Hacking a Windows 11 Installation Setup

Question

During Windows 11 installation:

Obviously install.wim's only image inside is extracted in this "Copying Windows files" stage. Now, this install.wim, I wish to replace with my own WIM file containing 2 images spanning 2 drives:

Program Files, Program Files (x86), Windows — inside C:

PerfLogs, ProgramData, Temp & Users — inside D:

(Yes I've tinkered with splitting these between 2 drives enough to know it works)

So, how do I make the setup iterate through this "Copying Windows files" twice? I don't have experience in cracking installers & such, but I know there should be command in a script:

dism apply-image /imagefile:install.wim /applydir:C:\ {/index:1 | /name:"Windows 11 Home"}

If so, then achieving this should be a relative cinch.

EDIT:

I may be on a false lead. I've somewhat hex searched an extracted Windows installation ISO & it seems the DISM commands are done with dynamic links rather than the command line shell. I don't know where to go from here.

Answer 1

This can be done, but not by editing the installer. You just have to emulate what the installer is doing.

Full step by step guide for doing this with the Users folder - the steps are the same for win11: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-move-users-folder-location-windows-10-a.html

Recommended reading:

• Capture and apply your WIM image using DISM - the basic steps for installing windows from a .wim file

• [optional] Create a Data Image of the files a normal capture does not include, like D:\mystuff\.

• Create an unattend.xml answer file to have windows install certain system directories (ProgramData, Users, etc.) to drive D:

Here's an example unattend.xml to give you an idea of how to set up /Users/ on D: and apply your data image onto partition 1 (D:), but you should use the Windows SIM to generate these, since the available settings tend to change between windows releases

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
  <settings pass="oobeSystem">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <FolderLocations>
        <ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
      </FolderLocations>
    </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="windowsPE">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <ImageInstall>
        <DataImage wcm:action="add">
          <InstallTo>
            <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
          </InstallTo>
          <InstallFrom>
            <Path>X:\folder\MyData.wim</Path>
          </InstallFrom>
          <Order>1</Order>
        </DataImage>
      </ImageInstall>
    </component>
  </settings>
</unattend>

edit:

• ProgramData can be moved the same way, but is not recommended. It's easier to copy any files to D: and link the folder
• Temp is just an environment variable, %TEMP%, and doesn't need to be set at install
• PerfLogs is hardcoded to %SYSTEMDRIVE%\PerfLogs, so it will always be on your primary windows partition. You can link it elsewhere the same way as ProgramData

Those steps can be done with a script as part of the unattend.xml using RunSynchronousCommand