DISM Error 50 or Error 87 “DISM does not support servicing Windows PE”

When you run the DISM tool (with the /online switch) to scan or restore the health of the operating system components, the tool may throw up Error 50. Here is the full error message verbatim:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Error: 50

DISM does not support servicing Windows PE with the /Online option.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

On Windows 11, you may see a different error code — Error 87.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.22621.1

Image Version: 10.0.22621.1992

Error: 87

The cleanup-image option is unknown.
For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.

This occurs when running any of these /online commands to scan or repair the components of the running Windows 8/10/11 installation:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Related article: Repair Windows 10/11 Using DISM and SFC

The DISM.log file may contain the following errors and warnings:

Error      DISM   DISM SetupPlatform Provider: PID=6748 TID=4916 SetupPlatformProvider is not supported when running DISM online in Windows PE - CSetupPlatformManager::Initialize(hr:0x80070032)
Warning    DISM   DISM Provider Store: PID=6748 TID=4916 Failed to call Initialize method on IDismServicingProvider Interface - CDISMProviderStore::Internal_LoadProvider(hr:0x80070032)
Warning    DISM   DISM Provider Store: PID=6748 TID=4916 Failed to load the provider: C:\Windows\System32\Dism\SetupPlatformProvider.dll. - CDISMProviderStore::Internal_GetProvider(hr:0x80070032)
Error      DISM   DISM.EXE: No providers were found that support the command(cleanup-image). HRESULT=80070057

Cause

DISM thinks you’re running Windows PE

Apparently, the DISM tool thinks that you’re using it from the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) or Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), whereas you may be running the tool on a running operating system. The presence of the following registry key causes Windows to think that you’re running Windows PE.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MiniNT

Windows PE is a standalone preinstallation environment and is an integral component of other setup and recovery technologies, such as Setup for Windows, Windows Deployment Services (Windows DS), the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), etc.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MiniNT]
"AllowRefsFormatOverNonmirrorVolume"=dword:00000001

"DoNotCreatePagefile"=dword:00000001
"MaxPageFileUsage"=dword:00000000
"CrashDumpEnabled"=dword:00000000
"AutoReboot"=dword:00000000
"KernelDumpOnly"=dword:00000000
"WriteDebugInfo"=dword:00000000

Please note that the MiniNT key and those registry values don’t exist in a standard Windows installation.

Resolution

To fix DISM Error: 50 “DISM does not support servicing Windows PE” and Error: 87 “The cleanup-image option is unknown”, delete the MiniNT registry key using these steps:

1. 1. Right-click Start, click Run.
   2. Type regedit.exe and click OK.
   3. Navigate to the following registry key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MiniNT

      

   4. Right-click MiniNT, and choose Delete
   5. Exit the Registry Editor.
   6. No restart is required, usually. See if you can run DISM now.

This fixes DISM Errors 50 and 87 on Windows 10 and 11, respectively.

Note that the DISM error 87 has multiple causes and the “MiniNT” key is just one of those causes. The DISM log needs to be analyzed to find the reason for the DISM error code 87.