What is DISM on Windows: What It Does and How To Use It

The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM.exe) or DISM is a command-line tool that can be used to service and prepare Windows images, including those used for Windows PE, Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and Windows Setup. DISM can be used to service a Windows image (. wim) or a virtual hard disk.

It helps check for faulty or damaged Windows features and system files. This command is used to check for and fix any problems with your operating system.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at what DISM is, what it does, and how to use it on Windows. You can also find out how to use common DISM commands, their variables, and what they do to restore files on your device.

What is the Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool (DISM)?

The DISM command is a part of the Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management (DISM) tool, which allows you to check for faulty or damaged Windows features and system files. The DISM tool can be used to identify and fix a wide variety of problems with your operating system.

DISM restores the system image by mounting images in .wim, .vhd, or .vhdx formats and using them to repair your installation of Windows. DISM can be used with older Windows image files, but not with images that are newer than the Windows version currently installed on your device.

When you start seeing problems like Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), application crashes, or specific Windows 10 functions stop working, it's a symptom of missing or corrupted system files. DISM can help you resolve problems like this, and works best when used together with other commands, such as the System File Checker (sfc scannow).

However, you may find that scan results show that the System File Checker discovered damaged files but could not repair them. Alternatively, Windows Resource Protection discovered faulty files but was unable to repair them, and so on. In this case, use the DISM command to remedy the issue.

Where is DISM?

Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM.exe) is a command-line tool that can be used to service a Windows image or to prepare a Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) image. For more information about DISM see What is DISM?

DISM in Windows:

DISM is in the c:\windows\system32 folder of all Windows 10 and Windows 11 installations, but you can run DISM in the command prompt from any location.

Note: DISM has to run from a Command Prompt running as administrator.

How to use the DISM command on Windows

To use the DISM tool and check your Windows installation for errors, you need to run its command-line utility in the Command Prompt. There are a variety of command variables you can use that carry out different tasks. Read the summary below and follow the steps to run DISM on any Windows device.

Use the DISM command with ‘CheckHealth’ option

The CheckHealth option in DISM lets you quickly see if the local Windows image has any corruptions. This option, however, does not perform any repairs. It’s just a health check for your system image, which can be a quick way to diagnose problems. Use this command to verify any Windows image faults.

Open the search bar in your taskbar by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. You can also bring it up with the Windows + S keyboard shortcut.
Type Command Prompt in the search box. When you see it in the results, right-click on it and choose Run as Administrator. If you're using a local account that doesn't have administrator permissions, click here first.
When prompted by the User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to allow the app to launch with administrative permissions. This is needed in order for the DISM command to be able to access your system files.
Type or paste in the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Wait for DISM to diagnose your device. If any problems are found, it will attempt to identify them and report back with the results. Otherwise, if your system image appears healthy, you’ll see the “No component store corruption detected.” message.

After you've finished the above instructions, DISM will run and check for any data corruption that needs to be fixed. Again, the ‘CheckHealth’ argument doesn’t restore any corrupt files. To do that, you need to use one of the other commands below.

Use the DISM command with ‘ScanHealth’ option

To get the most accurate results about your system’s integrity, you need to run a more advanced scan. Get an even more in-depth analysis of your current system state by using the ScanHealth argument in the DISM command.

Open the search bar in your taskbar by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. You can also bring it up with the Windows + S keyboard shortcut.
Type Command Prompt in the search box. When you see it in the results, right-click on it and choose Run as Administrator. If you're using a local account that doesn't have administrator permissions, click here first.
Type or paste in the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Wait for DISM to analyze your system and check for any issues. It may take an extended amount of time, as the CheckHealth command does a deep scan of your OS to identify complex problems.
Review the results.

Once the DISM scan is complete, you’ll be able to see whether or not it found any issues with your operating system. Afterward, you can take the appropriate steps to troubleshoot your device or move on to the next command for repairs.

Use the DISM command with ‘RestoreHealth’ option

If the system image is corrupted, you can use DISM with the RestoreHealth option to automatically scan and also correct common faults. Follow these procedures to utilize the DISM command tool to fix Windows system image issues.

Open the search bar in your taskbar by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. You can also bring it up with the Windows + S keyboard shortcut.
Type Command Prompt in the search box. When you see it in the results, right-click on it and choose Run as Administrator. If you're using a local account that doesn't have administrator permissions, click here first.
Type or paste in the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
It’s common behavior if the command looks to be stuck at any stage. The procedure will be completed successfully after a few minutes.

If your system image is corrupt or damaged, the Deployment Image Servicing and Management application will connect to Windows Update online. It’s going to download and repair damaged files once you've completed the scan.

How to fix DISM not working on Windows

In some cases, you may need to restore DISM itself. This is a rare problem that can occur as a result of malware, system corruption, or a rogue Windows update. Luckily, restoring the functionality of DISM isn’t as hard as it sounds. The steps below will guide you through the process so you can use DISM again momentarily.

Method 1. Check your computer for malware

We recommend doing a virus scan on your computer to make sure your system is in good shape and there aren’t any threats interfering with DISM.

We'll utilize the Windows Defender built-in application, which is available for free in Windows, to scan your device. We recommend purchasing a third-party program that specializes in real-time protection to receive a more detailed assessment of your device's health.

Open the search bar in your taskbar by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. You can also bring it up with the Windows + S keyboard shortcut.
Type in Windows Security and launch it from the search results.
Switch to the Virus & Threat Protection tab using the home screen or the menu in the left-side pane. Click on the Scan Options link.
Select the Full scan option. This is going to check every single file on all of your drives to ensure no threats can hide. Take note that this scan may last over 1-2 hours, depending on how many files you have on your system.
Click on the Scan now button to begin the scan. If a threat is detected, Windows will automatically quarantine or remove it entirely. You can review the scan results afterward.

Method 2. Update Windows to the latest version

Updating your system can easily fix issues such as the DISM command not working. Here are the instructions. The steps below are for Windows 10, but they may also be used for Windows 8, and the most recent version of Windows 11.

Click on the Windows icon in the bottom left of your screen to bring up the Start menu. Choose Settings, or use the Windows + I shortcut.
Click on the Update & Security tile. This is where you can find most of your Windows Update settings and choose when to receive updates.
Make sure to stay on the default Windows Update tab. Click on the Check for updates option and wait for Windows to find available updates. If you see any updates displayed, click on the View all optional updates link to see and install them.
When Windows finds a new update, click on the Install option. Wait for Windows to download and apply the necessary updates.

Method 3. Reset Windows Update components

Windows Update can get corrupted at times, requiring a reset. After doing so, you'll be able to install previously stuck updates without issue, which may help you repair the DISM command.

Open the search bar (Windows + S keyboard shortcut) and type Command Prompt in the input box. Right-click on the matching search result and choose Run as Administrator.
When prompted by the User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to allow the app to launch with administrative permissions.
First, you need to stop four services that may be running on your device. To do this, input the commands below in the following order, pressing the Enter key on your keyboard after each line:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Next, you need to rename two system folders. Renaming them creates a backup in case something goes wrong during the new folder generation. Similarly to the previous step, press Enter after inputting these commands:
- ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
- ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
The last step is restarting all the services you turned off previously. This can be done from the Command Prompt as well, just press Enter after each command:
- net start wuauserv
- net start cryptSvc
- net start bits
- net start msiserver
Close the Command Prompt interface. You may need to restart your computer for the changes to take place.

Final thoughts

That's all there is to know about the DISM command on Windows, including what it does, how it works, and when it should be used. We hope you found our post useful in resolving DISM difficulties and learning more about the procedure.

If there are any questions left unanswered or problems not addressed, please feel free to reach out — our team of experts would love to help! In the meantime, keep up with all things tech by checking back for more articles about troubleshooting and following us on social media.

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