes down if you are not careful. The article discusses the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) that can help monitor the remaining activations.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise: The Case of the Magical Disappearing Utilities - October 2020

Just when you think you have seen everything, something new happens like utilities disappearing from c:\Windows\System32.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise: Image Development Workflow - September 2020

A sound design process leads to a successful project. This paper looks at the Annabooks’ workflow for developing Windows 10 IoT Enterprise images. Developed over the last 20 years starting with Windows NT Embedded, the workflow provides a foundation to create a custom image and prepare the image for production.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise: Why No Components Like Previous Windows Embedded Releases? - February 2020

The size of the OS image is an important factor in design. The size can impact disk space and RAM requirements, which can impact costs. Also, if a CRC check on bootup is needed, the smaller the image the better. Gone are the days of Windows Embedded where one could select the features put into an image. Developers get the whole Windwos 10 IoT Enterprise footprint whether features are used or not. This article looks at the history that has led to this point, and some ideas to reduce foot with what we have today.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (17763): Block Device Installation - September 2019

Windows comes with many security and lockdown features that we have covered in detail in various books and articles. The one area that we have not covered is block removable devices connecting to a system. This article covers 2 solution to block devices from connected to an embedded/IoT system.

How to Get Started with Windows 10 IoT Licensing - August 2019

Building images have been covered in books and articles, but when it is time to ship, you company needs to be signed up for license Windows IoT. Finding a distributor and signing the CLA is only the first step as there are other websites to sign up for and image development steps to follow.

DISM + FFU Capture and Restore an Image - February 2019

In the past, OEMs had to use 3rd party tools to capture disk images. With the release of Windows 10 Build 1809, version 17763, a new solution to capture .FFU files using DISM is now available. This article walks through the steps to perform a disk capture and restore using DISM and .FFU files.

Windows® 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 – First Look for Device Manufacturers - October 2018

Microsoft has released the new long-term service version of Windows 10. The article takes a first look at the changes to consider to migrate from version 14393 to version 17763.

Windows® 10 IoT Enterprise: Multi-Project / Multi-Platform Support in SIM - July 2018

Article looks at a solution for supporting multiple projects under the $OEM$ Folders in a System Image Manager Distribution Share.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (14393): Turn Off Windows Update and Managing Updates - May 2018

Controlling how a system gets updated is an important part of the product life cycle. Poor planning can hit the bottom line. Article looks a solution to turn off Windows Update and how to get the operating system update files to manually update a system in the field.

Embedded/IoT OEMs and Windows as a Service (WaaS) Rev 1.2 - January 2019

Some clients have asked about using the Windows 10 Enterprise non-LTSB releases. Article looks at the changes to the servicing and discusses why Embedded/IoT OEM device manufacturers should continue to stick with Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB / LTSC.

Starter Guide for Windows® System Image Manager: Addendum 1: Windows 10 IoT Enterprise Build 10240 - November 2015

The book addendum covers Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and the changes from Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry. The addendum covers the product naming, changes to activation, new tools coming, changes to the Lockdown Features, code examples for customizing programmatic management of the Lockdown Features.

Running out of RAM and Disk Resources for Windows Embedded Updates - August 2015

By Sean Liming / Edited by John Malin - As more and more updates are available for WES7 and WE8S, developers are noticing OS installation crashes because memory and/or disk space is being completely consumed. The article shows the issue in action and some workaround solutions to get the latest updates into an image.

Windows 10 IoT – The Big Reboot - July 2015

By Sean Liming and John R. Malin - Introduction to Windows 10 IoT and a transition roadmap from previous Windows Embedded editions.

Clonezilla Basics for Windows Embedded - August 2014 : Update September 2015

By Sean Liming and John R. Malin - Step-by-step processes for using Clonezilla to capture and deploy a master image that has been sysprep'd.

Updates from Microsoft

Here are two updates for Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry’s Lockdown features:

KB2932074 – Fix for Windows 8.1 Application Launcher

KB2932354 – Embedded Lockdown Manager update for WEI 8.1 - Adds support for Lockdown features not previous supported through ELM.

Custom Power Settings for WES 7/8 and WEI 8.x - May 2014

By Sean Liming and John R. Malin - A method to implement custom power systems in ICE and SIM

WES 7/8 and Windows Embedded 8.x Industry Device Driver Integration Techniques - May 2014

By Sean Liming and John R. Malin - A couple of techniques to assist with driver integration. The first is a trick to pull down the drivers using Windows Update. The second discusses the impact multiple INF have on the size of the image.

Enabling Windows Server Roles in System Image Manager

A follow-on article to the book Starter Guide for Windows® System Image Manager that covers how to enable server roles in System Image Manager

Can Motion Control Save Windows 8? - June 2013

A though provoking article that looks beyond the touch, keyboard, and mouse inputs that have been around for some time. Windows 8 new shell interface opens up the possibilities to use other input devices to interact with the system, and some of these devices are very close to reality.

The Windows Embedded Legacy Continues with Windows Embedded 8 Standard - April 2013

Introduction to Windows Embedded 8 Standard published in RTC Magazine

Making PowerShell the Shell to the WES 7 System - September 2012

Simple steps to make PowerShell the main shell of the system

Pre-Adding TrueType Fonts to WES7 Image - May 2011

Discusses how to add custom fonts to a WES7 image using ICE.

Introduction to Windows Embedded Standard 7 - May 2010

A first brief look at the new embedded OS.

Installing FireFox Browser on WES7 - April 2010

Article looks at how to add FireFox Browser via Image Configuration Editor (ICE)

Installing Java on WES7 - April 2010

Article looks at how to add Java via Image Configuration Editor (ICE)

GUI and Command Line Utilities for Keyboard Filter

The Windows® 10 Keyboard Filter feature can block keyboard combinations like CTRL+ALT+DEL, ATL+F4, and CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. The keyboard filter is a service that can be enabled and disable through services control panel or the sc.exe command. The predefined hot keys are store in a registry key. The GUI and command line Keyboard Filter utilities are built using the Keyboard Filter WMI API set and allow control of the keyboard filter service and 75+ hotkey combinations. KBFUtility64.exe and KBFUtility32.exe are the GUI utilities that provide a single interface to all the settings and service control. The kbfmgr64.exe and kbfmgr32.exe provide a command line control.

GUI and Command Line Utilities for Shell Launcher

Windows comes with the standard Explorer.exe shell with taskbar, start button, and desktop. Embedded/IoT OEMs looking to make their product look unlike Windows replace Explorer.exe with their own application. To make the shell replacement more manageable, the Shell Launcher features allows you to change the main shell form Explorer.exe to a custom shell executable of your choice. A simple enable / disable capability allows you to switch from custom shell to explorer shell. The feature also allows you to setup different shells for different users. There is only the WMI API set for managing Shell Launcher. The SLUtility and the command line shlmgr.exe were built on the WMI API set to assist with setup and management of Shell Launcher. SLUtiltiy provides a GUI interface with the key functions to setup a default shell and different shell for different users. Shlmgr.exe is the command line version that be called within a batch file to setup Shell Launcher. For example: when you create a customer installer with System Image Manager (SIM), the batch file can be called with a synchronous command.

UWFUtility.exe - GUI Utility for Unified Write Filter

The Unified Write Filter (UWF) protects a drive by redirecting all disk writes to an overlay. Out of the box Windows 10 Enterprise supports a command line utility (uwfmgr.exe) to manage UWF. The UWFUtility provides a graphical interface to UWF so you don’t have to drop to the command line each time. Built on the UWF WMI API set, the UWFUtility provides basic status and some functionality to interact with the UWF. It also includes a couple of actions that are not included in the uwfmgr.exe utility: enable/disable TSCAL and Domain secrete key write-through, and getting a list of the files in the overlay.

Device Driver Harvester Tool

A Microsoft developer posted a blog with a perfect tool for capturing device drivers on a live system. Ideal for working with WES7, WE8S, WE8.1I, and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. Just be sure to delete all files with a .PNF extension.

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10

Contains the System Image Manager (SIM) tool that allows OEMs to automate the installation of Window 10 IoT Enterprise.

Note: The ADK is at the bottom of the page.

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 8.1

Contains the System Image Manager (SIM) tool that allows OEMs to automate the installation of Window Embedded Industry.

Windows Embedded Developer Update Tool for WES 7

Windows Embedded Developer Update is used to help update the developer tools and distribution shares for Windows Embedded Standard 7. Windows Embedded Developer Update can automatically notify you when updates are available. You can then use Windows Embedded Developer Update to download and install the relevant updates for developer tools and distribution shares.

Answer File Diff for WES7 - This Microsoft utility compares two WES 7 answer files for differences. Ideal for tracking down packages and settings, and a diff solution for version control and update patches. Professional's Guide To Windows® Embedded Standard 7 - 2nd Edition covers how to use the tool

Original link taken down by Microsoft. I am providing the tool as is without warranty.

Power Manager for Windows Embedded Standard 7 - Power Manager is a tool designed for Windows Embedded Standard 7 to monitor power management status and to perform battery measurement for battery operated devices. Its primary goal is to ease the battery measurement process by providing automation, data logging, and integration of other power performance analysis tools.