ISO file size discussion

>I know about the tricks around this

Its not a trick, some BIOS support direct NTFS Boot in UEFI mode.

>I don't like Rufus and had several issues before with it.

I didn't use Rufus.

>If you use DISKPART to list the partitions of those workaround UEFI:NTFS it will usually show a small FAT hidden partition (Usually after the main NTFS partition) which is used for the boot.

On my test I use diskpart to clean that USB before testing, use disk management to create simple NTFS partition (no additional hidden FAT32 partitions) and use File Explorer to copy content of mounted ISO to that USB.

>but the new ones I have, only boot from FAT.

One of those devices that boot from NTFS partition is less than year old and other two are about 7 years old.

How long it take to convert wim to esd? Have you tried export only Pro edition to it's own install.wim?

It's very fast: Here is exported Win 11 Pro (index 6) from en-US ISO. It take about 20 sec to create new install.wim with only Windows 11 Pro.

How long it take to convert wim to esd? Have you tried export only Pro edition to it's own install.wim?

It's very fast: Here is exported Win 11 Pro (index 6) from en-US ISO. It take about 20 sec to create new install.wim with only Windows 11 Pro.

Hi Pauli,

That is fine in this case, but in many other situations even the single edition install.wim is too big.

And if I want to keep all the editions the .esd can keep all and still fit. 😉

How long it take to convert wim to esd? Have you tried export only Pro edition to it's own install.wim?

It's very fast: Here is exported Win 11 Pro (index 6) from en-US ISO. It take about 20 sec to create new install.wim with only Windows 11 Pro.

If I want to keep all editions I usually do the split wim, creates 2 files

install.swm

Intall2.swm

Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:D:\Temp\install.wim /SWMFile:D:\Temp\install.swm /FileSize:4000

The install.wim in the MS ISO is too big to fit on a FAT32, so I will have to convert it to install.esd.

Above the FAT32 limit of 4,294,967,296 

Hi fg,

Obviously, for users like you with many devices it isn't practical to download the ISO multiple times.

In my case, with only two PCs my preference is to install or update directly from my second SSD without having to deal with USB drives, file systems or sizes.