Windows 10 Enterprise Edition: Burn Win10 ISO to a USB key when running w/ UEFI
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Like everything in an Enterprise, they should be tested in a test environment before trying in a production system.
Applies to:
Windows 10 1709
Windows 10 1703
From time to time, when I’m on-site at a customer environment, I want to see if the problem encountered is specific to their image or environment. To rule out the image, if possible, I like to install a ‘clean’ “Windows” and/or “Windows Server” and see if we observe the same issue.
If you were running a BIOS based system, you could use “Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool” to burn an ISO to a USB key.
Windows USB/DVD Download Tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool
or the Windows 10 “Media creation tool” from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
But this tool was focused on the “Home edition” and “ Professional Edition”, which has a different file format “installx64.esd”.
IT admin’s started running into problems when trying to use it (.ESD) for their MDT/OSD images.
There is this info:
Instructions: Create a bootable ISO file using ESD Image for Windows 10 Build 10041
Note: It’s a 3rd party tool, which is not supported by us (Microsoft).
On Windows 10 w/ UEFI firmware (and not BIOS, or UEFI w/ Legacy mode turned on), unfortunately, we are not able to use “Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool” or the Create Windows 10 installation media.
Step 1: Preparing the USB key in this example, I had one that was 14.8GB in size.
Since the WIM file I'm creating (see Step 3) can be larger than 4 GB, the USB stick needs to be formatted near the maximum limit of FAT32. In a command prompt with administrative rights, do the following:
diskpart
List disk
Sel disk X: (where X: is your USB drive)
WARNING: "clean" will permanently erase the contents of your USB key!!
Clean
/*
convert gpt
Note: Doing this will not let you use “Active”You will get the following error message:/*The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.*/*/
Create Part Primary size=8192
select partition 1
Active
Format fs=fat32 quick Label=”Boot”
Assign letter=x
Create part primary
Note: In Windows 10 1607, you might see the following error:
No usable free extent could be found. It may be that there is insufficient free space to create a partition at the specified size and offset. Specify different size and offset values or don't specify either to create the maximum sized partition. It may be that the disk is partitioned using the MBR disk partitioning format and the disk contains either 4 primary partitions, (no more partitions may be created), or 3 primary partitions and one extended partition, (only logical drives may be created).
The work-around is to use Windows 10 1703 or Windows 10 1709 or higher.
select partition 2
Format fs=ntfs quick Label=”Deploy”
Assign letter=y
Exit
The above assumes that the "list disk" command showed you two disks, "Disk 0" being your internal hard disk and "Disk 1" being the USB stick. Your system might be different.
Your USB key is now ready to go.
Step 2: Making the USB key bootable.
Bootsect.exe /nt60 x:
Step 3: Creating the "Specialized WIM"
Mount the “Windows 10” ISO
e.g. “en_windows_10_multi-edition_vl_version_1709_updated_sept_2017_x64_dvd_100090741.iso”
Note: The Install.WIM was in 3.69 GB
In this example, it mounted to J: drive.
The WIM format introduced with Windows Vista is basically a container for one or more OS images. You can have a look into such a container by starting the DISM command prompt and entering the command ”dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:"j:\sources\install.wim" (assuming J: is your ‘DVD’ drive). The output will look something like this (some output snipped):
dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:"j:\sources\install.wim"
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.16299.0
Details for image : j:\sources\install.wim
Index : 1
Name : Windows 10 Education
Description : Windows 10 Education
Size : 15,746,232,078 bytes
Index : 2
Name : Windows 10 Education N
Description : Windows 10 Education N
Size : 14,680,347,363 bytes
Index : 3
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise
Size : 15,767,542,709 bytes
Index : 4
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Size : 14,700,067,622 bytes
Index : 5
Name : Windows 10 Pro
Description : Windows 10 Pro
Size : 15,746,963,891 bytes
Index : 6
Name : Windows 10 Pro N
Description : Windows 10 Pro N
Size : 14,681,060,059 bytes
The operation completed successfully.
As you can see in the partial output above, the WIM contains 6 images; I've included the more important parts of the first “Enterprise” image (Index:3).
Creating the actual WIM is now straightforward:
dism.exe /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:j:\sources\install.wim /SourceIndex:3 /DestinationImageFile:d:\temp\install.wim
Note: The new install.wim is now 3.45 GB in size
3.69 GB- 3.45 GB=0.24 GB smaller.
Step 4: Copying the new WIM file to the USB key
All that remains to do is replacing the "install.wim" on your USB key with your customized one:
xcopy.exe d:\temp\*.* x:\ /s /e /H /F
xcopy.exe d:\temp\install.wim y:\sources
Note: If you don’t have the install.wim inside of the “Sources” folder, you will get the following error:
/*
Windows could not collect information for [OSImage] since the specified image file [install.wim] does not exist.
*/
Select "Yes" if prompted to overwrite the existing install.wim.
Conclusion
You should now be able to boot from the USB key (provided your computer's UEFI supports this and it has been enabled) and start installing away.
Additional information:
===================
Sample: Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions by Using Windows PE and DiskPart
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Hh825686.aspx
How to apply Task Sequence Prestaged Media on multi-partitioned disks for BIOS or UEFI PCs in System Center Configuration Manager
Comments
- Anonymous
November 09, 2017
The link to the Win 7 IS?DVD tool [http://wudt.codeplex.com/] goes read-only. I will assume it will be updated in the web page.