ImageX - Create an ISO from a VHD

[Orbital Shark]

With all the latest leaks i thought i'd post this 'How To' to help people who want an ISO but have to wait for 1 to be created and uploaded.

Cashis
for the kickstart and final test, and
SoLoR
for the command line options.​

ikilledkenny
for creating the tutorial

You will need to download & extract View attachment imagex.zip

   Note

It's best to extract to C:\ as this is the easiest destination to navigate to

Firstly:​

Follow the instructions Here on how to attatch a VHD file.​

Step 1: Modify existing ISO​

1, Open an elevated command prompt, type cmd into the Start Menu, when it appears right-click and select 'Run as Administrator' then agree to any UAC prompt.
Type the following once Command Prompt is open​

c:
cd\
imagex /compress maximum /flags "Ultimate" /capture [B]x[/B]: c:\install.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate"

X is the drive of the newly attathed VHD
This will now begin creating a new install.wim file.

2, Now open an ISO editing application (UltraISO is a good 1, you may need to search for 'free ISO editors') and open an ISO file for a previous build of Windows 7 (e.g. 7201). Navigate to \Sources and locate install.wim and delete it, then add the newly created file to the ISO in \Sources.

3, Save the ISO, burn a disk image and boot from it. You will notice that the install is for the previous build but the files and arhitecture are for the latest build.

   Note

Unregistered ISO editors can only save 300MB, that is why a search for 'free ISO editors' is needed

Step 2: Extract & re-burn ISO

Follow the instructions in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13695-convert-vhd-file-iso-file.html kindly created by ikilledkenny

   Information

The only ISOs that work with the 7260 VHD seem to be 7201 & 7100, so if you have that, the 'How To' should work

   Note

ISOs made with 7100 can only be upgraded by running the setup.exe in compatability mode for Vista

 

[Cashis]

Great work mate top Post works 100% and very easy.Thanks again

 

[andythecurefan]

i will try this the next time a VHD gets leaked. thank you.

 

[G2gCya]

does the software i installed still remain in the vhd? so i can make a vhd and convert it into iso, does this mean that when i do a window 7 setup using my iso, all the software i had installed will be preinstalled?

 

[Shak 10]

Good post should help Noobies alot

 

[Orbital Shark]

does the software i installed still remain in the vhd? so i can make a vhd and convert it into iso, does this mean that when i do a window 7 setup using my iso, all the software i had installed will be preinstalled?

Unfortunately not, only the Windows specific files will be extracted, sorry.

 

[Orbital Shark]

   Information

The only ISOs that work with the 7260 VHD seem to be 7201 & 7100, so if you have that, the 'How To' should work

   Note

ISOs made with 7100 cannot be upgraded, only clean installs work

 

[Mark]

Very helpful, thanks Orbital Shark. +Rep

 

[Penryn]

will try it once im finished with the downloads

 

[njel]

   Information

The only ISO that works with the 7260 VHD is 7100, so if you have that, the 'How To' should work

   Note

ISOs made this way cannot be upgraded, only clean installs work

I have done it with the ISO 7201 and a new install in a VM.
I an trying to upgrade now a 7201 VM with the same ISO based on the 7201 ISO and 7260 VHD.

 

[SIW2]

How to create .ISO from .VHD file - KezNews.com

You don't need a paid .iso editor, of course.

Extract the 7100 .iso ( which you are using as the host)

Replace the install.wim with the new one you just captured.

Use any pretty much any burning app. to create a bootable .iso from those files. If you have vlite, that will do it easily, or if you have the MS oscdimg.

Unless you want an .iso for some reason - you don't need it at all, it is perfectly easy to use the install.wim to install from.

 

[Orbital Shark]

How to create .ISO from .VHD file - KezNews.com

You don't need a paid .iso editor, of course.

Extract the 7100 .iso ( which you are using as the host)

Replace the install.wim with the new one you just captured.

Use any pretty much any burning app. to create a bootable .iso from those files. If you have vlite, that will do it easily, or if you have the MS oscdimg.

Unless you want an .iso for some reason - you don't need it at all, it is perfectly easy to use the install.wim to install from.

Nice

I should have added that it can be installed without the need to ISO it but as I (and many others) only use the boot option it wasn't in my head at the time. Thanks

 

[Orbital Shark]

Upgrade from build 7100 files have been confirmed not to work, 7201 still untested

Changed: sorry, meant upgrade, not install

 

[Mark]

Installation from build 7100 files have been confirmed not to work, 7201 still untested

So I can't make the ISO using 7100, isn't that what SoLoR did to make his?

 

[Orbital Shark]

So I can't make the ISO using 7100, isn't that what SoLoR did to make his?

I think so, but I only ever clean install & that still works.

changed post, meant upgrade don't work

 

[njel]

So the upgrade from 7201 to 7260 using an ISO build from ISO 7201 + VHD 7260 has worked perfectly.

I suppose it is because the setup.exe was not older than the installed version.

I will try to build an ISO with 7229 and VHD 7260.
Then I will try a fresh install and an upgrade if some people are interested with some of those results.
Let me know.

 

[Mark]

I think so, but I only ever clean install & that still works.

changed post, meant upgrade don't work

Thanks for clearing that up, I was only doing to do a clean install anyway just to test the build, I usually only run x64 anyway and haven't tried a x86 build since build 7000.

 

[yodno4759]

If i want to delete a subdirectory/file or two from "install.wim" in order to clean it up, i understand from the documentation that i have to install "wimfltr.sys" and associated files. Can anybody point me where to download these requisite files from? Thanks.

 

[Cashis]

Upgrade from build 7100 files have been confirmed not to work, 7201 still untested

Changed: sorry, meant upgrade, not install

I can confirm that this method Using the 7201.0.090601-1516_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grmculfrer_en_dvd-ISO
and the 7260.0.x86fre.win7_rtm.090612-2110.client_en-us.ultimate work without any trouble I am running it now.
GImageX seems to be useful also::. Link::. http://www.autoitscript.com/gimagex/