Installation and Upgrade Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

garlin · 2026-07-31T18:29:07-0400

Forgot MCT provides install .SWM's on the written USB drive. I'll try to see how to make that work.

Banjoman301 · 2026-07-31T18:48:01-0400

I recall reading something about making multiple SWM files into one WIM file using DISM Export-Image with the /SWMFile option.

I might give that a try in a test environment...

garlin · 2026-07-31T18:51:48-0400

This version should be SWM-aware.

Banjoman301 · 2026-07-31T21:05:54-0400

Same result...and Repair reboots when selected.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.8875]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Jim>cd downloads

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>powershell -ep bypass -f C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1 E:
Updating boot WIM on E:

[ERROR] blob could not be assigned to a solid resource
ERROR: Exiting with error code 20:
An entry in the WIM's lookup table is invalid.
Scanning "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll" (loading as WIM path: "\Windows\System32\wlanapi.dll")...
[ERROR] Can't open "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll" (status=c0000034): Object Name notfound
ERROR: Exiting with error code 47:
Failed to open a file.

Performing clean-up on boot WIM.

"E:\sources\boot.wim" original size: 592488 KiB
Using LZX compression with 4 threads
Archiving file data: 1349 MiB of 1349 MiB (100%) done
"E:\sources\boot.wim" optimized size: 590390 KiB
Space saved: 2098 KiB
Remove-Item : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll' because it does not
exist.
At C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1:111 char:5
+ Remove-Item "$TEMP_DIR\wlanapi.dll","$TEMP_DIR\mobilenetworking.d ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Jim\Ap...emp\wlanapi.dll:String) [Remove-I
tem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

Remove-Item : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\mobilenetworking.dll' because it
does not exist.
At C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1:111 char:5
+ Remove-Item "$TEMP_DIR\wlanapi.dll","$TEMP_DIR\mobilenetworking.d ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Jim\Ap...enetworking.dll:String) [Remove-I
tem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>

Is there any particular reason these two DLLs should not come directly from C:\Windows\System32 on the running system?

Installed versions and dates -

wlanapi.dll 6.2.26100.8875 7/16/2026

mobilenetworking.dll 6.2.26100.8115 7/13/2026

garlin · 2026-07-31T21:35:39-0400

One more time. The "globbing" on where the .swm parts needs to have an absolute path added on.

Banjoman301 · 2026-07-31T21:51:15-0400

Sorry...no

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.8875]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Jim>cd downloads

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>powershell -ep bypass -f C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1 E:
Updating boot WIM on E:

[ERROR] blob could not be assigned to a solid resource
ERROR: Exiting with error code 20:
An entry in the WIM's lookup table is invalid.
Scanning "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll" (loading as WIM path: "\Windows\System32\wlanapi.dll")...
[ERROR] Can't open "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll" (status=c0000034): Object Name notfound
ERROR: Exiting with error code 47:
Failed to open a file.

Performing clean-up on boot WIM.

"E:\sources\boot.wim" original size: 592488 KiB
Using LZX compression with 4 threads
Archiving file data: 1349 MiB of 1349 MiB (100%) done
"E:\sources\boot.wim" optimized size: 590390 KiB
Space saved: 2098 KiB
Remove-Item : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\wlanapi.dll' because it does not
exist.
At C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1:112 char:5
+ Remove-Item "$TEMP_DIR\wlanapi.dll","$TEMP_DIR\mobilenetworking.d ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Jim\Ap...emp\wlanapi.dll:String) [Remove-I
tem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

Remove-Item : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\mobilenetworking.dll' because it
does not exist.
At C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1:112 char:5
+ Remove-Item "$TEMP_DIR\wlanapi.dll","$TEMP_DIR\mobilenetworking.d ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Jim\Ap...enetworking.dll:String) [Remove-I
tem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>

Banjoman301 · 2026-07-31T21:56:38-0400

By any chance is there anything in this script dependent on PowerShell 7?

I'm running it in 5...

PS C:\Users\Jim> $PSVersionTable

Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 5.1.26100.8875
PSEdition Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion 10.0.26100.8875
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion 3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1

garlin · 2026-07-31T22:00:42-0400

OK. I found a reference on the wimlib forum, where "[ERROR] blob could not be assigned to a solid resource" implies the SWM's compression method triggers a bug reading the archive. wimlib is doing all the work, not PS.

SIW2 · 2026-08-01T00:24:50-0400

did you try it with 7-zip

Banjoman301 · 2026-08-01T00:40:54-0400

fg2001gf11F said:
Yes, it opens the recovery menus, but who knows what other recovery functions are missing?
I hope Microsoft puts out an official fix.

I guess the consolation prize until they do is to create a separate USB recovery drive.

Run the native Windows Recovery Drive utility (recoverydrive.exe) and uncheck "Backup system files".

Works with Secure Boot, and no modifications to the USB flash drive.

garlin · 2026-08-01T00:41:58-0400

I really, really, really hate MCT. Because if you've already chosen to save to a local ISO file, it can't re-use the same file to create an USB drive.

Banjoman301 · 2026-08-01T01:15:01-0400

My motivation for using MCT is having a more current ISO, and eliminating dependencies on tools such as Rufus.

I can't do a clean install with it, because I'm on an "unsupported" system (no TPM).

However, I can do an in-place upgrade.

setup.exe /product server still works.

fg2001gf11F · 2026-08-01T01:32:24-0400

garlin said:
I really, really, really hate MCT. Because if you've already chosen to save to a local ISO file, it can't re-use the same file to create an USB drive.

It takes some extra work, when I get the MCT ISO I usually split the install.esd into install.swm, install2.swm etc. and create an ISO that can be used to create the FAT32 USB drive.
I think MCT should already create the ISO with the split .swm files.
Given that the install.esd is usually bigger than 4 GiB which is the file size limit for FAT32.

wabbit · 2026-08-01T02:20:02-0400

fg2001gf11F said:
It takes some extra work, when I get the MCT ISO I usually split the install.esd into install.swm, install2.swm etc. and create an ISO that can be used to create the FAT32 USB drive.
I think MCT should already create the ISO with the split .swm files.
Given that the install.esd is usually bigger than 4 GiB which is the file size limit for FAT32.

Splitting the install.esd is a real PITA. If I need a FAT32 boot usb, I'll just make a usb stick with a fat32 boot partition and an NTFS partition for the install.esd. I find that much easier than splitting install.esd.

fg2001gf11F · 2026-08-01T02:38:22-0400

wabbit said:
Splitting the install.esd is a real PITA. If I need a FAT32 boot usb, I'll just make a usb stick with a fat32 boot partition and an NTFS partition for the install.esd. I find that much easier than splitting install.esd.

That is why the split should be done directly by MCT, not by the user.

garlin · 2026-08-01T03:17:13-0400

SIW2 said:
did you try it with 7-zip

I'm in the \sources folder, so 7z.exe should find all the SWM files.

Code:

D:\sources>c:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\7z.exe x install.swm -o"C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads"

7-Zip 25.01 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2025 Igor Pavlov : 2025-08-03

Scanning the drive for archives:
1 file, 3957088176 bytes (3774 MiB)

Extracting archive: install.swm
ERROR: install.swm
install.swm
Open ERROR: Cannot open the file as [wim] archive


WARNINGS:
There are data after the end of archive

Can't open as archive: 1
Files: 0
Size:       0
Compressed: 0

MCT hates you.

fg2001gf11F · 2026-08-01T03:35:16-0400

garlin said:

I'm in the \sources folder, so 7z.exe should find all the SWM files.

Code:

D:\sources>c:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\7z.exe x install.swm -o"C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads"

7-Zip 25.01 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2025 Igor Pavlov : 2025-08-03

Scanning the drive for archives:
1 file, 3957088176 bytes (3774 MiB)

Extracting archive: install.swm
ERROR: install.swm
install.swm
Open ERROR: Cannot open the file as [wim] archive


WARNINGS:
There are data after the end of archive

Can't open as archive: 1
Files: 0
Size:       0
Compressed: 0

MCT hates you.

I think 7-zip can open .swm files that were created from an Install.wim but fails to open the ones created from the install.esd, looks like it gets confused because of the expected compression. It can open an install.esd but not an install.swm that was created by splitting the install.esd.

To get 7-zip to work on the install.swm, I think it may need to convert the install.esd into an install.wim before splitting it into .swm files.

SIW2 · 2026-08-01T03:57:55-0400

That seems to be it.

I think 7-zip can open .swm files that were created from an Install.wim but fails to open the ones created from the install.esd, looks like it gets confused because of the expected compression. It can open an install.esd but not an install.swm that was created by splitting the install.esd

Brink · 2026-08-01T09:25:46-0400

New Windows 11 Insider Experimental (Future Platforms) build 29634.1000 ISO released.

Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft. Microsoft provides ISO files for Windows Server and Windows 11 to download. You can use these ISO files to clean install or in-place upgrade Windows 11. The Flight Hub...

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hsehestedt · 2026-08-01T14:04:03-0400

I do this very differently (go figure). Typically, within a short time after a Patch Tuesday, the real Microsoft ISO image with an install.wim becomes available from Visual Studio downloads. I use that as my base for any new updates.

Now, say a preview release comes out. If the updates are available from the Microsoft Update Catalog, then I grab those files and inject them into my base image to update it to the new build. If those updates are not available from the catalog, then I start downloading that version from UUP but I halt the process as soon as all the updates are downloaded. Then, I grab those update files and perform the injection myself rather than letting UUP do it.

Again, I realize I'm unusual in this respect. I suspect that I am very likely the only person in this forum who bothers doing it this way. Merely pointing out that this is an option for anyone who wants to take it that far.

On the plus side, I always have a full ISO with all of the editions (Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, etc. ) that is up to the latest version. For example, I currently have a full ISO image of 25H2 26200.8973 that I can use for all my unattended installation testing.

Installation and Upgrade Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

Download Latest Windows 11 64-bit ISO using Media Creation Tool (MCT)

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Download Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO or Windows Server ISO from UUP Dump

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