basic explanations for install and recovery media,INSTALL.WIM, etc.

I've got all these USB sticks with Windows install media and recovery media from various applications but I still don't have a good recovery partition online.

To get me started, can someone explain:
install.wim
install.esd (?)
Win PE
Win RE

Anything else I should know. I'm not quite sure where or how to start. (Sorry for sounding noobish, but for this area, I'm still a noob.)

I've been using Rufus to create a lot of these USB sticks. Is there a Rufus-like utility that will allow me to consolidate all these different install/recovery media onto 1 or 2 different USB sticks. And to set up these different recovery media to all use the same install.wim?

Bree said:

A .wim is a Windows IMage file, the .esd is an Electronic Software Distribution file. The install.wim and install.esd are basically the same thing and for most purposes can be used interchangeably. They contain all the files needed to install Windows, and will contain multiple editions (Home, Pro, Education, etc).

The main difference is that an ESD is smaller than the equivalent WIM, the ESD format uses more compression than a WIM.




Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) is the boot environment used by the Windows installer. Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is what you are using when you boot to Advanced Start up.

Windows Preinstallation Environment - Wikipedia

Bree,

Thanks for getting me started. Is there some "multi-partition" equivalent to RUFUS that doesn't require hand-coding grub?

Let's say that such as utility exists so I could have multiple "rescue disks" on just one USB stick to rule them all. Is the install.wim file going to be the same fore all the different rescue disks? If so, is there any way to have just one copy of install.wim installed, for all the rescue disks to share? That approach would make maintenance a lot easier, say after the twice a year Windows major updates.

Could I also have the actual Windows Update installed in this multi-partition USB stick? That would be killer

Bree said:

Not quite, there are boot utilities that let you put multiple ISOs on a USB and give you a boot menu to let you choose which one to mount and boot from. One I've used successfully is Ventoy

@Bree,

Thanks. Maybe Ventoy will become the "new Rufus?" I have a 64 GB USB drive that I will use for this.

As an aside, remember when a boot disk was a 1.44 MB floppy disk? And you needed 10 or 20 or more floppies for Windows or some major program.

Bree said:

It's not really the same thing. Rufus lets you create a bootable usb from an ISO. Ventoy and others like it allow you to put one or more ISOs on a USB, the when you boot to Ventoy it can mount and boot from the ISO of your choice.




I'm so old I can remember 1.2MB 5.25" boot disks.

Thanks for the explanation of the differences. Even if I have to mount an ISO, it still sounds convenient. Of course, if I need ISO's, then there is no possibility to share an install.wim file across different recovery applications.

I hate to say that I remember 800 KB single-sided 8" floppy disks.

OldNavyGuy said:

Depends on what you want to accomplish.

If you have bootable installation media, you really don't need a recovery partition, or a recovery drive.

Bootable media is especially helpful when you can't boot into Windows.

If you want to load and use other apps like Macrium Reflect, and/or other third-party tools, look into creating rescue media such as Kyhi's Rescue Disk.

Win10XPE - Build Your Own Rescue Media

Actually, I would like just to put Windows Installable Media, Macrium Reflect, and other third party tools on just one or maybe two USB drives. I have two 64 GB USB sticks. Right now I have a plastic baggie full of these one-off bootable install or rescue media, and it's a pain sorting through them.