The Microsoft Embedded Team has started a new Blog called “Approaching Embedded Intelligently”.
You can find there some quite interesting information on what is going on around Windows Embedded as well as nice tips and tools.

Check it out!

Alexander

If you have been working with Windows Embedded Standard you most certainly are using the great disk protection features created by the Windows Embedded product group:

• Enhanced Write Filter – sector based disk protection / HORM
• File based Write Filter – Files System based protection
• Registry Filter – Write-through for configured registry keys, if one of the write filters is installed.

In WES 8 Microsoft has spent some more development cycles on this topic to overcome the complex handling of the current filters. All functionality is now bundled in a single, Unified Write Filter. This is very good, because now you do not have to worry which filter to choose and all disk protection settings can be done in a single place.
But there is more! The UWF comes with a configuration UI for the Microsoft Management console. BTW., the MMC UI is a dedicated install package in CTP1! 
It offers WMI management support e.g. via PowerShell and Administrators will be able to generate configuration scripts out of the MMC. 
Way cool, eh?
UWF is going to provide a persistent disk overlay, as well, which, in contrast to the standard RAM overlay, retains data across reboots. This certainly adds an important feature to scenarios where robustness and security are key.
However, please be aware that a persistent disk overlay needs more attention than the RAM overlay, which ideally should be handled in the main application that serves as the brain of your device.
Listening to rumors that the next Windows 8 drop of bits (nowadays called CTP, RC or similar) should be out in the coming months. I do hope that we see a preview of WES 8, as well.

 

Alexander

Windows 8 inside – „Microsoft re-invents Windows“

Tuesday | June 12th 2012 | 13.00 – 18.00

Süd-West-Park 35| Multimediaraum | 90449 Nürnberg

The release date of Windows 8 is getting closer, which is said to be nothing less than a re-invention of Windows!
The bandwidth of new innovations starts with a new hardware platform and form factors, includes a lot of optimizations and culminates in a complete new Metro user interface.
This event, which is a joint effort of the "Nuremberg Initiative of Communication – NIK e.V." and partner companies, provides comprehensive insight into Microsoft’s motivation and goals for the new Windows release. In addition, there will be first glances on the new Metro application platform and the role of Windows 8 for the enterprise as well as in the "Internet of Things". The later talk will be held by my humble self, speaking about Windows Embedded Standard 8, as well!
There are a lot of new opportunities for software companies in the new eco-system that Microsoft is currently creating that are worth to have a close look on.
Entry fee for the event is 50,00€ + VAT.
Members of the NIK and customers of presenting companies are free of charge. Please talk to your contact with these organizations to get a seat on the guest list.
More information regarding talks as well as registration can be found at:
www.nik-nbg.de/veranstaltungen

Looking forward to see You there!

Alexander

Hi all,

just announcing my jumpstart course targeting Kinect for Windows at my company’s site.
Course preparation itself has been a lot of fun. Actually, my kids still wonder why Dad is jumping up and down in front of his Computer mumbling commands.
And I am sure the course will be a great time, as well, because we are always pushing the boundaries.
All hands-on coding, no over boarding theoretical distractions or marketing at all. Kinect has a tremendous potential for enterprise as well as embedded appliances.

Time to get going!
First come, first serve!

Alexander

I have been discussing with a customer in one of my trainings recently and he said:

WES 8 now has modules instead of packages – will Microsoft ever stop the renaming nightmare?
Well, I told him that I am sure pretty sure that Microsoft is going to stick to its renaming habit from time to time, but looking at modules and packages this is not the case. 

In fact, both are different things. While packages are the desktop windows container format for servicing, modules are the building blocks of the Windows Embedded Standard 8 operating system construction kit.
It is great to have them, because looking at the previous version Windows Embedded Standard 7 there was no way to extend the build system consistently. This meant OS developers could not create packages themselves, due to the fact that packages required to be signed by Microsoft to work in the maintenance infrastructure. Therefore, in WES 7, the only options left were to work with the OEM Folders ( a concept originated in the early years of Windows) and Out-of-Box driver folder in the distribution share to get custom software into an image.
Unfortunately this approach is a bit clumsy and error prone.

WES 7 distribution share with OEM Folders

To improve the development experience the Windows Embedded Standard Team created a complete new packaging infrastructure for Windows Embedded Standard 8. They chose the name “Modules ” for it, which is a pretty good match. Modules are organized in the Catalog, a hierarchical structure that groups modules according to functionality.
Modules are now the new WES functionality containers, which can be created by Microsoft as well as you, the OS developer.
This is great, because now we have the possibility to integrate custom, 3rd party software and new drivers seamlessly into the WES 8 OS build system.

WES 8 view of the new catalog in ICE – much cleaner and more easy to use!

The new concept is supported by a new tool called “Module Designer”, which I am going to talk about in more detail in one of my upcoming blog posts.

Alexander

Certainly, Windows 8 is not even available, but now is the time to have a look at the embedded version of this coming Windows release.
Windows 8 delivers a whole bunch of new features that are well suited to build innovative next generation embedded devices.  
In addition, the Windows Embedded team has created quite a few new features on their own.

From my perspective the most prominent are:

• Multi-touch at a new level (can you say kiosk system? )
• Metro applications
• New, sophisticated power management
• Connectivity at low power states
• New componentization model to create a clean, consistent build system
• New embedded lockdown tools and a Unified Write Filter
• Built-in, generic sensor and device support
• and many more…..

Just go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/evaluate/windows-embedded-standard-8-ctp.aspx
to download the CTP and get started!
The ramp up is quite easy, because the basic build process has not changed significantly. Enjoy the new features!

Alexander

Sometimes you can find hidden gems in well known Windows features that you would not expect.
Like this one: It is quite easy to use events generated by the operating system and applications as triggers for your custom actions.

Link Windows events to custom tasks!

 

Many thanks to Brendan, who pointed me to this great functionality!
This has been around for decades!

Alexander

The new year brings some changes!

In my case and for the blog I have decided to start a series of short videos targeting how-to’s, troubleshooting or whatever is interesting.
Today is kick-off with a little information snippet on how to trace your Windows Embedded Standard 7 OS image for power efficiency.

Using and integrating Powercfg.exe

 

Let me know what you think of it.

Have fun!

Alexander

to all readers of my blog.
May the new year bring more stability, peace and friendship to the world.
Keep cool and innovative and change the world into a better one!

Alexander

If one tries to build a non-English version of WES 7 it is very likely that you run into this problem, when you have created the IBW Disk from an answer file that only includes the corresponding subset of packages from the distribution share:

During the WinPE configuration path an error occurs starting that a file is not available.

This is odd, because the real cause is hidden deeply in the log files. WinPE wants to have an English language pack file.
How can this be if you have configured e.g. a German language pack? Well, the language pack determines the language for the WES OS image. Unfortunately this does not automatically do the settings for the WinPE language.  The three required settings are found in the foundation core package and should be set to one of the languages available in your image configuration. All settings are applied in the WinPE configuration pass.

The picture above shows this set for German using the “DE-de” language identifier. Having set these configuration done correctly, will run the installation as smooth as expected.

Why does it fail in the beginning?
WinPE is using English as fallback language (EN-us) in its configuration, when no other language is specified in foundation core.  However, this package is not copied to installation media, when creating the installation disk from an answer file with some other language pack defined.
The result of this is the early installation error during WinPE startup.

Alexander