├── README.md ├── Release Notes.txt ├── WIM Tools x64 Only 24.3.3.273.bas └── WIM Tools.exe /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # WIM-Tools 2 | WIM (Windows Image Management) Tools is a set of tools to create, modify, and manage your Windows images 3 | 4 | NOTE: You can download everything needed for this project by simply grabbing the WIM_Tools.zip. Technically, you will only need the WIM Tools.exe but the .zip file will provide the source code as well. 5 | 6 | Version: 24.3.3.273 7 | Release Date: March 10, 2025 8 | 9 | Please see the release notes for a list of changes. 10 | 11 | ***************************************************************** 12 | Here Are Of Some Of The Things That You Can Do With WIM Tools 13 | ***************************************************************** 14 | 15 | - For those times where you simply don't have a Windows image with an install.wim file, the program now has a feature to create a new ISO image with an install.wim file by converting the original image with the install.esd file(s) and creating a new ISO image file. 16 | 17 | - The built-in help system has been revised so that help topic menus have the same menu number as the items on the main menu. Previously the help topic numbers were offset by one. While this worked perfectly, it might be less confusing for numbers on the main menu to align perfectly with those on the help menu. 18 | 19 | - The program can now take multiple Windows images as well as Win PE / RE images and create a single media that can be booted from any of those images. That same media can hold additional generic partitions which allow for the storage of other data on the same bootable media. 20 | 21 | - Inject Windows updates into one or more editions of Windows (Home, Pro, Education, etc.) and then combine them all into a single Windows image. 22 | 23 | - Inject drivers including boot-critical drivers into one or more editions of Windows (Home, Pro, Education, etc.) and then combine them all into a single Windows image. 24 | 25 | - Modify the BOOT.WIM file in your Windows media to automatically bypass the Windows 11 system requirements checks. 26 | 27 | - Take a Windows image and create a bootable disk from it. This bootable disk will be bootable from BIOS and UEFI based systems, it will support files larger than 4 GB, and will boot on systems that don't like to boot from NTFS formatted media. In addition, this tool will allow for the creation of additional partitions on your media that can be optionally BitLocker encrypted. The Windows images saved can be refreshed without affecting the other partitions on the media. 28 | 29 | - If you have a Windows image extracted to a disk for modification or to add / remove files, WIM Tools can create a new bootable image from those files. 30 | 31 | - WIM Tools can create a new Windows image that pulls editions of Windows from several sources and combines them all into a single image. 32 | 33 | - The contents of a Windows image can be re-organized and images can be added or removed from the image. 34 | 35 | - Windows image metadata can be altered 36 | 37 | - Several additional tools are included that will help you manage your WIM Tools projects. 38 | 39 | *********************** 40 | System Requirements 41 | *********************** 42 | 43 | WIM Tools will require that the Windows ADK be installed on your system. Only the "Deployment Tools" component needs to be installed. The program will display a warning when it is started if the ADK is not installed. However, it will continue to operate since some functions will work without the ADK. If the user selects a feature from the menu that requires the ADK, the user will be warned and returned to the main menu. 44 | 45 | You can download or install the Windows ADK from here: 46 | 47 | https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install 48 | 49 | Run the program locally, not from a network location. I have not tested the program or designed it to run from a network location. 50 | 51 | When operating on multiple editions of Windows in the same project (for example, Win 10 Pro, Home, Education editions, etc.), this program is designed to work with editions of the same version. For example, you do not want to mix version 22H2 and 23H2 in the same project. In addition, you should only create ISO images where all Windows editions are of the same build number. 52 | 53 | No additional memory beyond the standard requirements for Windows is needed. 54 | 55 | We will need a minimum of three times the amount of space your largest project requires. For example, if you are working with a 10 GB Windows image, you will need 56 | 57 | - About 10 GB space to extract the image to your hard disk or SSD. 58 | - About 10 GB of temporary storage space to assemble your final project. 59 | - About 10 GB of space to store the final image. 60 | - When working with Windows updates or drivers to inject into your images, you will also need space for these elements. 61 | 62 | Note that these items do not all need to be located on the same drive. 63 | 64 | Please review the User Guide for additional information and details that will allow you to get the most out of this program. 65 | 66 | ********************************* 67 | About the Author and the Code 68 | ********************************* 69 | 70 | I am a Windows enthusiast who started with Windows way back in the '80s when Windows was first introduced. I was a Technical Support Engineer with Microsoft for over ten years. Recently, I've become interested in managing and deploying Windows using nothing but native Microsoft tools. Unfortunately, the management of Windows images can be extremely time consuming because of the sheer number of very lengthy commands that need to be run. 71 | 72 | This program began as a series of batch files that allowed me to experiment and slowly build upon each previous step. Eventually, I got tired of the awkward and time consuming experience of programming with batch files. I'm not a professional programmer and the time being wasted trying to work out some of the oddities of batch file programming was taking me away from progressing with other things. It was then that I discovered how simple it would be to script all the commands that I needed to run and at the same time create a far better user experience using QB64, especially since I had played extensivly with Microsoft's Quick BASIC before my Windows days. QB64 is very similar in many ways to the original Quick BASIC but provides the advantages of a modern compiler. Another nice thing is that the entire program resides within a single executable file with no additional support files needed. 73 | 74 | Slowly but surely, I kept adding new functionality to the program. The result is the collection of tools all contained within a single executable file that you will find here. 75 | 76 | This project is made up of the following files: 77 | 78 | WIM Tools.exe - This is the only file needed. It contains the program as well as built-in help for the program. 79 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Release Notes.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | ************************** 2 | * How to Run the Program * 3 | ************************** 4 | 5 | You can run the provided EXE file or, if you want to make any changes or customizations, compile the .bas source file using QB64 Phoenix Edition which can be obtained here: 6 | 7 | https://github.com/QB64-Phoenix-Edition/QB64pe/releases/tag/v3.9.1 8 | 9 | It is suggested that you see the system requirements for full functionality. To do so, run the program, select option 18 from the main menu for Program help, then option 19, and finally option 1 for system requirements. 10 | 11 | 12 | ****************** 13 | * Virus Warnings * 14 | ****************** 15 | 16 | Antivirus software will sometimes flag this program as containing malicious code. This is a false indication! The included .bas file (a plain text file) is the source for the entire program. Feel free to review it. The program itself consists of a sinle EXE file produced by the compiler. Ironically, antivirus software will especially interfere with Microsoft's own DISM utility when commiting changes to a WIM file. It is suggested that you set virus exclusions for these items: 17 | 18 | 1) The program executable itself. 19 | 2) The project location (the location you specify when running the program). 20 | 21 | Note that if you use Windows defender, you only need to address item 1 as the program will take care of setting / unsetting an exclusion for item 2 itself. 22 | 23 | 24 | ********************************** 25 | * Changes in the Current Release * 26 | ********************************** 27 | 28 | v24.3.3.273 29 | 30 | NEW - Windows 11 24H2 introduced a new setup experience. With this update we are introducing the ability to modify the boot.wim file to force the use of the previous version of setup. 31 | 32 | NEW - When creating bootable media that allows for the selection of the ISO image to be made bootable, you will now have the ability to inject boot critical drivers. 33 | 34 | Fixed - Addressed some small issues and reworded some messages and help for clarification of some messages. 35 | 36 | ******************** 37 | * Previous Changes * 38 | ******************** 39 | 40 | v24.3.0.268 41 | 42 | Ther routine to convert an Install.esd file within an ISO image into an Install.wim file has been greatly enhanced. 43 | 44 | 1) You can now convert in the other direction (Install.wim to Install.esd). 45 | 46 | 2) You can now convert between standalone Install.esd and Install.wim files that are not located within an ISO image. 47 | 48 | v24.1.1.265 49 | 50 | NEW FEATURE: We now have the ability to modify a Windows ISO image to make it compatible with systems that do not meet the Windows 11 requirements. This works for both clean installs as well as upgrades. Using an image that has been patched with this procedure will allow the user to install on systems not meeting requirements without taking any special action whatsoever. Note that the CPU must still support the SSE4.2 instruction set even with this procedure. 51 | 52 | Updated: Updated text on some status screens to reflect the new Checkpoint / Incremental updates scheme being used starting with Windows 11 24H2. Also updated HELP to reflect these changes. 53 | v24.0.0.262 54 | 55 | Finally! Support for Windows 11 version 24H2 is now included. 56 | 57 | v23.0.0.261 58 | 59 | MAJOR CHANGE: We have accelerated our abandonment of support for 32-bit Windows. I am simply no longer seeing any demand for support of 32-bit Windows. With the upcoming end of Windows 10, we will finally be in a 64-bit only Windows environment so there is simply no sense in pushing forward with support of 32-bit OS support. If you need 32-bit support, you can continue to use version 22.3.0.260 of this program (the last version to support 32-bit Windows). 60 | 61 | Change is Version Numbers: With the change to 64-bit only support, we are upgrading the major version number to 23. 62 | 63 | NEW FEATURE: For multi-image boot disk projects, if an answer file is selected, we report which answer file is in use. 64 | 65 | FIX: Creation of generic ISO images would sometimes result in media that was not readable. This has been resolved. 66 | 67 | NEW FEATURE: Microsoft has a new type of update - The OOBE ZDP update. The program now supports this and documents it in Help. 68 | 69 | IMPROVED: Improved support for combined LCU / SSU packages. 70 | 71 | FIX: Release Preview editions of Windows 11 24H2 were not working when a boot disk was made with those images. This has been resolved. 72 | 73 | FIX: When altering the NAME and DESCRIPTION metadata for a Windows edition using this program, updating those fields for more than one edition at a time was not working. This has been resolved. 74 | 75 | 76 | **************** 77 | * Known Issues * 78 | **************** 79 | 80 | Issue: 81 | 82 | Double Spaces in File Names / Path: If you have a path or file name that has two spaces in a row, the program may not correctly handle this. 83 | 84 | Workaround: 85 | 86 | Eliminate any double spaces found in the path or file name. We'll look into this for possible resolution in a future release. 87 | 88 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WIM Tools x64 Only 24.3.3.273.bas: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hsehestedt/WIM-Tools/e153e84b56d953904a1399b52bd1f229c11b55d0/WIM Tools x64 Only 24.3.3.273.bas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WIM Tools.exe: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hsehestedt/WIM-Tools/e153e84b56d953904a1399b52bd1f229c11b55d0/WIM Tools.exe --------------------------------------------------------------------------------