Administrator Guide

Table Of Contents
Unified Write Filter
About this task
Unified Write Filter (UWF) is a sector-based write filter that protects your storage media. UWF redirects the write attempts to
a virtual overlay, and intercepts the write attempts to the protected volume. This improves the stability, reliability of the device
thereby reducing the wear on write media, such as solid-state drives. In UWF, overlay is a virtual storage space that saves
changes made on the protected volume. If the file system attempts to modify a protected sector, UWF will copy the sector from
the protected volume to the overlay, and the overlay is updated. If an application tries to read from that sector, UWF returns
the data from the overlay, so that the system appears to have written to the volume, while the volume remains unchanged.For
more information, see the Unified Write Filter documentation at www.microsoft.com.
CAUTION: Failure to keep the Write Filter turned on (except for regular maintenance or Application/Driver
installs or upgrades) will prematurely wear out your Flash/SSD storage and invalidate your warranty.
Next steps
The following are the default file folders excluded from being filtered by UWF:
C:\Users\Admin\AppData\LocalLow
C:\Users\User\AppData\LocalLow
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Defender
C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log
C:\Windows\Temp\MpCmdRun.log
C:\Windows\system32\spp
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender
C:\program files\Wyse\WDA\Config
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Wyse
C:\Wyse\WCM\ConfigMgmt
C:\Wyse\WCM
C:\Wyse\WDA
The following are the default registries excluded from being filtered by UWF:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WNT\DWCADTool
HKLM\Software\Wyse\ConfigMgmt
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WNT\UWFSvc
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\HomeGroup
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList
HKLM\SYSTEM\WPA
CAUTION:
Please follow proper write filter and Windows Page File usage instructions at all times. Such
instructions include making sure that the write filter is enabled during regular use and is disabled only
temporarily by an administrator when required for image upgrades, applying security patches, registry changes
and application installation. The write filter should be re-enabled as soon as such tasks are completed. Such
instructions further include never enabling the Windows Page File feature during regular use of the thin client.
Any operation of a Dell Wyse Windows Embedded Thin Client with the write filter turned off during regular
use and/or with the Windows Page file enabled will prematurely wear out your Flash/SSD storage, decrease
performance and decrease the lifespan of the product. Dell is not responsible for, and will not, warrant, support,
repair or replace any thin client device or component that fails to operate properly due to a failure to follow
these instructions.
Additional administrator utility and settings information 31