Comparison of PowerShell DISM Module and DOS DISM Commands

DISM has been used for many years to mount images and to make changes without actually first deploying the image and then re-capturing it. With the prevalence of Windows PowerShell. We now have DISM’s capabilities available to us in the familiar PowerShell syntax.

One of the issues that I have always had with DISM is the cumbersome parameters. Here is a DISM command:

DISM /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:Install.wim

And its PowerShell counterpart:

Get-WindowsImage –ImpagePath Install.wim

The green highlights are the switches. You can see a difference. Also, by using PowerShell, you are using a technology that will be supported well into the feature as well as the search and help features of Windows PowerShell. Below are the commands used to add the BITS feature to a Windows 2012 R2 server image. The length of typing may appear to be the same, but with PowerShell’s TAB completion, you will most likely not have typos on the PowerShell side. Good luck with not making a typo with DISM.

PowerShell	DISM	Description
Get-WindowsImage –ImpagePath install.wim	Dism /get-WimInfo /WimFile:install.wim	List all images inside of the WIM file
Mount-WindowsImage –Path E:\Offline –ImagePath Install.wim –Name “Windows Server 2012 R2 SERVERSTANDARDCORE”	Dism /Mount-WIM /WimFile:install.wim /Name:”Windows Server 2012 R2 SERVERSTANDARDCORE” /MountDir:E:\Offline	Mounts a specific image from a WIM file.
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature –Path e:\online	Dism /Image:e:\Offline /Get-Features	List all of the features for the image.
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature –Path e:\Offline –FeatureName BITS	Dism /Image:E:\Offline /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:BITS	Enables a specific feature in the mounted image
Dismount-WIndowsImage –Path E:\Offline –Save	Dism /Unmount-WIM /MountDir:E:\Offline /Commit	Dismounts the image and saves all changes made.

Click here for a list of all DISM commands for PowerShell.

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