Windows 10: DISM captures a 17GB wim file. Yet it's only 3.7GB when mounted!???

​I volunteer at a local community center. It has an Open Computer Lab for the public. It has

• An HP Server (Server 2012 R2). It’s a domain controller supporting Folder Redirection and Roaming Profiles
• 20 PCs (Windows 10 Pro v1511) but being upgrade to v1607. No hurry to get v1703. Wait 6 months for the bugs to shake out

I use MDT 2013 and Windows Deployment Service on the Server to deploy custom OS images (.wim files) to the the PCs.

The problem: I upgraded a v1511 system to v1607. Ran DiskCheck to delete the upgrade backup files that get created. I sysprep'd the PC. Then created a wim file using DISM. The wim file is 17.4GB even after maximum compression. I mount the wim to C:\_wim\MountDir to try and see what’s using all that space. But Windows shows MountDir is only 4.7GB!! The compressed wim is over 3.5x! the size of the mounted system!

More confused when I looked at the folder Properties of MounDir (as below). I also don't understand why so much difference between Size and Size on disk

• Size is 32.4GB
• Size on disk is 4.73 GB

When I run Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:"C:\_wim\install.wim" /index:1 I get as follows. What’s going on and how do I get wim size down to a more reasonable size? Can anyone help????
Code: Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 10.0.14393.0 Details for image : C:\_wim\install.wim Index : 1 Name : Win10 CTC-ALL v1607 Description : <undefined> Size : 39,334,214,041 bytes WIM Bootable : No Architecture : x64 Hal : acpiapic Version : 10.0.14393 ServicePack Build : 0 ServicePack Level : 0 Edition : Professional Installation : Client ProductType : WinNT ProductSuite : Terminal Server System Root : WINDOWS Directories : 30024 Files : 152907 Created : 4/25/2017 - 1:55:34 PM Modified : 4/25/2017 - 1:05:59 PM Languages : en-US (Default) The operation completed successfully.[/quote]



:)

 

Current DISM commands as The DISM /ScanHealth, /CheckHealth, and /RestoreHealth are no longer valid.

Not finding the current syntax of this above command to apply to Windows 10 version I am using.

Current version of Windows 10 -

Version 1703 - > os build 15063.608

Windows 10 Professional

Current DISM Commands help file.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.15063.0

DISM.exe [dism_options] {Imaging_command} [<Imaging_arguments>]

DISM.exe {/Image:<path_to_offline_image> | /Online} [dism_options]

{servicing_command} [<servicing_arguments>]

DESCRIPTION:

DISM enumerates, installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features

and packages in Windows images. The commands that are available depend

on the image being serviced and whether the image is offline or running.

GENERIC IMAGING COMMANDS:

/Split-Image - Splits an existing .wim or .ffu file into multiple

read-only split WIM/FFU files.

/Apply-Image - Applies an image.

/Get-MountedImageInfo - Displays information about mounted WIM and VHD

images.

/Get-ImageInfo - Displays information about images in a WIM or VHD

file.

/Commit-Image - Saves changes to a mounted WIM or VHD image.

/Unmount-Image - Unmounts a mounted WIM or VHD image.

/Mount-Image - Mounts an image from a WIM or VHD file.

/Remount-Image - Recovers an orphaned image mount directory.

/Cleanup-Mountpoints - Deletes resources associated with corrupted

mounted images.

WIM COMMANDS:

/Apply-CustomDataImage - Dehydrates files contained in the custom data image.

/Capture-CustomImage - Captures customizations into a delta WIM file on a

WIMBoot system. Captured directories include all

subfolders and data.

/Get-WIMBootEntry - Displays WIMBoot configuration entries for the

specified disk volume.

/Update-WIMBootEntry - Updates WIMBoot configuration entry for the

specified disk volume.

/List-Image - Displays a list of the files and folders in a

specified image.

/Delete-Image - Deletes the specified volume image from a WIM file

that has multiple volume images.

/Export-Image - Exports a copy of the specified image to another

file.

/Append-Image - Adds another image to a WIM file.

/Capture-Image - Captures an image of a drive into a new WIM file.

Captured directories include all subfolders and

data.

/Get-MountedWimInfo - Displays information about mounted WIM images.

/Get-WimInfo - Displays information about images in a WIM file.

/Commit-Wim - Saves changes to a mounted WIM image.

/Unmount-Wim - Unmounts a mounted WIM image.

/Mount-Wim - Mounts an image from a WIM file.

/Remount-Wim - Recovers an orphaned WIM mount directory.

/Cleanup-Wim - Deletes resources associated with mounted WIM

images that are corrupted.

IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS:

/Online - Targets the running operating system.

/Image - Specifies the path to the root directory of an

offline Windows image.

DISM OPTIONS:

/English - Displays command line output in English.

/Format - Specifies the report output format.

/WinDir - Specifies the path to the Windows directory.

/SysDriveDir - Specifies the path to the system-loader file named

BootMgr.

/LogPath - Specifies the logfile path.

/LogLevel - Specifies the output level shown in the log (1-4).

/NoRestart - Suppresses automatic reboots and reboot prompts.

/Quiet - Suppresses all output except for error messages.

/ScratchDir - Specifies the path to a scratch directory.

For more information about these DISM options and their arguments, specify an

option immediately before /?.

Examples:

DISM.exe /Mount-Wim /?

DISM.exe /ScratchDir /?

DISM.exe /Image:C:\test\offline /?

DISM.exe /Online /?

 

Settings in Windows 10 doesn't work.

Tried method 1 and did not work.

Method 2 so far is as follows:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10240]

(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM.exe/Online/Cleanup-image/Scanhealth
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.10240.16384

Error: 87
The online/cleanup-image/scanhealth option is unknown.

For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.
The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log
C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM.exe/?
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.10240.16384

DISM.exe [dism_options] {Imaging_command} [<Imaging_arguments>]

DISM.exe {/Image:<path_to_offline_image> | /Online} [dism_options]

{servicing_command} [<servicing_arguments>]
DESCRIPTION:
DISM enumerates, installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features

and packages in Windows images. The commands that are available depend

on the image being serviced and whether the image is offline or running.
GENERIC IMAGING COMMANDS:
/Split-Image - Splits an existing .wim or .ffu file into multiple

read-only split WIM/FFU files.

/Apply-Image - Applies an image.

/Get-MountedImageInfo - Displays information about mounted WIM and VHD

images.

/Get-ImageInfo - Displays information about images in a WIM or VHD

file.

/Commit-Image - Saves changes to a mounted WIM or VHD image.

/Unmount-Image - Unmounts a mounted WIM or VHD image.

/Mount-Image - Mounts an image from a WIM or VHD file.

/Remount-Image - Recovers an orphaned image mount directory.

/Cleanup-Mountpoints - Deletes resources associated with corrupted

mounted images.

WIM COMMANDS:
/Apply-CustomDataImage - Dehydrates files contained in the custom data image.
/Capture-CustomImage - Captures customizations into a delta WIM file on a

WIMBoot system. Captured directories include all

subfolders and data.

/Get-WIMBootEntry - Displays WIMBoot configuration entries for the

specified disk volume.

/Update-WIMBootEntry - Updates WIMBoot configuration entry for the

specified disk volume.

/List-Image - Displays a list of the files and folders in a

specified image.

/Delete-Image - Deletes the specified volume image from a WIM file

that has multiple volume images.

/Export-Image - Exports a copy of the specified image to another

file.

/Append-Image - Adds another image to a WIM file.

/Capture-Image - Captures an image of a drive into a new WIM file.

Captured directories include all subfolders and

data.

/Get-MountedWimInfo - Displays information about mounted WIM images.

/Get-WimInfo - Displays information about images in a WIM file.

/Commit-Wim - Saves changes to a mounted WIM image.

/Unmount-Wim - Unmounts a mounted WIM image.

/Mount-Wim - Mounts an image from a WIM file.

/Remount-Wim - Recovers an orphaned WIM mount directory.

/Cleanup-Wim - Deletes resources associated with mounted WIM

images that are corrupted.
IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS:
/Online - Targets the running operating system.

/Image - Specifies the path to the root directory of an

offline Windows image.
DISM OPTIONS:
/English - Displays command line output in English.

/Format - Specifies the report output format.

/WinDir - Specifies the path to the Windows directory.

/SysDriveDir - Specifies the path to the system-loader file named

BootMgr.

/LogPath - Specifies the logfile path.

/LogLevel - Specifies the output level shown in the log (1-4).

/NoRestart - Suppresses automatic reboots and reboot prompts.

/Quiet - Suppresses all output except for error messages.

/ScratchDir - Specifies the path to a scratch directory.
For more information about these DISM options and their arguments, specify an

option immediately before /?.
Examples:

DISM.exe /Mount-Wim /?

DISM.exe /ScratchDir /?

DISM.exe /Image:C:\test\offline /?

DISM.exe /Online /?

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Where do I go from here?

 

Well then you will never update again as MS have stated they intend to release new builds every 6 months. You could of course update one day before and then delay next build for 6 months ad nauseam but then you will always be six months behind latest features.

In any case, most significant bugs are usually 3rd party driver related and should be fixed pretty promptly.

 

Yea, i'm planning to try upgrade the current v1607 to Creator Update if only to see if DISM no longer creates a wim file 3.5X larger then the mount! Would still like to understand what's currently happening (anyone else seen similar? have similar problem?). Can only hope same problem doesn't re-occur with the new ADK 1703 when i build next wim

 

When I run that command (well, for the .esd in my case) without the /index:1 option I find there are in fact four editions in my .esd - Pro, Home, Single Language Home and Education. Could this explain the apparent 3.5 times size? Could it be you are only mounting one of the four editions?

If you try to download the .iso from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...d/windows10ISO on a non-windows system like Linux you get diverted to a page that let's you download the .iso directly. The .iso you get this way only has two editions in its .wim, Pro and Home. You can also get to this direct download page with IE or Edge by making it pretend to be a non-windows browser, as described in this tip...
How to Download Creators Update ISO via MS w/o Media Creation Tool

 

Good question. Occurred to me too. I re-tried Dism /Get-WinInfo command using indices 2 through 9 and they all returned an error. It was worth testing out but thought there should only have a one index as the wim was created by syspreping and then capturing the disk which is a single edition install.


Re: The snapshot of MountDir folder Properties in post #1
I can't understand how/why there can be a 27.6GB difference between Size and Size on Disk and the reason might the result of the problem.

 

btw.. i originally tried a clean install of v1607. I don't remember the wim size but that build gave me a different problem. As the first person logging in after the wim was deployed was met with snapshot below. Didn't know if it something to do with using roaming profiles

Was sooo happy that problem didn't occur with a v1511 upgrade to v1607 but then i saw the very large wim file that was being created.