How to Find the Windows edition index from an ISO (or DVD/USB)

Why?

Windows 10 ISO files downloaded from Microsoft or other sources. They will often have descriptive names, such like en_windows_10_business_editions_version_1909_updated_april_2020_x64_dvd.iso. The file name already gives a lot of information, like the language, version, build editions and the archictecture of the Operating System contained in the ISO.

But when we want to use this ISO in building VM’s in some sort of automated fashion, we’ll need a specific edition/version that is included in this ISO. These editions are identified by an index, that we might need to clarify in our processes and scripts.

Find Windows versions

To find the Windows versions from an ISO file (or DVD/USB), use these steps:

1. Mount the ISO file by double clicking on it. By default, Mount will be the default action for ISO files. If not, right-click on the file and choose “Mount” in the context menu.
2. Double-click the drive letter of the mounted drive.
3. Double-click the Sources folder.
4. Sort folder contents by Name, and look for a file named install.wim. If install.wim is missing, then you’ll have install.esd.
5. Open an elevated Command Prompt, and then type the following command:
   
   dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\sources\install.wim
   
   DISM can handle both these file formats (.wim & .esd), at least in Windows 10.You might see the following output for an ISO with Windows 10 Business editions:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17763.771

Details for image : D:\sources\install.wim

Index : 1
Name : Windows 10 Education
Description : Windows 10 Education
Size : 14.904.757.157 bytes

Index : 2
Name : Windows 10 Education N
Description : Windows 10 Education N
Size : 14.111.580.385 bytes

Index : 3
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise
Size : 14.904.827.903 bytes

Index : 4
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Size : 14.111.473.912 bytes

Index : 5
Name : Windows 10 Pro
Description : Windows 10 Pro
Size : 14.923.493.634 bytes

Index : 6
Name : Windows 10 Pro N
Description : Windows 10 Pro N
Size : 14.128.989.429 bytes

Index : 7
Name : Windows 10 Pro Education
Description : Windows 10 Pro Education
Size : 14.904.686.919 bytes

Index : 8
Name : Windows 10 Pro Education N
Description : Windows 10 Pro Education N
Size : 14.111.509.247 bytes

Index : 9
Name : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Description : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Size : 14.904.721.804 bytes

Index : 10
Name : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations
Description : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations
Size : 14.111.544.582 bytes

The operation completed successfully.

6. If you want more details like for instance Languages, Architecture, version, … you can run the same command with a specific index included.

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\sources\install.wim /index:1

7. For the above example your will see an output like this:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool 
Version: 10.0.17763.771 

Details for image : D:\sources\install.wim 

Index : 1 
Name : Windows 10 Education 
Description : Windows 10 Education 
Size : 14.904.757.157 bytes 
WIM Bootable : No 
Architecture : x64 
Hal : <undefined> 
Version : 10.0.18362 
ServicePack Build : 778 
ServicePack Level : 0 
Edition : Education 
Installation : Client 
ProductType : WinNT 
ProductSuite : Terminal Server 
System Root : WINDOWS 
Directories : 22270 
Files : 95589 
Created : 10/04/2020 - 19:31:28 
Modified : 10/04/2020 - 19:49:56 
Languages : en-US (Default) 

The operation completed successfully.