Macrium Reflect Rescue Media Issue (WinRE or WinPE ADK 11/10)


tlkohler

New member
Local time
6:59 PM
Posts
18
Location
USA
OS
Windows 11 Pro
Good morning. I'm currently running Windows 11 (upgraded from 10) and the latest version 8 of Macrium Reflect Workstation. When I attempt to use the MR Resque Media builder it errors out with the following.

Boot menu Wim build
Failed to generate WinPE WIM:
Failed to load the xml definition for the PE components.

View log files (-> bootlog.txt, rescuemedialog, waiklog.txt)



When I review the log files the only issue, I can see is in waiklog which tells me the following:​


Initialisation failure - failed to load resource
Beginning wim build - 1/24/2022 5:22 PM
=======================================

Failed to initialize.
Unmounting the wim - 1/24/2022 5:22 PM
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\dism.exe" /English /unmount-wim /mountdir:"C:\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\mount" /discard

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.22000.1


Error: 50

The request is not supported.


So the WIM isn't being mounted but I can't see why. The Dism log doesn't reveal any issues that I can see. And finally, it doesn't matter whether I'm trying to add the option to the boot menu or build a resque CD or USB.

I've tried all the obvious things ... clean boot Windows and turn off AV, do a system file checker (SFC) scan for file issues, use reagent to disable and re-enable. I've removed MR from the system and reinstalled it. Nothing seems to affect the error reply.

I've even reached out to Macrium Reflect Tech support who've asked me to try the obvious and they now seem to be at a loss as well (at least at the tech support level I've reached so far). So any suggestions would be very much appreciated as I am on day 4 of trying to get this issue solved.
 
Windows Build/Version
Windows 11 Pro

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
This may or may not help, I suggest you read thoroughly to make sure you understand what you are doing.
[Solved] DISM Error 50 on Windows 10
Error 50 is a common DISM error, but may occur for a variety of reasons.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2, build: 22621.521
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Scan 3XS Custom 1700
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700K 3.6GHz Base (5.0GHz Turbo)
    Motherboard
    Asus ProArt Creator B660 D4
    Memory
    64GB DDR 3600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Tuff RTX 3080 10GB OC
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gigabyte G32QC 32inch 16:9 curved @2560 x 1440p 165Hz Freesync Premium Pro/ Dell SE2422H 24inch 16:9 1920 x 1080p 75Hz Freesync
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440p & 1920 x 1080p
    Hard Drives
    WD SN570 1TB NVME (Boot), Samsung 870QVO 1TB (SSD), SanDisk 3D Ultra 500Gb (SSD) x2, Seagate 3Tb Expansion Desk (Ext HDD), 2x Toshiba 1Tb P300 (Ext HDD)
    PSU
    Corsair RM1000X Modular
    Case
    Corsair 4000D Airflow Desktop
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H150i RGB Pro XT 360mm Liquid Cooler, 3 x 120mm fans, 1x Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Ergonomic
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    800Mbs
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
What's odd is that I see mixed messages. Some are related to WinRE and others to WinPE.

First, it's saying that it failed to generate the WinPE WIM but later references paths related to WinRE.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that you need to download the WinPE components, if your goal is indeed to create PE based media rather than RE.

Start by going to whe Windows ADK download page located here:


Under the heading "Download the ADK for Windows 11" you will see a link to "Download the Windows PE add-on for the Windows ADK". Make sure to install that.

Note: Usually the WinRE media would be sufficient, in fact, it provides the capability of supporting WiFi which WinPE does not.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
What's odd is that I see mixed messages. Some are related to WinRE and others to WinPE.

First, it's saying that it failed to generate the WinPE WIM but later references paths related to WinRE.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that you need to download the WinPE components, if your goal is indeed to create PE based media rather than RE.

Start by going to whe Windows ADK download page located here:


Under the heading "Download the ADK for Windows 11" you will see a link to "Download the Windows PE add-on for the Windows ADK". Make sure to install that.

Note: Usually the WinRE media would be sufficient, in fact, it provides the capability of supporting WiFi which WinPE does not.

What appears as mixed messaging might be because I've tried to create the resque media using the WinRE and WinPE types. Also it appears the Reflects Media builder generates the same verbiage whether you're trying to use the Recovery Environment or the Pre-Install as I've just attemped to try both methods again.
I already had Microsoft WADK and the PE add-ons installed on my computer but I removed them and downloaded "fresh" copies again with the same results.
And I do have the downloaded WinPE file from Macriums support. The files all seem to be in place in the appropriate folders:
C:\boot\macrium\WA10KDrivers
C:\boot\macrium\WA10KFiles
C:\boot\macrium\WA11KDrivers
C:\boot\macrium\WA11KFiles
C:\boot\macrium\WinREDrivers
and
C:\boot\macrium\WinREFiles
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
Following Occom's Razor, I'll try the easiest solution first ... the DISM refresh
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
I had issues with the default RE environment and chose the Win 10 PE offered as an alternative in Macrium instead. That worked fine.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    MSI B550-A Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200
    Graphics Card(s)
    PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6600XT with 8GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer Nitro 24" RG241Y 144hz refresh rate
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB NVMe SSD
    Samsung 860 QVO 1 TB SATA SSD
    Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HDD
    PSU
    LEPA B650 650 watt
    Case
    Enermax Coenus
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper T4 air
    Keyboard
    CM Storm Devastator
    Mouse
    E-Blue Cobra Jr.
    Internet Speed
    100mbs
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Optical Drives: LG DVD-RW and Pioneer BluRay/ DVD burner
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
    Motherboard
    Asus board (GA402RK)
    Memory
    16 GB Samsung DDR5-4800
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Radeon 680M and discrete Radeon RX 6800S with 8GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek with Dolby Atmos
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop screen 14" WQXGA, IPS, 120hz refresh rate
    Screen Resolution
    2560 X 1600
    Hard Drives
    1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD (WD Black SN850)
    PSU
    Battery power and Asus power brick/adapter. Also has USB-C charging
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    Laptop fans in vapor chamber
    Mouse
    Touchpad and Omoton bluetooth mouse
    Keyboard
    Built in RGB backlit
    Internet Speed
    100mbps
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
I had issues with the default RE environment and chose the Win 10 PE offered as an alternative in Macrium instead. That worked fine.
Thanks ... another suggestion from the Macrium support tech which lead to the same result unfortunately.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
While not a fix, do you have another computer that you can use to create your recovery media for now? At least that would give you some rescue media while you continue to troubleshoot.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
While not a fix, do you have another computer that you can use to create your recovery media for now? At least that would give you some rescue media while you continue to troubleshoot.
Yes I have several. I can create the Macrium Media from another, but I was hoping to get the Windows Boot media working on this particular PC.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
I have something for you to try.

I do a lot with DISM and mounting / unmounting images. I had forgotten that I sometimes get some really weird things that happen, especially if an operation gets aborted while an image is mounted. Those mounts can be really aggravating to get rid of. So, after much trial and error, I came up with these steps...

First, run these commands from an elevated command prompt to see if it shows any stale mounts:

DISM /Cleanup-WIM
DISM /Cleanup-Mountpoints

If it indicates that there were any mounts, that should close them. Then, go into the folders noted by those commands and clear the contents.

That should normally be enough. However, if there are still files in a folder that you simply cannot clear, run these commands:

Note: Replace "C:\Project" with the appropriate path.

C:\windows\system32\takeown /f "C:\Project\*.*" /r /d y
icacls "C:\Project\*.*" /T /grant %username%:F

Finally, clear the contents of the recycle bin. Yes - even deleted files folders from a mounted WIM can hod references to a stale mount and cause problems. It took me a long time to figure that out.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
I do a lot with DISM and mounting / unmounting images. I had forgotten that I sometimes get some really weird things that happen, especially if an operation gets aborted while an image is mounted. Those mounts can be really aggravating to get rid of. So, after much trial and error, I came up with these steps...
Good tip, I was unaware of this feature in DISM. Being a cautious type I would first want to see what may be mounted before running any commands that can change things. On investigation, that would appear to be satisfied with this command:

Dism /Get-MountedImageInfo

You may well have the answer to the issues @tlkohler is seeing. All my machines can build the Macrium WinRE environment without issue, so it appears to be a Windows issue rather than a Macrium one.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Good tip, I was unaware of this feature in DISM. Being a cautious type I would first want to see what may be mounted before running any commands that can change things. On investigation, that would appear to be satisfied with this command:

Dism /Get-MountedImageInfo
Yes thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
I have something for you to try.

I do a lot with DISM and mounting / unmounting images. I had forgotten that I sometimes get some really weird things that happen, especially if an operation gets aborted while an image is mounted. Those mounts can be really aggravating to get rid of. So, after much trial and error, I came up with these steps...

First, run these commands from an elevated command prompt to see if it shows any stale mounts:

DISM /Cleanup-WIM
DISM /Cleanup-Mountpoints

If it indicates that there were any mounts, that should close them. Then, go into the folders noted by those commands and clear the contents.

That should normally be enough. However, if there are still files in a folder that you simply cannot clear, run these commands:

Note: Replace "C:\Project" with the appropriate path.

C:\windows\system32\takeown /f "C:\Project\*.*" /r /d y
icacls "C:\Project\*.*" /T /grant %username%:F

Finally, clear the contents of the recycle bin. Yes - even deleted files folders from a mounted WIM can hod references to a stale mount and cause problems. It took me a long time to figure that out.
Thanks for your suggestion, I don't know enough about "DISM" to feel comfortable in what the commands are attempting to perform. And I don't want to sound ungrateful but it will take me a little bit while I research this so I can understand what is happening. I'll report back after I've done so. And thank you again.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
Absolutely understood!

I like to research things myself before blindly jumping in. However, if I may, let me just provide a little more info...

You can think of a Windows IMage file (WIM) something like a ZIP file. It's a container that holds other files.

When you work with these images, for example, to add or remove files or modify existing files, you must extract the files to a temporary location. Again, imagine extracting the contents of a ZIP file to a folder on your HDD.

Now, you make all your changes. When done, you commit your changes back to the original WIM file. Again, it's like taking your temporary folder and committing everything back to your ZIP file.

The problem is that if a program is interrupted while it is extracting files, committing changes, etc. you can end up with files that you can simply not delete or overwrite through normal means. So, if you restart your program and try to work with these files, it will fail. The old files must be cleaned up first. They are temporary files so it's 100% safe to yeet them.

That is what Macrium does - It takes a Windows PE or Windows RE image, extracts the contents, modifies it, then repackages it.

Again, I encourage you to research, but I can tell you that the commands "DISM /Cleanup-WIM" and "DISM /Cleanup-Mountpoints" are 100% safe. They simply look for stale images / mountpoints for those images that were left in an opened state. It cannot harm anything.

I've had to deal with these images a lot. I have a program I've written that works EXTENSIVLY with these WIM files and operations on them sometimes take 30 minutes. When I'm testing code changes, I simply can't wait 30 minutes every time I make a change, so I'm forced to interrupt the program leading to the issues noted above. I finally ended up building the above commands into my program so that it auto cleans up after itself when I start the program.

Let me know what your research turns up or if I can answer any questions. Hopefully the above information simply makes it a little clearer what you are working with.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Absolutely understood!

I like to research things myself before blindly jumping in. However, if I may, let me just provide a little more info...

You can think of a Windows IMage file (WIM) something like a ZIP file. It's a container that holds other files.

When you work with these images, for example, to add or remove files or modify existing files, you must extract the files to a temporary location. Again, imagine extracting the contents of a ZIP file to a folder on your HDD.

Now, you make all your changes. When done, you commit your changes back to the original WIM file. Again, it's like taking your temporary folder and committing everything back to your ZIP file.

The problem is that if a program is interrupted while it is extracting files, committing changes, etc. you can end up with files that you can simply not delete or overwrite through normal means. So, if you restart your program and try to work with these files, it will fail. The old files must be cleaned up first. They are temporary files so it's 100% safe to yeet them.

That is what Macrium does - It takes a Windows PE or Windows RE image, extracts the contents, modifies it, then repackages it.

Again, I encourage you to research, but I can tell you that the commands "DISM /Cleanup-WIM" and "DISM /Cleanup-Mountpoints" are 100% safe. They simply look for stale images / mountpoints for those images that were left in an opened state. It cannot harm anything.

I've had to deal with these images a lot. I have a program I've written that works EXTENSIVLY with these WIM files and operations on them sometimes take 30 minutes. When I'm testing code changes, I simply can't wait 30 minutes every time I make a change, so I'm forced to interrupt the program leading to the issues noted above. I finally ended up building the above commands into my program so that it auto cleans up after itself when I start the program.

Let me know what your research turns up or if I can answer any questions. Hopefully the above information simply makes it a little clearer what you are working with.
First off I'd like to thank you again for the time you've committed here and I appreciate your sharing of knowledge.

The commands were pretty straight forward. After the "/Get-MountedImageInfo" to verify there was nothing mounts that shouldn't be I performed both the cleanup commands. Nothing mounted that needed to be cleaned up. So I'm still at a loss.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
Ah well, it was worth a shot. Maybe this evening I'll sit in front of my machine with Reflect and see if any other ideas spring to mind.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Ah well, it was worth a shot. Maybe this evening I'll sit in front of my machine with Reflect and see if any other ideas spring to mind.
This is just so weird. It seems like the RE/PE files aren't available for Reflect to use Dism and Image to do its work but when I look they are where they should be ... I'm at a loss (& apparently Macrium Tech support is as well since I've not heard back from them in over a day now)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
You know, on the one machine I use Macrium on, I had problems with V8 and went back to V7. All the problems disappeared. I'm just saying. That one device is a strange one anyway.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    MSI B550-A Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200
    Graphics Card(s)
    PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6600XT with 8GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer Nitro 24" RG241Y 144hz refresh rate
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB NVMe SSD
    Samsung 860 QVO 1 TB SATA SSD
    Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HDD
    PSU
    LEPA B650 650 watt
    Case
    Enermax Coenus
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper T4 air
    Keyboard
    CM Storm Devastator
    Mouse
    E-Blue Cobra Jr.
    Internet Speed
    100mbs
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Optical Drives: LG DVD-RW and Pioneer BluRay/ DVD burner
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
    Motherboard
    Asus board (GA402RK)
    Memory
    16 GB Samsung DDR5-4800
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Radeon 680M and discrete Radeon RX 6800S with 8GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek with Dolby Atmos
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop screen 14" WQXGA, IPS, 120hz refresh rate
    Screen Resolution
    2560 X 1600
    Hard Drives
    1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD (WD Black SN850)
    PSU
    Battery power and Asus power brick/adapter. Also has USB-C charging
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    Laptop fans in vapor chamber
    Mouse
    Touchpad and Omoton bluetooth mouse
    Keyboard
    Built in RGB backlit
    Internet Speed
    100mbps
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender

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