Live WIM image capture?

Question

Is there a tool that can capture a live Server WIM image? Without having to boot the server into WinPE and use imageX. A free or commercial tool would be OK.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Sure, free solution: you can use volume shadow copy and ImageX to do this on your own.

vssadmin create shadow /for=C:
vssadmin list shadows

Then grab the shadow copy's volume ID. (Usually looks like \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopyXX.)

imagex /capture \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy10\\ image.wim "Server Image"

Then get rid of the shadow copy.

vssadmin delete shadows /for=C:

Might want to use an exact shadow ID to delete (see the /shadow=XXX switch.)

For a solid enterprise-style solution, see SmartDeploy.

Answer 2

This question is fairly open ended, but you need backup software that supports Shadow Copy operations. Targeting the .WIM format as your ultimate goal may be narrowing your options tremendously.

I have not used it for these purposes but I believe Acronis makes some products that can perform this (TrueImage). Your final image output is not likely to be in WIM format, however

Answer 3

Ghost has this functionality but for GHO not WIM images - http://altirisbe.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-use-ghost-imaging-to-create.html