{"id":131,"date":"2017-01-10T10:34:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T18:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/?p=131"},"modified":"2022-09-21T11:04:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T19:04:32","slug":"windows-7-patched-and-custom-install","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/windows-7-patched-and-custom-install\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 7 Patched and Custom Install"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">To install a pre-made Windows 7 image, first we have to make it. This will let us skip the lengthy update process, which can hang on fresh Windows 7 installs.\u00a0 This is due to the changes made in Windows Update and the size of updates required after several years.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">If you have a Windows 7 image (install.wim) you can skip to step 2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">If you have access to Busix&#8217;s ISO vault, the required files are all in the \\\\Windows 7 Pro 64\\ directory.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"western\">1. Create a Custom Image<\/h4>\n<p class=\"western\">If you do not have a custom image, you will have to make one.\u00a0 That <span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">requires the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol type=\"a\">\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">A fresh computer with an up-to-date Windows 7 Pro installation running, with all the core software installed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">A second computer designated a \u201ctechnician computer\u201d that has the configuration software on it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">A Windows 7 Disk or ISO. You should be able to find a disk, or download it from Microsoft if you have a valid licence key.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">The AIK ISO. This is available from Microsoft. Note that you get the version for the OS you want, not the one that your technician computer is running. (Get the Windows 7 version for Windows 7 installations.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Two USB sticks, one of which you want to commit to being Windows 7 Install Media for the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">foreseeable<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"> future. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><strong>Install the AIK<\/strong><br \/>\nFirst, install the AIK. Follow the prompts, agree to the terms, and install to the default directory.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_152\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 780px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-152 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK-1024x409.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 Sysprep\" width=\"770\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK-1024x409.png 1024w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK-768x306.png 768w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/01-installing-AIK.png 1123w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Download the Windows AIK<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><strong>Run SysPrep<\/strong><br \/>\nNext, run sysprep on the reference computer. This is your clean, up-to-date install of Windows 7 Pro with whatever other programs you want to install (e.g. MalwareBytes, Office, Adobe XI, etc). Choose the \u201caudit\u201d mode, \u201cgeneralize\u201d and \u201creboot\u201d options.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_154\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 364px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/03-select-sysprep-options.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-154 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/03-select-sysprep-options.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 sysprep\" width=\"354\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/03-select-sysprep-options.png 354w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/03-select-sysprep-options-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Choosing the options for sysprep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_153\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 842px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/02-Run-sysprep-on-reference-computer.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-153 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/02-Run-sysprep-on-reference-computer.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 Sysprep. \" width=\"832\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/02-Run-sysprep-on-reference-computer.png 832w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/02-Run-sysprep-on-reference-computer-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/02-Run-sysprep-on-reference-computer-768x450.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 832px) 100vw, 832px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Running Sysprep on the Reference Computer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><br \/>\nWhile sysprep is running, set up the temporary thumb drive that you\u2019re going to use to get the custom image from the reference computer. Microsoft recommends a USB drive of 8GB or more.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"western\">\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>\u00a0Create a bootable Flash Drive with Windows PE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These steps are run on the technician computer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">You use the bootable UFD that you create in this step to start the reference computer so you can capture an image of the hard disk after you install and customize Windows 7. Windows PE does not include ImageX, so these instructions include a step for copying ImageX.exe from the Windows AIK installation folder to the Windows PE source files before you create the Windows PE ISO file.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This seems like it is needlessly complicated, but it is required because we can not copy the system files in an untouched state while the computer is running.\u00a0 In other words, if we don&#8217;t do this, we would make copies of an installed Windows, rather than a ready-to-install Windows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Click Start, point to All Programs and then click Microsoft Windows AIK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Right-click Deployment Tools Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Click Yes to open the Deployment Tools Command Prompt window with elevated permissions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Tip You can copy and paste commands from these instructions into the Deployment Tools Command Prompt window. Doing so saves time and helps ensure that you run the command correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">In the Deployment Tools Command Prompt window, perform one of the following tasks, and then press ENTER:<br \/>\n<em>Note that the first instruction is a command with parameters about using a 64-bit system, so it is not missing any slashes.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>copype.cmd amd64 C:\\winpe_amd64\\<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">type c<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>opy C:\\winpe_x86\\winpe.wim C:\\winpe_x86\\ISO\\sources\\boot.wim<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>copy C:\\winpe_amd64\\winpe.wim C:\\winpe_amd64\\ISO\\sources\\boot.wim<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>copy &#8220;C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\amd64\\ImageX.exe&#8221; C:\\winpe_amd64\\ISO\\<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Insert a flash drive (containing no important data) into the technician computer (the one you\u2019re using right now). Prep the drive for booting through the DiskPart tool:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">In the Command Prompt window, type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>diskpart<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>list disk<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">From the list of disks, identify the number of the flash drive. (Make sure the size and free space match what you expect for the UFD.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>select disk number<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">, where number is the disk number of the flash drive , and then press ENTER. (eg <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>select disk 1<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>clean<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type create partition primary, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>select partition 1<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">\u201d, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Note: remember the \u201cquick\u201d option or it will take some time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type \u201cf<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>ormat fs=fat32 quick<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">\u201d, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type active, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Type exit, and then press ENTER.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><a name=\"__DdeLink__95_1798143099\"><\/a> <span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">In the same Command Prompt window, type <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><i>xcopy \/s C:\\winpe_amd64\\iso\\*.* E:\\<\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">, where E is the thumb drive. This copies all the prepared Windows PE files onto the thumb drive. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">You now have the prepared reference computer and a ready thumb drive. We\u2019re now going to put them together to extract the customizations from Windows 7. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Tidying up Reference Computer<\/strong>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">The reference computer will auto-boot into an administrator account. Ignore the sysprep window for now, <strong>but don\u2019t close it.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">We\u2019ll want to delete the account we had been using to install the updates and software. Go to control panel, and under User Accounts and Family Safety, click \u201cAdd or remove user accounts\u201d. Choose \u201cowner\u201d, and \u201cdelete account.\u201d Also, delete the files, and click Delete Account to confirm. You should see \u201cAdministrator\u201d and \u201cGuest Account\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_155\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 780px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-155 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 Sysprep\" width=\"770\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/04-remove-account.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Remove the existing accounts from the Reference Computer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Now back to the sysprep window. Choose \u201cSystem Out of Box (OOBE), Generalize, and shut down. Have your thumb drive handy. Wait for the reference computer to shut down.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_157\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/05-OOBE-shut-down.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-157 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/05-OOBE-shut-down-300x225.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 sysprep\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/05-OOBE-shut-down-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/05-OOBE-shut-down.png 354w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Choose an OOBE cleanup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Once this is done, power down the reference computer and move to the next step, booting from the PE stick.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\"><strong>Boot into PE and Create the Custom Install File<\/strong><br \/>\nWe now want to boot from the prepped thumb drive. Ensure that booting from USB is enabled. On some ASUS boards, you will have to press F8 at the splash screen to do a one-time boot from USB.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Once we get into the command prompt, we test the drive letters. First, type in \u201cdir d:\u201d and you should see \u201cWindows\u201d as the last item in the directory. This confirms that D: is where Windows is installed. This is a different drive than normal boot and that\u2019s expected because we\u2019re running WindowsPE right now. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Next, find the bootable USB by typing dir E:, dir F:, etc, until you find a result that has \u201cimagex\u201d in the results. This is the drive letter of the thumb drive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The rest of the examples use D: as the Windows drive, and F: as the thumb drive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Run the following command for Windows Professional. You can type this in or create a batch file if you are confident about the drive letters. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">F:\\imagex \/compress fast \/check \/flags \u201cProfessional\u201d \/capture D: D:\\install.wim \u201cWindows 7 Professional\u201d \u201cWindows 7 Professional Custom\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">This will capture the custom Windows 7 parameters, software, and updates on the hard drive of the reference computer.\u00a0\u00a0 It will take some time.\u00a0 Once it is done, take a NTFS thumb drive, put it into another port, and copy the install.wim file to that thumb drive. The reason for this is due to the limitations on FAT32 \u2013 you can often only boot into FAT32, and the install.wim file will likely be larger than the 4G limit on FAT32. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Once the file is copied, you are done with the reference computer. Go back to your technician computer to complete the USB installation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That install.wim file can be copied over any Windows 7 base install to provide a custom Windows 7 installation. The next step is to make a bootable Windows 7 stick.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"western\">2. Create a Bootable Windows 7 Thumb Drive<\/h4>\n<p class=\"western\">The easiest way to create a Windows 7 boot disk is to use the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Download the tool.<\/strong><br \/>\nTo use the USB tool, download the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool\"> Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool-Installer from here<\/a>.\u00a0 Install and run the program.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\">The first step is to choose the Windows 7 ISO.\u00a0 If you have a valid licence key, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ca\/software-download\/windows7\">you can get a copy direct from Microsoft.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure id=\"attachment_405\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-01.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-405\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-01-300x158.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB creation\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-01-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-01.png 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Choose the Windows 7 ISO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Choose next once you&#8217;ve picked the ISO.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2354\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Win-7-1-300x158.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Win-7-1-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Win-7-1.png 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Choose Media.<\/strong><br \/>\nNext, use a thumb drive.\u00a0 CDs will obviously not work for something we want to over-write (and also with files that are more than 4.7G)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_407\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-03.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-407\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-03-300x158.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB creation\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-03-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-03.png 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Choose the media type.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Choose which USB drive to erase, and confirm that you want to erase the flash drive.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_408\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-04.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-408\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-04-300x158.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB creation\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-04-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-04.png 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Choose the USB device<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You&#8217;ll want to erase the entire disk.\u00a0 Make sure it&#8217;s not the thumb drive with the custom image on it.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_409\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-05.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-409\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-05-300x198.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB creation\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-05-300x198.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-05.png 483w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Confirm (twice) that you want to delete.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Let the Program Run.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Once the process starts, just let it run until it is complete.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_410\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-06.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-410\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-06-300x158.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB creation\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-06-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USBT-06.png 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Wait for the process to finish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We now have a bootable USB version of Windows 7 and an image file (install.wim) with our custom parameters.\u00a0 It&#8217;s time to put them together.\u00a0 (You can test the basic Windows 7 boot stick if you&#8217;d like.\u00a0 It&#8217;s probably a good idea.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 class=\"western\">3. Copy Media Over<\/h4>\n<p>Next, we can copy our custom install.wim over to the bootable thumb drive.\u00a0 This is just a simple file copy.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Copy Files<\/strong><br \/>\nInsert both sticks into the technician computer and browse to \\\\sources\\ on the freshly made stick.\u00a0 That version of install.wim is going to be replaced with the customized one we made in the previous steps.\u00a0 Copy the custom install.wim from the reference disk onto the Windows 7 install disk.\u00a0 Once that copies over, any new installs of Windows 7 will have the patches and installed programs that the reference computer has.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE: As you are copying a multi-GB file, the file will still be copying after the File Transfer dialog shows completion.\u00a0 Even if you&#8217;re the kind of person that <em>never<\/em> uses the &#8220;Eject&#8221; function, this is the one time when you should use it.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4 class=\"western\">4. (Optional) Install USB3 drivers if required<\/h4>\n<p class=\"western\">One additional step, if you will be installing on computers with only USB3 ports (e.g. NUCs) is to include the drivers for USB3.\u00a0 Windows 7 does not have USB3 support out of the box.\u00a0 NOTE: you can run the initial installation with the USB3 keyboard and mouse, but it will not allow you to use them after the first reboot.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Get Intel&#8217;s Tool.<\/strong><br \/>\nYou can use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intel.com\/support\/motherboards\/desktop\/sb\/CS-035689.htm\">Intel&#8217;s USB 3 creation tool<\/a> to add the drivers to the install.wim image AFTER you have replaced it with the custom image.\u00a0 (Obviously, if you patch then replace, it will over-write the patched version.)\u00a0 Intel&#8217;s tool unpacks install.wim, then adds its files before packing it again.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Run the creation tool.<\/strong>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_397\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-01-prep-tool.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-397\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-01-prep-tool-300x193.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB 3\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-01-prep-tool-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-01-prep-tool.png 364w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Launch the program.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not fancy but it works.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong>Browse to the File<\/strong><br \/>\nBrowse to the root of the thumb drive.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_398\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 510px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-02-prep-tool.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-398\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-02-prep-tool-300x138.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB 3\" width=\"500\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-02-prep-tool-300x138.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-02-prep-tool.png 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">The tool will find the images, just give it the root of the boot stick.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><strong><strong>Wait Patiently.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong>Finally, wait.\u00a0 It can take several minutes to patch the install disk.\u00a0 Note that it will say &#8220;SUCCESS!&#8221;.\u00a0 &#8220;Unmounting image&#8230;&#8221; is NOT complete.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_399\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-03-prep-tool.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-399\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-03-prep-tool-300x193.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB 3\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-03-prep-tool-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-03-prep-tool.png 364w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Wait until the program says &#8220;<strong>SUCCESS!<\/strong>&#8220;.\u00a0 It does not lock your machine, so you can keep using it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_403\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-04-SUCCESS.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-403\" src=\"http:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-04-SUCCESS-300x193.png\" alt=\"Windows 7 USB3\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-04-SUCCESS-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/W7-USB3-04-SUCCESS.png 364w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Image manipulation complete.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4 class=\"western\">4. Boot and Install Windows 7<\/h4>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,serif;\">Finally, boot and install Windows 7 as usual. This time you can skip the exceedingly-long patching that first-install Windows 7 machines have to go through.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To install a pre-made Windows 7 image, first we have to make it. This will let us skip the lengthy &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/windows-7-patched-and-custom-install\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,27,45,25,29],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-install","tag-microsoft","tag-universal","tag-windows","tag-windows-7"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2355,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions\/2355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busix.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}