Share via

Append, apply, and export volume images with a Windows Image (.wim) file

  • Article

Manage multiple Windows images by combining them into a single .wim file. A single .wim file can take a fraction of the drive space that multiple .wim files can take.

When you combine two or more Windows image files into a single .wim, any files that are duplicated between the images are only stored once.

image: Use DISM to list the images (Get-ImageInfo), then apply the correct image (Apply-Image)

Run these commands using DISM from a command prompt with administrator privileges.

Multiple Windows Images in a .wim file

Combine images: append a volume image to an existing image

Example: append an image of the D drive to an existing image called install.wim. Each new image receives a new index number, starting from 1.

Dism /Append-Image /ImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim /CaptureDir:D:\ /Name:"Home + drivers"

See a list of the volume images contained in a .WIM file

Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim"

Apply a volume image from the .WIM file

You can refer to an image either by image name or image index number. Examples:

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim" /Index:2 /ApplyDir:D:\

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim" /Name:"Home + drivers" /ApplyDir:D:\

Extract an image from the .WIM file

Create a new .WIM file that includes only the files you need from a single volume image, for example, when creating recovery media. The destination .WIM file starts with a new index number: 1.

Examples:

Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim" /SourceIndex:2 /DestinationImageFile:"C:\resetmedia_amd64\media\sources\install.wim"

Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:"C:\images\install.wim" /SourceName:"Home + drivers" /DestinationImageFile:"C:\resetmedia_amd64\media\sources\install.wim"

For more information, see DISM Image Management Command-Line Options.

Capture Images of Hard Disk Partitions Using DISM

DISM Image Management Command-Line Options