DISM /apply-ffu fails with exit code 21 / 443 when applying image from USB

Question

When are using DISM to apply a ffu image to a device when updating the OS Image of the device. We are facing issues that we cannot explain.

The sequence that takes place is:

1. Insert USB disk with ffu file to apply to device
2. Boot the device into WinPE RAM using bcdedit
3. After WinPE is loaded execute this command in startup script:
   DISM /apply-ffu /ImageFile:[The image] /ApplyDrive:[The physical disk of the device]
4. After approx. 80% the DISM command fails with either error code 21, or 443
5. Running the command again will always work successfully

We have tried different USB disks but the same result.

The log file displays some errors but its difficult to figure out the root cause.

DISM.log

Answer 1

Hello,

Is the applied image captured by ourself?

To verify whether the issue is related to the specific image, we could try to deploy with the image from the official iso.

If the machine is connected to Internet, try to remove the network cable.

The installation logs are usually located in the following locations:

:\windows\Panther\

$windows.~bt\Sources\Panther

$windows.~bt\Sources\Rollback

Best Regards,

Hania Lian

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Answer 2

Yes, the image is captured by us. What we cannot understand is that the apply-ffu operation always works the second it is attempted, so I think its safe to say that the image is correct, it boots up correctly after it has been applied successfully.

Are there any special considerations to take into account when using DISM apply-ffu when booted into WinPE (RamDisk), reading the image from a USB drive and applying it to the system drive?