DISM RestoreHealth stuck at 62.3% [Info / Resolved]

This is not a question. I would give some information about the above message, I found some stuff arround this subject and I want to share it with you all. My question; Did you also see the problems and it's progress as I did? I'll explain. Read on.... 🤔

(Applies manly for those who are using Windows 11 (Pro) 24H2 Build 26100.3194 and below. Maybe the problem also occurs with 21, 22, 23H2? Reason may differ but the problem maybe the same. Can't check that anymore. I am already sitting at the latest Build of 24H2 itself. I want to be up to date and not left behind with MS versions.)

I see a lot of entry's about the above issue. Unfortunately I can't comment on them because the thread is locked and can not be replied at. For this reason the same question is asked by someone else again and again etc. Policy's..... This has a negative effect. I would rather see this in 1 thread with 100 pages than this......

This issue has been asked a lot; Why? The reason for it; people look at the value and it seems to be stuck at 62,3% for quite some time. (Many minutes. Hour or hours even.) The question is understandable because everyone is asking; What is my system doing?

I self ran against this problem for the first time after an 24H2 26100.3037 update to 24H2 26100.3194. I had never ever had this problem and after cleaning the Component Store a /CheckHealth DISM command; It found problems. So I started to fix it with the DISM /RestoreHealth command and till my amazement it got stuck at 62,3% !!

(I found: there was an issue build in the update 26100.3194. (Could be repeated at a separate VM) After an /AnalyzeComponentStore it found a number of reclaimable packages, so I ran the /StartComponentCleanup command. Check it's health again and suddenly it found problems. In my case a "photon" package (some internal Windows stuff) inside the C:\Windows\WinSxS directory that got damaged and needed repair.... It's called:

amd64_userexperience-photon_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.1591_none_faf85d9f2170dfcf )

"What is my system doing??...." Hanging? In the contrary; Your system is quite busy with checking, downloading (Only with the /Online switch), applying. checking etc. How can you see that? There is one useful command that tails the log file of the DISM command. Start PowerShell as an admin and enter the following command.

Get-Content C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log -tail 10 -wait

Watch your Powershell screen; It's adding lines at the bottom each time the CBS.log got updated by the DISM command. You can see it's progress here. It should add new lines on a regular basis. The DISM command is really finished when you see: "Ending TrustedInstaller finalization." Terminating the proces premature won't help. At the next /RestoreHealth command it will start the whole proces again, checking, checking, downloading, applying, checking.

You have to let it run as long as it takes it to finish. I my case I have a fast system, disks & internet and for me this Restoring fase took me 20 minutes to complete. (for me? Strangely very slow.) On slower machines it can take hours of even longer. Be patient!! It speed is depending upon how fast your system is. If you see NO lines added to your Powershell window; then there is something else wrong! You should see progress!!

When DISM is finished you can see that the service; Windows Modules Installer (aka TrustedInstaller) will shut itself down after a while. Reason? Nothing to do..

For people that have 24H2: I must conclude that 2 reclaimable packages will be there to stay forever. (until 25H2) They belong to the base version 26100.1742 and are extremely superseded. Can't be fixed or removed. Did it once (together with other 1742 packages) inside my VM and it messed up Windows 24H2 really good!! Only a new reinstall of putting a backup back will fix the damaged Windows 11 24H2.

The 2 unreclaimable packages are;

• [Microsoft-Windows-FodMetadataServicing-Desktop-Metadata-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.26100.1742]
• [Package_for_RollupFix~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~26100.1742.1.10]

Both packages has the status; "is a top-level package and is deeply superseded"

They are only visible inside the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log file!! Proof? Rename the CBS.log file. Start a DISM /AnalyzeComponentStore command and after completing search the file for that status. Only those 2 will have that status. Those are the 2 unreclaimable packages.