Windows 8 was the first version of Windows to let users upgrade their Windows versions to the latest one in a few mouse clicks with the help of Upgrade Assistant. The official Windows 10 Media Creation Tool even lets users create an ISO and bootable DVD/USB out of the downloaded installation files.
Those of you used Upgrade Assistant to download and create your Windows 10/8 installation media probably have noticed that it includes a file named install.esd instead of the familiar install.wim file that we use to customize Windows setup by including new drives, themes and applications.
While most PC users will never need to touch this install.esd file and both install.wim and install.esd are essentially the same, those of you want to customize Windows setup have to convert the install.esd to install.wim first as most of the setup customization tools out there don’t support install.esd for now.
Even though it was possible to convert install.esd to install.wim, it was not an easier task to do. One had to download and install Windows ADK or take the help of virtualization software in order convert an install.esd to install.wim.
Convert install.wim to install.esd and vice versa
Luckily, the developer behind WinReducer software has released another handy tool called Wim Converter. As the name suggests, it lets you easily convert install.esd files to install.wim or vice versa with a few mouse clicks.
The GUI of WinReducer Wim Converter isn’t as hard as WinReducer. Upon launching the utility, it will download 7-Zip and Setacl.exe files that are critical for its operation.
After that, you just need to browse to your install.esd or install.wim, select the edition of Windows and click the Convert button to begin the conversion process. Once it’s done with its business, “Your command has been executed successfully” message appears on the screen.
Before you download this software, make sure that .Net Framework 4.5.1 in order to run this software.
Note that WinReducer Wim Converter can’t be used to convert install.wim or install.esd located in a mounted ISO file. That is, if you want to convert install.wim to install.esd or vice versa located in an ISO file, please extract the ISO file to a safe location first before attempting to convert install.esd or install.wim as you might end up with an error.
bob says
Why do I need to register folders etc.
FILE DELETED…..
JohnenT says
Winreducer seems actually to be a piece of garbage with malwares and all.
Scanning my PC now …
+1 for ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD-v2
Robert Dittrich says
Winreducer is the worst piece of software I have ever seen and most probably malware – don’t trust it!!
Adel says
Thank you
Chris says
@JW0914
Worked perfectly, thank you!
ant says
@JW0914
that command worked perfectly
OS Modder says
Winreducer is a piece of garbage, some first versions looks more better then present crap.
Diago says
@admin
First off, I already have 7-zip installed and yet it keeps trying to force me to download and install it again. On top of that, if you click on the ? mark at the bottom, the page it takes you to says you have to download and install;
5) Activate (put on “ON”) : “7zip”, “ImageX”, “oscdimg”, “ResHacker”, “SetACL”, “Default GUI Theme” and “Official Windows Theme”;
Any program that forces you to re-install stuff that is already installed, is, IMHO, not something I would trust as it is either an attempt at malware or some really poor attempt at coding to not be able to verify previous installation of other ‘dependent’ programs.
@JW0914
Thank you very much for those commands.
JW0914 says
ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD is a far better alternative… it was written by a windows developer and requires no non-windows system files. It uses DISM along with a command script to efficiently convert one to the other.
In case anyone is not aware, any windows version with Windows AIK (7 and back) or ADK (8 and forward) can convert one to the other… what the ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD.cmd does is efficiently convert the images by only utilizing ~50% of RAM vs using the command via DISM using ~95% of RAM.
The command to convert ESD to WIM:
dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:”%WIMFILE%” /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:install.wim /compress:recovery /CheckIntegrity
And to convert WIM to ESD:
dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:”%WIMFILE%” /Sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.esd /compress:recovery /checkintegrity
admin says
@ Rimmer66
As far as I remember, the program does download some essential software like 7-Zip but it doesn’t try to download any malware or anything as such.
Rimmer66 says
BE CAREFUL PEOPLE THIS IS MALWARE / fake !
FORCES YOU TO DOWNLOAD PROGRAMS, ONLY TO FIND OUT IT KEEPS TELLING YOU MISSING FILES, IT DOES NOT WORK AND NEVER MEANT TO, ONLY MESSES YOUR SYSTEM.
Alex says
First result on google and first thing i want to see. Thanks for the article!
admin says
@ Edward Blau
Thanks for your kind words.
Edward Blau says
Dropped all my PC magazine subscriptions. Into Windows is all I need to keep up to speed with my PC activity. Keep ’em coming.