How to make a Windows 7 image with installed programs. Creating a customized operating system image. Setting up automatic system image creation

Due to our own erroneous actions on the computer or a virus attack, it is not possible to download Windows 7 by any means?! Or the operating system boots, but working in it is simply unbearable?! If you are familiar with these situations and would like to correct the situation within a minimum time, you need to prepare in advance for such problems and sometimes (once a month/every two months) make an image of the system and, if necessary, restore functionality operating system by rolling back to the created image. Windows 7 has a built-in system archiver, which is very simple and intuitive; you don’t need to install additional programs to create an image of your system, much less spend money on these programs.

How to make an image Windows systems 7? There are several ways to launch System Archiving, here is one of them. Come along the way
In the window that opens, you will see on the left "Creating a system image"- this tool will allow you to create a system archive once, if you look at the right side of the window, you will see a button, i.e. It is possible to configure archiving automatically.

It is up to you to choose which method suits you; in this article I will describe both of these methods.

Creating a system image

Click "Creating a system image", in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, the ideal option is an external hard drive, you can use a CD/DVD, but keep in mind that you will need a lot of them. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from local disk not always possible.

After choosing a location to save the backup, you need to choose what to archive. If you have enough space, save all local drives. IN in this example I'll only save drive C.

In the next window, confirm our choice and click "Archive".

Next comes the archiving/system image creation process, which can take quite a while. for a long time, it all depends on the amount of archived space and the power of the computer.

Upon completion of archiving, the system will offer to write the data to disk, since I am archiving on external hard disk, I don’t need it, click “no”, besides, I don’t really want to write 32 GB :)

This completes the process of creating a system image, the backup is located on removable disk, the name of the WindowsImageBackup folder.

Setting up automatic system image creation

I remind you that we originally came along the way “Start-Control Panel-Backup and Restore”,press "Tune backup» , in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, please note that the specified backup location must be available when it is launched according to a schedule. The ideal option is an external hard drive; CD/DVD is not entirely suitable, since it will not be very practical to spend several disks on each backup. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from the local disk is not always possible.

In the next window, we select what we will archive or present the choice to the system, i.e. leave it as default, in this example I will leave it as default. Click "Next".

In the next window, select the schedule for executing the system image, I recommend once a month, although this is individual, it all depends on how often you make changes to the system.

After clicking "Save settings and start archiving", the archiving process will begin. System archiving can take a long time, up to several hours, it all depends on the amount of data and the speed of the computer.

I hope you will never need a system backup, but situations are different and to be on the safe side, I strongly recommend making an archived image of the system.

Due to our own erroneous actions on the computer or a virus attack, it is not possible to download Windows 7 by any means?! Or the operating system boots, but working in it is simply unbearable?! If you are familiar with these situations and would like to correct the situation within a minimum time, you need to prepare in advance for such problems and sometimes (once a month/every two months) make an image of the system and, if necessary, restore the operating system by rolling back to the created image. Windows 7 has a built-in system archiver, which is very simple and intuitive; you don’t need to install additional programs to create an image of your system, much less spend money on these programs.

How to make a system image of Windows 7? There are several ways to launch System Archiving, here is one of them. Come along the way
In the window that opens, you will see on the left "Creating a system image"- this tool will allow you to create a system archive once, if you look at the right side of the window, you will see a button, i.e. It is possible to configure archiving automatically.

It is up to you to choose which method suits you; in this article I will describe both of these methods.

Creating a system image

Click "Creating a system image", in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, the ideal option is an external hard drive, you can use a CD/DVD, but keep in mind that you will need a lot of them. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from the local disk is not always possible.

After choosing a location to save the backup, you need to choose what to archive. If you have enough space, save all local drives. In this example, I will only save drive C.

In the next window, confirm our choice and click "Archive".

Next comes the archiving process/creating a system image; it can last for quite a long time, it all depends on the amount of space being archived and the power of the computer.

At the end of archiving, the system will offer to write the data to disk, since I’m archiving to an external hard drive, I don’t need this, click “no”, besides, I don’t really want to write 32 GB :)

This completes the process of creating a system image, the backup is located on a removable disk, the folder name is WindowsImageBackup.

Setting up automatic system image creation

I remind you that we originally came along the way “Start-Control Panel-Backup and Restore”,press "Set up backup", in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, please note that the specified backup location must be available when it is launched according to a schedule. The ideal option is an external hard drive; CD/DVD is not entirely suitable, since it will not be very practical to spend several disks on each backup. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from the local disk is not always possible.

In the next window, we select what we will archive or present the choice to the system, i.e. leave it as default, in this example I will leave it as default. Click "Next".

In the next window, select the schedule for executing the system image, I recommend once a month, although this is individual, it all depends on how often you make changes to the system.

After clicking "Save settings and start archiving", the archiving process will begin. System archiving can take a long time, up to several hours, it all depends on the amount of data and the speed of the computer.

I hope you will never need a system backup, but situations are different and to be on the safe side, I strongly recommend making an archived image of the system.

In order to have something to use to restore the Windows 7 operating system in the event of a failure, you must first create these recovery tools. How?

We click the Start button, then click “Control Panel”, there we open “System and Security” and, finally, we get to what we are looking for, namely “Backup and Restore”.

"Creating a system image" and
"Create a system repair disc."

Windows 7 System Recovery Disk is boot disk, you insert it into the CD/DVD drive, and the computer boots (!) from the boot disk, and not from the C: drive, from which for some reason the boot does not occur.

Using a boot disk, you can boot your computer if your PC operating system is not working. After booting your PC from the Windows 7 system recovery disc, you can restore your PC's operating system. And for this you will already need a system image.

A Windows 7 system image is an archive of the operating system in the state it was at the time it was archived. That is, a system image is an archived copy of the OS that allows you to subsequently restore an operating system that completely matches the operating system at the time of archiving. What was archived is what we got as a result of system recovery!

A Windows 7 system recovery disc only needs to be created once. The same cannot be said for the Windows 7 system image. Since the operating system is constantly changing and supplemented, the more often we create a Windows 7 system image, the more accurately we can restore the system from the image saved in the archive.

How to create a Windows 7 system recovery disc?

Click on the proposed option “Create a system repair disk” and follow the instructions displayed on the screen. To create a system recovery disk, we will need a CD/DVD device with the ability to record discs on it, and we will need one blank CD or DVD blank. It is better to use non-rewritable discs for this, so as not to accidentally erase this very important disc later.

The Windows 7 system recovery disk created in this way must be carefully signed, as recommended by the Backup and Restore program, and placed somewhere where it can be retrieved emergency.

If you use mobile device(for example, a laptop or netbook), then it is better to carry a system recovery disk with you. You never know what can happen on a trip?!

If your PC does not have a device for recording CD/DVD discs, then you need to use an external device connected via . There is no other way!

This is the same external device It will also be needed when restoring the system in the event of a system failure. Therefore, it is better to take such an external device with you on trips if you plan to actively work on the PC on the road and outside the home (or office) with possible disastrous consequences for the operating system.

Creating a Windows 7 system image

To create a Windows 7 system image, we need an external hard drive. Moreover, this may be the same disk on which the . The main thing is that this external hard drive has enough space to accommodate the system image and user data archive.

Connect an external hard drive and click on the “Create a system image” option. After some thoughtfulness, the computer will offer to select one of the possible disks on which you can burn the system image. Select an external hard drive (in our example, this is external drive E:), click “Next”:

Then a confirmation window for archiving parameters will appear, in which we must confirm the selected disk for archiving the system image. Confirmation is made by clicking on the “Archive” button:

After confirmation of archiving, the actual creation of a system image on the specified external hard drive begins. In the “Creating a system image” window, the green “Archive saving in progress” indicator crawls, showing how much archiving has been completed:

Before the system image is backed up, you will be asked whether you need to create a system recovery disk. We can answer “No”, since we have already made a system recovery disk using the appropriate option in the main “Backup and Restore” window.

If the system recovery disk has not been created previously, then it is useful to answer “Yes” to the proposed question in order to create this disk.

Let me remind you that a system image created on an external hard drive cannot itself be restored on a PC where the operating system does not boot. This is exactly what you need for a system recovery disk:

Once archiving of the system image is complete, the message “Archiving completed successfully” will appear in the “Creating a system image” window. All that remains is to close the system image creation window by clicking on the “Close” button:

Thus, we created a one-time system image - an archive of the operating system for possible subsequent restoration in the event of possible failures.

In order for this procedure for creating a system image to be performed regularly, when setting up automatic archiving, you must check the box next to the “Enable system image” option, as shown in the following figure:

We're safe now. We have a system recovery disk from which you can start your PC in case of OS failure. And we have a system image on an external hard drive from which we can restore the operating system to the time it was last backed up.

How is operating system recovery performed?

“You’re about to hear something that would be better if you didn’t hear it!” - said one of the heroes of the film “The Man from the Boulevard des Capuchins”.

What I mean is that it would be better for each of us not to encounter the problem of restoring the OS. But if we have to, we will know how to do it.

So, the PC is “dead” and won’t boot. Then we take the Windows 7 system recovery disc, insert it into the CD/DVD device and try to boot the computer from this disc. It doesn't always work out that easy.

Sometimes you still need to go into the PC BIOS to specify the “Initial boot from CD/DVD” option there. I will not describe how to do this, since in each specific case, for each specific PC, this is done in its own way.

This is described in the documentation for the PC or in the documentation for motherboard PC, or in the BIOS documentation. Since the BIOS menu is most often written in English, That keyword when searching for the corresponding menu options, there should be the English word “boot” (read as “boot” with a long “y” sound, and translated as “download”).

After booting the PC using the system recovery disk, connect the external hard drive with the system image saved on it to the USB port of the PC. Then select the appropriate options from the proposed menu for restoring the system from a system image. We indicate that the system needs to be restored, that the system image is stored on such and such an external hard drive. That's all. The recovery program does further work automatically. You just need to be patient and under no circumstances turn off the PC until the recovery is complete.

Upon completion of restoring the system from the system image, you need to remove the system recovery disk from the CD/DVD device, mentally thank it for the services provided (!), and put it back in its original place until the next time (it would be better if this case never happened again!) .

And then you should restart your PC. If everything went well, then to our joy and satisfaction the system will return to the state in which it was at the time the archived copy of the system image was created.
What if not? So, no luck...

"Rounding"

It is impossible to complete the repair, it can only be stopped - so says folk wisdom. Also with issues of archiving and restoring the system and data. There is no end to the methods and methods of performing these procedures.
Therefore, we need to wrap things up.

What other ways are there to restore the operating system? There are a lot of things.

For example, some users go so far as to install two operating systems on their PC, such as Windows and Linux. And they work with Windows until it fails. After Windows fails, they boot into Linux and use its tools to manually restore Windows.

- Is that possible?
- Why not? If this helps with Windows recovery.

You can have two C: drives with Windows operating systems preinstalled on them. One stands inside the PC, the other lies on a shelf (in a drawer, etc.) and waits for its turn. If something happens, we remove one disk from the PC and insert another. Expensive? Yes, but it’s reliable and practical!

To protect user data, you can use the so-called, which allows you to store user data (all or part) on remote server. Access this remote disk on the server is carried out via the Internet. All issues of data safety and recovery in case of possible failures are taken over by the company providing access to the cloud.

It’s a pity that you can’t store operating system files in this way, although who forbids, for example, recording a system image during archiving to a cloud disk? Please…

The list of ways and methods can be continued indefinitely. It is important for us not so much to understand the methods themselves as to recognize the fact that both the operating system and user data need to be archived. You need to do this periodically, don’t forget to do it, and don’t be lazy about doing it.

And then you can be almost sure that the system and data will be safe and sound. Almost? Yes, almost, since His Majesty’s chance cannot be discounted. You might get lucky, or you might not.

Those who archive the operating system and their own data have much better luck and much more often. Tested empirically by millions of PC users. Proven in practice.

I suggest you join the majority of lucky people.

– When was the last time you backed up your operating system and your data? Never?! Last year?! Last week?! Yesterday?!
– I’ll do it today!!!

A disc image is a complete, “photographic” copy of an optical disc (such as a CD or DVD). Unlike a simple copy of a disk, its image is not just a set of folders, but a file that contains information about the disk format, boot data, its structure and the data itself.

Disk image files very often have the extension .iso. Typically, images of boot disks or disks circulate on the Internet in this format. computer games. Let's look at how you can create an iso disk image.

To create an iso disk image, emulator programs are used that create on the user's machine virtual drives, which, however, the computer operating system perceives as quite real. There are several such programs, but we will look at how to create an iso disk image using two of them: Daemon Tools and UltraISO.

How to create an iso disk image, Daemon Tools

The program is a simple and free version that allows you to create an iso disk image from any optical disc placed in the drive of your computer.

After installing the program on your computer, an icon will appear in the lower right corner of the desktop Daemon programs Tools. By clicking on it right click mouse, we will see the following picture:

Using the tooltip, look for the “Image Creation” icon (second from the left). After clicking on this icon, a window with the same name will open:

In this window, after we insert the disk into the computer drive, we will mark the save folder and the format of the future disk image file (iso), decide whether we will compress it or not, and whether we will use or refuse to protect the iso file with a password.

Click “Start” and at the end of the processing operation we find the created ISO disk image in the specified folder.

How to create an iso disk image, UltraISO

The UltraISO program is more functional than the free version of Daemon Tools and allows you to create an iso disk image from files stored in computer folders.

The UltraISO interface window consists of two parts, each of which has a conductor structure.

We find in the lower part the file or folder from which we want to create an iso disk image and drag it to the upper part.

Then open the “Properties” window by clicking on the button next to the “Image” field, set in this window the type-size of the desired disk image and the file name format to “standard”. Click OK in the “Properties” window, and “Save As” in the main program window.

In the window that opens, select the file format ( ISO file), give it a name, specify the save folder and click “Save”. That’s it, after the processing operation we find the created iso disk image in the specified folder.

Today, many are interested in how to create an ISO disk image of the Windows 10 operating system. Let us immediately say that this is quite simple to do, but to create an image you will need a special utility developed by Microsoft. Moreover, this program allows you not only to update the current system, but also to burn it to removable media (CD or).

You should start by preparing a removable drive - it is important that its volume is at least 8 gigabytes; creating such a drive is available for the following versions of the described OS:

• Windows 10 Pro;
• Windows 10 Home.

Now let's proceed directly to the process. Below is an algorithm of the required actions.

Step-by-step guide to creating an ISO disc in Windows 10 using the installer

First, connect the disk to the computer (it is quite obvious that it should be a DVD-R) or removable storage, then check whether the storage medium has the required amount of memory. Then follow the instructions.

Step one. Click on the "Windows 10 Setup" icon. Then a window will appear in which you need to select the second option (“Create installation media...”) as shown in the image below. After that, click the “Next” button.

Step two. In the next window, this utility will prompt you to set the required parameters, including architecture, language, etc. Having selected everything you need, click the “Next” button again.

Pay attention! It is extremely important that the selected ISO image architecture matches the parameters of the computer itself where it is planned to be installed. Typically, the program allows you to select not only a 32/64-core system, but also both options at once.

If you chose the first option, then you will have two options:

• burn to DVD;
• first create a disk.

In the second option, accordingly, recording is possible exclusively directly to a removable storage device.

Step four. When you select the appropriate item, click “Next”. If recording occurs directly to a flash drive, the operating system will demonstrate the available media.

Pay attention! For those who don’t know, during recording, all information on the flash drive will be deleted.

Step five. When you click Next again, the installation or recording will continue.

Step six. In the first option, that is, when we're talking about When you select the “ISO file” item, several folders will be attached at once where the image or drive will be saved. It is quite obvious that there should already be a DVD-R disc containing the required amount of memory. Once saved, you can subsequently record it on any convenient medium.

Pay attention! Such operations are only possible on computers running Windows 7 or higher.

Features of installing Windows 10 from an image

Installing the operating system is quite simple; it does not require any special skills, nor skills. To begin the installation, insert a flash drive or disk, and then, when the computer restarts, press any button after the corresponding message appears (“Press any button to boot...” or something similar, it all depends on the specific type of system). Before this, you need to click boot from disk or flash drive in the BIOS settings.

The next step is that the system will ask you to enter your product key. You will find this key on the package or, if you are just updating the OS, select the “I don’t have a key” option.

Accept user agreement and decide on the type of installation. If you are not an “advanced” user, then it is better not to use a custom installation.

Then you will find yourself in a window for selecting a partition where the operating system will be installed.

When all the required actions are completed, the system will install, after which it will ask you to configure it “for yourself.” More specifically, these settings include:

• installation/configuration of standard programs;
• creating your account.

Here you can decide for yourself whether to leave the basic settings or configure the settings again. That's all, now you know how to create an ISO image of Windows 10. For more detailed information, we recommend watching the thematic video below. Good luck!

Video - Create a Windows 10 boot disk

Any operating system is not one hundred percent protected from unexpected crashes, breakdowns, or malfunctions. Windows 7 is no exception. To avoid losing valuable system settings that you for a long time adjusted to your needs, it is recommended to create a disk image with the iso extension at least once every six months. In this way, you will protect yourself from long and tedious recovery after failures or failure of the operating system. You can burn the resulting file to a DVD disc, memory card, or any other digital media. And at the right time, just download it back. If you still decide to do this, follow the instructions in this article.

Creating an ISO image for Windows 7 through the official Microsoft website

Not long ago, a software company made it possible for users to independently generate image files directly through the official website. To do this, follow the link: https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software

Before you start, make sure that your storage device has more than 4 GB of memory, as well as a stable Internet connection:

• follow the link above and check out a number of tips and instructions,
• scroll down the page and you will see the input field for your Windows 7 product key,

• now minimize the browser and go to the control panel,
• select the "System and Security" tab,

• in the window that appears, click on the “System” section,

• you will be immediately redirected to a page where at the very bottom is the activation key for your product. Carefully rewrite it in the browser line and click “Check”

• wait until the system checks your Windows 7 and the relevance of its license. The process will take from a minute to five. If everything is in order with the key, then the utility in the browser will immediately begin creating an ISO image of your entire system. If there is something wrong with the key or this method does not suit you for other reasons, go to the second step of the instructions.

Creating an ISO image of Windows 7 without third-party programs

• You can create an image inside your computer without installing unnecessary software. To do this, go to the control panel again and find the “Backup and Restore” section.

• In the window that appears on the left, find the “Create a system image” link. Click on it.

• Wait a few minutes while Windows finds all the ways to create and burn the image.

• The system will automatically open before you all possible options for recording the image on media. Most likely, you will have three options: “hard drive”, “DVD media” and “network storage”. If you have dvd disk, paste it and choose the second method.

• If your computer has only one disk, as in the screenshot below, then you won’t have to select it. If there are several disks, then you can select one of them or all of them. Click on the “Archive” button to get started ISO recording images to disk.

• If you chose the third option: online hosting, then the process will be slightly different. Please note that the file may not be protected in a network location.

• Enter the network location address.

After pressing the “ok” button, copying will begin. It is also possible to manually record the image through programs such as Daemon Tools. The process is very similar, but takes a little longer. To do this, you need to download the program, mount the image in it and burn it to a digital medium.

If you were unable to create an image of Windows 7 after all the above points, then perhaps it will be easier for you to download ready-made ISO images from the Internet.

You can learn a few interesting words about Windows 7 images from the video below:

A disk image is a file containing full copy structure and content of data located on the disk. It stores all the information that duplicates the location and contents of a specific data storage device. The order of data sectors is repeated on the image, but the structure built on it is ignored.

The original purpose of creation was backup disk data, where the exact original structure was preserved. Currently, due to the spread optical media, images are more common in as ISO files, which can be used instead of CDs. ISO has less data - no service information.

Using archive programs that support opening this type of data, you can extract and view the contents of this file. How and with what tools you can reproduce a disk image will be discussed further.

Creating an image using ultraISO

One of the most accessible methods for creating an ISO is to use the UltraISO utility. The program is paid, but you can use the trial version, which you download from the official website.

The essence of use is as follows: yes two main fields– the directory tree of the mounted image on the left and the data stored in them on the right. Below are the directories and files stored on the computer.

Set the name future copy, for which we left-click on it, property – Rename. Introducing a new name.

Then we drag folders and files from the storage area on the computer to the image file area. To find the ones you need, use the directory explorer presented below.

Please note that at the top it is displayed overall size documents.

Actually, to complete the operation, all that remains is to save: File – Save as.

From the proposed formats we take ISO and save.

The saving process will appear, after which you will find a copy in the location you specified.

Burning an image using Daemon tools

An equally popular image recording program is Daemon Tools.

There are several variations of this software, including the free DAEMON Tools Lite. After installing the free license, you will have a virtual DVD drive.

After launch, click on the button below to create a copy of the disk.

IN settings we refer to drive, where the disk and folder where the image will be saved is located.

Specify copy type MDS or ISO.

Mount You can check it in a virtual drive.

Using Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

The free version of this program is free and will allow you to burn a disk image. Download from off. site, simple and straightforward installation.

After installation, the application will launch on its own. Choose Disk image – Create.

If we create based on real disk– previously insert it into the drive.

Specify the storage location and click Next to start the process.

Once the procedure is complete, you can open the folder containing the file.

How to create a copy of a disk using CDBurnerXP

To create an ISO in the CDBurnerXP utility, select from the menu File – save project like ISO.

Specify the directory, where to save the file and click Create ISO.

Can be customized parameters, such as: name, description, date, identifier, copyright and other settings. Once you open Boot Options, you will see a dialog box with additional options.

ISO using ImgBurn

ImgBurn is a convenient tool for burning ISO images. Everything is done very quickly and quite simply.

After downloading and installing the program, you will see the following window.

As you can see, here you can: write down image to disk, so make it from existing files.

In this case, we are interested in the latter.

Special additional settings you don’t need to specify (the only thing is, if you want, you can change the recording speed and number of copies), specify the drive from which you want to read data and click Reading

The copying process will begin, after which a message will signal to us that it has been successfully completed.

Free DVD ISO Maker

The program is free, easy to use and simple.

After launch you will need to select Select CD/ DVDdevice, that is, the drive to read (specify the path). Next is the place where we will save the resulting file. Then click Covert and wait for the final completion of the copying procedure.

We use ISODisk

It is also free, download it from the official website.

The interface, although in English, is quite intuitive. Some users do not recommend using it for mounting virtual drives, but it copes with the task of creating an ISO with a bang.

If something suddenly happens to your operating system, it can lead to a huge number of problems. In the best case, you will have to reinstall it, search on the Internet for drivers and installers of the programs you need. In the worst case, there is a risk of completely losing all personal information, unique photographs, important documents and projects. Typically, restoring the OS is unlikely to help in this case - it only works with Windows settings. Therefore, to save your data, it is important to know how you can create a backup disk image of your Windows 7.

Types of images

You don't need to have the DVD itself for this. There is specialized software (for example, the UltraISO utility) with which you can do everything you need right on your computer. You prepare a set of folders and files, and use the program to create a disk image.

The second type is a backup copy of the operating system. It can be done even using standard Windows tools. It is needed to restore your OS in case of unforeseen emergency situations.

In fact, this is a cast of the hard drive. The computer scans the entire contents of the specified HDD and packs it into a special archive. If something happens, you can always restore everything back.

Windows Backup

To create a backup of data on disk, no additional software no need to install. You just need to do the following:

The whole process can take quite a while long time. The volumes of stored data are usually large. In general, the duration depends on the amount of information being copied, the generation of USB or SATA/SAS interfaces, network speed (depending on where the backup is saved) and computer performance.

Recovery disk

After completing the backup process, the system will prompt you to create a special recovery disk. This is a set of useful programs that can help users if their OS stops starting. You can find recovery utilities there boot sector MBR, sets of system files required for startup, and so on.

Creating an ISO image

If you want to burn DVD or CD content to digital ISO format, you will need a special program. The simplest and most reliable example of such a utility is free application ImgBurn.

Today Windows 7 is the main corporate system, de facto, taking over the baton from Windows XP. Therefore for system administrator The actual issue is its deployment, but since the last official image was compiled quite a long time ago, the systems installed with its help require quite a large number of updates. You can avoid this if you assemble your own distribution containing all the current system updates. We will tell you how to do this in this article.

There are two ways to obtain the latest Windows 7 distribution: integrating updates directly into the image and using a reference system to download and install updates.

The first method is simpler and faster, but has a serious drawback - you need to download all the necessary updates. And this, even with a list, is quite difficult to do. At the same time, there are already downloaded update sets available on the network, but we do not recommend using them, since installing system components from unverified sources is a very bad idea. At a minimum, you could end up with an unstable system due to an untested or incompatible set of updates, and at worst, you could easily end up with unwanted or malicious software.

Using a reference system allows you to get all the necessary updates in automatic mode, install them, check the operation of the system and only then proceed to creating a distribution kit. Therefore, we will consider this method.

Creation of a reference system

For these purposes, we recommend using virtual machine, in which we will create a guest system for Windows 7 and install the OS version for which we will create a distribution kit. If you need to create distributions for several versions or bits, then you will also need several reference systems.

Once the installation is complete, take your time; when the welcome screen appears, click CTRL+ SHIFT+ F3

This will reboot the system into audit mode, but if you managed to create a user and log in, then run the command as Administrator:

C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep /audit /reboot

When booting into audit mode, the utility starts automatically Sysprep, close this window, we don’t need it now.

It should be remembered that the system switched to audit mode will continue to boot into it until we start it again Sysprep and we will not change the regime. After downloading, open Center Windows updates and search for and install updates.

Important! On May 17, 2016, Microsoft released a cumulative update package for Windows 7 SP1 KB3125574, which includes updates from the release of SP1 until April 2016. In order to reduce the volume of downloaded updates, we recommend downloading and installing this package manually. Installation requires update KB3020369.

We reboot and search and install updates again. We reboot and repeat this operation again until the system installs all available updates.

If your goal was only to integrate all latest updates, then we can finish here. However, the audit mode allows you to install a variety of software, which will also be included in the distribution. This is widely used by OEMs; we think everyone has come across distributions (usually on laptops) containing, in addition to the OS, various amounts of software of dubious usefulness.

Therefore, no one is stopping us from including the necessary software in our distribution, so as not to waste time on its subsequent installation. We usually limit ourselves to the "gentleman's set": archiver, Adobe Reader, Java, Silverlight. You can include in it the entire set of necessary software, including office suite and other software. You should not include programs that install your own drivers and device drivers in the image, since all third-party drivers will be removed at the stage of preparing the system for image capture. Also, you should not activate the software; this information will also be lost.

Having finished preparing the reference system, we will delete all the files we downloaded and unnecessary software (if any), special attention should be paid to cleaning the system from copies of update files, for this use the tool Disk Cleanup:

Important! After cleaning be sure to reboot system to complete the updates, otherwise you risk getting a broken image.

Now let's prepare it for image capture using the utility Sysprep:

C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep /oobe /generalize /shutdown

Let's look at the utility keys in more detail:

• oobe- starts the computer in welcome screen mode. Screen Windows greetings allows end users configure the Windows operating system, create new accounts, rename your computer, and perform other tasks.
• generalize- prepares the Windows installation before creating the image. If this option is specified, all unique system information is removed from Windows installations. The security identifier (SID) is reset, system restore points are reset, and event logs are deleted.
• shutdown - Shuts down the computer after Sysprep has finished running.

After completing the necessary actions, the system will shut down. You cannot enable it before the image is captured. This concludes our work with the reference system and moves on to creating our own distribution based on it.

Creating your own distribution

For further work we will need workstation under Windows control 7 with installed package automatic installation Windows (WAIK). The capacity and version of the system do not play any role.

Installing WAIK should not be difficult and is done using the default settings.

Now let's prepare the image Windows PE to capture an image of the reference system. The WinPE bit capacity must match the reference system bit capacity.

Let's open Start - All programs - Microsoft Windows AIK - Deployment Tools Command Line and run the command for 32-bit systems:

Copype.cmd x86 e:\win_pe

or for 64-bit:

Copype.cmd amd64 e:\win_pe

Where e:\win_pe desired location of the folder with the image. There is no need to create the folder first, as in this case you will receive an error that the folder already exists.

Now let's go to the destination folder and copy the file winpe.wim to a folder ISO\sources and rename it to boot.wim. Then copy it to a folder ISO from folder C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64 or C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86, depending on the bit depth, file imagex.exe.

Then in Command line deployment tools give the following command:

Oscdimg -n -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\ISO e:\win_pe\winpe.iso

The result of the command will be an image winpe.iso from which the reference system should be loaded.

If you did not perform additional partitioning of the reference system disk, the partition to be captured will have the letter D:, and the boot disk E:, just in case, we check with the team dir.

Now let's start capturing the image, since the image is created file by file, it can be saved to the same partition. Let's enter the following command:

E:\imagex /capture d: d:\install.wim "Win7_ULT_x64" /compress maximum /boot /verify

As parameters we indicate to capture disk D: and save it to an image D:\install.wim, in quotation marks we indicate our own name of the image, we also set the maximum compression, the ability to download and check the created image. After which we can go have coffee, this operation takes on average about half an hour.

We reboot the reference system into normal mode and copy the created image to a PC with WAIK installed. Let's go to e:\win_pe and cleanse ISO folder, then copy the contents of the original there Windows disk 7, which we used to install the reference system.

Then we will replace the file install.wim in a folder sources to the image we captured. Now you can start building your own ISO image, to do this, run the command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -o -lWIN7ULTx64 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64.iso

Let's look at the command keys in more detail:

• u2-creates an image that has only file system UDF.
• m- removes restrictions on image size.
• o- replaces duplicate files with one copy, allowing you to reduce the size of the image.
• l- volume label, entered without spaces, optional parameter.
• b- location boot file, also without spaces.

The image is assembled quite quickly, the only thing is that with a high degree of probability its size will exceed 4.7 GB and it will not be possible to burn it to a regular DVD disc. In this case, you can use double-layer DVD9 discs, but they are less common on sale and may not be supported by all drive models. In this case, you can split the distribution into two parts, each of which will fit on a standard-sized DVD. You should also remember the 32 limit bit systems, which cannot work with wim images larger than 4 GB.

You can split the image with the following command:

Imagex /split e:\win_pe\install.wim e:\win_pe\install.swm 3000

This will create two or more swm file maximum size of 3000 MB. Then delete it from the folder ISO\sources install.wim and place install.swm there, after which we will assemble the image of the first disk:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD1 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD1.iso

After that, delete install.swm and copy install2.swm in its place. There is no point in making the second disk bootable, so we will assemble it with a simpler command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD2 e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD2.iso

Installation from a split image is carried out in the usual way, starting from the first disk; during operation, the installer itself will ask you to change the disk:

This way, you don’t have to worry about the size of the created image, especially if, in addition to updates, it is planned to include voluminous software, for example, the MS Office package, etc. We also recommend that before moving on to deploying workstations from the created distribution, you thoroughly test its operation on a test system.