Fix DISM 0x800f081f error on Windows

If you're seeing error code 0x800f081f while running an online DISM scan of your system files and looking for a solution, you've just landed on the right page. DISM /RestoreHealth scans Windows Updates for the corrupted system files on your system and attempts to replace them. Here you need to manually specify an additional repair location on your system to solve this problem.

How to fix DISM 0x800f081f in Windows 10

Before proceeding to the main solutions, read the requirements thoroughly.

You need a Windows image file or install.wim to implement this solution.

Requirements -

a. The install.wim file must match the Windows version, edition, and language installed on your computer.

b. You can find the install.wim in the " Sources " directory in the folder of a Windows installation medium (CD/DVD or USB).

Here you can easily create a Media Creation Tool for your computer-

Create Windows 10 Media Creation Tool

NOTICE- 

If you downloaded the Windows 10 ISO image using the MCT, you took additional steps to extract the install.wim from the image. This is required because these ISO files usually contain the install.esd file in the Sources directory . This install.esd contains multiple versions of Windows 10 images (Home, Pro & Business Edition). You need to manually extract a Windows 10 image similar to the Windows 10 specifications installed on your computer.

Wondering how to do that? Follow this detailed approach to extract the install.wim from the install.esd file.

Step A - Download the WIm as an ISO file

First you need to download the Windows installation media as a form of MCT.

1. Go to the Windows 10 download website.

2. Then scroll down to the "Create Windows 10 installation media" section.

3. Then click Download Tool Now to download the tool.

Close the browser once the download is complete.

4. Then go to the Downloads section on your computer .

5. Next , double -click the " MediaCreationTool20H2 " application .

Wait for the required information to be collected. In the meantime, don't forget to accept the license terms.

6. Then select the radio button next to " Create installation media for another PC ".

7. Then click Next to download the installation media file.

8. In the next window, make sure that the " Use the recommended option for this PC " option is checked.

9. Then click Next to download the ISO file.

10. When prompted to select the media device, click " ISO File " to download the Windows 10 image.

11. Then click Next .

12. Choose a location on your device to download the Windows 10 image file.

13. Then click " Save ".

Now all you have to do is wait for Windows to download the latest version of Windows 10.

This process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour.

14. Once the download is complete, you will see the location of the ISO file.

15. Click " Finish ".

Now proceed to the next step.

Step 2 - MOVE INSTALL.ESD FILE

Once you've downloaded the image file, follow these steps.

1. Go to the location of the downloaded image file.

2. Then right-click on the " Windows " ISO file and click " Mount ".

3. Now select the " ESD-ISO " that you just mounted on the left-hand side .

4. Then double click on the " sources " folder to access it.

5. In the Sources folder, locate the install.esd file .

6. Right click on it and click " Copy " to copy the file.

7. Now switch to the " Local Disk (C:) " drive.

8. Paste the " install.esd " file here.

Then close File Explorer.

9. Now press the Windows key+R keys at the same time .

10. Then type " msinfo32 " and press Enter.

11. When the "System Information" window opens, look at the " OS Name " in the right pane.

12. Just note what version of Windows you're using.

(We use Windows 10 Pro)

Close the System Information window. Proceed to the next step.

STEP 3 - Extract the install.wim from install.esd

Now you need to pass some simple commands to extract the install.wim from the install.esd file.

1. Now just type " cmd " in the search box next to the Windows icon.

2. Then right-click " Command Prompt " and click "Run as administrator " to access the terminal.

3. Once Command Prompt opens, type these commands one by one. Press Enter and run these commands one by one.

CD\
dism/Get-WimInfo/WimFile:install.esd

Now you'll see a list of indexed Windows versions (like Home, Pro, and Business Edition) in the terminal.

From this list, carefully identify the version of Windows you are using. Now note the index number associated with each Windows version.

(Example- We are using a Windows 10 Pro. In the list of Windows versions, the index number associated with this version is " 6 ")

4. Now copy and paste this command in terminal. Change it accordingly and then press Enter to run it.

dism/export-image/SourceImageFile:install.esd/SourceIndex:IndexNumber /DestinationImageFile:install.wim/Compress:max/CheckIntegrity

NOTE -

Replace the IndexNumber  with the index number you noted earlier .

Example-Since the index number is " 6 " in our case , the command is -

dism/export-image/SourceImageFile:install.esd/SourceIndex:6 /DestinationImageFile:install.wim/Compress:max/CheckIntegrity

Now install.wim is extracted from the install.esd file. This process will take a while. The degree of completion is displayed on the terminal.

Once this is done, the message " The operation completed successfully " will appear on the terminal.

Close the command prompt terminal.

The process of extracting instal.wim from install.esd is now complete.

Finally, it's time to fix DISM error 0x800f081f.

1. Now just type " cmd " in the search box next to the Windows icon.

2. Then right-click " Command Prompt " and click "Run as administrator " to access the terminal.

3. Once the command prompt opens, paste these commands into the terminal one by one. Then press Enter to clean existing image files.

DISM/Online/Cleanup-Image/StartComponentCleanup
DISM/Online/Cleanup-Image/AnalyzeComponentStore

4. Now, to finally repair Windows image using DISM command, run this code in Terminal.

DISM/Online/Cleanup-Image/RestoreHealth/Source:WIM:c:\install.wim:1/LimitAccess

This process also takes a while. Wait for the percentage of completion to reach the 100% mark and display the message " The operation completed successfully " on the terminal.

5. The last thing you need to do is run a System File Checker scan on your computer.

sfc/scannow

That's it! You have just successfully resolved the DISM 0x800f081f code on your device.