Is Install.wim Too Large for USB in Windows 11/10? Try 2 Ways!

Solve the problem of "install.wim file too large" in Windows 11/10 system

When copying Windows ISO files to USB drive, you may encounter an error saying "install.wim file is too large to write to the target file system". This article will provide two effective solutions.

The root of the problem:

This problem is mainly because the install.wim file size exceeds the 4GB file size limit of USB drives using the FAT32 file system. Although the NTFS file system supports files larger than 4GB, most modern UEFI-based computers need to use a boot USB disk in the FAT32 format to start the Windows installer.

Solution 1: Extract the required index and create a smaller install.wim file

This method creates a smaller install.wim file by extracting the required Windows version index in the install.wim file.

Step 1: Mount the ISO image and extract the install.wim file (sometimes it may be install.esd) from the sources folder.

Step 2: Run the command prompt as administrator (enter cmd in the search box and right-click "Run as administrator").

Step 3: Enter the command dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:”I:\\sources\\install.wim” and press Enter to get the index number of the required Windows version. Please replace I:\\sources\\install.wim with the actual path of your install.wim file.

Step 4: Enter the command Md C:\\Mount and press Enter to create a folder named Mount in the root directory of the C disk.

Step 5: Execute the command Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:”I:\\sources\\install.wim” /SourceIndex:6 /DestinationImageFile:”c:\\Mount\\install.wim” . Among them, 6 represents Windows 10 Professional Edition, which you can replace with other index numbers as needed.

This operation reduces the install.wim file size to less than 4GB. If this method does not work, try the next method.

Solution 2: Split WIM file into multiple small files

This method splits the install.wim file into multiple smaller .swm files.

Step 1: Run the command prompt as administrator.

Step 2: Enter the command Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:I:\\sources\\install.wim /SWMFile:I:\\sources\\install.swm /FileSize:4700 and press Enter. 4700 represents the maximum size (in MB) of each generated .swm file.

After you are done, you will see multiple .swm files in the sources folder. The first file is called install.swm, and the remaining files are install2.swm, install3.swm, install4.swm, etc. in turn. You can then copy all ISO files to USB drive and the error "install.wim file is too large" will no longer appear.

It is recommended to use Rufus to create a bootable USB drive

To avoid the "install.wim file is too large" error, it is recommended to use Rufus to create a bootable USB disk. Download and run Rufus, connect to the USB flash drive, select ISO image, perform relevant configurations, and then start burning the ISO image.

After creating a bootable USB drive, you can use it to perform a fresh installation of Windows 11/10. Please note that this process will clear your personal data, so you should back up important files, especially those on your desktop.

Through the above methods, you can effectively solve the problem of "install.wim file too large" in Windows 11/10 system.

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