Windows Install in Place outside of OS (WinPE?)

[scenic atlas]

Hey all, i work in IT support and often come across systems that have OS corruption causing severe slowdowns or preventing boot. If its possible to get into the OS using a media creation tool and doing an install/update in place often resolves these issues however its not always possible to actually run the tool.

The actual question i have is, is it possible to either run the install in place setup tool without booting into the main OS (such as through WinPE?) or do something that's functionally the same (maybe through DISM or other command line tool?). Ive tried searching for this before but never get any conclusive answers.

[maiden basin]

Reimaging the PC with PXE not an option?

[scenic atlas]

generally thats what i end up resorting to but im looking for an option that wont require reinstalling user applications. The devices i interact with are personal client devices and not managed or anything

[lethal pasture]

Couldn't you just build a WIM with the user applications and deploy that?

[scenic atlas]

wouldnt that just reinstall the still broken os?

[lethal pasture]

no. you're still wiping the drive. You just make an autodeploy script.

In most cases that's your only option.

[scenic atlas]

are you talking about making a separate image, installing the same applications i see on the clients drive, and then installing that image? Seems like a waste of time with extra steps compared to reinstalling normally. unless i'm missing something

[lethal pasture]

does each client have a different app setup?

[scenic atlas]

yes, these are random people, not part of a company.

[bitter agate]

You can run the ISO setup.exe from Automatic repair, I don't have a corrupted image of Windows to test the results on, so you'll have to see for yourself. In order to use the setup, you obviously need an external media plugged in that has the ISO (either flashed or ready to mount).

[scenic atlas]

i feel like ive tried that and it didnt work but i dont remember for sure. i'll have to try again

[bitter agate]

Like this

[lethal pasture]

isnt that going to attempt to repair winpe

[bitter agate]

Maybe, Idk xd

[scenic atlas]

yeah i get what you mean, but yeah what robin said, it doesnt do it to the OS itself but rather to WinPE

[bitter agate]

Well this is Windows RE so maybe it has more chance of working? It is a part of the OS as appose to Windows PE that's entirely a separate media.

[scenic atlas]

let me see what happens, i'll just try it with my laptop lol

[lethal pasture]

It looks like you can run DISM to cleanup.

Boot from WinPE and run the following command:

DISM /Image:{{windows drive}} /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:{{install.wim location}}:1

replacing {{windows drive}} with the drive windows installation is on
replacing {{install.wim location}} with the DVD's location of install.wim

you can also replace 1 with the index in the drive.

[lethal pasture]

WinRE is WinPE

[bitter agate]

No, they are two separate things

[lethal pasture]

they both run off the same type of system.

WinRE uses winPE

[bitter agate]

WindowsRE is installed with Windows and supports more feature, so it's 'closer to home' so to speak. Windows PE requires it's own media and is more restrictive.

[lethal pasture]

I mean you'd have to run #1386118524866527242 message anyway

[tight grove]

robin_the_andrew#0 - #Windows Install in Place outside of OS (WinPE?)

It looks like you can run DISM to cleanup.

Boot from WinPE and run the following command:

DISM /Image:{{windows drive}} /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:{{install.wim location}}:1

replacing {{windows drive}} with the drive windows installation is on
replacing {{install.wim location}} with the DVD's location of install.wim

you can also replace 1 with the index in the drive.

Quoted by robin_the_andrew#0 • [993781395761676298] React X to delete · Jun 22, 2025, 12:35 AM

[scenic atlas]

yeah i was thinking about trying dism with the source argument

does dism only copy files it determines are unhealthy or with the source argument will it do everything?

[lethal pasture]

it checks system files and compares them to that wim

[scenic atlas]

gotcha

i will give that a try next time i come across a fucked system

[lethal pasture]

or just make your own?

thru a vm

[scenic atlas]

i dont have a way to reproduce the ways these systems are fucked 😅

[lethal pasture]

just copy one as a dummy ||just kidding||

[scenic atlas]

gonna get fired so fast 😂

[lethal pasture]

testing it by deleting ntoskrnl from my vms drive

[scenic atlas]

im already tiptoeing the line by having a personal ventoy usb with some extra tools

[lethal pasture]

what's the issue with that?

[scenic atlas]

client data privacy yada yada

hurr durr i could be stealing data with my flash drive

🙄

[lethal pasture]

then how come youre allowed a win install disk?

they're defying their own logic

[scenic atlas]

i just work here man XD