.WIM

Hello

I have made .WIM  disc of Win 10 rather than .ESD so I can fully utilize DISM.

Is it true that an ISO fie can be either but the .ESD is compressed and does not work wiith all DISM commands?

If so, you should not look for just any ISO file if you plan on using all the DISM commands - correct? It should be .WIM.

I have saved all operating systems from 7 -10 (but likely as .ESD) except for 10 which is  .WiM. 

I say they are .ESD b/c Macrium imaged them.

I know it is a subjective question but, should I delete the operating systems or convert them to .WIM?

Downloading a .WIM is easier than converting .ESD but I do not now of any .WIM downloads for 7 , 8 and 8.1.

Perhaps converting an. ESD file if the occasion arises might be practical?

TY

Peter

really not understanding what your trying to accomplish here peter, if the images are good and can be used to restore your pc when you have problems then i don't see a need to convert them so you can alter them with dism. (think macrium stores backups as xml files.)

an iso file format is a completely seperate thing from both .wim and .esd file formats so isn't either.

file format :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_format

you have made a seperate backup image to use with dism so why risk corrupting your previous backup images?

also curious about why you feel the need to use dism on an image in the first place?

don't think i've ever used dism to fix anything except maybe on a running system with problems when sfc /scannow was unable to fix things.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/26512-dism-fixing-component-store-corruption-windows-8-a.html

also pretty certain with win 10 you can use dism with the .esd file format anyway.

Hello terry

I only use SFC then DISM if necessary.

I recently saw a program that expands DISM's capabilities yet needs to .WIM format not .ESD as MS ends up as.

I may never be able to follow through but am hoping I may learn from this.

NLite has a nice program that converts and does a lot of the work. I will leave my images as is but was wondering if one can convert an image.

When I have had issues in the past and SFC could not fix them, I used a DISM command which was successful.

I have some more reading to do. Likely one needs a raw download to convert and not an established image. Just poking around for answers. 

Some of the ISO have install.esd, others have install.wim in the sources directory. I believe that is what Peter is talking about.

The current Windows 10 ISOs on Techbench for example have install.esd.  If you create am iso using the MediaCreationTool that has install.win (I think).

I just looked at 6 different Win 10 ISOs I have and 4 had install.esd, two had install.wim. Either works when installing from them but DISM prefers or gets more use out if install.wim.

you can convert more or less any file format to a different file format if required.

 

I recently saw a program that expands DISM's capabilities

don't really see how, the program may be able to do other things but dism can only do what dism was written/programmed to do and i don't see how a seperate program can make it capable of doing more.

as to using dism with esd file to fix your pc, here's a link showing it can :- http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7808-dism-repair-windows-10-image.html

 

You would use /Source with /RestoreHealth to specify the location of an install.esd file as the source of known good versions of files that can be used for the repair. This can take around 10-15 minutes up to a few hours to finish depending on the level of corruption. It will stay at 20% for a while before continuing.

This can be useful if step 5 above was not able to repair the Windows image (component store).


The install.esd file can be in the Sources folder of a mounted Windows 10 ISO (Use ISO from OPTION ONE at link) file.

If you have an install.wim file instead of install.esd, then you would need to use step 6 above instead.

Some of the ISO have install.esd, others have install.wim in the sources directory. I believe that is what Peter is talking about.

 

The current Windows 10 ISOs on Techbench for example have install.esd.  If you create am iso using the MediaCreationTool that has install.win (I think).

 

I just looked at 6 different Win 10 ISOs I have and 4 had install.esd, two had install.wim. Either works when installing from them but DISM prefers or gets more use out if install.wim.

i think the problem may be dism relys on other dependancies built into the os, so an older windows os things like the .net framework for example may not be at a compatible version to use esd where as the one used in win10 is and why sometimes you may need to use .wim instead of .esd files, not a windows expert though so that's my best guess and the only reason i can think of why dism may need wim files sometimes.

don't think there is any real difference with using wim instead of esd for win10 except esd has better compression algorithms so is i believe about a third smaller file size compared to wim files.

Unless I was directed incorrectly to get the most out of DISM if you use .WIM and it is from Tech Bench.  .ESD is the compressed one.

I seem to have reverse information than you do so I hope I did not make an error.

How can you tell which you have?

If It is true that I downloaded .WIM from Tech Bench and have already run the ugrade, do I need a key or do I just skip when installing?

I am also curious if an ISO file is  .Wim or .ESD or can it be either?

The reason I am perusing the OS conversion is because I had trouble with the DISM new process - I had a issue with 'source' as I had an .ESD file. When downloaded from Tech Bench, it should  .WIM and DISM will locate the information needed to repair the corruptions because it has the right source now.

To further the investigation, is this the only scenario where the diam command can be utilized or can an image be repaired similarly?

I know there are a lot of questions here but if you wish to briefly pursue the issue i would appreciate it and would take one at a time.

ok i'll try and explain things as best as i can with my limited knowledge and experience of such things and i'm sure ztrucker will correct any mistakes or misunderstandings i may have or make.

an iso is a bootable image (container) of a cd/dvd, and is used just so you can burn the files to a cd/dvd easily, the contents of the cd/dvd (iso image.) can be wim files or esd files.

an esd file is a container that holds the compressed wim file image.

a wim file is just a compressed image of the hard drive made using windows imaging file system.

more info on iso :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

more info on wim :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Format

can't find info on esd but from my understanding it is used to transfer wim files instead of just transfering the original wim file because it uses less data to transfer the same information contained in the original wim file.

so you can think of it like this the hard drive is stored in a wim file.

the wim file is then stored in a container called esd file to save space,

the wim file or esd file (holding the wim file) is stored in a container called iso file.

now all 3 have exactly the same information about the imaged hard drive just stored in slightly different ways.

no expert on dism so think i'm correct in saying

you can change the contents (add, remove data/files) of the wim file only when it is in a wim format using dism.

you can read and use the info stored in the wim file whether it is in a wim file format, esd file format or iso file format to make repairs or changes to the os and hard drive using dism.

hope that clears things up a little and i'm sure ztrucker will answer any questions i have not answered and/or offer a better explaination and correct any mistakes i may have made.

terry

Thanks again for taking the time.

I understand what you said and thank you.

[  My goal is to understand why I made 2 DVDs at tech bench and they are different. I am trying to figure out whether they will both install and repair with DISM.

One actually says .WIM when I right click file explorer on the left. The other has a long run of odd characters but under sources does say, "wimprovider.dll.  ]

 I now know how to use the new repair option and that is a step in the right direction.

 As a fun learning project I am working on converting .ESD to .WIM as this new repair option requires the .WIM format.

So, I am concerned with the first topic really.

Peter

so what you've done is download 2 iso images containing the files needed to clean install win 10 but in 2 different formats (they will have the same needed files/info inside both even though they are stored in 2 different formats.), burned them to dvd and are now experimenting on using them with dism to fix things if needed then and not actually experimenting with a hard drive image you made for backup, yes?

not being a windows user i don't really mess with things like that any more to be honest, just remember when it comes to pc's there are usually a few different ways to do the exact same thing.

so you may or may not need to extract the wim file from the esd file (even though that is the way you're learning about.) to do what you want, as shown in this link :- http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7808-dism-repair-windows-10-image.htmlwhere they show you how to accomplish the same thing with dism once using a wim file and once with an esd file.

personally if i've made bootable install dvd's then i don't see the need to use dism at all usually, just boot to the dvd and test, you can always stop before making any changes or in your case you already have backup images to use anyway so you can make any changes you like and then restore after testing if the dvd's do clean install and/or can be used to just repair install your win 10 os.

what is this new repair option you speak of too, not having tested and having no intention of testing win 10 i'm totally unfamiliar of what it can and can't do to be honest.

terry- this may confuse you. Below are my notes to date about this new DISM repair.

Still, and on a different note I want  to download a .wim file and burn to disc. i am working on that.

>>Sources expanded should say install.wim

Use .WIM (my discs made from techbench)    not >ESD disc(made from Windows upgrade process) for fix.

*Use the tech bench win 10 download which is .WIM not the MS creation Tool or MCT which is .esd.

A workable copy of this is in live.com – DISM takes you to the page.

Here is a program to help users with corrupt windows files..
This program will run System File Checker and DISM commands to repair an online Windows image
and will look for the setup media to use as a repair source

Step 1: Download and Extract > IMAGE_HEALTH.ZIP
Step 2: Right-Click IMAGE_HEALTH.CMD > Select Properties > Select Unblock
Step 3: Insert your Windows Setup Media ( Mounted ISO or DVD or USB )
Step 4: Right Click on IMAGE_HEALTH.CMD and Run as Administrator

IMAGE_HEALTH.ZIP



The preferred method of use would be to select

Option 1 ScanHealth > if shows as Repairable,
then 
Option 2 RestoreHealth > if shows as needing source file,
then
Option 3 RestoreHealth /source

Note: Dism uses the component store as it's main source for Image Repair, and windows updates are placed in the component store, so best to try to use current component store for RestoreHealth, before selecting Option 3 and redirecting the repair source, to the windows setup media..

Option 4 > will analyze the component store, it will tell you if the store can be cleaned up - 

Option 5 > will cleanup (Remove) superseded windows files over 45 days old in the component store

Option 6 > will cleanup (Remove) ALL superseded windows files in the component store 

Option 7 > will run Revert Pending Dism Actions (UnLock, The Locked Disk Message)

Option 8 > will export 3rd Party System Drivers into a "Drivers" folder

Option 9 > will run System File Checker SFC /Scannow

Note: SFC has been known to flag perfectly good files as corrupt, although this does not harm anything other then the user thinking the system is corrupt, and resulting in false positive confusion about the reported corruption..

Option 10 > will run Disk Cleanup Manager in Extended Mode

Option 11 > will run ShowKeyPlus to retrieve windows product key

Option 12 > Will Schedule CheckDisk to run a surface scan on Volume C: to check for and fix disk error upon next Reboot..

Note: There are log files to help you and others troubleshoot DISM and SFC issues, 

C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log
C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

no idea what program those instructions are for but any program that uses dropbox to distribute it's files i'd be very very wary about trusting and using on my pc's.

personally i'd get my windows 10 iso from the link i provided in your other topic and then use these instructions :- http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7808-dism-repair-windows-10-image.htmlthat explain how to use dism to repair the windows 10 os.

Terry, KYHI on sevenforums, eightforums and tenforums is the one making IMAGE_HEALTH.ZIP available via Dropbox. Completely reliable and safe.

The link you posted to Shawn Brink's tutorial gives techbench as one of the ways to get the Win 10 ISOs, the same place Peter got them from.

Peter, all the ISOs I've gotten from techbench have install.wim.

 

Terry, KYHI on sevenforums, eightforums and tenforums is the one making IMAGE_HEALTH.ZIP available via Dropbox. Completely reliable and safe.

not saying it isn't but personally i'm always wary of any software distributed via dropbox and would never download software from there myself.

 

The link you posted to Shawn Brink's tutorial gives techbench as one of the ways to get the Win 10 ISOs, the same place Peter got them from.

must be a linux thing because the techbech link and my link in peters other topic both seem to give me the same download. not that i've downloaded them to compare.

tell a lie when i checked again both offer :- Win10_1511_English_x64.iso

but links end differently so assume 1 is an iso containing wim and the other esd.

t=3a0702c9-ae99-45c3-8d54-6599e09edd97&e=1450646988&h=c4516738e04bcbae749d85a721bd53d3

t=60c875fb-2701-4e24-bfef-430d17dd629c&e=1450646919&h=c586e5b7f57dfd28d9efb3bce0276c92

with those instructions though it doesn't matter if it's wim or esd though dism can use either to fix things.

Rich

Thanks for articulating that issue.

I don't use dropBox; instead i cickuntil it downloads to my pc. i hope that is ok.

Peter