The result of a concerted XML-based approach to operating system component management is configuration files like unattend.txt and sysprep.inf have "died" and have been replaced by unattend.xml.

"Every single module of the operating system is an isolated entity in the xml file," Hynes said, adding if an administrator wanted to delete games from an SOE, the image can be edited offline.

When deploying Vista, the product key determines which components get extracted from the image.

For deployment, Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is a replacement for Windows 200x Remote Installation Services and has native support for deploying and capturing wim images, so no longer will administrators have to "blow an image down" to a machine and modify it.

Another management tool is the Windows System Image Manager (SIM), which replaces the old Setup Manager.