What's New

Article
10/07/2008

Windows® XP Embedded Service Pack 2 Feature Pack 2007 is an optional upgrade to Windows XP Embedded with SP2 that depends on SP2 tools and database.

FP 2007 supports rollback to SP2. Database rollback is provided using manual database backup and restore.

The following list shows the new features in FP 2007:

File-Based Write Filter

File-Based Write Filter (FBWF) allows Windows XP Embedded to maintain the appearance of read and write access to write sensitive or read only storage. By filtering write requests at the file level, FBWF provides applications with transparent file and directory management, selective write through, selective commits and restores, and improved overlay memory use. For more information, see File-Based Write Filter.

Enhanced Write Filter Improvements for Hibernate Once Resume Many.

EWF provides improved management of Hibernate Once Resume Many (HORM) through automated HORM configuration and enabling, a component configuration UI, new EWF Manager commands, and an expanded API. For more information, see Enhanced Write Filter.

Registry Filter

Registry Filter supports persisting specific registry changes across reboots without requiring all registry changes in a file to be persisted. Specifically, Registry Filter provides selective persistence of licenses and device domain participation secrets across reboots. Configure Registry Filter using Target Designer. For more information, see Registry Filter.

USB Boot

USB Boot supports booting from USB flash devices. Given the wide availability of external USB ports on PC boards and the rapidly falling cost of USB devices, USB boot media are a cost-effective alternative to compact flash. For more information, see Booting from USB Devices.

First Boot Agent Enhancements

First Boot Agent (FBA) supports image reseal with the fbreseal command. FBA also provides a new splash screen.

Image Footprint Reduction

Re-factoring Internet Explorer 6, slimming down the SMS client, and eliminating unnecessary component dependencies reduces the Windows XP Embedded footprint.

General Re-factoring Details

This re-factoring includes making some delay load dependencies optional and generally cleaning up dependencies that may no longer be applicable as the platform moves from one Service Pack to another.

Some dependencies among components existed to satisfy a registry dependency, so the registry keys can be moved to a new shared component that other components can depend on. This removes the file dependency chain problem previously experienced.

Internet Explorer 6 Re-factoring Details

Many features in Windows XP Embedded depended on Internet Explorer. These features include:

.NET Framework 1.1
Help and Support Services
HTML Rendering Engine
IMAPI - CD Burning
Internet Connection Wizard
Microsoft Vector Graphics Rendering (VML)
Outlook Express
Shell Namespace Extensions
Soap Client Runtime
Windows .Net Messenger
Windows Media Player 10.0
Windows Movie Maker

These features have either a static or delay load dependency on one or more files out of the dozens of files owned by the Internet Explorer 6 component. These dependent files were removed from the Internet Explorer component and are now 'Primitive' components. This significantly reduces the resulting image footprint, because the whole of Internet Explorer 6 is no longer being loaded simply to supply a small module of functionality.

Internet Explorer now depends on these Primitives and the other higher level features, such as .Net Framework, now also depend on just these Primitives. This ensures that all the required dependencies will be loaded automatically whenever Internet Explorer is included in an image, just as it did formerly when it directly owned these files.

So, you can still have a fully functional Internet Explorer feature, but now you must explicitly add that feature to your runtime, otherwise you will only pick up one or a couple of Internet Explorer's individual file resources.

Internet Explorer Pop up Blocking

A new Configuration User Interface to control Internet Explorer's Pop-up Blocker has been added. By default, Pop-up Blocker is turned on in Internet Explorer and set to the medium setting, which means it will block most automatic pop-ups. You can disable and change the settings for Pop-up Blocker with this new feature.

Footprint Reduction For SMS Client Scenarios

The Remote Assistance Channel and the Remote Assistance Automation Framework components, part of the Remote Assistance features required by the SMS Client, depend on a number of files that were previously owned by Help and Support Services component but have now been split into a new component called the Help Center and Services component. This change significantly reduces the image footprint of the SMS Client because the entire Help and Support Services component no longer needs to be loaded simply to supply a small module of functionality.

Both Remote Assistance Channel and Remote Assistance Automation Framework components now depend on the new Help Center and Services component.

Re-factored Volume Shadow Copy

Volume Shadow Copy Service component has been re-factored. That breaks a dependency from WMI Core to Volume Shadow Copy to Indexing Service. This should save roughly 14MB on almost every single runtime built today.

Modified Components

Many components in FP 2007 have been modified. This is due to bug fixes, footprint reduction, feature enhancements, and the addition of new features. A complete list of modified components is provided: List of Modified Components, in Windows XP Embedded Studio Help.

Component Descriptions for Primitives

All Primitive components now supply a description. Previously there were many Primitive components with blank description fields in Target Designer. Adding these descriptions to the components that require them, enables you to make more intelligent decisions about feature components at design time.

XPe Console

XPe Console provides a new command line tool for building and managing images.

Target Designer and Component Designer Enhancements

Target Designer now supports refreshing the Component Browser pane and saves configuration data in XML format. Component Designer provides component search in list view.

Also, a new Embedded Enabling Features Category node has been added to the Component Browser. This makes finding some of the non-Windows components easier. This new Category node provides the Embedded Enabling Features such as Minlogon and Enhanced Write Filter.

Importer Framework

Importer Framework provides an improved import experience by eliminating problems with formatting and spaces.

SQL Express Macro and MSDE Macro

FP 2007 supports both the SQL Express Macro and the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) Macro.

In Target Designer, you will find these macro components in the 'Software : Test & Development' category node. They will add the Windows XP Embedded feature dependencies to your configuration to allow you to install the DB engine from the desktop as you would for Windows XP Professional. You must still download the appropriate DB Engine from the download center on Microsoft.com separately; the installers are not supplied by these macros.

Note These Macros are supplied for evaluation purposes only. They are not yet officially supported by the Microsoft SQL Server product group.

.NET Framework 2.0 and Windows Media Player 10

FP 2007 includes .NET Framework 2.0 and Windows Media Player 10.

Standard Start Menu Short Cuts Updated

The following improvements were made to the Standard Start Menu Short Cuts component:

Fixed broken hard-coded literal file paths by replacing them with relative-path Directory IDs (DIRIDs)
Removed Imaging.lnk to maintain parity with Windows XP Professional SP2
Removed superfluous 'activate windows.lnk', as it is not needed for Windows XP Embedded
Removed duplicate Outlook Express.lnk
Added Wireless Network Setup Wizard shortcut
Added Sound Recorder.lnk

Security Updates and QFEs

FP 2007 includes a rollup of Windows XP Embedded security updates and QFEs.

User Account and Adminstrator Account

Two account components have been enhanced: User Account and Administrator Account. Both of these components now have a Configuration User Interface for Passwords and other settings.

DirectShow Indeo Codecs

The DirectShow Indeo Codec components were restored to maintain parity with Windows XP Professional. These new components include the following: Indeo3, Indeo4, Indeo5, and Indeo5Audio.

Additional Locales and Keyboard Layouts

Three new keyboard layouts have been added. They support the following locales: Bosnian, Finnish with Sami languages support, and Swedish with Sami languages support.

The following Language Support components have been updated to correct typos and include the correct keyboard layout options in their settings: Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Hungarian.

Previously Undocumented Files

Cacls.exe is now owned and documented by the "Primitive: Cacls.exe" component. This feature is a command line tool used to control the Account Control Lists (ACLs).

Gpupdate.exe is now owned and documented by the "Group Policy Refresh Utility" component. This is a command line utility to manually update any changes that are made to group policies.

Documentation Updates

Much of the documentation for Windows XP Embedded has been updated. The following list shows some of the new and updated topic sections:

What's New

See Also

Additional resources