Installing Windows 7 from an .ISO inside an image file

[NT Five]

I am trying to install Windows 7 from an .ISO inside an image file using Grub4DOS.

Here is the code:

title Install Windows 7
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /IMAGES.TAG
map /7.img (hd0)
map /Windows/INSTALL/7.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

The Windows setup starts up just fine but can't continue.
It pops up a dialog box stating it needs a CD/DVD driver.

Does anyone here know what kind of driver it's looking for ?

Edited March 22, 2020 by NT Five

[NT Five]

Here is working Grub4DOS code for Windows XP:

title Install Windows XP
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /IMAGES.TAG
map --mem /Windows/INSTALL/D1 (fd1)
map --mem (md)0x6000+800 (fd0)
map /XP.vhd (hd0)
map --mem /Windows/INSTALL/xp.iso (0xff)
map --hook
dd if=(fd1) of=(fd0) count=1
chainloader (0xff)

D1 is a floppy image containing the WinVblock driver.

This approach doesn't seem to work for Windows 7

[jaclaz]

Do you want a working code or understand the issue?

If the latter, read this (I know it is difficult to follow, but it was at the time "work in progress"):

http://reboot.pro/topic/9076-the-mistery-of-windows-7-install-required-cddvd/

starting from that a few different methods were developed.

Basically you need IMDISK or a similar virtual CD/DVD driver to re-mount the .iso, I believe the most methods can be found on rmprepusb.com, this is the "original" method:

https://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/winiso

and this is using firadisk:

https://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/firawiniso

jaclaz

[NT Five]

Hi Jaclaz,

Your links are interesting but I prefer working code because I don't have time to spend hours reading forum threads and experimenting.

I don't want to install and use Windows 7 but I have to if I want to keep my job.

I strongly dislike all NT 6 OSes and I just want to set it up, set the theme to Windows Classic and forget it ever happened. 

NT Five

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by NT Five

[jaclaz]

The working code is in the two links on rmprepusb.com, as said it is not only a matter of the grub4dos menu entries, as you need a windows driver to re-,mount the cd/dvd.

You can anyway use the menu entries there and do the mounting manually, pressing Shift+F10 when booted in the PE and running the .cmd from the command line prompt.

 

Quote

For a quick and dirty method of adding Windows Vista/7 ISOs to your existing grub4dos USB drive (and if you don't mind having to type a few command line commands each time) see the ADDENDUM at the end of this tutorial.

https://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/winiso#top

The Winiso.zip containing the imdisk driver and the batches you can get from here:

https://www.rmprepusb.com/documents/rmprepusb-beta-versions/WINISO.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

but as well you can install Imdisk and mount the iso manually.

Though there may be new approaches, that one has always worked.

jaclaz

[NT Five]

I'm not sure I understand.

"when booted in the PE"; you mean inside the Windows setup ?
I'm not using Windows PE,

[NT Five]

title Install Windows 7

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /IMAGES.TAG
map /7.img (hd0)
map /Windows/INSTALL/7.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

Just to clarify; 7.img is an empty NTFS formatted image.

[jaclaz]

Yep, the Windows (Vista and later) environment (Setup) that boots from DVD (or mapped iso image)  is a PE.

There may be different implementations in the sense that the Shift+F10 to open a command prompt might work on first screen, though it has been reported that in some cases you need to get to the second one:

https://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/winiso#top

Quote

2. The Setup should start. Press SHIFT+F10 - a command prompt window should open. If it does not, just proceed to the next screen and try again. Keep doing this until you get a command prompt Window (some versions allow you to do this on the first screen, some do not!)

Then, you will have ANOTHER issue if you want to install the Windows 7 to the 7.img.

Just as you won't see from the PE (Setup) the 7.iso until you will have it mapped with IMDISK, you won't see the 7.img until you will have mapped it with a suitable driver (Imdisk won't likely work[1] for this and you will need either Firadisk or WinvBlock or similar).

http://reboot.pro/topic/13738-win7vblock/

jaclaz

[1] it has to be seen, IMdisk does not connect to the mount manager, but since your image is already partitioned with a volume already formatted it may work

Edited March 22, 2020 by jaclaz