Make bootable iso from student d/l

spiffman · 22 Oct 2009

akthe13th said:

is there a method around the write protection just so i can perform an install?

Many Thanks

Adam

Assuming you are upgrading from a 32 bit xp/vista install to a 64 bit win 7 install the problem is not the write protection, it's just a bad error message. The 64 bit installer cannot run in a 32 bit os - you must burn the iso and install as per all the messages in this thread.

If you really want to remove the read only bit (it won't help) feel free to go to your command prompt and use attrib -r c:\INSERTYOURDIRHERE /d /s
The read only will be cleared but you will get the same error message.

kestudi said:

I'm upgrading from XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit (using the digital river student download). I'm interested in doing as clean an installation as possible.

I'm sensing we don't have a clear working definition of "formatting a drive" and "clean install". So I'd like some clarification:

Booting from the DVD, Can "formatting" be accomplished from within the installer, or only outside of the installer?

Agree with prior poster here, it can be accomplished within the installer by selecting advanced options at the screen where you are prompted to select the hard drive to install to.

kestudi said:

Will either option/both options remove the registration key of your previous OS?

Disagree with prior poster here although obviously his experience should give some cause for concern. I have upgraded both a win 32 and a vista 32 machine to win 7 64 and in both instances I've formatted the drive from within the installer. In both instances my upgrade key worked fine - I'm still finding it hard to believe that MS would be stupid enough to not allow this to work.

kestudi said:

Running the installer from Windows, can formatting be accomplished on a drive?

I'm not sure what the process looks like when running the installer from Windows but it wouldn't be able to format the drive the installation files are on and at the same time complete the install. Might be possible to format a separate drive and do the install from within windows.

kestudi said:

Is it even possible to run the 64-bit installer from 32-bit WinXP?

No.

kestudi said:

Does "clean install" simply mean that you are formatting the OS drive?

I would use clean install to mean that you formatted the drive but in this case there is actually some cause for confusion. When the win 7 installer starts two options are presented, (1) Upgrade; (2) Custom Install.

As I understand it the upgrade option will allow you to maintain files and settings but is only available when (1) you are going from Vista SP1/SP2 to Windows 7 AND (2) you are upgrading to the same bit operating system (e.g. 64 bit Vista -> 64 bit Win 7).

All other users must choose custom install. If you choose custom install AND you don't format, Win 7 will backup some of your files to a windows.old folder - your progs will not be usable though. If you choose custom install AND you do format then Win 7 will not backup any of your files.

Note that if you're running XP and you want to migrate your files and settings MS has some easy transfer tool - I've never tried it as it seemed like more effort then it was worth so I don't know how it works.

kestudi said:

Is there such a thing as a "not-clean install" when upgrading to a new OS?

Same as above really - if you're selecting the upgrade option or not formatting you're arguably doing a "not-clean" install. Note though that in the custom install / no formatting scenario you're still really getting a "clean" os install as win 7 isn't using/upgrading any of your old os files (it's just backing some files up to a windows.old directory).

longboarder543 · 22 Oct 2009

EDIT: Okay, I've been reading this thread throughout the day, and I should have read the last couple of posts before I posted this question. It looks like the error I'm seeing is confirmed as a non-issue as long as you install via the ISO. I still think MD5 checksums would benefit everyone, however.

ORIGINAL POST:
I have downloaded my copy of Win7 Pro 64-bit from Digital River, and I followed the initial post, and now have a 3.02 GB ISO. I performed this procedure on a machine running 32-bit Vista Business. Everything seemed to work fine, but I did receive an error at the end of the "Unpacking box" procedure (the step that creates the "expandedSetup" folder). The error was as follows:

"We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded. Please check the folder properties to make sure that you have security
permission on the folder to write files and that the folder is not read-only"

Despite the error, the extraction appeared to complete successfully. My ISO is exactly 3,244,328,960 bytes in size. I'm wondering if someone who managed to create the ISO with zero errors, would be so kind as to post the MD5SUM of both the 64-bit ISO and the MD5 of their extracted "expandedSetup" folder. I think it would benefit everyone if we could get MD5's for both the 64-bit and 32-bit ISO's and downloads, so we'd have something for comparison.

wookee · 22 Oct 2009

So guys I'm getting the Error 5: Access Denied as well. I have right clicked on expandedSetup and tried to un-check read only, but it always goes back. I also downloaded the program Attribute Changer but it doesn't work either. Any other ideas?

kk405 · 22 Oct 2009

donnyb313 said:

xsergo said:

so can anyone confirm that the win7 student version can be activated on a clean hdd?

I could not activate it on a clean hard drive. On my first attempt I formatted my partition in which vista was on and It would not accept my key. I had to reinstall vista then install 7 professional without formatting and my key was accepted.

To recap

I recieved this error message after "unloading the box"

"We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded. Please check the folder properties to make sure that you have security permission on the folder to write files and that the folder is not read-only"

but I Used the OP's method to make a bootable iso out of the expanded setup folder anyway and burned it to a dvd. Booted from the dvd and did a custom install. Sucessfully went from 32 bit Vista home premium to W7 64 bit pro.

Thanks for the great info. I'm now using W7. :) Would've been great if they just could've given us an iso!! Now time to reinstall everything

+1... I got the error message a few times too, but decided to ignore it...burnt the image on DVD, and windows 7 64-bit installed easily with no errors...have been suing it all day and have installed tons of software already and it is working just fine..

I originally have a Vista 32...and had installed a windows 7 RC on a different hard drive...I installed Windows 7 64-bit on this secondary drive (on top of the Windows 7 RC), using the clean install option, but fif NOT format the drive...do NOT format the drive as the key you have will be useless.

longboarder543 · 22 Oct 2009

Here are some relevant MD5 Hashes of the 64-bit Digital River download. (I purchased the Pro version but I think it is identical to the Home Premium 64-bit download. Only the 32-bit download should differ from this). I haven't installed yet so someone needs to confirm these.

Filename / MD5 Hash / File size (bytes)

7.iso / 34ee387528f15668cf9de8ee91427466 / 3244328960
setup1.box / 7b29e21b7f6bc0850e65085205b5eafe / 2860840667
setup2.box / 87dcc913a7bbbfcfa2c2526c2e894f97 / 167815816

more to come as I run the sums...

akirkpatrick1 · 22 Oct 2009

@timf

Bottom line - it is possible to do a clean install on a virgin machine / hard drive.

The majority of this entire thread denies that this is possible. Can anyone else confirm this for me? I would like to install this on a completely new hard drive and do not have an older windows install CD.

someone please confirm whether this is possible - thanks!

MFRacing · 22 Oct 2009

Hi guys,

Been reading this forum over the last few days and its great! Thanks to the great advice here, I have managed to download Win7 Pro 32 Bit from Digital River (Student Version) and create a bootable DVD which I’m just getting ready to use and take the plunge!

Can some one please clarify if I can do an install from boot and format the current windows (Vista) drive and then install 7 pro?

Will my product key work if I format? I'm going from Vista Home Premium 32 bit to Win7 Pro 32 bit.

If i can’t format my drive what’s the best way to install to get the cleanest and freshest install, as i don’t like the sound of this Windows.old stuff.

Thanks again!

dmak02 · 22 Oct 2009

ChadClancy said:

dmak02 said:

ChadClancy said:

Isn't it possible to achieve a clean install without booting from the DVD? i.e., just running the setup.exe from within Vista after the files are expanded?

Yes, but you can't do that if you're bits don't much.

"...you're bits don't much." - I'm confused, what does that mean??

Are you saying that it's not possible if you are going from say 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Win7??

LOL sorry, I meant match. It was early in the morning. I am saying, I can't initiate the installation from within Windows because I am using 32bit and my upgrade disc is 64bit.

Fly Guy · 22 Oct 2009

Hmm... Here is what I got using MD5 Check:
My first time doing this so I hope I did it right.

WIN_7.iso / D0CBF3C1ADAA4D4FB100352E7F8E2A92 / 3,244,328,960 bytes

gregnied · 22 Oct 2009

kk, I keep doing post 1 exactly how it say and I still get an error when attempting to make the ISO.

first this is what is being entered

Oscdimg.exe –u2 –bC:\Users\Greg\Desktop\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com –h C:\Users\Greg\Desktop\expandedSetup C:\7.iso

these are the errors it gives me

ERROR: Could not delete existing file "ûbC:\Users\Greg\Desktop\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com"
Error 123: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: if it matters I am using XP Pro 32 bit

Make bootable iso from student d/l

@ timf