Creating an ISO image of Windows 7. The best programs for creating an ISO disk image

Today Windows 7 is the main corporate system, de facto, taking over the baton from Windows XP. Therefore for system administrator the actual issue is its deployment, but since the last official image was compiled quite a long time ago, systems installed with its help require obtaining quite large quantity updates. You can avoid this if you assemble your own distribution containing all the current system updates. We will tell you how to do this in this article.

There are two ways to get the latest Windows distribution 7: Integrate updates directly into the image and use a reference system to download and install updates.

The first method is simpler and faster, but has serious drawback- you need to download everything necessary updates. And this, even with a list, is quite difficult to do. At the same time, there are already downloaded update sets available on the network, but we do not recommend using them, since installing system components from unverified sources is very bad idea. At a minimum, you could end up with an unstable system due to an untested or incompatible set of updates, and at worst, you could easily end up with unwanted or malicious software.

Using a reference system allows you to get all the necessary updates in automatic mode, install them, check the operation of the system and only then proceed to creating a distribution kit. Therefore, we will consider this method.

Creation of a reference system

For these purposes, we recommend using virtual machine, in which we will create a guest system for Windows 7 and install the version of the OS for which we will create a distribution kit. If you need to create distributions for several versions or bits, then you will also need several reference systems.

Once the installation is complete, take your time; when the welcome screen appears, click CTRL+ SHIFT+ F3

This will reboot the system into audit mode, but if you managed to create a user and log in, then run the command as Administrator:

C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep /audit /reboot

When booting into audit mode, the utility automatically starts Sysprep, close this window, we don’t need it now.

It should be remembered that the system switched to audit mode will continue to boot into it until we start it again Sysprep and we will not change the regime. After downloading, open Center Windows updates and search for and install updates.

Important! On May 17, 2016, Microsoft released a cumulative update package for Windows 7 SP1 KB3125574, which includes updates from the release of SP1 until April 2016; in order to reduce the volume of downloaded updates, we recommend downloading and installing this package manually. Installation requires update KB3020369.

We reboot and search and install updates again. We reboot and repeat this operation again until the system installs all available updates.

If your goal was only to integrate all latest updates, then we can finish here. However, the audit mode allows you to install a variety of software, which will also be included in the distribution. This is widely used by OEMs; we think everyone has come across distributions (usually on laptops) containing, in addition to the OC, different quantities software of dubious usefulness.

Therefore, no one is stopping us from including in our distribution necessary software so as not to waste time on its subsequent installation. We usually limit ourselves to the "gentleman's set": archiver, Adobe Reader, Java, Silverlight. You can include the entire set necessary software, including office suite and other software. You should not include programs that install your own drivers and device drivers in the image, since all third-party drivers will be removed at the stage of preparing the system for image capture. Also, you should not activate the software; this information will also be lost.

Having finished preparing the reference system, we will delete all the files we downloaded and unnecessary software (if any), special attention should be paid to cleaning the system from copies of update files, for this use the tool Disk Cleanup:

Important! After cleaning be sure to reboot system to complete the updates, otherwise you risk getting a broken image.

Now let's prepare it for image capture using the utility Sysprep:

C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep /oobe /generalize /shutdown

Let's look at the utility keys in more detail:

• oobe- starts the computer in welcome screen mode. Screen Windows greetings allows end users configure the Windows operating system, create new accounts, rename your computer, and perform other tasks.
• generalize- prepares the Windows installation before creating the image. If this option is specified, all unique system information is removed from Windows installations. The security identifier (SID) is reset, system restore points are reset, and event logs are deleted.
• shutdown - Shuts down the computer after Sysprep has finished running.

After completing the necessary actions, the system will shut down. You cannot enable it before the image is captured. This concludes our work with the reference system and moves on to creating our own distribution based on it.

Creating your own distribution

For further work we will need workstation under Windows control 7 with installed package automatic installation Windows (WAIK). The capacity and version of the system do not play any role.

Installing WAIK should not be difficult and is done using the default settings.

Now let's prepare the image Windows PE to capture an image of the reference system. The WinPE bit capacity must match that of the reference system.

Let's open Start - All programs - Microsoft Windows AIK - Deployment Tools Command Line and run the command for 32-bit systems:

Copype.cmd x86 e:\win_pe

or for 64-bit:

Copype.cmd amd64 e:\win_pe

Where e:\win_pe desired location of the folder with the image. There is no need to create the folder first, as in this case you will receive an error that the folder already exists.

Now let's go to the destination folder and copy the file winpe.wim to a folder ISO\sources and rename it to boot.wim. Then copy it to a folder ISO from folder C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64 or C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86, depending on the bit depth, file imagex.exe.

Then in Command line deployment tools give the following command:

Oscdimg -n -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\ISO e:\win_pe\winpe.iso

The result of the command will be an image winpe.iso from which to download reference system.

If you did not perform additional partitioning of the reference system disk, the partition to be captured will have the letter D:, A boot disk E:, just in case, we check with the team dir.

Now let's start capturing the image, since the image is created file by file, it can be saved to the same partition. Let's enter the following command:

E:\imagex /capture d: d:\install.wim "Win7_ULT_x64" /compress maximum /boot /verify

As parameters we indicate to capture disk D: and save it to an image D:\install.wim, in quotation marks we indicate our own name of the image, we also set the maximum compression, the ability to download and check the created image. After which we can go have coffee, this operation takes on average about half an hour.

Reboot the reference system into normal mode and copy the created image to a PC with WAIK installed. Let's go to e:\win_pe and empty the ISO folder, then copy the contents of the original there Windows disk 7, which we used to install the reference system.

Then we will replace the file install.wim in a folder sources to the image we captured. Now you can start building your own ISO image, to do this, run the command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -o -lWIN7ULTx64 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64.iso

Let's look at the command keys in more detail:

• u2-creates an image that has only file system UDF.
• m- removes restrictions on image size.
• o- replaces duplicate files with one copy, allowing you to reduce the size of the image.
• l- volume label, entered without spaces, optional parameter.
• b- location boot file, also without spaces.

The image is assembled quite quickly, the only thing is that with a high degree of probability its size will exceed 4.7 GB and it will not be possible to burn it to a regular DVD disc. In this case, you can use double-layer DVD9 discs, but they are less common on sale and may not be supported by all drive models. In this case, you can split the distribution into two parts, each of which will fit on a standard-sized DVD. You should also remember the 32 limit bit systems, which cannot work with wim images larger than 4 GB.

You can split the image with the following command:

Imagex /split e:\win_pe\install.wim e:\win_pe\install.swm 3000

This will create two or more swm file maximum size at 3000 MB. Then delete it from the folder ISO\sources install.wim and place install.swm there, after which we will assemble the image of the first disk:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD1 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD1.iso

After that, delete install.swm and copy install2.swm in its place. There is no point in making the second disk bootable, so we will assemble it with a simpler command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD2 e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD2.iso

Installation from a split image is carried out in the usual way, starting from the first disk; during operation, the installer itself will ask you to change the disk:

This way, you don’t have to worry about the size of the created image, especially if, in addition to updates, it is planned to include voluminous software, for example, the MS Office package, etc. We also recommend that before moving on to deploying workstations from the created distribution, you thoroughly test its operation on a test system.

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Appeared in Windows 7 new tool to create backups. It is called and is located in "Control Panel", section “System and Security”, tab "Backup of computer data".

So, let's look at what Microsoft offers us. The first thing you can do is set up automatic creation system backup. After clicking the link "Set up backup", a window will appear in front of us with a choice of media on which we will store our backups. Windows Developers recommend using external hard drives. We, in turn, will add that in the absence of such, the second or third is quite suitable hard drive, which is installed on the computer and which does not contain system partition. (Not to be confused with logical drives.) In addition, the tool offers to save the archive online. This should be understood as on a network drive.

After we decide on the storage location and click on the button "Next", another choice awaits us. This time we have to answer the question “What should be archived?”. There are only two options: provide Windows selection, which is recommended by the developers, and choose for yourself which files and folders should be archived. If you are not going to make backups for anything other than the system itself, feel free to choose the first option. Otherwise, go along the second path, where you yourself will have to choose which files and folders should be archived. Whatever path we take, we will eventually end up in a window where Windows will ask you to check all the archiving parameters. In the same window you can change the schedule. After that, feel free to press the button “Save settings and start archiving”.

Now, at the time determined by our schedule, Windows will create backup copy. In order to restore data from the archive, we will need in the section "Recovery" windows "Archiving and restoring files" select the archive we need and start the recovery procedure.

Sometimes there are cases when there is no way to boot the computer. Most often this happens as a result of the action of viruses or due to a failure in work hard disk. In such cases, we will need a system recovery disk, which can be created in the same window, on the right, item "Create a system repair disc".

Another new feature is the ability to create a system image. Under the image Microsoft systems involves creating a complete copy of the disks necessary for the system to operate. In addition, the user himself can include in this image the disks that he wants to save in case of a complete system crash. To start creating an image, click on the link "Creating system images", which is located on the right side of the window. Here we will first be asked to select the location where we will store the system image file. There are three options to choose from:

1. on the hard drive;
2. on DVD discs;
3. in a network location.

Transferring many small files over the Internet is not very convenient. It is for this reason that various assemblies of operating systems can be downloaded from the Internet in the form of an image saved in ISO format. The downloaded image can be stored on a computer or written to any device, so you can make a bootable Windows flash drive or disk.

If you have a disc, for example, with a game or various programs, you can create an image from an ISO disk in which the files and its structure are completely preserved. Then using special programs, for example Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools, you can run the created image through . If over time you need to burn a disc from the image you created, read the article on this topic by following the link.

In this article we will look at how you can make an ISO image from files and folders. In this form, it is more convenient to transfer them over the network, and the image transfer speed will be higher than each file separately.

First, let's look at ISO creation image using the Alcohol 120% program. You can read the description on our website by following the link.

In the menu on the left, click on the button "Image Mastering".

To create an image from files, click on the “Add files” button. If you need to create an ISO image from a folder, click "Add folder".

Select necessary files or folders on your computer and click Open.

You can create folders in the program itself, and then add files to them. To do this, right-click in the program window and select “ New folder". You can also use the corresponding button located on the right side.

Once you have added all the files, click Next.

Next, specify the location on your hard drive where you want to save the created ISO image. In the "Image format" field, select "ISO image" from the drop-down list. You can change the "Image name". Click Start. I'll name the image "MyPhoto" and save it to my desktop.

Wait for the process to complete. In the same window you can see how much space the created ISO image takes up on your computer. Click Done.

Now I have the created image in ISO format on my desktop.

By double-clicking on it, you can mount the image into a virtual drive and view the files stored in it. Please note the memory capacity virtual drive, corresponds to the size of the created image.

Now let's take a look, how to make an ISO image using UltraISO program . She is the most popular program, which is used to create images, edit them and write them to disk.

Launch UltraISO. At the bottom of the program window, find the files and folders you need on your computer and drag them to the top area. You can also select them and click on the “Add” button.

The image will be saved in the specified location. It can also be mounted into a virtual drive.

I think now you understand how, using the programs described, you can create an ISO image from files and folders that are stored on your computer.

Watch the video

Hello, Friends! In this article we will figure out how to create an ISO image from files and folders and how to make boot image. For example operating system. You can read how to make an ISO image from a disk. I usually use Ashampoo Burning to create images. Studio FREE, for recording to a flash drive - UltraISO. In this article we will create bootable ISO images from files and folders from which you can install Windows using CDBurnerXP.

This article could have been called “How to edit ISO images.” Image editing programs cost money. In this article I will show you how you can keep this money for yourself.

Go to the site

https://cdburnerxp.se/ru/download

To avoid installing additional program download the portable version of CDBurnerXP for .

CDBurnerXP downloaded.

How to create an ISO image from files

Go to the unpacked folder and run cdbxpp.exe .

Click Launch in the window there is a security warning.

Set the name of the ISO image, location and click Save .

The ISO image has been created.

How to create a bootable ISO image

This is the part for which this article was written. For example, we need to edit Windows ISO image 7 or Windows 8. In the last article we downloaded the original image of Windows 7 Ultimate. Therefore, you can install Windows 7 Ultimate from it. To be able to choose others when installing Windows versions 7 (for example, Basic, Home Basic, Home Advanced, Professional and Ultimate) you need to delete the file in the image ei.cfg. You can do this as follows

Now from the unpacked folder we will create bootable iso Windows 7 image

We add files to the project in the same way as described in the second paragraph.

In the section Emulation type choose No emulation

In the section Sectors put 8 (Value depends on size etfsboot.com. If the size is 4 KB, set it to 8, since the size of one sector is 512 Bytes or 0.5 KB (4/0.5=8). If the file size etfsboot.com 2 KB - set 4) (Thanks for this valuable information oszone.net). In Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 images, the etfsboot.com file has a size of 4 KB - set it to 8.

In the section Platform chose x86-32 since I have the image of 32 bit Windows 7

Creation and recording Windows image 10 per disk or flash drive - deposit quick recovery system performance in case of system crash or incorrect settings that could not be canceled regular means Windows.

Why do you need a Windows 10 system image?

Windows 10 image needed for recording installation flash drive. With its help, it is possible to reinstall the system “from scratch” when the user is not satisfied with the update using standard means. A Windows image may also be required to correct problems when starting the OS, to reset it to its original settings, resulting in the removal of all programs and extra devices installed after creating the system recovery image.

The system image is created using the following applications:

To burn the installation flash drive you already need finished image. That is, you first need to prepare the ISO file itself with a copy of Windows 10.

Working on creating a Windows 10 image

All methods are quite easy and reliable. Completing any of them is unlikely to take you more than half an hour, especially if the PC or tablet on which you are creating the OS image is powerful enough.

It doesn't matter which of the latest versions of Windows you are burning - 7, 8, 8.1 or 10. They are all easily created in ISO format.

Creating a Windows image using the Backup Wizard

If you create not just a system image, but an image of drive C ( Windows system With installed drivers PC hardware), the following preliminary preparation is required:

None unnecessary applications should not be placed. Otherwise, you will end up with an OS image that freezes due to tens or even hundreds of installed applications, as a result of which the meaning of creating an image is lost. Such builds (for example, ZverDVD for the XP version) do exist, but they are rare.

Modern versions of Windows, particularly 8.1 and 10, already contain most drivers. So, network adapters and the sound is integrated into the “top ten”, and put outdated drivers No need. This way you will only disrupt the operation of modules and devices that Microsoft has already taken care of.

Master backup not much different in Windows 7/8/8.1/10.

Find Windows Backup Tool in the Start menu and launch it.
Backup and Restore Wizard lets you create a Windows disk image

Select create a system image.
The System Image Creator tool will help you copy system and program files to ISO image

Specify the disk or its partition where the image file will be saved.
Drive C may not be suitable for saving a Windows archive

Select the drives whose contents will be archived. At a minimum, this is a hidden (reserved) section and system disk C.
For archiving, drive C is set by default

Saving the contents of the system and program folders on drive C will take from 20 to 40 minutes. After this, you will have a ready-made ISO image that can be burned to external drive or a flash drive using applications such as Media Creation Tool, Rufus, WinSetupFromUSB, Universal USB Installer, etc.

Video: How to create a Windows 10 image using the Backup Wizard

Burning a Windows 10 image using third-party utilities

Third-party utilities, such as Nero, Daemon Tools and Alcohol, were actively used to create an image of Windows 10 from a licensed DVD. However, you can burn a Windows 10 image to a USB flash drive or to an external HDD/SSD drive. Suitable for this: ready assembly Windows 10 in ISO format, downloaded from a torrent tracker, and your personal ISO archive, created using the Archive Wizard (see instructions above). The latter method eliminates the need to reinstall hardware drivers and applications you need for work along with the system.

Burning an image to DVD is becoming obsolete: modern ultrabooks, netbooks and tablets come without a CD drive. All actions - data recovery after a Windows crash and system reinstallation, fixing startup problems - are performed from a flash drive, memory card or SSD drive. Therefore, you should not focus on burning a Windows image to DVD.

DAEMON Tools

To record an image using the program DAEMON Tools do the following:

Launch DAEMON Tools and go to “Tools” - “Burn bootable image to USB”.
Pay due attention to the settings before burning the image

That's it, the DAEMON Tools application will begin burning the installation disk or flash drive. Creation boot entry takes up to several seconds, its volume does not exceed several megabytes, but you will have to wait at least 20 minutes for the image to be recorded.

At the end of recording copies of Windows DAEMON program Tools will report the success of the process.

The recording speed via the USB 2.0 interface, used in all PCs and gadgets for 15 years, reaches 21 MB/s. Most modern PCs and laptops are equipped with USB 3.0, and using more modern media will almost double the speed of USB 2.0. If a flash drive or external drive has been actively used for several years in a row and is worn out, the final write speed may drop several times. The newer the media, the faster all files will be written and the fewer problems there will be when updating/reinstalling Windows from it - take this seriously. Another reason why you should not use CDs is that the read/write speed here is several times lower (several megabytes per second) than the speed of flash memory used on modern media.

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using DAEMON Tools

Alcohol 120% (57%)

Everything that has been said about the advisability of writing Windows 10 to a USB flash drive does not work with software Alcohol brand, which were created and updated mainly to work with “blanks” - CD/DVD/BD, and not with flash drives and memory cards. Therefore, alas, it is better to forget about flash drives here. For this reason, the Alcohol utility is actively being replaced by competitors - WinSetupFromUSB, Rufus and other applications that work with electronic rather than optical media.

To create a system image using Alcohol 120%, follow these steps:

Download, install and run the latest version of Alcohol 120%.
The Alcohol application is 120% paid, but you can also use the lite version

Go to the “Burn images to discs” submenu.
Select the image recording functionality in Alcohol 120%

Select the pre-downloaded Windows 10 image file using the browse button.
The Windows 10 image must be downloaded in advance to burn to disk

Select DVD-RW drive and disk write speed. It is recommended to select a lower speed, make sure that the PC has backup power, before you start recording, and do not skimp on disks - disks that are too cheap can fail prematurely.
Recording at 1x speed is ideal - this will reduce recording errors to zero

Write speed affects errors when writing a Windows disc. Do not forget that it is not a selection of music or photos that is being recorded, but an image of the operating system. The requirements for the quality and error-free installation disks are very high: if something happens while installing Windows system error and the OS will freeze in the same place, start recording again. The best way out would be to use a 1x-12x speed drive from some long-standing company such as Verbatim, Sony, TDK or SKC.

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using Alcohol 120%

Alcohol 52%

The capabilities of the “junior” program Alcohol 52% are even more limited: it does not burn images to DVD, although it is free compared to Alcohol 120%.

Mounting images onto a virtual DVD won't do anything. The image is recorded on a separate object, information about which is stored on the built-in (local) disk of the PC, and not on external media. And flash drives and memory cards are identified by Windows as external, and not as local drives.

It is unlikely that you will be able to burn a Windows image to external media, be it a DVD or a flash drive, since Alcohol 52% simply does not know how to write images to external drives, as stated in the application description. Running Windows 10 from virtual media - unless it's a LiveDVD/USB version taken from any disk - makes no sense. It’s easier to set the BIOS/EFI to boot from this disk and start from it. It’s better to use more modern analogues that allow you to write images to disk and flash drive, for example, UltraISO.

Nero

As with Alcohol, Nero's ability to record to media other than CDs of various formats is limited.

Download, install and run the latest version of Nero (Burning ROM). Click the use button trial version.
Click the continue trial button

Go to the “New” - “DVD-ROM” path, select the “No multisession” option and click the “New” button.
Select the type of data disk to burn the Windows image to

Click on the “Recorder” tab and select “Record Image”.
You must have a Windows 10 ISO image in advance.

In the image recording window, select " DVD image", set the speed and press the "Burn" button.
After clicking the start recording button, Nero will begin copying the Windows image

Burning the disc can take up to an hour (depending on speed) before the disc is ready to install Windows 10.

Video: How to Burn a System Image to Disk Using Nero

Other Windows Image Burning Applications

You can write Windows to a flash drive using:

Some of them are suitable not only for recording images of Windows, but also of other operating systems, as well as multiboot disks.

For recording to DVD, in addition to some of the above applications, it is suitable Windows utility USB/DVD Download Tool created by Microsoft.

Problems encountered when recording a Windows image

The following problems may occur when burning Windows images:

The choice of media for creating and recording a Windows image - a disk or flash drive - is yours. Both methods are good, but they directly depend on what kind of PC you have and whether it has a disk drive or USB ports.