If you are interested in more details about the new lockdown features in the upcoming Windows Embedded Standard 8 then you should read the blog post in the new Approaching Embedded Intelligently blog from Microsoft:

What is lockdown and branding in Windows Embedded Standard 8, and where are my EEFs-

It covers all new features such as the new Write Filter, the Edge Gesture Filter, Branding, etc.

The new version of Windows Offline Configurator now supports the CTP2 version of Windows Embedded Standard 8. The evaluation version of the tool can be used to install Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP1 & CTP2 for free.

The benefits of the tool are that you can configure and install your Windows Embedded Standard 7, Windows Embedded 8 CTP1 & CTP2 and Windows Embedded POSReady 7 images offline on your fast development machine. Windows Offline Configurator also adds additional screens to the setup experience that allow you to configure everything that is needed so that there will not be any additional input prompt when booting the created image the first time.
During disk selection the tool allows you to create, mount and unmount VHD files and use them as setup target. This is the easiest way to deploy your image to your target device!

When you use Windows Embedded POSReady 7 you know that you can only configure your image after it was already installed by using DISM (or DISMUI). With Windows Offline Configurator you can do this already prior the installation similar to a Windows Embedded Standard 7 setup experience but with additional features!

Here are some screenshots from the new version:

Microsoft published a blog article explaining why XP Embedded and Windows Embedded Standard 2009 cannot have Windows Update.

You can read the whole article on the new Approaching Embedded Intelligently blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/archive/2007/04/04/why-can-t-i-use-windows-update-with-xpe.aspx

I have released a new version of DISMUI that enables support for Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP2.

It also contains several small changes mostly related to the new CTP.

Microsoft has released the updated version of the Community Technical Preview of Windows Embedded Standard 8. It is available for download on the Microsoft Connect website at https://connect.microsoft.com/windowsembedded.

There was a small bug within the latest version that prevented the tool from exporting any driver. Please download the new fixed version.

I have added a new feature to Driver Extractor that allows you to export the device information of your current device to a PMQ file. The file format is identical to the TAP (Target Analyzer Probe) output.
Additionally I have added command line arguments so you can easily export all drivers from the command line.

These two features allow you to export the drivers for a specific system automatically so you can import them either into your Target Designer Component Database or Windows Embedded Standard 8 Catalog and use the exported PMQ file to automatically add the drivers to your image.

Arguments

DriverExtractor.exe [tap] [export] [wes8|xp|copy] [path <path>]

tap – will export the device information to devices.pmq in the current working directory. If path is specified it will be stored in this location.

export – will export all drivers in the format specified (wes8/xp/copy)

wes8 – Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP1 Module

xp – XP Embedded / Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Component

copy – copy drivers only

path – specifies the output path

Microsofts Approaching Embedded Intelligently blog features the current version of DISMUI.
J.T. Kimbell has written a fantastic post about the tool that also includes a demo video showing DISMUI in action.

You can read the whole blog post here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/archive/2012/05/24/dismui-an-awesome-community-created-tool.aspx

The video can be seen on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0i86F-XClI4

I have created a new version of my tool Driver Extractor which is now capable of creating Modules for Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP1. The tool allows you to extract already installed drivers from your system with just a few clicks.
For the export you can also choose to package the driver into a Module (EMD) for Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP1, a Component (SLD) for Windows XP Embedded & Windows Embedded Standard 2009 or you can just export the files.

The tool can be very helpful if you just have a system that has all the drivers pre-installed and you don’t have the driver CD at hand. It also saves you a lot of time because you don’t need to work with Module Designer or Component Designer to create your packages.

With the new version you can also import an INF file to create a component out of it – so the driver must not be installed on the system to extract it.

Also there are enhancements and bugfixes for the extraction routine.

Usage

Run the tool and select the devices of which you want to extract the drivers from.

Double-click a device to see which files are installed for the current device.

In the toolbar you can select the output format:

• Windows Embedded Standard 8 CTP1 Module (EMD)
• Windows XP Embedded / Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Component (SLD)
• Export only

Click the Export button and select an output directory.

This will export all drivers to the selected format in the specified output folder.

If you want to convert a driver to a module or component you can select File / Import INF and select the INF file of the driver.

Then again select an output folder. Driver Extractor will create the package there.

Microsoft launched a new blog called “Approching Embedded Intelligently”.

Microsoft defines the goal of the blog to “bring together a range of voices to spotlight Windows Embedded new and information and reflect the evolving world of intelligent systems and specialized devices.”

The first post is already very interesting because it points to very helpful tools for Windows Embedded Standard 7 (Package Mapper and Answer File Diff).

To read the whole blog please visit: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/