memstechtips/Winhance · warning · Exception

DISM Export-Driver failed with exit code: {exitCode}

Error message

DISM Export-Driver failed with exit code: {exitCode}

What it means

DISM was invoked as `dism.exe /Online /Export-Driver /Destination:"<tempDriverPath>"` to harvest the running system's third-party drivers for injection into the WIM, and DISM exited non-zero. The exception is caught locally, the temp directory is cleaned up best-effort, the error is logged, and the method returns false — so callers see a soft failure, not an exception.

Source

Thrown at src/Winhance.Infrastructure/Features/AdvancedTools/Services/WimCustomizationService.cs:71

                    TerminalOutput = "This may take several minutes"
                });

                var tempDriverPath = _fileSystemService.CombinePath(_fileSystemService.GetTempPath(), $"WinhanceDrivers_{Guid.NewGuid()}");
                _fileSystemService.CreateDirectory(tempDriverPath);

                try
                {
                    var arguments = $"/Online /Export-Driver /Destination:\"{tempDriverPath}\"";

                    progress?.Report(new TaskProgressDetail
                    {
                        TerminalOutput = "Exporting drivers from current system..."
                    });

                    var (exitCode, _) = await _dismProcessRunner.RunProcessWithProgressAsync("dism.exe", arguments, progress, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
                    if (exitCode != 0)
                    {
                        throw new Exception($"DISM Export-Driver failed with exit code: {exitCode}");
                    }

                    sourceDirectory = tempDriverPath;
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    try { _fileSystemService.DeleteDirectory(tempDriverPath, recursive: true); } catch (Exception cleanupEx) { _logService.LogDebug($"Best-effort temp driver directory cleanup failed: {cleanupEx.Message}"); }
                    _logService.LogError($"Failed to export system drivers: {ex.Message}", ex);
                    return false;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                progress?.Report(new TaskProgressDetail
                {
                    StatusText = _localization.GetString("Progress_ValidatingDrivers"),
                    TerminalOutput = driverSourcePath
                });

View on GitHub (pinned to f23d554eb2)

Solutions

1. Run Winhance as administrator — /Online DISM operations require elevation.
2. Clear pending servicing: reboot, then run `DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth` and retry.
3. Confirm the temp driver path is on a drive with enough free space and is writable.
4. Inspect the DISM progress output (streamed to TerminalOutput) for the specific DISM error code, then address it.
5. If driver export keeps failing, proceed with WIM customization without injecting local drivers (the method already returns false to allow that).

Example fix

// before
var (exitCode, _) = await _dismProcessRunner.RunProcessWithProgressAsync("dism.exe", arguments, progress, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
if (exitCode != 0)
    throw new Exception($"DISM Export-Driver failed with exit code: {exitCode}");

// after: capture DISM output for diagnostics; the surrounding catch already soft-fails
var (exitCode, output) = await _dismProcessRunner.RunProcessWithProgressAsync("dism.exe", arguments, progress, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
if (exitCode != 0)
    throw new Exception($"DISM Export-Driver failed with exit code {exitCode}. DISM output: {output}");

// DISM /Online operations require elevation.
bool IsElevated() =>
    System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Owner
        .Equals(new System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier("S-1-5-32-544")); // Administrators RID

// The method already catches and returns false; at the call site:
if (!await ExportCurrentSystemDriversAsync(progress, ct).ConfigureAwait(false))
{
    // Log and continue WIM customization WITHOUT local drivers — driver export is best-effort.
}

When it happens

Trigger: ExportCurrentSystemDriversAsync runs dism.exe /Online /Export-Driver to a temp folder and RunProcessWithProgressAsync returns exitCode != 0. DISM export-driver fails when: the process is not elevated, the online image is busy/servicing-in-progress, the destination path is invalid/unwritable, or DISM is the wrong version for the OS.

Common situations: Winhance is running non-elevated, so /Online driver export is denied. A Windows Update or another servicing operation is in progress (DISM returns error 0x800F0906 / CBS_E_PENDING). The temp drive is out of space. DISM on the image is corrupted (needs `sfc /scannow` or `DISM /RestoreHealth`).

Related errors

• DISM failed with exit code: {exitCode}
• oscdimg.exe failed with exit code: {exitCode}
• ADK installation failed with exit code: {exitCode}
• winget install failed with exit code: {exitCode}
• winget install Microsoft.OSCDIMG failed with exit code: {exi

AI-assisted analysis of memstechtips/Winhance@f23d554eb2 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fa10b42eb9c8805a. Report an issue: GitHub.