Failed to extract file from WIM file?

[jasen]

I'm getting this error when attempting to write to an SSD connected via USB. Same error no matter which iso file or install disk I use as a source (tried several different versions of Win7 and Win10). Previously, I had no problem installing to USB sticks and HDs, this is the first time I've tried an SSD, however I assumed it should work exactly the same. At first I thought there was a problem with the iso I was trying to use, but I've verified it does this with any image.

I'm running on Win7. Just mounted the SSD and formatted it NTFS via the management console. What does this error really mean? Is there some special handling required for SSDs?

[admin]

I'm getting this error when attempting to write to an SSD connected via USB.  Same error no matter which iso file or install disk I use as a source (tried several different versions of Win7 and Win10).  Previously, I had no problem installing to USB sticks and HDs, this is the first time I've tried an SSD, however I assumed it should work exactly the same.  At first I thought there was a problem with the iso I was trying to use, but I've verified it does this with any image.

I'm running on Win7.  Just mounted the SSD and formatted it NTFS via the management console.  What does this error really mean?  Is there some special handling required for SSDs?

This is usually caused by a anti-virus software, so you can temporarily deactivate your anti-virus software, and try again.

[jasen]

Yes, the error message mentioned that as well. However, I'm not running an active a/v at the moment, and as mentioned, the problem only occurs when using this particular SSD drive--other devices are ok. Hence why I was wondering if it needs to be partitioned a special way or something else.

What's the root meaning of the error? Does it think the wim file is corrupt or inaccessible, or would it also give this error if it can't write the file it extracted to the destination drive? It seems WintoUsb creates the folder structure on the drive, and then fails before it's able to copy any files over. It's a freshly formatted volume, and I'm running as admin with UAC turned off, so I can't imagine it would be a permissions problem.

[admin]

WinToUSB will give this error when it can't extract the files from the wim file to the destination drive, such as corrupted wim file, the target device cannot be written etc.
It seems that WinToUSB may have a BUG. Could you please send the user.log file to us? It is located in the bin folder under the installation directory of WinToUSB.
Thanks.

[jasen]

After more testing and comparing my partitioning to other drives, I've determined the solution to this.

For WinToUsb to work with this drive (SATA SSD connected via a USB-Sata adapter) you *must* create two partitions; one small one (200-400MB NTFS) which is not assigned a drive letter that you will mark as the system, and a second, large volume that will be used as boot.
This was not necessary with removable USB thumbdrive media (and tricky to do anyway). And for some reason it was also not necessary when I installed Win7 to a WD Passport 2TB drive. I'm still not sure why this particular SSD setup did require two partitions, but hopefully this will help someone in the future with this problem.

While the error given was correct in its own way, it really did not point to the root cause here.

[alwa7sh396]

After more testing and comparing my partitioning to other drives, I've determined the solution to this.

For WinToUsb to work with this drive (SATA SSD connected via a USB-Sata adapter) you *must* create two partitions;  one small one (200-400MB NTFS) which is not assigned a drive letter that you will mark as the system, and a second, large volume that will be used as boot.
This was not necessary with removable USB thumbdrive media (and tricky to do anyway).  And for some reason it was also not necessary when I installed Win7 to a WD Passport 2TB drive.  I'm still not sure why this particular SSD setup did require two partitions, but hopefully this will help someone in the future with this problem.

While the error given was correct in its own way, it really did not point to the root cause here.

Thank you for the information and help

[alwa7sh396]

WinToUSB will give this error when it can't extract the files from the wim file to the destination drive, such as corrupted wim file, the target device cannot be written etc.
It seems that WinToUSB may have a BUG. Could you please send the user.log file to us? It is located in the bin folder under the installation directory of WinToUSB.
Thanks.

Thank you for the information and help

[mod]

To anyone else being plagued by this issue, it's either a bug in the newer versions OR (and I believe this is the true cause) a cheap way to force users to move from free version to paid.

I've burned ~4 hours today trying to use WinToUSB to install a bunch of different .iso versions of Win8, 8.1, 7, to an external USB HDD. Every iso gave the same error ("Failed to extract VIM file.."). I've turned off every firewall, windows defender, uninstalled anti-virus, ran the program in admin mode - nothing helped, nor did any of the tips here. But here's the solution I found:

*simply download an older version*

You can find the archive here: http://wintousb.en.uptodown.com/old .

I've downloaded v.1.6 and the annoying error went away. Hopefully this will save somebody's precious time.

[admin]

To anyone else being plagued by this issue, it's either a bug in the newer versions OR (and I believe this is the true cause) a cheap way to force users to move from free version to paid.

I've burned ~4 hours today trying to use WinToUSB to install a bunch of different .iso versions of Win8, 8.1, 7, to an external USB HDD. Every iso gave the same error ("Failed to extract VIM file.."). I've turned off every firewall, windows defender, uninstalled anti-virus, ran the program in admin mode - nothing helped, nor did any of the tips here. But here's the solution I found:

*simply download an older version*

You can find the archive here: http://wintousb.en.uptodown.com/old .

I've downloaded v.1.6 and the annoying error went away. Hopefully this will save somebody's precious time.

We are not forcing anyone to buy WinToUSB, as long as you don't use it in a commercial environment.
Maybe there is a bug in WinToUSB, we hope you can send the user.log file to us if you have any problems when using the latest version of WinToUSB, and we will try our best to resolve all the problems.

[x10an14]

To anyone else being plagued by this issue, it's either a bug in the newer versions OR (and I believe this is the true cause) a cheap way to force users to move from free version to paid.

I've burned ~4 hours today trying to use WinToUSB to install a bunch of different .iso versions of Win8, 8.1, 7, to an external USB HDD. Every iso gave the same error ("Failed to extract VIM file.."). I've turned off every firewall, windows defender, uninstalled anti-virus, ran the program in admin mode - nothing helped, nor did any of the tips here. But here's the solution I found:

*simply download an older version*

You can find the archive here: http://wintousb.en.uptodown.com/old .

I've downloaded v.1.6 and the annoying error went away. Hopefully this will save somebody's precious time.

We are not forcing anyone to buy WinToUSB, as long as you don't use it in a commercial environment.
Maybe there is a bug in WinToUSB, we hope you can send the user.log file to us if you have any problems when using the latest version of WinToUSB, and we will try our best to resolve all the problems.

Please find my user.log attached. It has all my attempts with the latest version of WinToUSB from today. The last 4-6 attemps should be the most interesting ones. 
I know the last should represent an attempt with a valid, legal Windows 8.1 image I'm trying to use to make the personal (non-commercial use) HDD bootable with.
The third to last (I think, because I forgot to re-format the partition in between) attempt should be the same as the last, except with a valid, legal Windows 10 image.

Oh, and it did not work for me with neither version 2.6 nor 1.6. (Did not bother writing down/saving those errors/logs).

Edits: It seems that "user.log" is a type of file not permitted to attach. 
Since the Error Message follows the same color/style as the rest of the forum, it was easily overlooked the first couple of attempts...
Oh, and now the error states that the maximum size allowed is 200 kb. Not 1 MB like it says at the bottom in the black bar.

I must say, this setup is pretty shittily administered/configured.

Anyways, here are the three files I had to split the original 432 kb user.log file into...


  userLogPart1of3.txt (Size: 82.66 KB / Downloads: 4)
  userLogPart2of3.txt (Size: 98.24 KB / Downloads: 4)
  userLogPart3of3.txt (Size: 34.86 KB / Downloads: 4)