Image maintenance is a crucial task for systems administrators, ensuring that operating systems are up-to-date, secure, and functioning optimally. In the Windows environment, this task can be efficiently managed using the Deployment Imaging Service and Management Tool (DISM). DISM is a powerful command-line tool that allows administrators to service and prepare Windows images, including those used for Windows PE, Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), and Windows Setup. This article will guide you through the process of maintaining Windows images using DISM, highlighting its importance and providing practical examples.

Examples:

1. Checking the Health of a Windows Image To check the health of a Windows image, you can use the following DISM command:

   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

   This command checks for corruption in the Windows image but does not perform any repairs.

2. Scanning the Image for Corruption To scan the image for more extensive issues, use:

   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

   This command will take a bit longer as it performs a more thorough check.

3. Repairing the Image If the image is found to be corrupted, you can repair it using:

   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

   This command will attempt to repair any corruption using Windows Update as the source for the repair files.

4. Adding or Removing Features To add a feature to the Windows image, use:

   DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:<FeatureName> /All

   Replace <FeatureName> with the actual name of the feature you wish to enable. Similarly, to remove a feature, use:

   DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:<FeatureName>

5. Mounting and Unmounting an Image To mount a Windows image for offline servicing:

   DISM /Mount-Wim /WimFile:<PathToWimFile> /Index:<ImageIndex> /MountDir:<MountDirectory>

   Replace <PathToWimFile>, <ImageIndex>, and <MountDirectory> with the appropriate values. After servicing, unmount the image using:

   DISM /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:<MountDirectory> /Commit

   Use the /Discard option instead of /Commit if you wish to discard the changes.