My Current AIO has all versions from Starter up to Enterprise however it excludes K and KN versions. I never expected to use those under any circumstances. I only installed Starter to see what it was about.
First is to update it, which Jason Sandys covers in great detail and all credit to him. He covers how to create a slipstreamed WIM that has the majority of updates injected to save a ton of time and be safer. I started down the road of a simple bat file to inject updates via DISM but Jason's script is way more intuitive and powerful.
While he wrote it in November of 2019 there are a few newer patches to apply. I just modified his script to change the KB numbers. You could also append the Jan 2020 final cumulative after applying the November 2019 one Jason covers.
- KB4525235 -> KB4534310 (Windows 7 Cumulative)
- KB4525106 -> KB4534251 (IE11 cumulative)
- KB4523206 -> KB4536952 (November 12 2019 Servicing Stack update)
::SET WINDOWS7=4474419 3020369 3125574 4490628 4523206 4525235
SET WINDOWS7=4474419 3020369 3125574 4490628 4536952 4534310
::SET IECU=4525106
SET IECU=4534251
Once you have the updated WIM ready to go you can create the AIO. There are many ways to create one. I just use dism to export a single WIM into the AIO WIM but this link shows a few ways to do it. GIMAGEX is another option I like to use. For dism its pretty simple. I adapted Jasons folder structure.
dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:image\Prox64.WIM /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:image\install.wim /DestinationName:"Windows 7 Professional Final x64" /Compress:max
dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:image\Enterprisex64.WIM /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:image\install.wim /DestinationName:"Windows 7 Enterprise Final x64" /Compress:max
dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:image\HomePremiumx64.WIM /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:image\install.wim /DestinationName:"Windows 7 Home Premium Final x64" /Compress:max
Some suggestions to share:
- If you are doing both 32-Bit and 64-Bit use the 32-Bit media as the ISO source as it can install a 64-Bit OS, however, the opposite is not true. Due to this I also have a 7ZIP file with the 64-Bit ISO, minus the two WIM files, to perform an edition change and some types of repair you boot from the install media for. This is few and far between though.
- Use something to differentiate 32-Bit and 64-Bit in the WIM using the Name attributes. It will detect which Edition and architecture it is but won't let you use the same name in the WIM. I just use 'x64' for all 64-Bit ones.
- delete the sources\ei.cfg file. Otherwise, it will install the OS Edition stated in ei.cfg. If this file is missing then you are prompted as shown above for the edition and architecture you want.
- My first AIO has Starter as index 1 so I have to scroll down for Professional or Ultimate when I use the AIO personally and Enterprise professionally. Rarely do I use the other Editions. I created my final AIO with the fully patched Pro and Enterprise that I use the most as index 1 and 2. Then went from unpatched (SP1 only) Enterprise down to Starter.
- All 64-bit was first then 32-Bit. As my first AIO was from 2010 there was a lot of 32-Bit work. I have not touched 32-Bit in many years but it's still there just in case I get an old system CPU without the X86-64 instruction set.
- To test, just take your patched one and replace USB\sources\install.wim. I did this on all modified WIMs before going through the AIO process.
Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:C:\sources\install.wim /SWMFile:C:\sources\install.swm /FileSize:4700
I did all this on a Windows 10 Pro workstation. For the ISO file creation, you will need to install the ADK relevant to your OS. In my case the 1903 version since I am on 1909. This gives you the oscdimg.exe executable needed to generate the ISO file for your new AIO. On my 1903 ADK its located in Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\Oscdimg\. An example command to generate an ISO file.
oscdimg.exe -lWindows_7_SP1_AIO_Final -m -u2 -bE:\W7AIOFinal\Boot\etfsboot.com E:\W7AIOFinal E:\Windows7_SP1_AIO_Final.ISO
My flow is
- Copy Windows7_SP1_AIO.ISO from FreeNAS
- Extract to folder Win7AIOFinal
- extract relevant index to be patched
- run through Jasons script to patch
- import modified WIM into new WIM file
- import rest of AIO indexes into new WIM File
- Split install.wim to install.swm
- replace WinAIO7final\sources\install.wim with install.swm files
- Create ISO file
- test in ESX
- update Windows 7 AIO USB stick
- Put ISO onto FreeNAS and backup
Extras
As long as Windows 7 has been around you may also want to inject newer storage drivers into the Boot.wim so it can install Windows 7 on newer storage controllers. I touch on this while getting Windows 7 on an unsupported AM4 Ryzen 3 system personally. Several motherboard manufacturers have a tool to inject drivers needed for newer hardware into the boot.wim so you don't have to track them down. ASUS, MSI and ASROCK to name a few. You can do this yourself with dism and the add-driver switch. This is also useful for the NVMe and/or TPM 2.0 patch as Microsoft pulled it so you can install Windows 7 to NVMe storage.If you have them, you can inject the NVMe and TPM 2.0 updates into the install WIM as well. I talk about NVME and Windows 7 here.
With Microsoft charging for support past its original end, this Final may not be really the final. See what that entails!
This script is provided as-is; no warranty is provided or implied. The author is NOT responsible for any damages or data loss that may occur through the use of this script. Always test, test, test before rolling anything into a production environment.
I created a script to do all the work you can use. Not very pretty but it will get the job done and can be easily modified. It will perform the following:
- export all WIMs from the AIO
- run Jasons script against a few
- Create New WIM
- Split the WIM into SWM files
- Create ISO
