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How to Manage Images

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

This topic contains procedures for the tasks that are listed and described in the following table.

Note

Help for WDSUTIL is available by typing WDSUTIL /? at a command prompt or online at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=112194.

Type Procedure

General Tasks
  • To export an image from the server to a .wim file

  • To replace an image on the server with an updated version

  • To remove an image

Boot Images
  • To add a boot image to the server

  • To set attributes on a boot image

  • To display the attributes of a boot image

  • To create a capture image

  • To create a discover image

Install Images
  • To add an install image

  • To set the attributes on an install image

  • To display the attributes on an install image

  • To convert an RIPREP image to a .wim install image

  • To filter the install images shown to clients

  • To make a copy of an install image within an image group

Image Groups
  • To remove an image group

  • To add an image group to the image store

  • To set the attributes on an image group

  • To display information about all images in an image group

General Tasks

To export an image from the server to a .wim file

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click a boot or install image, and then click Export Image.

  2. In the dialog box, choose a file name to export the image to.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For a boot image, run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Export-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:{x86|x64|ia64} /DestinationImage /Filepath:<path and file name>.

    • For an install image, run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Export-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name> /DestinationImage /Filepath:<path and file name>.

  3. You can also set the following:

    • To set these metadata fields on the image, append /Name:<name> or /Description:<description>

    • To determine behavior when the image specified in /DestinationImage already exists, append /Overwrite:{Yes|No|Append}. Yes will overwrite the image, No will cause an error, and Append will append the new image to the existing .wim file. Note that Append is available only for install images.

To replace an image on the server with an updated version

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click a boot or install image, and then click Replace Image.

  2. Browse to the updated version.

  3. Click through the rest of the wizard.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To replace a boot image, run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Replace-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:{x86|x64|ia64} /ReplacementImage /ImageFile:<path>.

    • To replace an install image, run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Replace-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name> /ReplacementImage /ImageFile:<path>.

To remove an image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click a boot or install image.

  2. Click Delete.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For boot images, run WDSUTIL /Remove-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:{x86|x64|ia64}

    • For install images, run WDSUTIL /Remove-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name>. If the source image file contains more than one install image, append /SourceImage:<Source image name> to specify the image to use as a replacement.

Note

If you specify /SourceImage, data folders associated with the original image (for example, folders that contains unattend files or language packs) will be kept intact and will be associated with the replacement image.

Boot Images

To add a boot image to the server

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click the Boot Images node, and then click Add Boot Image.

  2. Enter the path to the boot image or browse to the image file, and then click Next..

  3. Enter an image name and description, and then click Next.

  4. Review the choices, and then click Next.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Add-Image /ImageFile:<path> /ImageType:Boot, where the path is a full path to the image file.

To set the attributes on a boot image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click a boot image, and then click Disable to take the image offline.

  2. Right-click the image, and then click Properties.

  3. Enter the name and description.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To take the image offline, run WDSUTIL /Set-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:<arch> /Enabled:No.

    • To change the name and description, run WDSUTIL /Set-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:<arch> /Name:<name> /Description:<description>.

To display the attributes of a boot image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click a boot image.

  2. Click Properties.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Get-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:<arch>.

To create a capture image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. In the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in, expand the Boot Images node.

  2. Right-click the image to use it as a capture image (most commonly, the \Sources\boot.wim file from the installation media).

  3. Click Create Capture Boot Image.

  4. Type a name, description, and the location where you want to save a local copy of the file. You must specify a location so that if there is a network issue when you deploy the capture image, you have a local copy.

  5. Continue to follow the instructions in the wizard, and when it is completed, click Finish.

  6. Right-click the boot image folder.

  7. Click Add Boot Image.

  8. Browse and select the new capture image, and then click Next.

  9. Follow the instructions in the Image Capture Wizard.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /New-CaptureImage /Image:<source boot image name> /Architecture:{x86|ia64|x64} /DestinationImage /FilePath:<file path>, where the file path is the path and name for the capture image.

To create a discover image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. In the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in, expand the Boot images node.

  2. Right-click the image you want to use as a discover image. In most cases, this should be the Boot.wim file from the \Sources directory of the installation DVD.

  3. Click Create Discover Boot Image.

  4. Follow the instructions in the wizard, and when it is completed, click Finish.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /New-DiscoverImage /Image:<name> /Architecture:{x86|x64|ia64} /DestinationImage /FilePath:<path and name to new file>. To specify which server the discover image connects to, append /WDSServer:<server name or IP>.

Install Images

To add an install image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click the image group, and then click Add Install Image.

  2. Select an image group.

  3. Select the file to add.

  4. Proceed through the rest of the wizard.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. To create an image group, run WDSUTIL /Add-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<image group name>.

  3. Run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Add-Image /ImageFile:<path to .wim file> /ImageType:Install.

    If more than one image group exists on the server, append /ImageGroup:<image group name> to specify which group the image should be added to.

    To skip the integrity check before adding the image, append /SkipVerify.

To set the attributes for an install image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click an install image, and then either click Disable to take the image offline or click Enable to bring it back online.

  2. On the Action menu, click Properties.

  3. Enter the name and description in the appropriate text boxes.

  4. Check Allow image to install in unattended mode, and then select a file to associate an unattend file with the install image.

  5. Use the Security tab to set access controls.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Set-Image Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name> /Name:<name> /Description:<description> /UserFilter:<SDDL> /Enabled:{Yes|No} /UnattendFile:<path>.

To display the attributes for an install image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click the image.

  2. Click Properties.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Get-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name>.

To convert a RIPREP image to a .wim install image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Click the Legacy Images node.

  2. Right-click the RIPREP image you want to convert, and then click Convert to WIM.

  3. Enter the name, description, path, and file name, and then click Next.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Convert-RiPrepImage /FilePath:<path to RIPREP image sif file> /DestinationImage /FilePath:<path and name of .wim image>. In addition, you can specify the following:

    • To give the new .wim image a name in the metadata, append /Name:<name>.

    • To give the new .wim image a description in the metadata, append /Description:<description>.

    • To convert the original RIPREP image, rather than a copy, append /InPlace.

    • To determine behavior when the image file specified in /DestinationImage already exists, append /Overwrite:{Yes|No|Append}. Yes will overwrite the .wim file, No will cause an error, and Append will append the new image to the existing .wim file.

To filter the install images shown to clients

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. To set permissions to allow only certain users to see a particular image, right-click the install image.

  2. Click Properties and select the Security tab.

Note
Note that setting these permissions sets the permissions on the .wim file (which contains only metadata), but not the Res.rwm file (which contains the file resources for the image). In order to secure the Res.rwm, you must create an ACL for the file. However we do not recommend this because if the permission sets differ for the files, a user could have permissions to view the .wim, but not the Res.rwm, and therefore the installation would fail.

N/A

To make a copy of an install image

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL

N/A
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Copy-Image /Image:<name> /ImageType:Install /ImageGroup:<image group name> /DestinationImage /Name:<name> /Filename:<file name>. To give the new image a description, append /Description:<description>.

Image Groups

To remove an image group

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click image group.

  2. Click Delete.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Remove-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<image group name>.

To add an image group to the image store

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click the Install Images node, and then click Add Image Group.

  2. Enter the name for the image group.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Add-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<image group name>.

To set the attributes on an image group

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Right-click image group, and then click Rename.

  2. Right-click image group, and then click Security.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. To change the name, run WDSUTIL /Set-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<existing image group name> /Name:<new image group name>.

  3. To set the security, run WDSUTIL /Set-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<image group name> /Security:<SDDL>, where SDDL is the security descriptor you want to use for the image group, in Security Descriptor Definition Language (SDDL) format.

To display information about all images in an image group

Using the MMC Using WDSUTIL
  1. Select an image group.

  2. View the images in the right pane.
  1. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

  2. Run WDSUTIL /Get-ImageGroup /ImageGroup:<image group name>. To display the full image metadata on each image in the group, append /Detailed.