Solved Uninstall Adobe application from offline wim file.

Hi Experts,

i am need to remove previously installed adobe reader application from offline wim file & add a new version of Adobe application to the same wim file.

I have tried to use the DISM command but i am getting only the details of the updates and appx packages information only. wherein the Adobe application details is not getting shown

Kindly suggest how we can get the this app removed from the image.


Thanks in advance.

You've cross-posted the same question on TenForums. Please inform readers when you do that, so someone doesn't duplicate their work.

How was this Adobe app added to the offline WIM? Was a working system sysprepped and captured? If that's the case, then reinstall the image, replace the Adobe app, and sysprep/capture it again. Adobe apps aren't available in Appx or MSIX format. So it's not possible to have Adobe integrated in any other way. If the app was installed by a Post-Setup action, you can update the Post-Setup files.

Hi Gralin,

Thanks for the updates.

Yes i am working on both the images windows 10 and windows 11 22H2, so only i posted them respectively.

we have installed OS along with drivers and then installed Adobe application using exe.
then we sysprep & generalized the image & captured the wim file using DISM commands

now i have the WIM file for both the Win 10 and Win 11, now i wanted to remove the installed adobe application and install a newer version of Adobe need to be added to the wim.

is it possible to use unattend.xml or answer file to start the installation for user after OOBE is completed.

Kindly suggest.

You can't switch Adobe versions this way.

Normally, a Win32 program installer does:
- Copy or update some folders and files
- Makes registry changes

In theory (and it might go wrong if you skipped a detail), you could DISM mount an offline image to a folder. Compare the Adobe folders from a newer install.
Now replace the same folders in the mounted folder. That's the easy step.

Capturing the registry changes is more difficult because they could be anywhere. What you do is grab RegistryChangesView or a similar reg capture/comparison tool. Install Adobe on a clean system.
Collect a copy of the reg updates, but you have to carefully filter out all the non-Adobe junk (because Windows is running in the background).

Now you have to mount the different registry hives, and manage to tweak the keys (exported paths don't match because you're using a temp HKEY mount path). Assuming you've done everything right (!), then you've cloned it.

The last step is a nightmare, which is why the normal process is return to audit mode, and replace Adobe there. Then you don't worry about grabbing all the folders & files, and weird registry changes. And Adobe will have a TON of reg tweaks, usually from file type CLSID's.

Another answer is to run the installer from the ISO (not install.wim). Copy the files under new folder "\sources\$OEM$\$1\Folder", where $1\Folder -> C:\Folder
Anything found in the $OEM$ folder is automatically copied to the target system.

From the unattend.xml, you can add a OOBE pass RunSychronousCommand to execute the Adobe installer from C:\Folder.

There are tradeoff's between the two methods. Sysprep is very pleasant for the end-user; the system is immediately ready to go. But it requires more of your time. Post-Setup install is easy for you, but more waiting for the user.