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Starter Guide for Windows® 11 IoT Enterprise



 

By Sean D. Liming and John R. Malin

Windows® 11 IoT Enterprise is a special version of Windows 11 designed for OEMs to build 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.

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

Lockdown – Security is becoming more paramount in a globally connected world. Three chapters break down the different features to lockdown a system: shell interface, filters, and built in security features.

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

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

There are 15 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.

Book Details

Printed Edition
Publisher: Annabooks (June 2026)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 979-8-9854172-6-5

 

 
 

Software and Hardware Requirements

Development system with Windows® 11

Windows ADK for Windows Windows 11 and WinPE Add-on



 

Downloads:

Book Files - Zip file contains files for use with exercises.





 

Table of Contents:

  
  1    START HERE
1.1    WINDOWS 11: HERE WE ARE AGAIN!
1.2    INTEL ARCHITECTURE ONLY, NO ARM
1.3    WINDOWS XP EMBEDDED AND WINDOWS EMBEDDED STANDARD 7
1.4    WHAT IS NOT WORKING, STILL NOT WORKING, NEW PROBLEMS, AND A REQUEST
1.5    ABOUT THE BOOK: WINDOWS IS NOT THE CRITICAL PATH
1.6    DEVELOPMENT MACHINE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
1.7    TARGET HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: CHOOSE THE CORRECT TARGET HARDWARE THAT ADDRESSES PERFORMANCE AND SECURITY
1.8    THE LICENSE AND ACTIVATION STORY
1.8.1    Getting Signed Up with the Customer License Agreement(CLA)
1.8.2    Runtime key and Activation
1.9    THREE THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND – DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU
1.9.1    Application Development – Go with .NET 10 or higher, UWP IS DEAD!
1.9.2    Windows is not for Everyone – Linux versus Windows
1.9.3    Microsoft’s Manufacturing Guide versus the My Recommended Workflow    11
1.10    OTHER RESOURCES
1.11    SUMMARY: STAY ON THE RIGHT PATH

2    PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
2.1    PROJECT INQUIRY DRIVES THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
2.2    DERIVING A SPECIFICATION
2.3    SUMMARY: PLAN AHEAD

3    TOOLS AND SYSTEM SETUP
3.1    EXERCISE 301: INSTALLATION OF THE ADK WITH SIM OPTION
3.2    EXERCISE 302: CREATE THE DEVELOPMENT FOLDER AND SUBFOLDERS
3.3    EXERCISE 303: CREATE CATALOG
3.4    EXERCISE 304: DOWNLOAD BOOK FILE RESOURCES
3.5    SUMMARY: READY TO GO

4    WINDOWS IOT DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW
4.1    DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW AND ITERATION
4.2    THE BASICS PART 1: GATHER ITEMS FROM TARGET INSTALLATION
4.3    EXERCISE 401: CAPTURE THE DEVICE DRIVERS
4.4    WINDOWS SYSTEM IMAGE MANAGER (SIM) INTERFACE OVERVIEW
4.5    INSTALLATION PASSES AND THE ANSWER FILE
4.6    COMPONENTS AND THE PASSES: PRESET INSTALLATION ANSWERS
4.7    THE DISTRIBUTION SHARE
4.7.1    $OEM$ Folders
4.7.2    Out-of-box Drivers
4.7.3    Packages
4.8    THE BASICS PART 2: CREATE DISTRIBUTION SHARE AND ANSWER FILE
4.9    EXERCISE 402: CREATE AND SET UP THE DISTRIBUTION SHARE
4.10    EXERCISE 403: CREATE A NEW ANSWER FILE
4.11    LOOK INSIDE THE ANSWER FILE
4.12    EX403.XML FILE REUSE AND FUTURE EXERCISES
4.13    THE BASICS PART 3: PASS 7 SYNCHRONOUS COMMANDS
4.13.1    Other Pass 7 Synchronous Commands Scripts for Either Answer File
4.13.2    Utilities from Annabooks
4.14    THE LIMITS OF SIM
4.15    THE BASICS PART 4: TEST THE BASICS
4.16    EXERCISE 404: CREATE THE BOOTABLE USB FLASH DISK USING RUFUS
4.17    EXERCISE 405: BUILD THE CONFIGURATION SET, ADDRESS OUT-OF-BOX DRIVER ISSUE, AND INSTALL THE IMAGE
4.18    ERROR DURING INSTALLATION
4.19    HYPER-V
4.20    MULTIPLE PROJECTS
4.21    SYSPREP PHASE – YOU MUST SYSPREP FOR MANUFACTURING!!!!!!
4.21.1    Sysprep Command
4.21.2    Audit Mode for Baseline Images
4.21.3    Yes, You Must Sysprep
4.22    EXERCISE 406: CREATE A SYSPREP UNATTENDED ANSWER FILE AND RUN SYSPREP
4.23    EXERCISE 407: CAPTURE, APPLY, AND FFU
4.24    CUSTOMIZATION PHASE
4.25    LOCKDOWN PHASE: ARCHITECT THE OS
4.26    MASTER IMAGE PHASE: Q/A AND ACTIVATION CONSIDERATIONS
4.27    EXERCISE 408: VOLUME ACTIVATION MANAGEMENT TOOL (VAMT)
4.28    SUMMARY: FOLLOW THE FLOW

5    UPDATED INSTALL.WIM PHASE
5.1    EXERCISE 501: UPDATING THE INSTALL.WIM
5.2    WUSA.EXE ALTERNATIVES TO MSU INJECTED INTO INSTALL.WIM
5.3    SSU FOR WINDOWS 10
5.4    EXERCISE 502: ADDING FEATURES-ON-DEMAND (FOD)
5.5    WARNING: PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
5.6    EX503: GENERATE A NEW CATALOG FILE
5.7    WINDOWS INSTALLATION DISK SPACE REQUIREMENTS
5.8    SUMMARY: SPEEDING UP THE ITERATION PROCESS.

6    LANGUAGE PACKAGE INTEGRATION
6.1    HISTORY: THE BIG PROJECT GOING FROM WINDOWS XP TO WINDOWS 7 AND NOW WINDOWS 10 AND 11
6.2    ISO 639 STANDARD, LIP VERSUS LXP, AND THE IMPORTANT DVD ISOS
6.3    DISM AND POWERSHELL CMDLETS
6.4    RESEARCH RESULT 1: BASIC ANSWER FILE AND INSTALLATION MEDIA
6.5    RESEARCH RESULT 2: INJECTING INTO THE INSTALL.WIM – THINK LONG TERM!
6.6    RESEARCH RESULT 3: LANGUAGE PACK CAB FILE INSTALL VERSUS LP DOWNLOAD
6.7    RESEARCH RESULT 4: MULTIPLE USER ACCOUNTS
6.8    EXERCISE 601: UPDATING THE INSTALL.WIM WITH LANGUAGE PACKAGES.
6.9    SUMMARY: GOING GLOBAL

7    SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
7.1    CHOICE OF BOOT MEDIA: EMMC VERSUS M.2
7.2    UNIFIED WRITE FILTER EFFECTS ON SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
7.3    CHOICE OF APPLICATION TYPE
7.4    OPTIMIZE .NET APPS WITH NGEN.EXE AND CROSSGEN.EXE
7.5    EXERCISE 701: CREATE A CUSTOM POWER PLAN
7.6    PERFORMANCE OPTIONS AND REGISTRY KEYS
7.7    WINDOWS SERVICES
7.8    SCHEDULED TASKS
7.9    SUMMARY: MAKE THE SYSTEM AN APPLIANCE AND TWEAK PERFORMANCE

8    REAL-TIME SUPPORT
8.1    WHAT IS REAL-TIME?
8.1.1    Hard Real-Time, Soft Real-Time, and Determinism
8.2    SPLIT SYSTEM
8.3    INTERNAL WINDOWS SOFT REAL-TIME SUPPORT- NEW
8.4    TENASYS® INTIME® FOR WINDOWS®
8.5    SUMMARY: REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS ARE POSSIBLE

9    FOOTPRINT REDUCTION
9.1    THE VALUE OF COMPONENTIZATION
9.2    IMAGE SIZE COMPARISON
9.3    THE COMPLEXITY OF COMPONENTIZATION
9.4    HOW DID WE GET HERE?
9.5    REDUCTION POWERSHELL SCRIPT FOR CORE OS
9.6    MANAGING FEATURES-ON DEMAND PACKAGES
9.7    OTHER DISK IMAGE SIZE TRICKS
9.7.1    Disable Features
9.7.2    Turn off Hibernation and Disable Virtual Memory
9.7.3    Remove a copy of the Windows Custom Installer   
9.7.4    Compact OS
9.7.5    Clean up Windows Update
9.7.6    Remove WinRE Partition
9.7.7    Removing Edge
9.8    EXERCISE 901: MINIMIZING THE WINDOWS 11 IOT ENTERPRISE LTSC 2024 FOOTPRINT
9.9    WINDOWS STORE: ADDING APPS INTO THE IMAGE
9.10    SIZE MATTERS

10    LOCKDOWN PART 1: USER EXPERIENCE
10.1    DEVICE LOCKDOWN FEATURES
10.2    BOOTUP SCREENS
10.2.1    BIOS Splash Screen
10.2.2    Microsoft-Windows-Embedded-BootExp Component
10.3    LOGON SCREEN
10.3.1    Microsoft-Windows-Embedded-EmbeddedLogon Component
10.3.2    Custom Logon / Lock Screen Background Image
10.3.3    Autologon
10.4    SHELL LAUNCHING – FINAL APPLICATION TO RUN ON STARTUP
10.4.1    Some Background on Launching the Shell
10.4.2    Shell Launcher V1 and a new issue for Windows 11
10.4.3    Shell Launcher V2
10.5    EXERCISE 1001 – SHELL LAUNCHER V1
10.6    EXERCISE 1002 – SHELL LAUNCHER V2
10.7    SHELL LAUNCHER V1 AND V2 COMPARISON
10.8    ARCHITECTURAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR CUSTOM SHELL
10.8.1    Architectural Questions
10.8.2    When Explorer is not the Shell
10.8.3    Update Considerations – Shell to Launch as the Main Application
10.8.4    SJJ Shell
10.8.5    32-Bit versus 64-Bit Applications as the Shell
10.9    SCREEN RESOLUTION, DPI, MULTI-MONITOR, AND SCREEN ROTATION – MORE UTILITIES FROM ANNABOOKS
10.9.1    Dsiplaymgr.exe
10.9.2    MultiDisplaymgr.exe
10.9.3    AudioVolMgr.exe
10.10    MANUFACTURING – WHEN TO ENABLE SHELL LAUNCHER IN THE IMAGE
10.11    SUMMARY: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

11    LOCKDOWN PART 2: UNIFIED WRITE FILTER AND KEYBOARD FILTER
11.1    UNIFIED WRITE FILTER (UWF)
11.1.1    UWF Architecture
11.1.2    Application File I/O Interaction with UWF
11.1.3    Registry Filtering
11.1.4    Hibernate Once, Resume Many (HORM) – Not Worth It
11.1.5    Enable UWF in SIM and UWF Settings
11.1.6    Managing UWF – UWFMGR and WMI
11.1.7    Common Write-through Section
11.1.8    UWF Servicing
11.2    MITIGATING SUDDEN POWER-OFF ISSUES
11.3    KEYBOARD FILTER
11.3.1    Keyboard Filter Component and Settings
11.3.2    Keyboard Filter Service, Keyboard Filter WMI API, and Utilities
11.4    EDGE GESTURES DISABLE
11.5    TOAST MESSAGE DISABLE
11.6    EXERCISE 1101: UNIFIED WRITE FILTER AND KEYBOARD FILTER
11.6.1    Part 1: Create the Answer File and Build the Configuration Set
11.6.2    Part 2: Testing UWF Registry Filtering
11.6.3    Part 3 Testing UWF File/Folder Filtering
11.6.4    Part 4 Testing the Keyboard Filter
11.7    ARCHITECTURE: WHEN TO ENABLE THESE FEATURES
11.8    SUMMARY: DRIVE C AND KEYBOARD HOT KEYS

12    LOCKDOWN PART 3: SECURITY
12.1    WINDOWS SECURITY EVOLUTION
12.2    HARDWARE AND FIRMWARE
12.3    WINDOWS FIREWALL SETTINGS AND POLICY FILE
12.4    ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE
12.5    CUSTOM SECURITY TEMPLATE
12.6    CUSTOM GROUP POLICIES
12.7    BASELINE SECURITY AND SECURITY COMPLIANCE TOOLKIT
12.8    EXERCISE 1201 – CREATING AND IMPLEMENTING CUSTOM SECURITY SOLUTIONS
12.8.1    Part 1: Creating a Custom Security Template
12.8.2    Part 2: Group Policy Settings
12.8.3    Part 3: Create Answer File and Deploy and Test the Security Policy and Group Policy Setup
12.9    DRIVER BLOCKING: GROUP POLICY: DEVICE INSTALLATION RESTRICTIONS (DIR)
12.9.1    Top Level Policies
12.9.2    Control by Device ID
12.9.3    Control by Device Class
12.9.4    Other Policy Settings
12.9.5    Scenarios and Setup
12.10    TPM CHIP
12.11    BITLOCKER
12.12    SECUREBOOT, UEFI, SECURELAUNCH
12.13    VIRTUAL-BASED SECURITY (VBS)
12.14    CONFIGURING SECURELAUNCH AND VBS
12.14.1    Enable with Group Policy
12.14.2    Enable with Registry Keys
12.15    EXERCISE 1202 – VBS
12.16    COMPLETE WINDOWS BOOT PROCESS
12.17    APPLICATION CONTROL
12.17.1    AC Policy File
12.17.2    Double Checking and Troubleshooting
12.17.3    Warning! PowerShell Language Modes, UWP, and Shell Launcher V2 Bridge Script Issues
12.18    EXERCISE 1203: APPLICATION CONTROL POLICY CREATION AND TEST
12.19    BIOSECURITY ACCESS
12.20    SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD FOR THE END CUSTOMER
12.21    SUMMARY: HOW MUCH DO YOU LOCK DOWN?

13    MANUFACTURING AND SYSTEM SERVICING
13.1    MANUFACTURING AND SERVICING: ARCHITECTURE, ARCHITECTURE, … ARCHITECTURE!
13.2    MANUFACTURING OPTIONS AND THOUGHTS
13.3    UPDATE OPTIONS AND RE-ACTIVATION
13.4    UWF SERVICING MODE
13.5    DISABLE WINDOWS UPDATE: CONTROL THY SYSTEM
13.6    WINDOWS UPDATE STANDALONE INSTALL - WUSA.EXE UTILITY
13.7    DEPLOYMENT IMAGE SERVICING AND MANAGEMENT – DISM.EXE UTILITY
13.7.1    Capture / Apply FFU
13.7.2    Capture / Apply WIM
13.8    CUSTOM WINPE FOR MANUFACTURING AND FIELD SUPPORT
13.8.1    WinPE Optional Components
13.8.2    Dual boot with Windows and WinPE for Factory Restore
13.8.3    Custom WinPE Shell
13.9    EXERCISE 1301: CUSTOM WINPE
13.9.1    Creating the custom WinPE Image
13.9.2    USB Install
13.9.3    ISO Install
13.9.4    Run on the Target System
13.10    SUMMARY: DON’T FORGET ABOUT MANUFACTURING AND SERVICING

14    PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER WITH THE PROJECT TEMPLATE
14.1    CREATE AZURE IOT CENTRAL APPLICATION
14.1.1    Creating a new Azure IoT Central Application
14.1.2    Adding Capabilities and Creating the View
14.1.3    Gathering the Connection Information
14.1.4    Install Azure CLI and Create a Device Key
14.2    ADD CONNECTION INFORMATION WEATHERSTATIONSIM APPLICATION IN VISUAL STUDIO PROJECT
14.2.1    Test the Application
14.3    WINDOWS 11 IOT ENTERPRISE NEW PROJECT TEMPLATE AND THE WORKFLOW
14.3.1    Project Specification
14.3.2    Setting up the New Project
14.3.3    Gathering the Basics and Custom Install.wim
14.3.4    Updating the Sysprep unattended file
14.3.5    Customization
14.3.6    Lockdown Implementation
14.3.7    Build and Deploy
14.3.8    Clean Up the Image  and Run Application Control PowerShell Script and
14.3.9    Run Sysprep and Power Up to Test
14.4    DELETE THE WEATHER APPLICATION IN AZURE IOT CENTRAL
14.5    SUMMARY

15    FINAL PERSPECTIVE
15.1    PULLED INTO THE EMBEDDED MARKET BY SOFT MARKETING
15.2    WINDOWS CE GOING DEEPER INTO THE EMBEDDED MARKET
15.3    WINDOWS NT EMBEDDED TO WINDOWS 11 IOT ENTERPRISE
15.4    TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS MADE WINDOWS CE OBSOLETE
15.4.1    Rise of Windows NT
15.4.2    Billions of Devices Connected to the Internet and What Was Lost
15.4.3    Windows CE Fallout: Products that have Come and Gone
15.5    CURRENT PRODUCT LINE UP
15.5.1    Windows 11 Issues and Leadership Focus
15.6    WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE CHANGE
15.6.1    Fix Windows Install for the Out-of-Box Drivers path in the AutoUnattend.xml file
15.6.2    Disconnect from IoT and Bring Back Embedded
15.6.3    Componentize Windows!
15.6.4    Better idea than Activation
15.6.5    Replace Windows CE with Azure IoT C SDK – Silicon to Cloud
15.7    THE FUTURE IS IN MOTION
     
 





 


 
 

   
   

 

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