Warning!! This is a tool for advanced users. Some functions may break your system and void your warranty. Read below before using.

Windows versions since XP are componentized in assemblies. Each assembly defines one file or primitive component, with all its registry settings and dependencies.

Windows contains a database of all installed assemblies, which is called SxS (from "Side-by-Side Assemblies").

This tool scans these assemblies, analyzes their contents and lets you inspect how your operating system is composed of these primitives. It inspects:

• Files
• Registry keys and values
• Services
• Scheduled Tasks
• Shell extensions
• And more.

More screenshots

Have you ever wondered what does some service do, what is it needed for, why is it installed? Now you can figure it out.

Additionally this tool supports:

• Unpacking SxS files (credit to Aunty Mel Package Extractor)
• Extracting assembly contents

The above uses of the application are safe. They change nothing on your PC and only inspect its data.

See also: CBSEnum for more higher level and OS-supported management of components.

This project is still in initial development. Many things don't work or are not polished. Use on your own judgement.

You need 64-bit SQLite3.dll in the application folder to run the app. Some functions require administrator permissions, but most read-only functions don't, and you will be safer to run it as a user by default.

Run ManifestEnum and let the application build the database. It will take a long time at first, but subsequent runs will not rebuild it and if anything changes you can refresh it from the main menu without rebuilding.

The interface presents you with a list of all assemblies, which you can filter, and a few tabs which provide a view into your computer's resources (files, registry, tasks, services) as defined by the assemblies. You can quickfilter those views too, and you can navigate and click resources to see which assemblies are responsible for those.

Warning! Alert! The following functions are experimental. You will break your warranty and may break your PC. You should not use these on a PC where you have any important data.

• Uninstalling deployment assemblies (those that can be uninstalled via OS)
• Uninstalled ANY assemblies (by converting them to deployments)
• Installing deployment assemblies manually

This tool contains a number of algorithms and info about the SxS internals which are hard to find and you might perhaps find useful:

• Unpacking algorithms (credit to Aunty Mel) -- see MSDeltaLib.pas and SxsExpand.pas
• Keyform generation algorithms (keyforms are hash-like additions to the names throughout SxS) -- see SxsUtils.pas
• SxS registry (COMPONENTS hive) internals partially explained -- see SxsUtils.pas
• Assembly management via IAssemblyCache (installing and uninstalling) -- see WinSxS.pas
• Fast SAX XML parser built on MSXML for speedy SxS manifest cache parsing

Useful parts are given extensive comments.

You can also just use the already built assembly database (SQLite3) for your needs.

Pascal programmers can even just do TAssemblyDb.Create(filename) and then call things like Db.Assemblies.Get(). The database code is in AssemblyDb.*.pas

This project also contains an effort to properly componentize modern versions of Windows (7+) into a set of distinct applications, technologies and features which can be uninstalled without affecting other components, and explain their purpose and relations.

From the looks of it, CBS Components should have been used for this purpose, but Microsoft have instead decided to lump all OS features together into a few huge components where features are not listed separately.

And there's no way to override this grouping and introduce more nuanced packages with those same assemblies (long story short, assemblies have to be signed with the same key that signs their host CBS package).

For this reason, ManifestEnum introduces Bundles. A Bundle is a grouping of assemblies similar to a Component in CBS, but detached from it. A Bundle is defined by a Bundle text file which lists all assemblies contained in it (and in the future perhaps CBS Components) and perhaps comments explaining their purpose.

ManifestEnum scans Bundle structure in the BundleData folder next to the application and displays the assemblies grouped like that.

An effort is being made to group existing assemblies into bundles and categorize bundles according to their purpose, so that the whole operating system is properly understood.

It is not yet clear whether this is a realistic task and whether the results will be useful, so the bundles are not included by default in the release folder.

To enable bundles, copy or junction BundleData from the project root to the release folder, but do not commit it.