Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

How to Get and Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool​

Introduction

   Information

If you would like to burn your downloaded or converted .iso image to a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive, this free Microsoft utility is for you.

In very little time this can be accomplished by even a novice, and in this tutorial I'm gonna show you how. I have seperated this tutorial into 2 sections: Part 1 covers how to burn a bootable DVD and Part 2 is on creating a bootable flash drive.

This is primarily going to be useful to XP and Vista users who do not have .iso burning software installed on their current HDD and wish to perform a clean install.

   Note

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool does not support using Windows XP .iso files.

If you do not have a Windows 7 with SP1 ISO, then you can download the latest official Windows 7 with SP1 ISO file here:

:ar: Microsoft Software Recovery

:ar: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links

   Warning

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool does not work with UEFI.

To create a 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 8 UEFI USB flash drive, see:

How to Create a Bootable UEFI USB Flash Drive for Installing Windows 7 and Windows 8

Here's How:

First visit the MS Store Website to download and install the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool.

   Note

If the download links are broken at the sites below, then you can click on the blue Download button below to directly download an official copy of the Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe file below from here instead.


Download

After you have successfully downloaded and installed the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, you should see its icon on your desktop. Double click to start the program.
PART 1 - How to Burn a bootable Windows 7 DVD

1) After you run the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool, you will see the Step 1 of 4 dialog box. Here you will navigate to the location of your .iso file by clicking the Browse button. Once you have successfully located your iso file click Next to continue to step 2.
2) In step 2 of 4 you are given the choice of making a bootable DVD or a bootable USB flash. In this first section of my tutorial I show you how to burn a bootable DVD. So click DVD if that is what you want.
3) Make sure you have a blank DVD in your optical drive, or you may see this message.
4) Once you have inserted a blank DVD you will see the folowing screen, click Begin burning to continue.
5) Once the burn starts, you should see the progress bar here at Step 4 of 4. Remember the amount of time it takes to complete the burn depends on many factors... be patient.
6) If all you wanted was a bootable DVD, you are finished when you see the image below, close the program or start over if you wish to make a 2nd copy.
PART 2 - How to create a bootable Windows 7 USB Flash Drive

   Warning

You need a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of free space, and the flash drive will be formattted to NTFS! So backup your data before creating this bootable USB, or you will lose all your data!

Follow the instructions in the Introduction at the beginning of tutorial and download and install the tool. The installation will add the program shortcut to your desktop, just double click to start.

1) After you launch the app, you will see the Step 1 of 4 dialog box. Here you will navigate to the location of your .iso file by clicking the Browse button. Once you have successfully located your iso file click Next to continue to step 2.
2) In step 2 of 4 you are given the choice of making a bootable DVD or a bootable USB flash. Here in Part 2 of my tutorial I show you how to create a bootable USB Flash Drive. So click USB device if that is what you want.
3) Here in step 3 of 4 you will select the USB flash drive of your choice by using the drop down list arrow. Once you have chosen the correct Drive, click the Begin copying button.


4) Here in step 4 of 4: Creating bootable USB device, you should see the progress bar move across the screen. As always your speed depends on many factors, have patience!
5) Once completed you should see the following dialog box.
I found it interesting that the USB device icon in "Computer" now looks identical to that of the DVD!
Here are the contents of the USB device after completion...
I hope this helps out some of you who are "stuck" when it comes to burning an iso to DVD or creating a bootable USB device.

Thanks!

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Do a Upgrade Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc
• How to Create a Windows 7 Installation USB Key
• Make bootable iso from student d/l
• How to Install Windows 7 from USB Pen Drive Using Grub4Dos
• How to Slipstream Windows 7 SP1 to Create a Installation DVD or ISO File
• How to Burn a "ISO" or "IMG" Disc Image file to a CD/DVD in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Darryl Licht]

Here's Paul Turrott's behind the scenes account of "Win7 Secrets" co-author Rafael Riveras discovery that MS had stolen code used in this tool! Whoops MS!

Inside Story: How Microsoft's Open Source Code Theft Was Discovered

 

[Darryl Licht]

Here's the old fashoined way... same end result...

A USB storage device needs to be 4 GB or larger if you want to use it as a Windows 7 installation source. This is because the x64 installation files are approximately 3.2 GB in size and the x86 installation files are approximately 2.5 GB in size. You use one architecture’s installation files only when preparing a deployment from a USB storage device. The USB storage device should use the FAT32 file system. To prepare a USB storage device as an installation source for Windows 7, perform the following steps:


1. Connect the USB storage device to a computer running Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Ensure that the storage device has no data stored on it that you want to keep (or that you have moved such data to another storage device) because this procedure removes all existing data.

2. Open an elevated command prompt and type diskpart.

​

3. At the DISKPART> prompt, type list disk. Identify which disk connected to the​

computer represents the USB storage device.​

4. At the DISKPART> prompt, type select disk X where X is the letter of the disk that you have identified as the USB storage device.​

5. At the DISKPART> prompt, type clean. When the disk is clean, type create partition primary.​

6. At the DISKPART> prompt, type format fs=fat32 quick. When the format is completed type active and then exit.

​

7. After you have completed these steps, copy all the files located on the Windows 7 installation DVD to the USB storage device.

​

8. Configure the BIOS computer on which you want to install Windows 7 to boot from the USB storage device. Attach the USB storage device and then reboot the computer to start installation.​

 

[MidwestDon]

Looks like MS got rid of this tool?

I was looking for it to mount the ISO into a bootable flash drive, but it looks like they took it down...

EDIT:

Found two download links for those that didn't get it.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool user reviews and ratings - CNET Download.com

Deposit Files

The tool link was taken down because of this:

Microsoft Pulls Windows 7 Download Tool - Reviews by PC Magazine

Microsoft has pulled a tool that is designed to help users with existing Windows XP installations on their netbooks. The Windows USB/DVD Tool was pulled "because there were several concerns brought to Microsoft's attention," a Microsoft spokesman said in an email. "They took it down to investigate the claims."
As the name suggests, the tool allows a downloaded version of Windows 7 from Microsoft's online store or its MSDN subscription service to be copied onto either a USB key or DVD. The former option is especially useful for those users that lack a DVD drive.
Blogger Rafael Rivera Jr. had provided comparisons between the Microsoft tool and the CodePlex ImageMaster tool.
"While poking through the UDF-related internals of the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, I had a weird feeling there was just wayyyyyyyyy too much code in there for such a simple tool" Rivera wrote. "A simple search of some method names and properties, gleaned from Reflector's output, revealed the source code was obviously lifted from the CodePlex-hosted (yikes) GPLv2-licensed ImageMaster project."
The Microsoft spokesman did not confirm or deny that code had been used from the CodePlex tool, which was hosted under a GPLv2 license. That license allows the source code to be distributed as an executable, either with the source code attached or an offer to provide it, if asked.

However, they should be reposting the download link as well as the source code:

Update on the Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool - Port 25: The Open Source Community at Microsoft

Update on the Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool by Peter Galli on November 13, 2009 11:24AM

As you've likely read and as was originally reported here, we've been investigating a report that the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, might contain GPLv2 code. The WUDT is a free tool that was offered by the Microsoft Store and which enabled customers to create bootable USB drives or DVD backup media from the electronic software (ESD) edition of Windows 7 that comes in an ISO format.
After looking at the code in question, we are now able to confirm this was indeed the case, although it was not intentional on our part. While we had contracted with a third party to create the tool, we share responsibility as we did not catch it as part of our code review process. We have furthermore conducted a review of other code provided through the Microsoft Store and this was the only incident of this sort we could find.
When it comes to our attention that a Microsoft component contains third party code, our aim is to be respectful of the terms under which that code is being shared. As a result, we will be making the source code as well as binaries for this tool available next week under the terms of the General Public License v2 as described here, and are also taking measures to apply what we have learned from this experience for future code reviews we perform.
We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused.

so guys whats the problem with this tool ? is it safe to use ? Or is the technology stolen from someone else ?

 

[Darryl Licht]

Originally, Microsoft illegally used open source code in the creation of this tool, they were caught and had to take it down.

Read more here: http://community.winsupersite.com/b...-dvd-download-tool-uses-open-source-code.aspx

You can download it now here:
Microsoft Store: Download Manager Help

 

[Jonathan_King]

Originally, Microsoft illegally used open source code in the creation of this tool, they were caught and had to take it down.

Read more here: http://community.winsupersite.com/b...-dvd-download-tool-uses-open-source-code.aspx

You can download it now here:
Microsoft Store: Download Manager Help

Darryl! You're back!

 

[Darryl Licht]

Originally, Microsoft illegally used open source code in the creation of this tool, they were caught and had to take it down.

Read more here: http://community.winsupersite.com/b...-dvd-download-tool-uses-open-source-code.aspx

You can download it now here:
Microsoft Store: Download Manager Help

Darryl! You're back!

Yep... it was a busy Holiday season for me! Check my post in Guru Lounge for more...

 

[detailer]

Need Guidance Please

So I bought one of those Win7 Ultimate keys off Ebay for $15-(insert uncontrollable laughter here)-I'm downloading the 32bit as we speak.Thinking of downloading the 64bit as well,and the question is: will the key code I've purchased (assuming it's legit) be incorporated in the ISO file,or is it entered during the installation process.If so,I won't bother with the 64bit download.I'm just playing with 15 bucks and the cost of a DVD to see if I can perform a clean install on another PC-just haven't decided if I want to go with 32 or 64bit.Also,I see mixed recommendations on using Iamge Burn and the Microsoft tool for the burn-anybody help an old guy out here-this is my first ever attempt at an ISO burn to DVD-I believe I've read every related thread/post on this,and damn,some of you guys are sharp!!.I'll cross the installation bridge when I decide on the PC(victim) Thanks for the read,and Happy New Year!!

 

[Jonathan_King]

So I bought one of those Win7 Ultimate keys off Ebay for $15-(insert uncontrollable laughter here)-I'm downloading the 32bit as we speak.Thinking of downloading the 64bit as well,and the question is: will the key code I've purchased (assuming it's legit) be incorporated in the ISO file,or is it entered during the installation process.If so,I won't bother with the 64bit download.I'm just playing with 15 bucks and the cost of a DVD to see if I can perform a clean install on another PC-just haven't decided if I want to go with 32 or 64bit.Also,I see mixed recommendations on using Iamge Burn and the Microsoft tool for the burn-anybody help an old guy out here-this is my first ever attempt at an ISO burn to DVD-I believe I've read every related thread/post on this,and damn,some of you guys are sharp!!.I'll cross the installation bridge when I decide on the PC(victim) Thanks for the read,and Happy New Year!!

You will be prompted for the key during installation.

 

[Darryl Licht]

GOOD LUCK on a $15 copy of Win7 working! And we cant help or support you since your copy isnt Genuine MS copy... where are you downloading from... torrent?

 

[detailer]

Thanks

Yeah I know it's a risk-but what the hell-I've already got my paid copies installed (M$ got my $$ already) and wanted to experiment.Got two older rigs sitting around.The seller is on Ebay (thedigitalretailer)-the offer is still up with 99.5% positive feedback-has been for quite some time-would think Ebay would have booted it by now if not legit-who knows -lack of support is understood and was not expected-Happy New Year guys

 

[Darryl Licht]

Yeah I know it's a risk-but what the hell-I've already got my paid copies installed (M$ got my $$ already) and wanted to experiment.Got two older rigs sitting around.The seller is on Ebay (thedigitalretailer)-the offer is still up with 99.5% positive feedback-has been for quite some time-would think Ebay would have booted it by now if not legit-who knows -lack of support is understood and was not expected-Happy New Year guys

I am curious... if they sell the key, where do u get the DVD? Using one you already own, or???

You can enter the key either during installation when prompted, or later after the install. If you dont enter the key during install, I believe you have 30 days to do so or Win7 times out!

 

[BSkiLLs]

uhhh... So can this be done with a win7 upgrade ??

Upgrade from Vista home prem to win7 home prem. Used a factory upgrade disc originally

That way i do not have to go back to vista every time first when reformatting then go through the whole upgrade process again etc etc??

I have been using just a disc mirror image lately. I did the whole upgrade and such, then made a disc image with active disc image from that point of a fresh win7 upgrade install that way if needed can just fall back to that exact point so dont have to go through the whole darn process when needed.

That is the only way could figure out to do it like that for it to work that way and right. (well besides maybe this in this tutorial now also?)

 

[Darryl Licht]

uhhh... So can this be done with a win7 upgrade ??

Upgrade from Vista home prem to win7 home prem. Used a factory upgrade disc originally

That way i do not have to go back to vista every time first when reformatting then go through the whole upgrade process again etc etc??

I have been using just a disc mirror image lately. I did the whole upgrade and such, then made a disc image with active disc image from that point of a fresh win7 upgrade install that way if needed can just fall back to that exact point so dont have to go through the whole darn process when needed.

That is the only way could figure out to do it like that for it to work that way and right. (well besides maybe this in this tutorial now also?)

Yes you can! I have performed many "clean" installs using an upgrade disc. Just follow Brinks tutorial here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

 

[rosokan]

I'm getting the 'not a valid ISO file' message for my ISO file I downloaded from Microsoft (via my university) through the MSDNAA program. Does anyone know of any restrictions in place on the program concerning types of ISO files or does it seem likely that my file is corrupt somehow?

Edit: Hi everyone, btw. Hadn't realised I'd never posted here before

 

[Jonathan_King]

I'm getting the 'not a valid ISO file' message for my ISO file I downloaded from Microsoft (via my university) through the MSDNAA program. Does anyone know of any restrictions in place on the program concerning types of ISO files or does it seem likely that my file is corrupt somehow?

Edit: Hi everyone, btw. Hadn't realised I'd never posted here before

Welcome!

I have had the same error with ISOs I know to be legit. I would recommend using a third-party tool such as ImgBurn instead to burn the ISO.

 

[Darryl Licht]

I'm getting the 'not a valid ISO file' message for my ISO file I downloaded from Microsoft (via my university) through the MSDNAA program. Does anyone know of any restrictions in place on the program concerning types of ISO files or does it seem likely that my file is corrupt somehow?

Edit: Hi everyone, btw. Hadn't realised I'd never posted here before

Welcome!

I have had the same error with ISOs I know to be legit. I would recommend using a third-party tool such as ImgBurn instead to burn the ISO.

Another great free ISO burning utility is Iso Recorder
ISO Recorder v 2

 

[rosokan]

Thanks, I already make use of the wonderful ImgBurn. The interest for me was to have a USB copy, as much for novelty as any other reason, rather than me being unable to burn a dvd.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Actually, making a USB installation key is very easy. In fact, all you need to do is drag the installation files to it!

Be sure to read this tutorial; I use method 2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[Darryl Licht]

Actually, making a USB installation key is very easy. In fact, all you need to do is drag the installation files to it!

Be sure to read this tutorial; I use method 2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

Jonathan: Is there something wrong with this (my) tutorial???

rosokan: At what point in this process do you get the "not valid" message?

I also think Jonathan and I were on the same page... I realize that you want a bootable USB, but have you been able to test your iso by burning a good DVD from it?

 

[Jonathan_King]

Actually, making a USB installation key is very easy. In fact, all you need to do is drag the installation files to it!

Be sure to read this tutorial; I use method 2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

Jonathan: Is there something wrong with this (my) tutorial???

rosokan: At what point in this process do you get the "not valid" message?

I also think Jonathan and I were on the same page... I realize that you want a bootable USB, but have you been able to test your iso by burning a good DVD from it?

It's a good tutorial, but since the tool is not working for him, he may consider an alternative method of creating a bootable USB drive.