ImageX in Windows PE is complaining that the subsystem is not present

Question

I'm trying to use ImageX from the Windows PE command line. When I run a capture command from the console

cmd> e:\imagex.exe /capture <whatever>

I get a nasty error like

the subsystem needed to support the image type is not present

What does that mean? How do I fix it?

Solution

That often occurs when one of the tools you've included in your Windows PE disk (step 2) is not the correct architecture. Make sure that you copy the right imagex.exe. Here's how they should have written that line in the instructions.

c:\program files\<version>\Tools\**<architecture>**\imagex.exe

I've taken the liberty of scripting the entire process (for ISOs on x86 and x64 architectures with imagex support). You can pick up the scripts on my github repo or as a chocolatey package.

Comments

[Anthony Mastrean]

can someone add the windows-pe tag?

[Spence]

+1 - Incorrect CPU architecture is the likely culprit.

[Ryan]

The link for "github repo" is the same link as for "Windows PE disk" and the link for "chocolatey package" does not exist in your post.

[Anthony Mastrean]

Sorry about that... not sure what happened. Links are corrected now.