I appreciate your (and all others') replies. However, I consistently run the CMD dialog as Administrator. This doesn't appear to be a permission problem, but a syntax/parsing problem on the part of DISM as it creates its set of things to do. Note the "path" that is in my post above: Code: C:\Users\myid\Documents\esd:G:\sources\install.esd:1 that was generated by DISM in response to the DISM invocation: Code: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:esd:G:\sources\install.esd:1 /LimitAccess This suggests whatever scanner/parser DISM is using broke at the initial "esd", treating it as the leading part of a path rather than a pseudo-command noting that the contents of the result of following the path that is after the next ':' will have to be treated specially; that is why it prepended the "C:\Users\myid\Documents\" string (the directory/folder I happened to be in inside the CMD dialog when I invoked the DISM command). In any case, I eventually will try again after reading a bit more on ESD versus WIM and DISM's possible use of such files for restore operations. As always, any replies are appreciated. EDIT FOR FORUM FOLKS: A string of the form "xxx\" gets posted as "xxx" - one has to add a second '\' to get the post to appear correct.