As I mentioned in my previous posts, Microsoft brought back Split WIM functionality with the latest MDT (Microsoft Deployment Tools) – which is great! – but what if you’re trying to achieve the opposite? I ran into this situation this past week and was pulling my hair out trying to find the solution.
The Situation: We have multiple swm files (install.swm, install2.swm, install3.swm) and want to merge, convert, export (pick your verb) them into a single WIM.
The Problem: We know DISM supports this functionality as it has an “export-image” command baked in – but I implore you to try and figure out the correct syntax to make it work. I had done this successfully once before, but I simply could not remember what I did to make it work. Through trial and error and eventually just Googling around helplessly, I found my answer. And funny enough, the blog where I found my answer had a very similar story as my own.
The Solution: I’ll jump straight to the answer as this article will be more of a reference than anything else.
Step 1: Copy all .SWM files into a new folder (c:\images)
Step 2: Open an Admin CMD Prompt and CD to this folder
Step 3: Run the following command:
dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.swm /swmfile:install*.swm /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim /Compress:max /CheckIntegrityStep 4: Copy your new WIM elsewhere and clean up your temporary folder.
That’s it! Thank you to the Maaadit Blog for jogging my memory and helping a fellow admin out!
Until next time..