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How to make a DVD of that student-only Windows 7 you bought for $29.99
To start with, make sure your downloaded Windows 7 files (the 'expandedSetup' directory) is unzipped into C:\ -- it'll make things easier later.
1. Download this tool -- alternatively you can obtain the official pack from Microsoft, but that's a whole darn gigabyte.
2. Unzip and move oscdimg.exe to your System32 directory (likely to be C:\Windows\System32)
3. Open an elevated command prompt. In Vista you do this by typing 'cmd' into your 'Start Menu' and hitting ctrl+shift+enter. In XP, just type 'cmd' into the Run dialogue (Windows Key+R or from your Start Menu).
4. Type (or copy and paste) the following into your command prompt (this will vary a little, depending on where you've put your expandedSetup folder):
oscdimg.exe -u2 -b"C:\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com" -h "C:\expandedSetup" C:\WIN7.ISO
5. Ta'da! You've got a burnable ISO!
All you need to finish the job is a good burning application like ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, or InfraRecorder. For this particular task I'd recommend ImgBurn - then just right click the ISO file and start the burn from your context menu. Or launch ImgBurn and choose "write image file to disc" -- your choice!
No DVD burner? If you have a 4GB USB flash drive handy, check out this app!
Big thanks to Brian Wasylkoski, who was kind enough to let me harass him while he went through this process at the University of Manitoba. --Lee.
Comments
134
Subscribe to commentsNicOct 24th 2009 11:10PM
i read the entire article.. once the iso is burnt to the dvd, what happens after that :S :\ ive never done this before.
Sebastian AnthonyOct 24th 2009 11:14PM
Ah, sorry I think I misunderstood your question.
Just reboot your machine with the disk in the drive.
It might not work, but if it doesn't... you need to go and search Google for 'booting from a dvd', or similar :)
NicOct 24th 2009 11:24PM
ok cool.. when the burn finished it verified and a pop up showed up asking me if i wanted to run setup.exe .. so i clicked yes and now my system is doing the install, at the checking compatibility screen .. should i cancel this and reboot from the dvd?
Sebastian AnthonyOct 24th 2009 11:27PM
Just go with the flow!
I must sleep now, so you're all alone...!
Almeister112Oct 25th 2009 1:48AM
I have a Win7 disc on the way from MS (supposedly) from the $50 deal a while back, but I really want to get the $30 student Pro version.
That said, I also want to install it using a clean install, and I don't want to wipe my hard drives before I know it will work. So if I burn the ISO, wipe the drives, and boot from the disc with the student key I'll get, will it install without any problems? Thanks.
Grant WilliamsOct 25th 2009 3:21AM
I have two problems.. first that I got the cmd to say that it was burning and said it was written to C:/win7.iso, however Its not there, I have done it several times and nothing appears. Someone posted their logfile and I did notice a difference. Theirs said that it wrote 874 files in 201 directories however mine says it wrote 872 in 200 directories. Would this matter? I Just need to find the iso file!
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2009 7:49AM
I would try going back to the beginning -- download all of the files again, and go from there. Maybe you just got 'unlucky'!
Grant WilliamsOct 25th 2009 11:37AM
Okay well now it wrote 874 files, and says it was completed but I still cant find the file! I've done it twice with different commands, some with C:/win7.iso and others with just 7.iso but none of them show up anywhere! Any other suggestions?
PaulOct 25th 2009 9:48AM
Sebastian, you might want to fix the command to run at the cmd prompt to make it easier to copy and paste. The dashes are encoded as a HTML "ndash;" - if you try and copy and paste this it will not work. The command should instead look like this:
oscdimg.exe -u2 -b"C:\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com" -h "C:\expandedSetup" C:\WIN7.ISO
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2009 9:49AM
Good catch! I've updated it now.
I'm going to blame the blog software for that though...!
PaulOct 25th 2009 10:01AM
Sebastian,
another tip - it was not obvious to me where the expandedSetup directory was. You need to update your instructions to inform the reader to run the Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x86.exe (this is for 32-bit Professional) to create the expandedSetup directory.
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2009 10:05AM
I had assumed that most people had done as much as they could, and then got stuck -- which looking at about 95% of the comments here... is correct!
But if people haven't double-clicked the EXE, then by the time they get to this far in the comments, hopefully they've worked it out :)
PaulOct 25th 2009 10:19AM
well, actually, I had seen this thread before I made the download!! It was one of the reasons that encouraged me to get the download-only student version in the first place!
ChrisOct 25th 2009 11:21AM
Ok, I finally got the cmd to make the iso but now where do I find the iso at?
Grant WilliamsOct 25th 2009 11:43AM
Im having the same problem, I cant find the written iso file
ChrisOct 25th 2009 11:50AM
I found it, it will be in your C drive main folder named 7, use ISObunner to burn it to dvd, im installing now.
Grant WilliamsOct 25th 2009 11:55AM
Seriously? I dont have that, I've looked all over for the file and even unpacked all the files and started over. I am getting sooo frustrated!!!
Grant WilliamsOct 25th 2009 12:01PM
Solved it! I was going into the cmd as a user and not "adminsitrator" yayyy
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2009 12:02PM
I did say you should just follow the guide...!
Hooray!
ChrisOct 25th 2009 12:00PM
If you used the methode discribed in here, the cmd will make the ISO file and place it on your C drive, mine was called "7", its looks like a zip file or rar in my case. Use the ISO bunner and use a slow burn speed and you should be fine.