Question: Guide or FAQ for differences between install.wim and boot.wim

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schmitty

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Hi,

I would like to know if there is a guide, faq or discussion which talks about the differences between install.wim and boot.wim, and which updates and package integrations should be applied to which image?

I have searched the forum and it's difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for.
 
1. For a clean install, both the boot.wim & install.wim images are required. For an in-place upgrade, only the install.wim is needed.

2. boot.wim contains a copy of WinPE, a subset of the Windows environment in order to host the Windows Setup client. WinPE is extremely limited in both size and functionality, and cannot run too many applications.

WinPE primarily exists to discover hardware devices, load drivers, optionally configure a network, format disks (if needed), and to extract the right install.wim to the target system disk. After Windows Setup is done extracting the install image to disk, it exits from WinPE and restarts into the live Windows image. WinPE is no longer used past the reboot.

3. While you can apply Updates to boot.wim, it's optional and generally not required. Adding required drivers to both images is often necessary for the install to recognize disk or USB controllers and the devices attached to them.

4. Optional Language Packs can be added to install.wim. Separately, a different set of language updates is available for boot.wim. The two sets of languages files are not interchangeable.

Most of the time you don't need to additional WinPE languages, unless you want the Setup client to support more than one language. Setup's language selections are not the same as the languages contained in the install image, it's only there for the user running the Setup client.

5. Monthly Updates don't need to be added to boot.wim, as it's only used once and then ignored. If you choose to install the Dynamic Update for install.wim, NTLite will silently patch boot.wim as required by the DU package.

6. Most Settings, Services or reg tweaks don't need to be applied to boot.wim. Again, WinPE exists solely to boot from the media, recognize HW devices and run Setup before exiting to the installed Windows. The major Settings which can be applied to boot.wim are those for bypassing HW requirements check, and changing the 24H2 Setup client to the legacy version.

You may see some users not following these rules, in regards to boot.wim. Does it hurt to apply unnecessary changes to boot.wim? No, but for the most part you're just wasting extra NTLite processing time on edits that won't help you install Windows any better.
 
I already sort of understood WinPE. My primary confusion with NTLite is the logic, when applying changes and not explicitly specifying the images to apply to does NTLite automatically apply them to the relevant images or do you have to actually manually select boot.wim for particular updates and integrations?
 
By default, NTLite only applies pending changes to the currently loaded image. You have to manually expand "Reapply tasks across editions", and check which boxes you want. For each category, you can check or uncheck the different boxes.

You could apply Drivers to boot.wim & install.wim.
You could apply the same Updates to several different install images at the same time.
 
garlin said:
5. Monthly Updates don't need to be added to boot.wim, as it's only used once and then ignored. If you choose to install the Dynamic Update for install.wim, NTLite will silently patch boot.wim as required by the DU package.
Click to expand...
Are they the CU's or something separate?

Also, I'm creating a multi iso with 23H2 and dual 24H2. 24H2 for my new pc I'm building, and an additional 24H2 for a future separate gaming pc and 23H2 for my existing PC which was built in 2020 and some drivers (mb, chipset, etc.) don't play nicely with 24H2.


1. Do I need to include the boot.wim from 23H2 in the iso or will the 24H2 one be adequate?

2. with the additional 24H2 image would I require an addition boot.wim as the two new pc's will have some different drivers?
 
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For a multi-edition ISO, you normally take the latest Windows release as the source ISO and append the older Window images to the current install.wim. boot.wim can handle all Windows releases equal or below itself, for installing.

If you have multiple PC's, most users just add both sets of drivers to boot.wim. Unless they're conflicting drivers, boot.wim can have as many extra drivers as you want. Drivers which aren't loaded won't be carried over to the target disk.
 
I have an Elgato audio interface which you install the software Wave Link, then it prompts you to plug in the microphone (I currently have a Wave:1 [USB], but are upgrading to a Wave DX [XLR] with my new PC) which then installs the correct driver, as they have two different USB microphones (Wave:1 and Wave:3) and a Wave XLR interface that is a USB-C XLR interface dock which replaces the USB-C interface in the back of the Stream Deck +. How would I go about integrating this?

Edit: I believe the Wave Link installer runs in two separate processes. It installs the software then launches an installer to install the device.
If a device is already connected, it prompts to unplug the device to install the driver.
 
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Wave Link is provided as a MSI installer file. As I don't own one of these devices, I'll have to guess at the next steps.

1. Download the MSI installer.
2. Using 7-Zip, extract the .msi file to a local folder. Now we have the drivers to integrate.
3. From the Drivers screen, Add / Directory containing drivers / Add -> folder
4. Manually delete any extra drivers you don't need from the list.

5. From the Post-Setup screen, Add / File / Before logon (Machine) -> MSI file
6. After adding this file, copy this command-line argument to the line's Parameters column:
Code: 
/quiet

If that doesn't work (running the MSI installer from Post-Setup), then move it from Before logon (Machine) to After logon (User). This shifts the execution time to your first desktop logon, where you're allowed to interact with the installer app.
 
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