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LogRisk: Caution

dism.log C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

Main log of the DISM tool: all online or offline operations (component store cleanup, features, drivers, images).

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

dism.log is the primary log of the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) maintenance tool: every action goes through it, online or offline. For an online servicing failure it often points to CBS.log, where the detail lives.

What it contains

  • The commands run (Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image, adding or removing features, drivers, packages) and how they progressed.
  • Errors and return codes, for example 0x800f081f (source not found), with call context.
  • Operations triggered indirectly: Add-WindowsCapability, Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature and the DISM module cmdlets also write here.

Risks and best practices

  • Reading it costs nothing, and deleting it does no harm to Windows. It does erase the traces diagnosis relies on, though, so keep it until the incident is resolved.
  • /LogPath redirects the log of a single command and /LogLevel sets the level of detail. Keep the most detailed level for the duration of a diagnosis.
  • Attach dism.log and CBS.log to any Microsoft support case.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
# Last lines of the log
Get-Content "$env:windir\Logs\DISM\dism.log" -Tail 100


# Errors only
Select-String -Path "$env:windir\Logs\DISM\dism.log" -Pattern ', Error'


# As administrator: read-only check, with a dedicated log
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth /LogPath:C:\Temp\dism-diag.log

Format

Plain text, one entry per line: date and time, level (Info, Warning, Error), component (for example DISM or DISM Provider Store), then the message. Process and thread IDs (PID=, TID=) appear in many messages.

Rotation and archiving

The log keeps growing with each operation. If its size becomes a nuisance, archive it and let DISM create a new one, or send new output elsewhere with /LogPath.

How to read it

Open it in an editor that handles large files, locate the time of the operation, then search for Error lines and their codes, reading back up for context. If dism.log points to CBS.log, continue there. A source-not-found error most often means Windows Update or the source media is unreachable.

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