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What is ESD format. Creating an ESD image for the deployment system Convert esd file to iso

Which could be downloaded on the official Microsoft website a year ago, there was an operating system image file called install.wim . The install.wim file is a disk image containing operating system files in a compressed state. During the Windows installation process, all files are unzipped from the install.wim image to disk (C:), by and large, this is the main stage of installing the operating system on our computer. There is also a tool called Dism , with which you can integrate drivers and updates into the install.wim file, enable and disable various components of the operating system, restore the integrity of Windows system files, etc. But recently, in all distributions of Windows 8.1, Windows 10, instead of the install.wim file, there is an operating system image file install.esd . What kind of animal this is, we will look at in today’s article.

1. What is install.esd and install.wim file

2. How does the install.esd file differ from the install.wim file?

3. Does Microsoft have tools to convert install.esd to install.wim or should I look for third-party programs?

4. After conversion, can I use the install.wim file instead of install.esd in the Windows 10 distribution kit, or will I need to reverse convert the install.wim file to install.esd?

What is the install.esd file in install.wim

Greetings to all! The install.esd and install.wim files, located in the distribution kit (ISO image) of Windows 10, are archives in which the files of the Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 operating system are located in a compressed state, and Dism is a tool for working with these archives .

Archives.wim or.esd may contain one or more other archives (releases) of operating systems (Professional, Home, etc.) Archives located inside Wim or Esd files are called Images. Any Image in the archive is always assigned an index of 1, 2, 3, 4...

For example, we downloaded the Windows 10 distribution and connected it to the virtual drive (E:), go to the “sources” folder of the distribution and see the install.esd archive file,

to find out which Images are inside the archive, enter the command on the command line:

Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:E:\sources\install.esd

Where E:\sources\, this is the path to the install.esd file

As you can see, in the archive install.esd is located fourWindows Image with indexes: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Image details: E:\sources\install.esd
Index: 1
Name: Windows 10 Pro
Description: Windows 10 Pro
Size (bytes): 14,244,778,516

Index: 2
Name: Windows 10 Home
Description: Windows 10 Home
Size (bytes): 14,040,329,647

Index: 3
Name: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Description: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Size (bytes): 14,047,031,800

Index: 4
Name: Windows 10 Education
Description: Windows 10 Education
Size (bytes): 13,988,924,495

What is the difference between the install.esd file and the install.wim file?

It's important to know that When creating a new archive of the Windows 8.1, 10 operating system, a WIM archive file (install.wim) is always created, an Image is created in the archive (for example, Windows 10 Pro) and index 1 is assigned to it. Then, using the Dism tool, the archive other Images are added. The second image added will be assigned an index of 2, the next added image will be assigned an index of 3, and so on. The created images can have three types of compression:

/compress:none(without compression)

/compress:fast(fast compression)

/compress:maximum(maximum compression), if you do not specify the /compress parameter when creating an image, then the compression will be Fast (fast compression).

Microsoft developed another type of compression in 2014 Recovery(maximum maximum)

This type of compression compresses Windows files into the archive even more, resulting in a file install.esd weighs30% smaller install.wim file.

Only 3 Dism parameters work with the recovery compression type:

Dism /Export-Image...... / compress:recovery

Dism/apply-image.

Dism/Get-WimInfo

To make it easier to work with archives, an archive with images compressed in Recovery is usually given the extension ESD . It is advisable to install the esd extension, but not necessary. It is wrong to think that if the archive has esd resolution, then compression can only be recovery, and if the archive has wim resolution, then compression can only be fast, max and none, several times I came across wim files with recovery compression. Dism works not by expansion, but by compression - you can set the ESD resolution when creating an image, and Dism will create an image with “fast” compression.I made a short video on this topichttps://yadi.sk/i/B_8mfOjfxhqSk

I hope you now understand the difference between the install.esd file and the install.wim file. Both files: install.esd and install.wim are archives with Windows files, and they differ in the type of compression. File archive - install.esd is more compressed and weighs less.

1. What is install.esd and install.wim file

2. How does the install.esd file differ from the install.wim file?

3. Does Microsoft have tools to convert install.esd to install.wim or should I look for third-party programs?

4. After conversion, can I use the install.wim file instead of install.esd in the Windows 10 distribution kit, or will I need to reverse convert the install.wim file to install.esd?

What is the install.esd file in install.wim

For example, we downloaded the Windows 10 distribution and connected it to the virtual drive (E:), go to the “sources” folder of the distribution and see the install.esd archive file,

to find out which Images are inside the archive, enter the command on the command line:

Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:E:\sources\install.esd

Where E:\sources\, this is the path to the install.esd file

As you can see, in the archive install.esd is located fourWindows Image with indexes: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Image details: E:\sources\install.esd
Index: 1
Name: Windows 10 Pro
Description: Windows 10 Pro
Size (bytes): 14,244,778,516

Index: 2
Name: Windows 10 Home
Description: Windows 10 Home
Size (bytes): 14,040,329,647

Index: 3
Name: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Description: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Size (bytes): 14,047,031,800

Index: 4
Name: Windows 10 Education
Description: Windows 10 Education
Size (bytes): 13,988,924,495

What is the difference between the install.esd file and the install.wim file?

/compress:none(without compression)

/compress:fast(fast compression)

/compress:maximum(maximum compression), if you do not specify the /compress parameter when creating an image, then the compression will be Fast (fast compression).

Microsoft developed another type of compression in 2014 Recovery(maximum maximum)

This type of compression compresses Windows files into the archive even more, resulting in a file install.esd weighs30% smaller install.wim file.

Only 3 Dism parameters work with the recovery compression type:

Dism /Export-Image...... / compress:recovery

Dism/apply-image.

Dism/Get-WimInfo

What is a folder ESD on Windows 10?

What is a folder ESD on Windows 10? What happens if I delete 2.5 GB of storage containing a folder? Will this affect my Windows?

Answer

Are you in the Windows 10 Preview Insiders Program? If yes, then this file may be useful.

ESD is designed to deliver electronic software. Microsoft uses it to deliver OS installation files to a computer from an Internet connection. This is a compressed file. It can be converted to an ISO file. Windows users can use ISO files downloaded on DVD/USB to install the OS.

I just upgraded to Windows 8

I just upgraded to Windows 8. Now I want to clean up disk space, i.e. get rid of windows.old using Disk Cleanup utility, however I get the option of deleting ESD files to install windows, which will clean up another 3 gigs!

Now the question is should I remove them or not?

Answer

Denial of responsibility. Before you use Disk Cleanup, make sure all your files and settings are in Windows 8 where you expect them to be. Deleting the Windows.old folder cannot be undone.

We hope the above information is useful. If you have any questions, please get back to us, we will be happy to help you.

While cleaning, I accidentally deleted ESD files.

What are these files used for?
Should be a fairly large file as I now have about 3GB of disk space.

Answer

When your Windows 10 is updated to a new build using Microsoft Windows Update, Microsoft will choose to use electronic software delivery to send you Install.esd, required to update your current build of Windows 10. Likewise, if you manually download the ISO from Microsoft, then use your Media Creation Tool, you will end up with an Install.esd file in the folder Sources, which he creates.

The Windows 10.Install.esd file contains a standard file Install.wim, necessary for installation in a compressed format (in simple terms, like Install.wim was ZIPPED, but with a much higher compression algorithm).

If you are interested .wim is not suitable for Windows Image is something you'll see mentioned a lot when people discuss using the Microsoft Deployment Image Servicing and Management utility DISM to restore their Windows image when it becomes corrupted.

I'm not sure which ESD you actually removed. When you upgrade, you get a new build as well as a Windows.old folder that can be used to revert to the original build if things don't go so well. If you deleted the Install.esd file inside Windows.old, it's not ideal, but it's not the end of the world since this folder is designed to self-destruct after 30 days, which is good considering its huge 3+ gigabyte data size, or if you're like me closer to 16 gigabytes

Also during installation, two hidden system folders are created in the root directory (usually C:\ for most users). They also contain ESD files.

You can always download whatever build you just updated from Microsoft if you want to install Install.esd again.

What is this ESD folder in C: and can I delete it?

After getting windows 10 (from 8.1) this folder appeared. It's 3 GB in size and if I don't need it I delete it

Do I need it? Or is it important?

Answer

It looks like you can use it to create a recovery disk or a full installation disk, and you can probably use it to repair selective OS bits if they ever get corrupted. You're probably fine with this as long as you don't want these things to be higher.

Running Disk Cleanup will probably remove it for you.

After installing Windows 10, the ESD folder appeared. The content can take up 3 GB, so users are interested in the question: is it possible to delete the ESD folder from the computer without harming Windows 10?

Content

During installation, the OS downloads temporary installation files to the hard drive. The ESD folder, like $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS, contains system files that restore the system in the event of a critical error. Installation components take up a lot of space on the hard drive or SSD, and if the OS is stable, it is recommended to remove them.

Removal

Advice! Clean your computer from unnecessary system components using the Disk Cleanup program. This will protect you from deleting files necessary for stable operation of the OS.

To delete, you need administrator rights. Login:

Search → Disk Cleanup.
From the list of drives, select the system drive (C:).
Please wait for the space available to be vacated to be assessed.
Click on "Clean up system files" and wait for the estimated time to pass.
Place a checkmark next to “Temporary Windows installation files” and confirm “Ok”.
Click on “Delete files”, confirm your decision by clicking “Yes” and wait for the operation to complete.
After removing temporary installation components, to increase space, you can go from the “Disk Cleanup” tab to the “Advanced” tab, and delete recovery checkpoints except the last one. To do this, in the “System Restore and Shadow Copies” item, click “Clean up…”

Under normal circumstances, a WIM file is used to create the deployment image. It can be created using different methods, but it was a wim image and remains a wim image. The same file is used not only for network installation, but also for recording onto a bootable USB flash drive to install the operating system with all the necessary software. But recently I was preparing an image for an office that uses Windows 10 LTSB. I didn’t notice the catch right away, since I was using a computer on which the reference system was already installed. The system was prepared to work using WDS (Windows Deployment Services) and everything went as planned. But when I started preparing a bootable USB flash drive for offline installation of the operating system, that’s when the rake dancing began. There was simply no file in the right place in the ISO image install.wim. But in its place a file was found install.esd. As it turns out, Microsoft has developed a new file image format in order to increase the compression ratio and support the ability to download the image via the Internet. To do this, we had to increase the compression ratio. WIM images also support compression, but it is believed that the ESD image can have extremely strong compression and this will allow you to download operating system updates via the Internet.

I was wondering how much different WIM and ESD compression is, but now I won't waste time on such trifles. Let's take the developers' word for it.

So, what should we do if a disk with an ESD image was used? Yes, in fact, you won’t have to do anything new. On the disk used to download the program imagex.exe. To work with the ESD image, you can use the program DISM.exe from the Windows ADK for Windows 10 distribution, do not confuse it with the Windows AIK. Windows AIK also has DISM, but it can only work with WIM images.

The entire creation procedure is similar to creating a disk with a WIM image:

Create a bootable flash drive
install Windows
install the necessary software,
copy the required data,
prepare the OS with the program Sysprep,
then boot from LiveCD or over the network,
create an ESD image,
replace the file with the created image install.esd on a flash drive.

Of all these operations, only the creation of an ESD image is unusual. To create an image, you need to copy the program to a LiveCD or flash drive DISM.exe from the Windows ADK for Windows 10.

We go to the directory with DISM.exe and give the command:

Dism.exe /Capture-Image /ImageFile:D:\install.esd /CaptureDir:D:\ /Name:OrcinusCapture

Let me explain what is responsible for what:
Dism.exe launch the executable file,
/Capture-Image image creation command,
/ImageFile: D:\install.esd the file into which the image will be packaged,
/CaptureDir: D:\ the disk on which the installed OS is located,
/Name:OrcinusCapture name of the image, you can write whatever you want.

You can save the image to the disk from which the image is made. Or immediately copy it to a bootable USB flash drive. This is not important.

That's it, now you need to copy the resulting ESD image to a bootable USB flash drive and you have your own distribution ready for installation.