Error 87 running "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" on Windows 7.

Anonymous

I followed some advice on the wiki System file check (SFC) Scan and Repair System Files to find out how to fix corrupted files that SFC couldn't (as I had previously already known about SFC) and came across this barrier.

Here is a log file of DISM, if you need. It includes information only from the execution of DISM described in this thread.

Also, in case you need it, is my Command Prompt. Instead of creating a screenshot, I just pasted it in plain text.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

C:\Windows\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Error: 87

The restorehealth option is not recognized in this context.

For more information, refer to the help.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

Hello, joel perry

The TechNet Library article "DISM Supported Platforms" notes that "...Some DISM commands are not supported on all target images. For information about specific DISM commands, see Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) Command-Line Options."; an admittedly-perfunctory perusal of the multiple articles linked in that one fails to reveal at a glance exactly what commands are supported by what OS, unfortunately - the documentation seems to follow the "new norm" of minimalization. "[DISM

Deployment Image Servicing and Management Technical Reference for Windows](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824821.aspx)", the "section header" for the 51 pages of docs that includes all the articles I've linked in this post, specifically notes that the Windows 8 Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) can be used to service both Windows 7 & Server 2K8R2 WIM's, but there are a variety of qualifiers stated elsewhere, e.g. "Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) Command-Line Options' states:

".../AnalyzeComponentStore and /ResetBase can’t be used when servicing a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 images."
".../StartComponentCleanup can’t be used when servicing a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 images.", and
".../CheckHealth, /ScanHealth, /RestoreHealth, /Source, and /LimitAccess can’t be used when servicing a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 images"

What is DISM?" mentions that "...To service inbox drivers in an offline image of Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2008 with SP2, you must use the Windows 7 version of DISM or PkgMgr."

while "DISM Supported Platforms" also provides this: "Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) works on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server® 2012, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 images. However, the full functionality is available only when you are servicing a Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 image. This is because the files and resources required to service any Windows image are located in the image, not on the technician computer. DISM will detect and use the resources available in the target image to update the image."

Although by no means a WIM-deployment professional myself, it would seem to me that you're presented with the limited options you're seeing simply because nothing else is supported by design,

and that using a later version of DISM (as outlined in "Copy DISM to Another Computer", which maintains that "...You can use deployment and imaging tools on a supported host operating system, such as Windows PE 3.0, even if you cannot install Windows ADK. You can copy the tools from a Windows ADK installation on your technician computer and configure the tools for use on a supported host computer.") would not provide the missing functionality...

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54 additional answers

Anonymous

2018-09-17T11:41:06+00:00

Cameron

The only time I have seem error 87 is when the spaces were forgotten

You are just entering the command incorrectly. It should be this below with the spaces instead:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth(note the space after 'dism" & "online" & "image")

Hello,

I ran it as Administrator as you suggested...in fact I copied and pasted it, and STILL got the Error 87.

Thanks,

Tom
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Anonymous

2018-06-20T05:26:24+00:00

Thanks for fighting for "us" Win7 fans, especially 32bit on older machines. It runs so much faster, despite popular opinion.

BTW, I find your answers very helpful. You are one of the few who takes the time to read and give a USEFUL solution. I wish the support reps would do the same. (I am referring to your helpful post here. I would PM you but MS doesn't allow it.)
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Anonymous

2018-05-08T19:25:47+00:00

tente este, funcionou aqui.

DISM.exe / Online / Cleanup-image / Restorehealth
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Anonymous

2018-01-31T23:05:48+00:00

1-31-18

Though I know many people still use Windows 7, as of the above date, I'm posting here as if I'm President Lincoln being the last passerby on the road from that "Twilght Zone" episode:

I've looked at this thread based on Cameron's original "error 87" question since I upgraded to OS Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit sp1 (Always Upgrade) on my rebuilt Dell XPS 400 desktop back in 2015, & currently using 64 bit on my refurbed Dell E6510 Latitude i7 laptop, since I experienced the same Sfc / scannow "pending reboot" dism error as with the desktop, the SOLE reason I've ever had a need to try using Dism.exe. Googling will bring the vast majority of those having this same issue directly to this thread.

In using what is considered the best version of Windows 7 (for one, local pc) to install (from an OEM promo copy DVD that had all version options), whether using the correct spaces, running the 64 bit version via cmd, or doing the update that supposedly added at least a few more commands ( it didn't with me), I'm afraid that Dogtamer's June 16, 2014 reply HOLDS TRUE, that for Windows 7 users, "Some DISM commands are not suported on all target images", if for ANY Windows 7 users.

Short of a dreaded re-install or repair-install as last resorts, only using the Update System Readiness Tool (SURT), Sfc.fix by Sysnative or a custom cleaning script they create for your install to use with Sfc.fix, will help here. Microsoft effectively continues doing all it can to close any remaining doors for anyone who wants to sucessfully use Windows 7 without wanting or having to upgrade to Windows 10, even if their older machines can't handle the upgrade load, or people can't handle the financial load for new machines period.

With Windows 10 finally starting to overtake Windows 7 in use, now that its proven to be a worthy successor, despite the same-o same-o security update issues/fixes that will always be the case; along with Microsoft's clock ticking towards the January 14, 2020 end-of-extended-support deadline for Windows 7 users, I don't feel it wrong to represent being "the last casualty", here.
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