Microsoft Windows XP Embedded provides the System Deployment Image (SDI) feature to help you to quickly deploy run-time images to your Windows XP Embedded-based devices. Use SDI to create staging areas for run-time images and to decrease the time it takes to prepare run-time images for deployment. SDI also provides a simple way to transfer a run-time image from a development system to a device.
In a common usage scenario, the Windows Embedded Studio tools are used to create a customized run-time image. The SDI feature is then used to create virtual disk drives on the development workstation where the run-time image is to be staged. These virtual disk drives serve as staging and testing areas for the run-time image. There is no need to create a separate disk partition to validate a run-time image before deployment.
The SDI feature simplifies the deployment of run-time images to Windows XP Embedded-based devices by allowing a run-time image that is located on a virtual disk to be saved as an .sdi file on a CD-ROM or in a network location. An .sdi file includes the information that is required to load a run-time image onto an existing file system and to boot successfully. SDI makes it possible for a device that is booted from a floppy disk to locate and extract the saved .sdi file. These capabilities greatly reduce the number of manual tasks that are required to deploy a run-time image.
The SDI feature includes the following components:
- SDI Driver. This component allows you to create file-backed virtual disk drives.
- SDI Loader. This component is a GUI tool that allows you to create, add, mount, enable or disable virtual disk drives.
- SDI Manager. This component is a command-line tool that allows you to manipulate image files in offline mode. This component is used to deploy run-time images to a disk or disk partition.
- System Deployment Image file to Hard Drive (SDI2HD). This component is a 16-bit DOS tool that extracts run-time image data from an .sdi file and writes it to the hard drive of the run-time system. SDI2HD makes it simple to deploy updates. You can deploy updates quickly and inexpensively by using a CD-ROM that contains the image and the tool. Alternatively, you can boot from a floppy that contains the SDI2HD tool, log onto a network where the run-time image resides, and download the image to your Windows XP Embedded-based device.
The SDI feature provides benefits that can lead to significantly reduced deployment costs. By creating a streamlined, end-to-end process for image development, SDI can increase developer productivity and promote deployments that are both agile and scalable. The benefits of using SDI include:
- Efficient staging, transfer, and deployment of run-time images.
- Automation of some deployment tasks. Using an .sdi file automates traditionally manual tasks such as file copying; all run-time image files are stored in a single .sdi file that is deployed to the device.
- Flexibility to boot a device from a floppy disk and to extract a run-time image to a hard disk from either a network location or CD-ROM. The ability to save an .sdi file to CD-ROM creates great portability and flexibility in many deployment scenarios.
- Greater deployment efficiency and scalability because all necessary deployment information is saved in an .sdi file. For example, using an .sdi file eliminates the need to individually format and partition the hard disk of every device that is to receive an identical image. All format and partition information is saved in the .sdi file and implemented automatically.
For more information about creating a run-time image for mass deployment, see to How To Create a Run-Time Image for Mass Deployment in the MSDN Library. For more information about deploying run-time images, see Deploying a Run-Time Image in the MSDN Library.
For information about remote booting, see Remote Boot Overview in the Microsoft Windows Embedded Developer Center.
For general information about Windows XP Embedded, see the Windows XP Embedded documentation in the MSDN Library.