Extract specific Windows version from Multiple Edition ISO

If you download a common version of Windows 11 or Windows 10, it will include all editions, including Pro, Home, Education, and N. This is by design, so when you use the key, it will activate the right version, or if a custom installer is used, that tool can help. This post will guide you on how you can extract specific Windows versions from Windows 11 or Windows 10 Multiple Edition ISO.

Extract specific Windows version from Windows 11 Multiple Edition ISO

The DISM command offers options such as export, getting wim information, and many other tools to interact with the ISO files.

Download and mount the ISO file
Find the index of the Windows 10 version.
Extract the specific version of ISO

You will need admin permission to execute the command.

1] Download and mount the ISO file

The first step is to download the ISO file, and Microsoft offers a straightforward way. Go to the official website, and download the Windows 10 Installation Tool. You will have two options—Upgrade or Create USB/ISO file. Choose the second option, and then choose the ISO option. Save the ISO file on the computer.

Once the download is complete, right-click the ISO file and select Mount. In File Explorer, the ISO file will be available as a drive with a letter assigned to it. Note the drive name.

Get into the drive, and double-click the sources older to locate the file— install.wim or install.esd

You will need the exact path to extract the file, which in our case, is:

F:\sources\install.wim

F:\sources\install.esd

2] Find the index of the Windows 11/10 version

Open Command Prompt with admin permission by typing CMD in the start menu, and then right-click to run as administrator when it appears in the list. Then execute the following command to find the index of the Windows version you want to extract.

Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:<path_to_install.wim>

Replace the <path_to_install.wim> with the exact path.

The option /Get-WimInfo will display a list of images in the Wim File. The result of the command will include the two most important parameters—Index and Name. While the first will be required in the next step to extract the file, the latter will help you identify the version you want.

3] Extract the specific version of iSO

In the last section, we will use the Export-Image option to extract that index into a new file.

Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:<path_to_image_file> /SourceIndex:5 /DestinationImageFile:<path_to_image_file>

Make sure to include the image file path, i.e., WIM file, and the same for the destination.

The process will take its sweet time, but in the end, you will have the exact version of the Windows file, which will be smaller than everything else.

4] Create ISO from ESD

Open Command Prompt as Administrator
Use the following command to create a WIM file from the ESD file

dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:"C:\path\to\install.esd" /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:"C:\path\to\install.wim" /compress:max /checkintegrity

Once you have the install.wim, you can use third-party utilities to build an ISO.

How do I extract an ISO file in Windows 11?

To open or extract an ISO file, install 7-Zip, right-click on the ISO file and select Extract. Choose the location you want to save the contents of file to. This post will show you how to mount an ISO file.