Windows Setup

Windows Setup is the main setup process used to install Windows.

In Windows 9x
In Windows 9x, .CAB files are used for the installation. Mostly known .CAB installation files include:


 * WIN95.CAB, WIN98.CAB, WINME.CAB and WIN9X.CAB: They are used for copying the main system files.
 * DRIVER.CAB: Contains the driver files for Windows.
 * NET.CAB: Contains networking and internet components.

i386 Installation
i386 install mode is used from Windows NT up until Windows Longhorn build 4001.

The i386 installation process builds new folders under the local disk where it depends on where the files will be copied to such as Windows and System32 folders. Files are compressed under their 8.3 file format-named files (where the last letter of the specific file after the dot is replaced with an underscore symbol). Those files get unpacked with the original files getting copied to their respective folders.

Windows Imaging Format (WIM) Installation
Windows Longhorn build 4001 introduced the WIM installation format. This installation format boots the operating system via WinPE which launches the setup interface, the WIM file gets imaged to the computer's hard disk and the rest of the image gets worked around that.

Even though it was first introduced with Windows Vista, Windows XP can be imaged as WIM as well. Examples can be seen in the Windows Embedded Point of Service and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs operating systems.

ESD Installation
This variant of Windows Imaging Format has been introduced with Windows 8.1 and uses less space than the .WIM format.