Guide 1: How to create a combined x86 and x64 Windows 7 installation DVD
Guide 1: How to create a combined x86 and x64 Windows 7 installation DVD (See Below)
Guide 2: How to create a combined Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 DVD (here)
Here’s a useful tutorial for those that would like to create a single DVD containing all Windows 7 x86 and x64 editions. I know this post seems long and complicated, but it's a lot easier than it looks. Trust me
What you’ll need:
Instructions:
1. Create two folders in any location of your choice (I used the D: partition of my hard drive). Name one folder x64 and the other x86.
2. Extract (or copy and paste the contents of) the x86 ISO to the x86 folder using 7zip or WinRAR. Now extract or copy and paste the contents of the x64 ISO to x64 folder.
3. Run command prompt with administrator privileges.
4. What we’re going to do now is extract all of the editions from the x64 install.wim file and then merge them into the x86 install.wim file.
Inside the install.wim file, there are "Image Index" numbers which refer to different editions (i.e. Home Basic has its own image index number, Home Premium has its own image index number etc.)
Using the following command, you can look up the Image Index numbers inside the install.wim file.
For Windows 7 x64:
Image Index 1 = Home Basic
Image Index 2 = Home Premium
Image Index 3 = Professional
Image Index 4 = Ultimate
Now we’re going to use ImageX to extract each image index from the x64 install.wim file and then merge them into our existing x86 install.wim file.
The command is as follows:
"imagex.exe" /export "[Source install.wim file]" [Index Image number] "[Destination install.wim file]" "[Name of this edition]"
So, here are the commands that I used (you may need to adjust file paths):
5. Now open the x86 "sources" folder and delete the ei.cfg file.
6. All that’s left to do now is to make a new bootable ISO. I use the lazy way of doing this. I call it the lazy way because you don’t have to extract the DVD boot image and then build a new bootable DVD.
Simply open your original x86 ISO with UltraISO, delete the contents of the ISO, drag and drop the contents of the D:\x86 folder into UltraISO and then click “Save As” (NOT “Save” – If you click Save you will overwrite your original x86 ISO). Give the ISO a new name and then save it.
There are obviously other ways of doing this last step so use whatever method/software you feel comfortable with. Update: see post 9 for free alternative method.
7. Now test your ISO in VirtualBox. If all goes well it should look like this:
You can now burn your ISO to DVD using, for example, ImgBurn. The DVD should be around 3.67GB if you merged all editions.
Enjoy your new DVD containing 9 different editions of Windows 7!
Guide 1: How to create a combined x86 and x64 Windows 7 installation DVD (See Below)
Guide 2: How to create a combined Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 DVD (here)
Here’s a useful tutorial for those that would like to create a single DVD containing all Windows 7 x86 and x64 editions. I know this post seems long and complicated, but it's a lot easier than it looks. Trust me
What you’ll need:
- Windows 7 x86 ISO and Windows 7 x64 ISO
- ImageX (part of Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7. RC version available from here. To save some bandwidth, you can download the ImageX tool directly from here.)
Instructions:
1. Create two folders in any location of your choice (I used the D: partition of my hard drive). Name one folder x64 and the other x86.
2. Extract (or copy and paste the contents of) the x86 ISO to the x86 folder using 7zip or WinRAR. Now extract or copy and paste the contents of the x64 ISO to x64 folder.
3. Run command prompt with administrator privileges.
4. What we’re going to do now is extract all of the editions from the x64 install.wim file and then merge them into the x86 install.wim file.
Inside the install.wim file, there are "Image Index" numbers which refer to different editions (i.e. Home Basic has its own image index number, Home Premium has its own image index number etc.)
Using the following command, you can look up the Image Index numbers inside the install.wim file.
For Windows 7 x64:
Image Index 1 = Home Basic
Image Index 2 = Home Premium
Image Index 3 = Professional
Image Index 4 = Ultimate
Now we’re going to use ImageX to extract each image index from the x64 install.wim file and then merge them into our existing x86 install.wim file.
The command is as follows:
"imagex.exe" /export "[Source install.wim file]" [Index Image number] "[Destination install.wim file]" "[Name of this edition]"
So, here are the commands that I used (you may need to adjust file paths):
5. Now open the x86 "sources" folder and delete the ei.cfg file.
6. All that’s left to do now is to make a new bootable ISO. I use the lazy way of doing this. I call it the lazy way because you don’t have to extract the DVD boot image and then build a new bootable DVD.
Simply open your original x86 ISO with UltraISO, delete the contents of the ISO, drag and drop the contents of the D:\x86 folder into UltraISO and then click “Save As” (NOT “Save” – If you click Save you will overwrite your original x86 ISO). Give the ISO a new name and then save it.
There are obviously other ways of doing this last step so use whatever method/software you feel comfortable with. Update: see post 9 for free alternative method.
7. Now test your ISO in VirtualBox. If all goes well it should look like this:
You can now burn your ISO to DVD using, for example, ImgBurn. The DVD should be around 3.67GB if you merged all editions.
Enjoy your new DVD containing 9 different editions of Windows 7!
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