Capturing and Deploying Your Own Custom .wim File

[@paulmoesher]

Consider supporting if this video helped you: paypal.me/paulmoesher

[@petergeton]

Its wild something this simple and straight forward didnt exist anywhere before. Thank you.

[@alvinwang8692]

Thank you for making a detail guide on this. Really helpful. Cheers!

[@realzguardian]

Thanks for the guide you're extremely underrated!

[@liamfwheatley4657]

Great job Paul, very helpful information, well done

[@Francoisdp82]

Thanks for the detailed video. Much appreciated.

[@christiandejesus7452]

Amazing video! Thank you for this!

[@WillThomsontothecoast88]

Very helpful for my project. Thank you!

[@devviz]

20:04 since we already captured the entire windows instance into a .wim file we can just put it into a usb flash drive with ventoy preinstalled and boot into that wim file, save a little hassle there imo

[@ManMan.TheReckoning]

Since you brought it up, I'm curious too. As long as i didn't f myself, I'll give it a try.

[@brandonirwin1565]

Thanks for the tutorial...very easy to follow and works like a charm!

[@fbifido2]

@21:49 - index 1 is very large 26GB Can you look to see what's in that file? before sysprep the OS disk used ~40GB, maybe do a cleanup before you sysprep and do compression when moving from WIM to ESD.

[@brian6319]

Thank you very much!

[@EmEhKay]

Thanks bro, this was really useful. Question though, after booting into WinPE is it possible to just export the .wim file directly into the \sources folder of the USB iso? (I did this with Win11 and it looks like they no longer create .esd files, just the install.wim)

[@paulmoesher]

In that case just then yes I would just import directly.

[@MrFmontero]

TY So much Paul this is great. any tips recommendations (I have started looking myself) on creating an image that has several drivers (ex. dell Latitude series) so that when I deploy to other I don't need to update the drivers for the various different hardware models? Thank you.

[@lignja8]

bro, u are a GOD!

[@andymcrae5450]

Thanks so much

[@ozmantzur9935]

Thanks for that great tutorial! One Q: in the block with Windows Media Creation tool you select the ISO file option and then using Rufus to create the flash drive from the ISO. I don't understand why not to just select The USB drive from the beginning?

[@paulmoesher]

Rufus gives the option to skip/predetermine responses to the Windows user experience questions which saves a lot of time when imaging several units.

[@lemm18]

Question, if we want to keep all of the applications files and everything from my existing computer, do I still need to do sysprep? I just want to make a installer of my PC state today and store it as a backup installer if anything happens. So, in theory, I should not do sysprep and just boot winPE and capture the current image of my computer right?

[@paulmoesher]

Yes. That being said if that is all you are trying to do I would look into clonezilla it will be a lot more straightforward for what you are trying to do.

[@asinalsakb]

hi I am try wim image making but file install to server deploying no working

[@N0TIS7]

Great video! Can this be used to perform an in place upgrade? If for example you have windows srv 2016 wim and iso, after doing thw whole procedure, can this iso be used to perform an in place upgrade on a win srv 2012? Or it needs to be a clean install? Thanks in advance

[@paulmoesher]

It should be a clean install.

[@josephkaneene]

Thank you

[@lemm18]

I can't find the install.wim file on C drive, one thing I noticed after putting the command at the end to create the install.wim file, the copying/creating of image is too quick, not even 1 minute and I have some applications installed already. I've tried few times and they all the same but it says success after putting that dism command to copy the image but I got nothing on my C drive or anywhere. I'm using Windows 10 version 1809, so that's what I downloaded.

[@paulmoesher]

Maybe try putting a directory on C and write it to there rather than the root of C and see if that works.

[@Dex-je8zt]

in this procedure, after you deploy your image into machine, does bitlocker work?

[@paulmoesher]

This should not really have any effect on bitlocker. That being said if you have Bitlocker enabled I would recommend having the key stored on a flash drive before reimaging the pc.

[@amilhrncic498]

Hey Paul, I ran the dism command and the install.wim was only like 2 KB. I'm on windows 11 what do you think my mistake was?

[@paulmoesher]

Was the path correct in the dism command?

[@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml]

To deploy the image to other computers are you installing and clicking on setup.exe or install.esd?

[@paulmoesher]

You would use the boot key when the PC is booting up and you would choose to boot from the USB.

[@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml]

@@paulmoesher can you not install the image like a regular exe? If not do I need to install from USB on all new computers?

[@paulmoesher]

@@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml For a clean install you should be booting from the usb

[@Texasdope11]

Hi, thank you for your help! when trying to capture, it went super fast, so I figured something was up. I rand Diskpart, and my OS Drive is not showing on the list? So nothing is being captured essentially.. any suggestions? TIA

[@paulmoesher]

I would triple-check that when you boot the winpe disk you are entering that command in correctly. Normally if it goes super fast for me it's because I had a typo. Next time if it goes fast it should just go to the next line and you can try entering it again.

[@Texasdope11]

So I think I figured this out, the computer is set to RAID - when I set it to AHCI, and ran WinPE it was able to find the disk. But wouldn't this cause onflict when deploying?

[@paulmoesher]

@@Texasdope11 I would think so since its a disk image and not a disk clone.

[@BlueGuardianSec]

Weird - when I run diskpart from the PE cmd prompt it only lists the PE removable disk and I can't see the system OS volume. I'm running W11 - do I need to modify the disk before I sysprep to make it visible?

[@paulmoesher]

I would look into disk management on the computer to see if maybe it has something nonstandard set.

[@BlueGuardianSec]

@@paulmoesher I ended up mounting the DellPE driver pack into the PE USB and it was able to pick up the drive. These new Dell laptops come with the RST Raid controller package as default and fortunately the Dell PE driver pack can pick it up. It's a process to mount the new drivers into the PE image but essentially once the drivers are extracted into a mount point folder on your HD, run the following commands: #set mount point and park boot.wim | "C:\mount" is the name of the mount point folder I created dism /mount-wim /wimfile:C:\path\to\your\boot.wim /index:1 /mountdir:C:\mount #mount drivers into the mount point | /recurse looks for sub directories and files so you only need the root folder with the drivers in it dism /image:C:\mount /add-driver /driver:C:\Dell_WinPE_Drivers /recurse #dismount the wim file back to USB (or wherever it was) dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:C:\mount /commit Hopefully this helps some folks out if you're like me and still using WDS to deploy W11 computers. I can now park this new capture on the WDS server and push it down from there or use the USB. Thanks for all the help Paul

[@rocobruno]

Is there a way to circumvent the USB key and directly inject the insall.wim to an ISO so I can then put it on Ventoy ? Because, as you may know, you can mount an ISO in File Manager but you cannot directly replace the install.wim/esd directly as the ISO file is locked, meaning you can't modify it in any ways. I could use Anyburn but I wish I could use a command line tool to directly replace/inject my custom install.wim without having to go through a USB key, then re-iso it so I can put it in Ventoy...

[@paulmoesher]

I am sorry but I am not sure. That is not something I have ever looked into.

[@rocobruno]

@@paulmoesher Just tried Anyburn in it's freeware version, and it does just that. Thanks!

[@jiggyfeets6050]

Question, If i am using diffrent machines, but it is still the same device. is generalize necessary? I have to image 30 laptops, all the same.

[@paulmoesher]

In that case no, but even then I don't really see any downside to generalizing.

[@jiggyfeets6050]

@@paulmoesher the only problem is I am getting an error in the log file in the panther file pertaining to the generalize.xml file. Sysprep is a headache 😭

[@brianschumacher8956]

I'm using an older version of winpe for windows 7? What the command be different? I can't get a dism command to work.

[@paulmoesher]

I don't see why it would not. What is the exact error you are getting?

[@brianschumacher8956]

@@paulmoesher capture-image is unknown command. I ended using the windows 7 with imagex pe. I couldn't get the copy pe to work for windows 10 pe. I then used hirens boot CD and the command in your video worked on my main PC. But the computer I was trying to capture couldn't boot into hirens CD. That is why I went back to the windows 7 pe and the imagex command worked.

[@Texasdope11]

what if my USB doesn't have install.esd, mine has install.wim?

[@paulmoesher]

Refer to the video description.

[@Francoisdp82]

Can one capture a Win 11 Pro wim, export it to esd and then place it onto a Windows 10 installation disk?

[@paulmoesher]

No the versions of windows need to match.

[@umarmuti9931]

Error: 112 There is not enough space on the disk. The DISM log file can be found at x:\windows\logs\DISM\dism.log How do I resolve this??

[@paulmoesher]

How much space is on C? What does the log say?

[@umarmuti9931]

421GB free

[@paulmoesher]

@@umarmuti9931 That would be more than enough. I would review the log file.

[@umarmuti9931]

Okay I will be really grateful if I can resolve this issue.

[@umarmuti9931]

@paulmoesher I’m currently in a site where I’m trying to create the custom image because I have a lot of system to format.

[@becca-p7w]

Great video! I am so close to getting this to work. I had a previous captured .wim that was working through PXE and wanted to get it onto a USB for convenience. After using this method, I get "windows cannot open the required file D:\sources\install.wim". It seems after patiently waiting all day for the export, which was 100% successful, the.wim files opens to a .xml file :(

[@paulmoesher]

If you have not already I would deploy the pxe wim to a PC and run all of the Windows updates, capture the wim at that point, then make a new bootable Windows flash drive and put it on there. Maybe there is an issue with your older pxe wim not matching up with the Windows version of the USB?

[@becca-p7w]

@@paulmoesherI ended up making a fresh bootable USB with Rufus...maybe I had chosen FAT32 instead of NTFS. It runs perfectly now - I'm on my 3rd copy. This is great, you have no idea the time this will save! Thank you.

[@navr1111111111111111]

Once we use Sysprep are we not removing the Windows license assocaited with that image? Won't we need to add another license to any device we deploy using this method?

[@paulmoesher]

The license is tied to the device hardware not the image

[@navr1111111111111111]

@@paulmoesher Thanks for the response. I must be doing something wrong... When I replace the .esd and boot from that USB and choose windows10 pro it downloads a fresh copy without any installed software/updates. No idea why or how. I know for a fact my esd replaced the original install.esd

[@navr1111111111111111]

Ignore my previous comment.. I must have been using another usb. It worked perfectly thank you. I am attemping to integrate a unattent.xml into the setup to skip OOBE using this method until I can set up WDS/MDT

[@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml]

@@navr1111111111111111 do you click on setup or install.esd to deploy the image?

[@user-qm3xz8oc9g]

My windows install disk for windows 11 has an install.wim not an install.esd. Did this change recently? If so what do you do to make that work? Do I make a .wim file instead?

[@paulmoesher]

At the 20:03 point of the video, it describes how to convert the install.win to install.esd

[@user-qm3xz8oc9g]

@@paulmoesherthanks for getting back to me. On my windows install disk there is not an .esd to overwrite. There is an install.wim however. So so I just not need to convert? Did windows change its install media?

[@user-qm3xz8oc9g]

Maybe I should try to clarify more. I am talking about the install media that is created from Microsoft. When I got into the sources folder there isn't an .esd file, there is a .wim. On your's there is a .esd file and you convert your ,wim to an .esd and overwrite it. My install disk only has a .wim so do I not convert it to a .esd and just use the .wim? Or is there something else going on here? This is a great video, just need clarification on this! Thanks!

[@paulmoesher]

@@user-qm3xz8oc9g If that is the case then you just need to deploy that original basic .wim on a PC. Customize it however you like for your image then capture the .wim and replace the original install.wim with your updated one. You can skip the conversion step.

[@luddman77]

Let's say you have apps on your computer where you have a license to activate them, like word or adobe. Will the license carry over when you install the image on the new computer?

[@paulmoesher]

I feel like best practice would be to not capture the image with the software keys but in theory, if it is a machine-wide install the keys would still be there when you go to deploy if they were there when you captured.

[@luddman77]

@@paulmoesher Thanks! What is that the best practice? I’m curious.

[@paulmoesher]

@@luddman77 It is basically just a term to describe the agreed upon best way to do something in the IT community.

[@luddman77]

@@paulmoesher I’m sorry that was a typo. Why would it be considered the best practice to do it before you install the apps?

[@paulmoesher]

@@luddman77 It would be best practice to enter any license keys after installing the image and to not make it part of the image. I believe this to be the case due to some licensing keys not all working the same, some are per user some are per machine. You also do not want software licensed for users who don't need it and should only use the keys on a need-to basis. I like keeping the base image to the essentials and using other solutions to deploy the case-to-case stuff after the PC is joined.

[@jasonhawkins4528]

Thanks but sysprem doesn't work on updated windows for some reason

[@paulmoesher]

There is a log file inside of the sysprep folder that will tell you why it may be failing. Could be a pending update, an app that needs removed/updated, hard to say but the logs will point you in the right direction.

[@jasonhawkins4528]

@@paulmoesher Yes I got to have a look to see why, ive been busy it just comes up with it can't system prep upgraded version of windows, even though it's not upgraded but the wim image without sysprep went fine without errors

[@MrFmontero]

Hello Paul, helpful so far, the latest version of the copype Command is CopyDandI and was wondering if you have seen and chnges to the parameters (I have a core i7-8650U CPU x64-based processor, but none of the parameters work with the command ( CopyDandI x64, amd64, arm,amd64 none of them work : all say : the follow processor architecture was not found. i also tried x64.). would really help us. TY amazing so far.

[@paulmoesher]

What options do you see if you open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment and run copype? It looks like there is a way to apply updates to the Windows PE add on. Could be worth a try? learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/winpe-create-usb-bootable-drive?view=windows-11

[@MrFmontero]

@@paulmoesher Hello Paul didn't see this back then Work got nuts. not sure what I did different/ wrong, but I started again from scratch and it worked perfectly! you're the man! thank you so much for your channel so helpful.

[@umarmuti9931]

I can’t find install.wim on my c drive

[@BlueGuardianSec]

Back in the PE command prompt, use diskpart to see if the OS volume is visible. If not, you might need to add the PE driver pack for your computer into the PE USB for it to be able to see the drive. I am doing this on a Dell Latitude 3550 and the default PE config doesn't see RAID storage.

[@VenkataYerva]

is there any windows 11 please

[@shimonvacknin3602]

Does it work with win 11?

[@paulmoesher]

Yes

[@shimonvacknin3602]

@@paulmoesher Thanks

[@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml]

Do you have a email just in case I have questions? Going to try this

[@JonathanDanielMartinezSanc-z1n]

I think it's time to do an updated version on this using windows 11, this does not work with windows 11 at least not with the latest versions, it saves the .wim file to the USB drive not the C drive and the size of the .win file its about 300mb, which will definitely not work, I would appreciate a lot if you make an updated version of this thx

[@BlueGuardianSec]

That happened with mine as well. Was wondering if I messed something up

[@JonathanDanielMartinezSanc-z1n]

​​@@BlueGuardianSec Solved it, I did some modifications to the command and now its working great with both windows 11 and 10 😃👍🏼

[@BlueGuardianSec]

@@JonathanDanielMartinezSanc-z1n Did you modify the volume in disk part? Do share if you have time. Appreciate it!

[@ShortBusRejectz]

⁠what did you do differently

[@ShortBusRejectz]

@@JonathanDanielMartinezSanc-z1nwhat did you do 😊

[@EmuBrewHub]

Hey I actually need help getting my channel going I noticed you don't have too many views on some of your videos and that's the same here for me do you think you could help me I'm asking content creator to content creator

[@mr.funnyman99]

sir plz give custom windose drive link on the discaption plz plz plz

[@eule8587]

18:40 dism capture image

[@sevciu1]

Note: At mark 18:40 when dism capture image is used, the Windows partition is not always C:\. On my install, C:\ was the 500MB System reserved partition and Windows partition ended up being F:\. It's a good idea to check with diskpart what is the allocated drive letter. Cheers! By the way, many thanks for the excellent instructions.