Restore to dissimilar hardware

create custom install.wim of existing pc using dism
I'm not sure how to do this part

Dism++ is the easiest way:

https://github.com/Chuyu-Team/Dism-M....1.1002.1B.zip

click File >Save Image



the wim information is automatically filled, so the only thing needed is to browse to the destination for the wim you are about to create

browse to the destination e.g. E:\install.wim



Then just click OK.

woodslanding said:

I'm pretty sure it is...

I have run into one strange problem. The original install did not include the chipset drivers, oddly. I installed those, and installed video drivers, but I still have one driver error. My ancient USB wireless adapter, which gives an error during install. What's strange is that it was no problem to install it to the bare-metal recovery OS! Which is also server 2022. So I am perplexed. However the driver is dated 2013, so probably wouldn't hurt to invest in a new adapter.

I guess I will go ahead with the process anyway, and try again at the end.

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I am having a little trouble figuring out the process:


I'm not sure how to do this part--all the tutorials I see start with an install disk, not an existing installed OS.

I'll keep hunting....

Okay, found this:
Create Windows 10 ISO image from Existing Installation

Looks like the ticket. Do I want option 2 or 3? It looks like 3 does a generalization, but isn't what we are doing actually an alternative to generalization? I note that the generalization I did earlier removed a lot of customizations, but it looks like option 3 will keep those intact? It's not entirely clear what might be lost by generalizing....

Reading further, part 3 doesn't look right. They have you installing all software and being sure not to run it. So that's not what I want. And part 2 looks like it fails if any program references anything but the C: drive??

It's not looking good.

But maybe what I've already done is INSTEAD of parts1,2 or 3???

I'm very confused where in the process I need to pick up.

Okay, looks like I need to use step 2. But I don't think I could ever find every instance of a reference that any installed program has outside the C: drive. I routinely put all kinds of data on non c drives. I work in audio, and I would need a 4 TB system drive to put every piece of program data on it.

I can move desktop, downloads, etc back to c easily enough. And all the programs are installed on C, but something on the order of a 'game save folder'?--I can't imagine finding all the instances of something like that, with hundreds of plugins.... Is there a way to search for such instances? What is it exactly that corrupts the .wim?

I always use part 2 as all my progs are on C drive. If you have installed non portable programs elswwhere, I do not know what would happen but I guess it would fall over. @Kari might be able to advise but he may not be available for a while for personal reasons.

okay, I'm getting a little confused. My last install I did from a webpage that suggested I use the NTFS format for the usb drive. And it seems like I will need this for my large WIM with custom programs. Then I just did a simple copy across of the files from the mounted ISO. It all seemed to go fine. It was so nice not to have to use Rufus or media creator tools.

But now I am reading that UEFI cannot boot from NTFS. Which means breaking the wim file apart somehow....

What is the advantage of UEFI? It seemed like the install without it went fine. It's counter-intuitive that a newer standard requires an older file system!!

EDIT: well, I am just using rufus. Looks like it creates a small FAT32 partition?

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Do you think I need to worry about removing the old AMD drivers from my .wim file??

well it seems like option 2, using old install to create .wim with included installed software also includes old install drivers. To which I inject the drivers from the new clean install...

It doesn't actually generalize, right? In any case a search for AMD drivers in the wim created from the old install does turn up many entries.

EDIT: I'm also confused that the entries in boot.wim have (amd64) appended. Is this to be expected? I found it also in the original iso I downloaded, so I guess so.... there doesn't seem to be a separate option for downloading intel vs. amd, and the iso file name includes x64, so I guess I'm okay. It's still unnerving.

I tried installing from my custom image one time, and got the error:

verify that the installation sources are accessible.

I'm guessing this means I do in fact need an NVME driver? Anyway, I am going back through the whole process a second time, and adding the driver to boot.wim.

I hope that was it.... as I read it now, it actually sounds like it's an issue with the source drive, not the destination drive.

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No luck. Still getting the same error. It happens immediately after the partitions get created.

Process:
pull drivers from clean-ish install (some drivers didn't get included in the initial install, so it's not perfectly clean. but it hasn't crashed.)
download server 2022 iso
make usb boot drive from iso using RUFUS.
use dism++ to create new install.wim from old OS. Replace original file on usb boot drive with big new file.
use powershell to inject drivers from first step into install.wim.
Run installer.

Am I missing a step???

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I guess today I will try option 3, and see how that goes.
Never mind. Not applicable to my situation.

Guess I am giving up, although if anyone has further suggestions, I am backed up, and could still try something.

Thanks for the help.