How to Capture Images of Hard Disk Partitions by Using DISM

1. A Windows PE disk. See Walkthrough: Install Windows PE to CD, USB Flash Drive, or USB Hard Drive for instructions about how to create a bootable Windows PE RAM disk.
   
   
2. A reference computer. You can create a reference computer by deploying Windows, and then removing the computer-specific information from the system. For more information, see How to Capture an Image for Deployment (Generalize).
   
   

This table shows the types of partitions that you must capture and those that are managed automatically.

You can capture and apply images between partitions on BIOS-based and UEFI-based computers, because the Windows image is not affected by the firmware. For more information, see How to Capture and Apply Windows, System, and Recovery Partitions.

If any of the partitions you want to capture do not already have a drive letter assigned, assign a letter using the DiskPart tool.

1. Start your reference computer by using Windows PE. For more information, see Booting Windows PE from RAM Disk.
   
   
2. At the Windows PE command prompt, type diskpart to open the DiskPart tool.
   
   
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   X:> diskpart
   DISKPART>
   

3. Select the hard disk with the select disk command. For example,
   
   
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   DISKPART> select disk 0
   

4. View the partitions with the list partition command. For example,
   
   
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   DISKPART> list partition
   DISKPART> list partition
     Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
     -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
     Partition 1    Primary            300 MB  1024 KB
     Partition 2    Primary            200 GB   301 MB
   
   

5. Select the partition with the select partition command. For example,
   
   
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   DISKPART> select partition=1
   

6. Assign a letter to the partition with the assign letter command. For example,
   
   
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   DISKPART> assign letter=S
   

7. Type exit to return to the Windows PE command prompt.
   
   
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   DISKPART> exit
   X:\>
   

For more information, see the DiskPart Help from the command line, or Diskpart Command line syntax.

Capture images for each customized partition.

1. At the Windows PE command prompt, capture the images by using the DISM command together with the /captureImage option. For example,
   
   
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   Dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:c:\my-windows-partition.wim /CaptureDir:C:\ /Name:"My Windows partition"
   Dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:s:\my-system-partition.wim /CaptureDir:S:\ /Name:"My system partition"
   

   For more information about using the DISM tool to capture an image, see Image Management Command-Line Options.
   
   

Save your .wim files to your network or another safe location.

1. Connect to your distribution share by using the net use command. For example,
   
   
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   net use n: \\Server\Share
   

   If prompted, provide your network credentials.
   
   
2. Copy the partitions to your network share. For example,
   
   
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   md N:\Images\
   copy C:\my-windows-partition.wim N:\Images\
   copy c:\my-system-partition.wim N:\Images\
   

After the image is captured and stored, you can:

• Mount it to your reference computer for modification. For more information, see How to Mount and Modify an Image.
  
  
• Split the file into smaller files. For more information, see How to Split a Windows Image (.swm) File to Span Across Multiple DVDs or CDs.
  
  
• Apply the images to a destination computer. For more information, see How to Apply Images by Using DISM.
  
  
• Service the image. For more information, see Service a Windows Image.
  
  

Tasks

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