Macrium Reflect--Two boot.wim in different locations

Hey all. I just noticed I have two boot.wim files associated with Macrium Reflect Free. One is in:

C:\boot\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim

And the other is located at:

C:\macrium\WinREFiles\media\sources\boot.wim

Would anyone happen to know if they are both necessary? I seem to recall reading somewhere before that Macrium creates a folder in the root of C:\ when you make recovery media but then it's safe to delete it after you have the media created. Is one of these folders safe to delete?

To find out which one is active and should not be deleted run
cmd (admin)
bcdedit /enum OSLOADER

The other not in the above list can be deleted.

Bree said:

Welcome to Ten Forums.

The folder Macrium creates and uses to build recovery media is called the 'Staging Area'. It is the C:\boot\Macrium folder. While it is safe to delete the staging area (Macrium will recreate it next time you build rescue media) if you have added Reflect to your boot menu then that is the boot.wim that you'd be booting from.

Details on building rescue media here: Rescue Media Builder - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase


Your C:\macrium\.... folder is not a location normally used by a standard install of Macrium Reflect. Look at the dates of the files it contains, that may give a clue as to when it was created. My guess is that it was created by accident some time ago. If so it's probably safe to delete.

If you want to be really sure, then you could uninstall Reflect Free then reinstall it. The uninstall will allow you to keep your settings and backup definition, the reinstall will find and use them. Although Reflect Free has been retired you can still get the installer direct from Macrium. See the bottom of post #1 here:

Latest Macrium Reflect updates | Windows 11 Forum

Hey fantastic, thanks for the quick reply. I've been thinking about uninstalling and reinstalling Macrium. That Download agent you linked to, how does it work exactly? I've got an offline installer for the last free version, 8.0.7783. Which one do you think would be best for a reinstall?

Bree said:

The Reflect Free download agent will download direct from Macrium the offline installer for the latest (aka last) version of Reflect Free and optionally (by default selected) run it after downloading. As you already have an offline installer you might as well use your own one.

Oh great; thanks very much for your help. I think I'll go ahead and download the one directly from Macrium too. Never hurts to have one directly from the source!