Using the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool is a command-line tool that allows you to work with Windows image files, or service them in an offline state, while not in use. DISM can also be used to service a running or live Windows operating system. DISM is installed with Windows and you can also obtain it as part of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK), along with other deployment utilities. On Windows 10, DISM is located in the %WINDIR%\System32\ folder, while in the Windows ADK, the DISM folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\<arch>\DISM, where the <version> is 8.0, 8.1, or 10, and the <arch> is x86 or amd64.

The DISM version in Windows Server 2016 supports servicing Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SP2, WinPE 3.0, and later operating systems in x86 or x64 architectures. You can use DISM to perform a variety of tasks with both WIM files and Virtual Hard Disks (VHD and VHDX), including the following:

• Add, remove, and list packages 
• Add, remove, and list drivers
• Add, remove, and list updates
• Add, remove, and list application packages
• Add or remove files and folders
• Add or remove languages
• Enable and disable Windows roles and features

After preparing and capturing a computer image, you are able to use it to deploy new computers. Computer hardware and software configuration changes over time. Microsoft publishes operating system updates and patches frequently, and new device driver versions are made available as well. These changes happen frequently, and applying them to a computer and capturing an image repeatedly makes the process time-consuming. DISM enables you to apply updates directly to images, thereby avoiding making unnecessarily laborious and lengthy changes to computers. 

Modifying and servicing images involves doing the following:

• Mounting an image
• Editing or updating an image
• Saving changes and unmounting an image

To perform these tasks, you use the DISM tool, or its equivalent DISM PowerShell module commands. You can use these commands to maintain, manage, and update not only Windows Server and Windows client operating systems, but also Windows Server Core, Nano Server images, and Virtual Hard Disks as well. The most common commands are easily recalled by typing dism.exe in the Command Prompt window, which produces an output similar to the one that's shown in the following screenshot:

The most common switches that are used with DISM are listed in the following table. While this is not an exhaustive list, help with other supported switches, commands, and syntax can be reached by typing dism.exe (without switches) in an elevated command prompt:

The DISM tool has many equivalent DISM PowerShell module commands that are the same as the corresponding DISM switches. If you already know the DISM commands and have some PowerShell experience, you should have no problem working with DISM PowerShell commands. The following table lists the dism.exe command-line switches and their matching PowerShell cmdlets: