[RESOLVED] Create Win 7 ISO DVD

[Welshjim]

Quite frequently advice is given here to someone without a Win 7 installation DVD to download the ISO file from DigitalRiver.com and burn the ISO file to a DVD.
I have downloaded ISO files from TechNet and used them to burn to DVD. I have successfully used the ISO file on the DVD to install MS applications without further ado.
Now I have seen this article
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...usbdvd_dwnTool
which seems to say a Download Tool is necessary to burn the ISO file to the DVD.
I have never used such a Download Tool. Are the ISO files from Digital River and Microsoft Store different from those from TechNet or?
Can someone please explain?

[Shinma]

Short version answer,
The Microsoft "Tool" is used to create a bootable USB flash drive, containing all the files replacing need for DVD disc.

[Welshjim]

Shinma--Thanks for replying. But your answer does not quite seem to jibe with the info in the link I gave earlier.
Here is a quote from the link above
"If you choose to download an ISO file (so that you can create a bootable file from a DVD or USB flash drive), copy your Windows 7 ISO file onto your media and, run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. After you do this, you can install Windows 7 onto your computer directly from the USB flash drive or DVD."

That seems to say that whether creating a DVD or USB Flash drive, it will be bootable, whereas, combined with your comment, if the Download Tool is not used, the DVD or USB drive will not be bootable.
Is that the correct interpretation of the reason for use of the Download Tool?
If so, I guess all the DVD's I made of Windows from TechNet downloads are not bootable. ????

[dneilson]

"I guess all the DVD's I made of Windows from TechNet downloads are not bootable. ????".

Try one and find out.

[Steve R Jones]

Jim - all most any cd/dvd app like Roxio can make a bootable DVD from an ISO file...

What exactly is "your" goal?

[Welshjim]

Steve R Jones --Thanks. I use IMGBurn to create the ISO files on a DVD. The DVD's I create work just fine as installation DVD's. Are you saying they should be bootable even without use of the Download Tool? That is what I always had assumed before reading http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...usbdvd_dwnTool .

dneilson--I am not sure I understand your post. I have had no reason to use the ISO disks I made from TechNet to boot. What sort of test do you propose? BIOS is set up to boot from CD/DVD first. Of course it skips to HD when there is no DVD in the DVD drive.

I am disappointed at the response I have received when asking for understanding of the purpose/function of the Download Tool.
To simplify my question:
Is it making the DVD's from those ISO files bootable as opposed to not bootable if I just burn the TechNet ISO files to DVD using IMGBurn but not Download Tool?

[dneilson]

"I guess all the DVD's I made of Windows from TechNet downloads are not bootable. ???? ". That says you don't know if some DVD's you made are bootable or not--I suggested you try one to see if it indeed boots, then you'll know. Set the Bios to boot from the DVD first, put a DVD in the drive, power down then power up and see if it boots to the DVD. That seems so straight forward and simple I must not understand your problem.

[SpywareDr]

The Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool can be used to create a Live USB,

Wikipedia: Live USB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB

as well as to create a DVD.

Wikipedia: List of tools to create Live USB systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB_tools

[Welshjim]

See Post #11
OK, so I put a TechNet Win 7 ISO disk into the DVD drive and turned the PC on. I was offered to press any key to boot from CD/DVD. I did. But I wound up at the Install/Repair window and not Desktop. So I guess the TechNet ISO files, just burned to a DVD and not using the Download Tool, are not bootable.

This confirms the conclusion I reached in Post #3.
Or am I using an incorrect IMGBurn setting since I am not making a bootable disk? (I have always used "Write Image file to disk".)

Has anyone here used the Download Tool? (Strange name since it seems to have nothing to do with downloading.)

Finally, I see this on the Download Tool website. "This tool is only for use with the Windows 7 ISO file purchased from Microsoft Store."

[SpywareDr]

By "download" they may mean it downloads the necessary files onto the USB drive (or DVD)?

[Welshjim]

A followup to post #9. I used Download Tool to burn a Win 7 installation ISO file. I used the DVD to boot. Again I wound up at the Install/Repair window and not Desktop. Maybe I should have proceeded with one of the Repair/Recovery choices, but I was chicken.
So darned if I know what the difference is between using Download Tool and not using it on a TechNet OS installation ISO file.

[SpywareDr]

Note: You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool ...

.

[Welshjim]

SpywareDr--" You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool "

I do not know where that quote came from. Or why you mention that now.
It is incorrect. I have burned all my TechNet ISO files to DVDs. These DVDs work fine as installation files and I never used the Download Tool until today as mentioned in Post #11.
The purpose today was to test whether a DVD created using the Download Tool performs differently from the DVDs I made from ISO files downloaded from TechNet without using the Download Tool. It did not.

My original question was what the Download Tool does that is different. The answer seems to be that it supposedly makes bootable DVDs.
But maybe that is only for ISO files downloaded from Microsoft Store.

------------
I feel I do not write clearly enough.

[Welshjim]

All--When you use a "bootable" Win7 OS disk do you go to Install|Repair, and from Repair to Recovery before going to Desktop?

[SpywareDr]

SpywareDr--" You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool "

I do not know where that quote came from. Or why you mention that now.
It is incorrect.

http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en...-Download-Tool

Note: You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool and install from there.

If that statement is incorrect, you need to take it up with Microsoft.