Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 (Windows® XP Embedded)

Microsoft Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 (formerly XP-Embedded) is the operating system and development platform that delivers the power of the Windows operating system in componentized form to enable you to rapidly build reliable and advanced Embedded devices. Specifically, it’s comprised of three things:

  • It’s a componentized version of Microsoft Windows® XP Professional – meaning you have the ability to select which Windows® XP Professional features to implement in your device. You can choose out of 12'000 components to build your own XP.
  • Over and above the Windows® XP Professional features, it includes embedded specific features, such as the ability to run headless, diskless, and boot from flash, USB or CD.
  • To bring these features together, Microsoft provides a toolkit called the Windows® Embedded Studio that enables you to build customized operating systems. The Target Designer, Target Analyser, Component Designer and Database Manager are included in the XP-Embedded Studio package.

Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 is the same system as Windows® XP Embedded but with SP3. There is a SP3 update for XP Embedded as well.
Find here an Overview Datasheet about Microsoft Embedded Standard 2009 and here an Overview Datasheet about Microsoft XP-Embedded.
Visit the secured download section  for an Overview Presentation about Microsoft Embedded Standard 2009 and XP-Embedded SP2 as well as for the actual Windows® XP-Embedded Roadmap.

New in Windows® Embedded Standard 2009

What’s New in Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 / XP Embedded SP3

Naming and Branding

  • The name is now Windows® Embedded Standard 2009

New Components and Tools

  • .net framework 3.5
  • New Internet Explorer 7
  • New Media Player 11
  • Microsoft Silverlight
  • Support for server 2008 (RDP 6.1)
  • Windows server update service (SUS)
  • Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA)

What’s New in Windows® XP-Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007

Naming and Branding

  • The name is now Windows® XP-Embedded SP2 FP2007
  • Changing branding color from orange to blue

Redesigned Build Architecture

  • New Build Tool: XPECON.WSF
  • Whole build process can now be done over command line

New Components and Tools

  • USB Flash Boot
  • Registry Filter
  • File Based Write Filter (FBWF)
  • Installation support macro components for Microsoft SQL Express 2005 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Edition
  • Font and CodePage Application Compatibility components
  • Additional Locales and Keyboard Layouts
  • DirectShow Indeo Codecs
  • Components for orphan files: Cacls.exe and Gpupdate.exe
  • New Category: Embedded Enabling Features - to help quickly find the components/features unique for XP Embedded
  • User Account and Administrator Account Settings
  • System Cloning Tool Settings
  • Dr. Watson Debugger Settings
  • Standard Start Menu Short Cuts component updated
  • The Windows Installer Service component has been updated to support the new Windows Installer version 3.1.

Updated EWF

  • RAM (Reg) has been added as an Overlay Type option
  • An option for HORM has been added and the need to manually add the resmany.dat file has been removed. You must still enable hibernation under the platform component in order to enable HORM.
  • New UI setting page

Footprint Reduction

  • Break dependencies that have migrate from service pack to service pack, and are not required anymore
  • Dependencies base on Registry keys have been fixed.
  • SMS Client - Remote Assistance Channel dependency on Help and Support was removed as an optional dependency. This can result in a footprint reduction of up to 30MB for some devices.
  • Internet Explorer dependency features broken out
  • Various Feature dependencies have been removed (i.E. Outlook Express)
  • Internet Explorer Technologies Macro to selectively add items

Target Designer Development Tools

Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 Studio comes with all of the development tools needed to design, create, build and deploy your project. Target Designer for Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building customized embedded operating system designs.

Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Dev Tools 1 

With the Component Designer, you can easily create your own components (Application and Drivers) and import normal XP Professional Drivers to create a Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 component.

 Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Dev Tools 2

You manage with the Database Manager all the components in the SQL Server running in the background for Windows® Embedded Standard 2009.

Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Dev Tools 3

Design Process

First, you have to run the Target Analyser Tool on the Target Machine. This can be done on a preinstalled XP Professional or boot from a Windows PE. This will give you a device.pmq file with a list off all hardware devices found in the Target System. This file can now be imported into the Target Designer Tool or in the Component Designer to generate one component for your hardware. Your own drivers and application can be imported into the Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 component database with the Database Manager. After you included all the hardware drivers into your build, you can now choose and configure the software components until you have fulfilled your own OS requirements. 

Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 Key Features

Key Facts

Description

Low Cost

Low upfront capital investment through free evaluation tools, low cost development tools and lower licensing costs than XP Professional.

Processor Architectures

Because Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 is based on the same binary than XP-Professional, the processor support is the same. All x86 starting with a Pentium II 266 are supported as well as all x86 derivates.

Modular

More than 12'000 components to select. 9'500 are hardware drivers. (Same as XP Professional SP3)

No Activation

In Windows® Embedded Standard 2009, there is no activation like XP Pro. You enter once a PID code into your image in the Target Designer for all the systems.

Small Footprint

The kernel use around 10MB of the footprint. Normal industrial XP-Embedded devices use around 140-210 MB, a full featured build around 800 MB. The application is not included.

Reliability

Special functionalities for embedded devices are included. You can make your system read-only with the Enhanced Write Filter (EWF). You can switch off the device safely without shutting down Windows.
Also booting from read-only medias is supported as well as from flash and from USB devices.
Visit the secured download section for a document about the Embedded Enabling Features (EEF).

Time-To-Market

Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 provides embedded developers with a unified set of tools to build and deploy customized Windows XP devices.

Industrial Standard

Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 interoperates with industry standards and existing Microsoft desktop and server technologies to help you create differentiated devices for a broad range of device categories, from commercial devices to consumer electronics products. Microsoft committed to a ten-year extended support for Windows® Embedded Standard and XP Embedded.

Security

You can take all advantages from the SP3 features (Firewall). Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 devices are not able to connect over internet to the Microsoft Update Server because the device is componized. All the normal patches from XP Professional as well as SUS (System Update Server) and SMS (System Management Server) will work with Windows® Embedded Standard. There is a easy ways to update a Windows® Embedded Standard 2009 Image with the integrated DUA (Device Update Agent) service.
Visit the secured download section for an Document about security using Windows® Embedded Standard 2009.

Application Development

All applications and drivers from XP Professional will work on Windows® Embedded Standard 2009. No rewriting or porting is necessary.