What should I do with usmt.ppkg and .WIM files?

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Helsinki Phil

Helsinki Phil

PCHF Member
Jan 16, 2022
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I hate asking techies questions that are probably "duh", so please forgive me, but I'm doing some clean-up, and found two instances of the usmt.ppkg and WIM / WIM2 files - see attached, and I would like to remove them from the internal HD if possible (space huggers!).

I have a couple of TB external HDs which have a bunch of back-up files on it - could I just move them to that and save them for a rainy day, or do they have to stay in situ? I couldn't really find any satisfactory answers on Ma Google.

Any guidance greatly appreciated.

NordicWalker62
 

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  • usmt.png
    usmt.png
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  • WIM.png
    WIM.png
    20.1 KB Views: 9
.WIM are image files, probably created from some sort of backup software.
they can be mounted like a CD and files accessed.
but yours are years old, I'd delete them, but you should be backing up with some other process aren't you? :)

the USMT files - the one in OneDrive can be deleted but the other is in your Recovery folder so would be needed if you ever go down that path - factory resetting the PC back to OEM settings. but that would be an old version of Windows, and not used for Windows repair, so really, you could delete that too.
 
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