Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows Vista
    - Admin Tips
      - Troubleshooting
        Error Capturing Image of Reference Computer

Section(s): Troubleshooting, Deployment
Published on Feb 14, 2008.
Last Modified on Feb 14, 2008.
Last Modified by MitchTulloch.
Rating: Not Rated

How to resolve an error that may occur when capturing an image using imagex.exe

Say you’re planning on deploying Windows Vista and you’ve prepped your reference computer and are ready to capture its image. You try using the following command:

imagex.exe /compress fast /capture c: c:\image_name.wim “Blah” /verify

Then you get the following error: “Windows cannot access the required file image.wim”

What’s wrong? You forgot to specify which edition of Vista you’re capturing! The correct command should look something like this:

imagex.exe /compress fast /capture c: c:\image_name.wim “Blah” /flags Enterprise /verify

***

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see www.mtit.com.