Update: This method works perfectly with the newly released Windows 10 as well. That is, you can use this method to create bootable Windows 10 ISO from files and folders.
A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate 64-bit ISO on my Windows 8.1 PC from Microsoft (using my MSDN subscription) and installed Windows 7 in dual-boot with Windows 8.1 using my USB flash drive as bootable media. The installation was uneventful and Windows 7 has been running as it should.
Two days back, I decided to free up some disk space on my Windows 8.1 drive and manually deleted all contents in the Downloads folder and also uninstalled tens of programs that I had installed over the last three months. After gaining GBs of disk space, I realized that the previously downloaded Windows 7 SP1 ISO, which was present in the Downloads folder, has also been deleted along with other files.
Even though I could easily download Windows 7 SP1 ISO pack again in a couple of minutes, I decided to create an ISO file from the bootable Windows 7 USB drive that I had prepared to install Windows 7. Preparing a bootable Windows ISO from installation files/folders is relatively easy and doesn’t take much time either. In short, if have Windows installation files and want to create an ISO image file out of it, you can do so in a few minutes.
Make bootable Windows ISO from installation files
NOTE: This method is applicable to Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 versions.
In this guide, I will show you how you can create a bootable Windows 7/8.1/10 ISO image file from Windows installation files.
Step 1: If all the installation files are in a folder on your PC, you can skip to the next step. And if the files and folders on a USB drive, connect the USB flash drive containing Windows installation files to a PC running Windows 7/8/10 and copy all the contents from the USB to a newly created folder on desktop or any other location.
Step 2: Visit this page and download ImgBurn software. ImgBurn is a free burning application but the setup offers you install Skype and Mobogenie during the installation. Make sure to select appropriate options to install the software without Skype and Mobogenie.
Step 3: Launch ImgBurn. Click on Create image file from files/folders option.
Step 4: In the resulting ImgBurn dialog, click on the small folder icon (see picture) next to the Source box to browse to the folder containing all copied files from the bootable Windows USB. Browse to the folder and then click Select folder.
Step 5: Next, click on the browse icon located next to the Destination box to select a location to save the bootable ISO image file that you’re preparing now. Select a location and click Save button.
Step 6: On the right side, switch to the Advanced tab (see picture) to see four tabs. Here, click on the tab labeled Bootable Disc.
Step 7: Now, select the option labeled Make Image Bootable, select Emulation type as None (custom), and type 8 in the Sectors to load box by removing the existing 4. Note that if you’re preparing a bootable Vista ISO, you need to keep the 4. For Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, you need to type 8 in the Sectors to load field.
Step 8: Click on the small folder icon next to Boot Image box (see picture) and then browse to the folder containing Windows installation files (the folder that contains files copied from the USB), open Boot folder, select etfsboot.com file, and then click Open button to select etfsboot.com as the boot image file. We are almost done!
Step 9: Finally, click on the Build button (see picture) to begin creating your bootable Windows ISO image file. Upon clicking the Build button, three dialog boxes will appear one after another. Simply click the Yes button when you see the first dialog, click the OK button when you see the second, and then, click the Yes button again when you see the last dialog.
Once the bootable ISO image is ready, you’ll see “Operation successfully completed” message.
That’s it! You can now use the ISO file anywhere to install Windows. How to test an ISO file to check if it’s really bootable guide might also interest you.
Ken says
Thanks! This was helpful. But when was this article first published? I see it has been updated September 26, 2020. But no publication date is given? It’s always relevant to know this. For example, people are still complaining about malware and viruses being bundled with ImgBurn. I have used this software myself for many years, less often so in later years (it’s a Windows software from year 2005) and I have never encountered a virus or malware in it. Yes, there used to be some third party software bundled with it, which was always optional to install (like Skype as seen from the screenshots). This was later removed, around year 2012 or so. I am probably among only a few readers to realize that those screenshots you have are old and were taken several years before 2020 (when article was updated). What better reason is there to indicate what the initial publication date of this article is, so people can be informed and draw their own conclusions. Judging by the first comment, this article was published in 2014, and that’s 2 years after the software bundles (allegedly malware or virus) were removed from the ImgBurn installer package.
Jonathan Peixoto says
For the MALWARE quality of ImgBurn, it depends from where you download it. Immunet analyzed it as a virus/malware when i downloaded from a server but not from another one.
Thank you for your useful article.
William Higgs says
Hey. You got any advice on how to perform this process without using a tool that appears to be malware? 38 out of 72 detections. Appalling numbers. I don’t really care how safe the underlying software is: better to be cautious than deal with a virus. If imgburn is legit, it should release an installer that reflects that. Otherwise, it can piss the hell right off.
APKun says
and wait for the tool to process the ISO file for you. Once the ISO file has been successfully created, you can burn it to a DVD or a USB Drive.
Healthtipsing.Com says
After some research, ImgBurn was the program that helped with the task at hand. So let’s have a look at how the tool can be used to create bootable Windows ISOs from just the files.
James says
Hello,
I followed U R procedures and created a window10 professional edition iso image (also ei.cfg in source root), but when I reinstalled it to win10 Home edition, it still installed the Home edition instead of the Professional edition? What’s the issue I encountered?
Thanks!
realtebo says
Can you update this article? It seems img burn doesn’t create a valid bootable media . I’m using latest windows 10 image available from MS, windows 10 1903 updated at june of 2018.
Shawn says
Soooooo many virus’s from IMG_Burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nick says
@Cristian S.
I’ve been using the ImgBurn method for a long time, but I also ran into the uEFI boot issue (primarily while trying to build Generation 2 Hyper-V VMs). Your post about using the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit was a life saver! Thank you for figuring that out!
There is, however, a typo in the command you have listed in the comment above. The command is missing a parameter, the “ISO Source Files” (meaning, the files you copied off the original Windows ISO that you want to actually create the new ISO with.) I found a Microsoft Support article that had a slightly different example here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/947024/how-to-create-an-iso-image-for-uefi-platforms-for-a-windows-pe-cd-rom
So based on the instructions you have above, and the corrected example from Microsoft, I modified your instructions just a bit:
1. Install the latest version of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit
2. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
3. CD to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\Oscdimg”
4. Paste the following command:
Oscdimg -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,b[Etfsboot.com_Path]#pEF,e,b[Efisys.binPath] [ISO_Source_Files] [Output_ISO_Path]
5. Replace the following variables:
[Etfsboot.com_Path] = Enter the path to the BIOS boot image (e.g. “D:\Win10_1803\boot\etfsboot.com”)
[Efisys.bin_Path] = Enter the path to the uEFI boot image (e.g. “D:\Win10_1803\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin”)
[ISO_Source_Files] = Enter the path of the source files that were copied out of the original ISO (e.g. “D:\Win10_1803”)
[Output_ISO_Path] = Enter the path for the ISO file output (e.g. “D:\MicrosoftWin10_1803_UEFI.iso”)
Example:
Oscdimg -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,bD:\Win10_1803\boot\etfsboot.com#pEF,e,bD:\Win10_1803\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin D:\Win10_1803 D:\MicrosoftWin10_1803_UEFI.iso
6. Run the command. ISO will be built at the path specified.
Anonymous User says
Dude THNX a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shubh Shinde says
Dude THNX a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally .iso is created…………..
Thnx Again :-)
Tony James says
Worked!
Thanks.
pd says
what should i choose for platform id? 8086 or uefi? what are they anyway?
ImgBurn says
Depending on the speed of your connection, the process might take a while, but in the end, you ll be left with the official Windows 10 ISO file in the location of your choice.
Cristian S. says
@PKJ:
“One problem is that this method only makes a BIOS mode bootable ISO image. How can I make an ISO image which is both UEFI and BIOS mode compatible?”
I had the same problem. It would seem you should be able to point ImgBurn to the Efisys.bin (efi\Microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin) for the Boot Image option in Step 8, instead of the Etfsboot.com file. However, I could not get this to work no matter how I tried it.
What I wound up having to do instead is use the Oscdimg command-line tool from Microsoft. This is included in the Windows 10 ADK, which is available for free:
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit
A lot of the information I saw said to use the Oscdimg file included with the Windows AIK used for making custom Windows PE images, but that one seems to be outdated and does not support some of the necessary switches.
Once you have that installed, do the following:
1. Run CMD as admin
2. CD to the Oscdimg directory (e.g., “C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\Oscdimg”)
3. Type the following:
Oscdimg -bootdata:2#p0,e,b[Etfsboot.com path]#pEF,e,b[Efisys.bin path] -u1 -udfver102 [output ISO path]
4. Replace the following:
[Etfsboot.com path] = Enter the path to the BIOS boot image (e.g., “E:\boot\Etfsboot.com”)
[Efisys.bin path] = Enter the path to the UEFI boot image (e.g., “E:\efi\Microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin”)
[output ISO path] = Enter the path for the ISO file output (e.g., “E:\ISO\w10_custommedia.iso”)
5. Run the command and let it build the image.
This should create a fully functional bootable ISO that supports UEFI and BIOS, and works like a charm with Hyper-V :)
[EDIT: The original comment used the less than / greater than symbols for the bits of the command that need to be changed, and evidently the site didn’t like that and took out the whole section.]
Cristian S. says
@PKJ:
“One problem is that this method only makes a BIOS mode bootable ISO image. How can I make an ISO image which is both UEFI and BIOS mode compatible?”
I had the same problem. It would seem you should be able to point ImgBurn to the Efisys.bin (efi\Microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin) for the Boot Image option in Step 8, instead of the Etfsboot.com file. However, I could not get this to work no matter how I tried it.
What I wound up having to do instead is use the Oscdimg command-line tool from Microsoft. This is included in the Windows 10 ADK, which is available for free:
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit
A lot of the information I saw said to use the Oscdimg file included with the Windows AIK used for making custom Windows PE images, but that one seems to be outdated and does not support some of the necessary switches.
Once you have that installed, do the following:
1. Run CMD as admin
2. CD to the Oscdimg directory (e.g., “C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\Oscdimg”)
3. Type the following:
Oscdimg -bootdata:2#p0,e,b#pEF,e,b -u1 -udfver102
4. Replace the following:
= Enter the path to the BIOS boot image (e.g., “E:\boot\Etfsboot.com”)
= Enter the path to the UEFI boot image (e.g., “E:\efi\Microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin”)
= Enter the path for the ISO file output (e.g., “E:\ISO\w10_custommedia.iso”)
5. Run the command and let it build the image.
This should create a fully functional bootable ISO that supports UEFI and BIOS, and works like a charm with Hyper-V :)
Tonderai Mukorera says
You are a life saver
PKJ says
One problem is that this method only makes a BIOS mode bootable ISO image. How can I make an ISO image which is both UEFI and BIOS mode compatible?
afu-ibnawul says
love u guys wonderful software keep it up :)
web says
thanks mate, always used imgburn to burn isos, never noticed it had this capability
saran says
It’s 100% working,thank u
Patel says
thank u very much for this information
VIJAY says
thank you very much. it work fine and very helpful.
Sakina says
Thank you, it worked. Please continue preparing this type of easy-to-follow guides. Hallelujah ^_^
Rahul says
Worked 100% Thanks
Usama Ali says
Hello,
Thank you very much for this guide,it was very simple and easy to follow just because of your writing skills.
I really appreciate this sharing.
Best,
– Usama
Temitayo Akeem says
I have never donated to a free software before, but I think I owe you on this, After hours of googling, you actually made my day, I have exactly the same problem deleting windows 8.1 iso file.
Thanks and I will try donate to imgburn they are really awesome.