Windows Install ISOs

Please use the menu tabs to see more information about Windows support in E2B.

IMPORTANT: If using a Fixed-disk E2B USB drive (e.g. USB-HDD) for Windows Install ISOs, you will also need to connect a USB Flash WinHelper drive.

Do NOT set the BIOS to boot from the USB drive as the first boot device. Always use the special BIOS Boot Selection pop-up key (e.g. F8, F12, ESC) to boot from the E2B drive.

You can download Windows ISOs using this utility.

PLEASE NOTE:

Windows Vista/7/8/10 Install .ISO files require E2B to be on a 'Removable' USB drive.
If the drive is displayed as a 'Local Disk' in Windows Explorer then you will also need a 'Removable' USB Flash drive called a 'Helper Drive' in order to install Windows. Alternatively, if you have an E2B USB Hard Disk (or Flash drive of the 'Fixed' type) you can create .imgPTN files from Vista/7/8 ISOs using MakePartImage and add these image files to the E2B drive. Then you do not require a Helper Flash drive AND you can boot in either MBR or UEFI mode and from Virtual Machines too! Another alternative is to use WinNTSetup to install Windows.
Windows Install ISO files usually do not need to be contiguous. E2B will usually work (unless the file is highly fragmented).
Because E2B uses an AutoUnattend.xml file when installing directly from an ISO file, for Windows 8/10 you must specify a Product Key. This can be a generic installation Key or a genuine activation key. For instance, for Windows 10, you can even specify a Win7 Pro key to install Win10 Pro!
The file extension must be .ISO (or .imgPTN) to be listed in the Windows Install Menu by E2B.
Windows Vista/7/8/10 Install ISOs will not run correctly under QEMU, Virtual Box or other Virtual Machines because the USB drive will appear as a 'hard disk' and not a Removable USB drive. You must test with a real system, or use a .imgPTN file or see here for a manual workaround.
Windows 7/8/10 ALL-IN-ONE (AIO) and custom ISOs will probably not work as an .iso file - convert them to .imgPTN files using MakePartImage.
When CSM-booting directly from a Vista+ ISO installation file under E2B, any EI.cfg file or PID.txt file in the ISO file will be ignored by Windows Setup because E2B uses an AutoUnattend.xml unattend file. However, if using .imgPTN files instead of ISO files, EI.cfg and PID.txt will not be ignored (unless you also add an XML file).
Windows Installer ISO Vista/7/8/10 files do not need to be contiguous.
To automate the installation of Windows + auto-install drivers + install applications + Windows updates, see SDI_CHOCO.
Instead of using .imgPTN files to UEFI-install Windows, you might prefer to use WinNTSetup to install Windows. This method also supports SDI_CHOCO.
Windows XP/2003 32-bit Install ISOs will work best using the E2B+DPMS download. This allows you to install Windows XP onto systems containing SATA, SCSI or RAID hard disks without needing to add Windows XP 32-bit mass storage drivers into the ISO (e.g. using nLite).

Folders for Windows Install ISOs

E2B supports any number of Windows Install ISOs.

You must copy the ISO to the correct folder:

Windows Install ISO folders: (if any .ISO files are present, a Windows menu entry will be listed in the Main menu)

\_ISO\WINDOWS\SVR2012 <-- Server 2012 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\SVR2K8R2 <-- Server 2008 R2 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\VISTA <-- Windows Vista Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 <-- Windows 7 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN8 <-- Windows 8 and 8.1 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 <-- Windows 10 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\SVR2016 <-- Windows 2016 Install ISOs go here

\_ISO\WINDOWS\XP <-- XP//2K/2K3 Install ISOs go here (Note: XP 64-bit ISO files should have '64' somewhere in the name of the ISO file, Win2k ISOs should have '2k' in the filename and Win2k3 ISOs should have '2k3' somewhere in the name.)

If you have a version of Windows which does not exactly match the pre-defined folders, you will need to look-up your version to see what it is based on here. For instance, Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 belongs to the Windows Server 2008 R2 group so place the ISO file in the SVR2KR2 folder. For other versions, try the WIN7 or WIN8 folders.

Note: E2B now allows you to add .imgPTN files to these folders too (except for the XP folder).

The \_ISO\WINDOWS\INSTALLS folder is used by SDI_CHOCO - see here for details.

Windows Vista/7/8/10 ISOs

Windows Vista/7/8 installs use an AutoUnattend.xml file which is automatically read by Windows Setup (WinPE) from a Removable Flash drive.

The special \AutoUnattend.xml file that is written by E2B, causes the ISO file to be loaded as a virtual DVD so that Windows Setup can access the files inside it.

This blue console window MUST appear when using a Vista/7/8/10 Install ISO - this causes the ISO to be loaded as a virtual 'DVD drive' - see here for how it works. If this does not run, Windows Setup will report 'Missing CD\DVD device drivers'!

If you have a custom Windows Vista\7\8\10 ISO which doesn't seem to work from the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxx folder, try renaming it as .isope and place it in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder. This may also work for some standard Windows Install ISOs which do not require a Product Key in the AutoUnattend.xml file. If the E2B Blue Console window does not appear, run a Windows Command shell console and type wpeinit - after 20-30 seconds you should see the E2B Blue console window appear and load the ISO file as Y:. Now you can continue to use the custom ISO in the normal way.

Alternatively, just convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file.

If your Windows Install ISO does not offer the same choices as it did when booted as a DVD (e.g. no Language option, etc.), it is probably due to an .xml file inside the ISO containing a "WindowsPE" section. To fix this, make your own .xml file which has the correct sections in it. Your .xml file can then be added to the relevant \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxx folder.

If you don't want the blue console to prompt you to repair Windows, ensure your .XML file contains LOADISONP.CMD instead of LOADISO.CMD.

Files ending in .iso64 will only be listed in the menu if a 64-bit CPU is present (.iso32 also supported) (E2B v1.94+).

References

How Configuration passes work

Configure Setup Language

Sample Unattend files

Automating Win7/8 installs - blog post

For more details on adding and using Windows Install ISOs to Easy2Boot please see Tutorial 72c.