the IT noob

Converting an ESD file to WIM file for upgrade packages: an odd thing to do with SCCM. Nevertheless. If you already have an iso downloaded from VLSC or the Microsoft site, this is fairly straightforward. Mount .iso file.  Copy .\sources\install.esd from the mount to C:\temp\ (doesn't matter, but make note of location). Open command prompt as administrator, and cd to C:\temp Run command: dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.esd You should get a screen like this with the Index numbers. Make a note of which index number is applicable to your license. Run next command: dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.esd /sourceindex:4 /destinationimagefile:install.wim /compress:max /checkintegrity Wait for process to finish, then copy the wim file back to the original source.

This gave a lot of grief. There was some pointing fingers: Update your ADK (which admittedly, I haven't done) Check folder permissions Check SCCM machine account permissions But in the end, it was a very simple and dumb fix. I had followed some website's instructions to convert .esd to .wim file . *And* I put it in a new folder (I mean, I thought that was the only file needed). Turns out that I needed to copy the .wim file back into the location of the .esd file, which was under .\sources. After that, I was able to add the upgrade package. Sheesh.