Esd extension what. ESD Decrypte Utility - Easily Convert ESD to Windows Bootable ISO

Looking for an answer to the question of where the space on the C drive went in Windows 8.1 and 10 systems, many people find an "ESD" folder weighing more than 3 GB at the root of this drive. What is this folder and can it be deleted without harming the operating system?

Folder ESD at the root of the C drive appears, as a rule, after a global system update. For example, if you upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 or from Windows 10 to Windows 10, but in the Anniversary Update edition. Also, the ESD folder can be found after applying the lightweight transfer method. Windows installations using the Refresh Windows utility. Another example is updating the system using the Media Creation Tool to restore integrity system files.

The ESD folder contains a distribution kit of Windows 8.1 or 10, but the distribution kit is defective, but limited, which, as a rule, includes only one edition of the system, suitable for updating the current system. In the process of a global update Windows utilities"Update Assistant" Media Creation Tool and Refresh Windows download temporary installation files from Microsoft servers to disk From the computer, some of which are the contents of the ESD folder. The temporary installation files are also downloaded to two other folders on the C drive - $ Windows. ~ BT and $ Windows. ~ WS... Their specifics and methods of removal have already been described on the site in this article.

For the update process, the system downloads the installation files, but after the operation is completed, it is in no hurry to delete them. And these files continue to occupy disk space in some cases as dead weight. Why? From installation files located in the ESD, $ Windows. ~ BT and $ Windows. ~ WS folders, the system does not get rid of, because they can be used to restore it. But if Windows is stable, and recovery is unlikely to become necessary, or if the ability to rollback is provided in advance backup copy by using third party program, these are the same cases when the ESD folder is a dead weight cluttering up the C drive. Accordingly, under such conditions, it makes sense to get rid of this folder. You can get rid of it with the usual Del key.

Which could be downloaded on the official Microsoft website a year ago, there was an image file operating system called install.wim ... The install.wim file is a disk image that contains the operating system files in a compressed state. During the installation of Windows, all files are unzipped from the install.wim image to disk (C :), by and large, this is the main stage of installing the operating system on our computer. There is also a tool called Dism , with which you can integrate drivers and updates into the install.wim file, enable and disable various components of the operating system, restore the integrity of Windows system files, etc. But recently, in all distributions of Windows 8.1, Windows 10, instead of the install.wim file, there is an operating system image file install.esd ... What kind of beast is this, we will analyze in today's article.

1. What is install.esd and install.wim file

2. What is the difference between the install.esd file and the install.wim file

3. Does Microsoft have tools to convert install.esd to install.wim or look for third-party software?

4. Is it possible after conversion to use the install.wim file instead of install.esd in the Windows 10 distribution, or will it be necessary to convert the install.wim file to install.esd in reverse?

What is the install.esd file in install.wim

Greetings to all! The install.esd and install.wim files located in the distribution (ISO image) of Windows 10 are archives that contain the files of the Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 operating system in a compressed state, and Dism is a tool for working with these archives ...

.Wim or .esd archives can contain one or several other archives (releases) of operating systems (Professional, Home, etc.). Archives inside Wim or Esd files are called - Images. Any Image in the archive is always assigned an index 1, 2, 3, 4 ...

For example, we have downloaded the Windows 10 distribution kit and connected it to the virtual disk drive (E :), go to the “sources” folder of the distribution kit and see the install.esd archive file,

to find out which Images are inside the archive, enter the command at the command line:

Dism / Get-WimInfo /WimFile:E:\sources\install.esd

where E: \ sources \, this is the path to the install.esd file

As you can see, in the archive install.esd is fourWindows Image with indexes: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Image details: E: \ sources \ install.esd
Index: 1
Name: Windows 10 Pro
Description: Windows 10 Pro
Size (Bytes): 14 244 778 516

Index: 2
Name: Windows 10 Home
Description: Windows 10 Home
Size (Bytes): 14,040 329 647

Index: 3
Name: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Description: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Size (Bytes): 14,047,031,800

Index: 4
Name: Windows 10 Education
Description: Windows 10 Education
Size (Bytes): 13 988 924 495

How the install.esd file differs from the install.wim file

It is important to know that when creating a new archive of the Windows 8.1, 10 operating system, a WIM archive file (install.wim) is always created, an Image is created in the archive (for example, Windows 10 Pro) and index 1 is assigned to it. Then, using the Dism tool to archive other Images are added. The added second image will be assigned index 2, the next added image will be assigned 3, and so on. The created images can have three types of compression:

/ compress: none(without compression)

/ compress: fast(fast compression)

/ compress: maximum (maximum compression), if the / compress parameter is not specified when creating an image, then the compression will be Fast (fast compression).

Microsoft developed another type of compression in 2014 Recovery(maximum maximum)

This type compression compresses Windows files into an archive even more, resulting in a file install.esd weighssmaller install.wim file by 30%.

Only 3 Dism parameters work with the recovery compression type:

Dism / Export-Image ...... / compress: recovery

Dism / apply-image.

Dism / Get-WimInfo

To make it easier to work with archives, an archive with images compressed in Recovery is usually given the extension ESD ... The esd extension is desirable, but not required. It is wrong to assume that if the archive has esd resolution, then compression can only be recovery, just as if the archive has wim resolution, then compression can only be fast, max and none, I have come across wim files with recovery compression several times. Dism does not work by expansion, but by compression - you can put ESD permission when creating an image and Dism will create an image with "fast" compression.I made a small video on this topichttps://yadi.sk/i/B_8mfOjfxhqSk

Hopefully, you now understand how the install.esd file differs from the install.wim file. Both files: install.esd and install.wim, these are archives with Windows files, and they differ in the type of compression. Fthe file archive - install.esd is compressed more and weighs less.

After installing or updating the operating system to Windows 10, most users were able to notice that a strange folder called ESD appeared on their hard drive. Since it can occupy 3GB of memory or more, in order to save space, users make attempts to delete it. Accordingly, the question arises, esd folder windows 10 can i uninstall? Is it worth doing this at all, and what are the consequences?

What is an ESD folder and what is it for?

During the installation of a new operating system on HDD loading temporary installation files. They may possess different types actions. The ESD package contains files that are required for system recovery if a critical error occurs.

Since the Windows 10 operating system puts forward rather stringent requirements for all hardware components personal computer, so the developers from Microsoft recommend some time after windows installation 10 do not delete these folders. If the system does not malfunction, and it works stably, then you can easily delete the ESD folder.

Ways to delete ESD folder in Windows 10 operating system

To delete the ESD folder in the operating room Windows system 10, you will need to do the following:

  • The first step is to go to the menu "Start", further into search string should introduce Disk Cleanup... We launch the utility.
  • Alternatively, you can press the key combination "Win + R" and then enter " cleanmgr».
  • A small window will open in front of you, in which we will need to decide on the choice of a disk for cleaning. We will need to choose the C drive.
  • We analyze the space occupied on the hard disk.
  • A new window should open in front of you. In it you will need to click on the icon "Clean up system files".
  • A window should still open in front of you, in which you should put a checkmark opposite "Temporary files", and then click "OK".
  • You can also open the "Advanced" folder in front of you will appear shadow copies files that we have to delete as well. To perform this task in a specialized section System Restore and Shadow Copy you will need to click on the icon "Clear".

This completes the procedure for deleting the ESD folder, we just need to reboot the computer.

Updated: The ESD files of the updated RTM build 17134 are already available online. We have changed the links in this post so you can download the latest build.

Earlier there were rumors that 1803, aka Redstone 4, would start shipping on April 10, but something didn't work out and the developers had to re-create the RTM build. Microsoft has not yet announced an official launch date for the new Windows versions 10, and also said nothing about the title of this update. Although release build 17134 is already available in Fast Ring, Slow Ring and Release Preview, the update is not yet available in the Media Creation Tool. Nevertheless, stable versions of various editions are already on Microsoft servers, so all interested users can download ESD files and assemble an ISO installation file from them for a clean installation of 17134. You will need an ESD file decoder that can be downloaded, as well as a list all references to ESD files. It is located.

  1. Download and unpack the decoder to any folder you like.
  2. Download and unzip the file with links to ESD files. Run the XML file in any browser you like.
  3. Now you need to find the assembly you need. Click on Ctrl + F and search for “ ru-ru” (uk-ua for Ukrainian assemblies and en-us for American English). The browser will display a list of all editions in Russian. Navigate further by the parameters Edition(Professional / Home / Education) and Architecture(x64 / x86).
  4. Then copy the link from the FilePath line. It should look like this: 17134.1.180410-1804.rs4_release_CLIENTCONSUMER_RET_x64FRE_en-us.esd... Paste the link into the address bar of your browser and wait for the ESD file to load.
  5. Now place the downloaded file in the ESD decoder folder and run the file dectypt.cmd on behalf of the Administrator.
  6. Select which edition to include in the composition (1 - all editions, 2 - one of the above, 3 - a number of editions and 4 - random edition). Press the corresponding number and then Enter.
  7. In the next step, select 1 or 2. The first will create a standard ISO, and the second will create an ISO with compressed install.esd.
  8. Wait until the process is complete, after which you will have a ready-to-use ISO file. Write it to a USB flash drive or disk, after which you can use the created drive to install Windows 10 Spring Creators Update. For more details on this procedure, see the article "".

If you don't want to play with ESD files, you can wait for Microsoft to release an updated Update Assistant and updated version Media Creation Tool. The most impatient can confidently update using the method described above, since these are the assemblies that will be sent to users in the next few days.

When updating the Windows 10 build through the Windows update system, the installation image of the new preliminary (insider) build of Windows is downloaded to the user's computer in a specially new image format - ESD ( ElectronicSoftwareDownload). ESD is encrypted and compressed. WIM ( WindowsImagingFormat) Windows image.

This image distribution format was first used in Windows 8.1 when updating the operating system online. Unlike a WIM file, an ESD image cannot be mounted or modified. Microsoft plans to widely use this format for deploying systems. Compared to a WIM file, the .ESD file is about 30% smaller, which is a big advantage when distributing it over the Internet.

In this article, we will show you how to decrypt and convert a Windows 10 ESD image into a familiar Windows installation image that can be burned to DVD or USB disk and use to clean install Windows 10 or perform an update.

Note... In fact, the easiest way to get an installation ISO image of Windows 10 and burn it to a USB flash drive / DVD is to use a free one that will help you download latest version Windows image 10 directly from Microsoft servers.

How to get ESD file with Windows 10 image

Let's figure it out where can i getESDfile? When upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, the install.esd file is downloaded in the background from the Microsoft repository and saved to the directory C: \ Windows\ SoftwareDistribution\ Download\ (some ID} .

Get file Install.ESD with the latest build of Windows 10, you can go to installed system to Start -> Settings -> Updates and Security ( Start -> PC Settings -> Update and recovery -> Preview builds)... If a new build is available for your Windows 10, you will be prompted to download and install a new image.

Run a system update for the new build, but do not overload the computer. During Windows updates will download the files required to perform the system version update. After the download is finished, open the explorer and go to the directory C: \ $ Windows. ~ BT\ Sources... Find the file in this directory Install.ESD(it is) and copy it to any other directory. This is the .ESD file with a compressed image of the latest build of Windows 10.

Advice... In already installed Windows 10 Technical Preview ESD file can be copied from C: \ RecoveryImage \ Install.esd directory.

To get information about what Windows images are inside the ESD file, you can use standard utility DISM:

DISM / Get-WimInfo /WimFile:"C:\iso\install.esd "

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17134.1
Details for image: C: \ iso \ install.esd
Index: 1
Name: Windows 10 Home
Description: Windows 10 Home
Size: 15,439,030,656 bytes
Index: 2
Name: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Description: Windows 10 Home Single Language
Size: 15,439,078,082 bytes
Index: 3
Name: Windows 10 Education
Description: Windows 10 Education
Size: 15,662,641,239 bytes
Index: 4
Name: Windows 10 Pro
Description: Windows 10 Pro
Size: 15,662,520,267 bytes
The operation completed successfully.

In our example, there are several system images inside the install.esd archive. For example, Windows 10 Pro has an index of 4.

Knowing the ordinal index of the Windows image in the ESD file, you can export it to a WIM file using the command:

dism / export-image /SourceImageFile:c:\iso\install.esd / SourceIndex: 4 / DestinationImageFile: c: \ iso \ win10pro.wim / Compress: max / CheckIntegrity

The resulting WIM file can be converted to an ISO image using third-party utilities.

ESD Decrypter Utility

To convert ESD image v ISO file we will use the utility command line ESDDecrypter(ESDToolKit) , which can be downloaded on GitHub: https://github.com/gus33000/ESD-Decrypter/releases/. ESD Decrypter is written in PowerShell, so you can easily check its source code (to generate ISO image from the WIM file, the cdimage.exe utility is used).


Dism ++ utility for converting the install.esd file

To convert ESD image to ISO file, you can use a simple and convenient graphical utility Dism++ (https://www.chuyu.me/en/index.html) which does the same as the ESD Decrypter script but has a more user-friendly GUI.