[DELETED] folder in install.wim

frewys

frewys

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Hi.

Been playing around and curious why I have a [DELETED] folder in my install.wim?

I have stripped windows of things and configured. extracted and copied the editing folder that is created when opening the ISO and having that saved instead. NOT the temp files but cache folder and images folder.

Anyway. Why are the things I remove in this folder? (I presume it is those cause the install.wim is not getting smaller but in fact bigger as I remove stuff)

Thanks guys
 

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Is there any way to edit the wim file with NTlite and delete the folder?
I know there probably are a ton of console wim editors and third party ones. But I like to use the tool I trust and not mess with others if possible.
 
What does this directory contain ?
By mounting install.wim with NTLite, then navigating to the mount directory, you can delete it (depending on what it contains)
 
tistou77 said:
What does this directory contain ?
By mounting install.wim with NTLite, then navigating to the mount directory, you can delete it (depending on what it contains)
Click to expand...
The folder structure you see is the install.wim file content.
So it won't open in NTLite\Cache\Images
And if I open the "explore mount directory" It just takes me to what I presume is extracted windows and all of that but the [DELETED] directory is not there.
 
frewys said:
The folder structure you see is the install.wim file content.
So it won't open in NTLite\Cache\Images
And if I open the "explore mount directory" It just takes me to what I presume is extracted windows and all of that but the [DELETED] directory is not there.
Click to expand...
So just to be clear. I am working with the NTLite\Cache\Images directory I grabbed/copied/exported that was created from the original ISO.
 
Screenshot 2025-10-13 172722.png
This is the temp directory when I mount the directory. Just the windows files and no [DELETED]
 
I've never "played" (nor even looked at) with the Cache\Images, it's a cache of "operations" made by NTLite
If the directory isn't present in mount directory (explore mount directory) then it shouldn't be present in install.wim, once the image is unloaded.
 
tistou77 said:
I've never "played" (nor even looked at) with the Cache\Images, it's a cache of "operations" made by NTLite
If the directory isn't present in mount directory (explore mount directory) then it shouldn't be present in install.wim, once the image is unloaded.
Click to expand...
Yea. It is kinda weird.. Istn't it.
But there is a function to copy/export it I don't see now but I used.
And I really like to work with the extracted system rather than building ISOs. Making my base so I can just do the latest culminative update ISO from Microsoft as needed.
But maybe it is not possible...
 
frewys said:
Yea. It is kinda weird.. Istn't it.
But there is a function to copy/export it I don't see now but I used.
And I really like to work with the extracted system rather than building ISOs. Making my base so I can just do the latest culminative update ISO from Microsoft as needed.
But maybe it is not possible...
Click to expand...
Tried to do the process of creating a ISO and it still have [DELETED] folder stuck in the install.wim
 
[DELETED] is folder created by DISM after updating a WIM file, to keep recently deleted files. This is done to shorten DISM processing times, by deferring the time consuming task of garbage collection.

NTLite will drop the [DELETED] folder's contents when it applies new changes, because it will build a new WIM from scratch to replace the old WIM.

You could perform the same task by exporting the current WIM to a new WIM. The export doesn't copy over the [DELETED] folder.
 
garlin said:
[DELETED] is folder created by DISM after updating a WIM file, to keep recently deleted files. This is done to shorten DISM processing times, by deferring the time consuming task of garbage collection.

NTLite will drop the [DELETED] folder's contents when it applies new changes, because it will build a new WIM from scratch to replace the old WIM.

You could perform the same task by exporting the current WIM to a new WIM. The export doesn't copy over the [DELETED] folder.
Click to expand...
SUPER interesting!

Thank you for sharing

That raises another question. Would it at all possible to "reinstall" removed component from [DELETED] folder?
I presume not or it would already be an option.

Or at the very least. See the files that has been deleted. As of right now it is just a bunch of numbered files.
 
[DELETED] folder is for DISM's own housekeeping. It works at the file level. Component folders may be removed, but WIM treats them as plain files once they're deleted.

ZIP files can do the same thing. If you have a very large archive, it may be benefit your ZIP program to mark files as deleted, but not reclaim the space they take up. Later on, you can run a more expensive operation to clean up the archive.
 
To add and reiterate.
That's a feature of the WIM image format, only rebuilding the image (Exporting) will remove it.

When you use normal NTLite Apply process with Saving, it does it automatically.
If you leave the image mounted (Stop instead of Save on Apply) or just loaded it without processing,
then later used Unload + checkbox Save, then it won't do it automatically.

To just trigger the rebuild process, right-click the unmounted image, Convert - Rebuild All.
 
nuhi said:
To add and reiterate.
That's a feature of the WIM image format, only rebuilding the image (Exporting) will remove it.

When you use normal NTLite Apply process with Saving, it does it automatically.
If you leave the image mounted (Stop instead of Save on Apply) or just loaded it without processing,
then later used Unload + checkbox Save, then it won't do it automatically.

To just trigger the rebuild process, right-click the unmounted image, Convert - Rebuild All.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify. Is it :
Convert>Recompress
That you mean. Cause I could not find "rebuild all"
 
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