For Windows users who installed or upgraded Windows Vista, there is one
big difference that will be immediately noticed when installing or
upgrading to Windows 7: The Windows 7 installation wizard no longer
prompts, or asks, for the user to select which edition of the operating
system to install. Instead, each Windows 7 DVD disc will automatically
install the specific edition which it’s limited to. So a Windows 7 Home
Premium disc will only install Windows 7 HP, a Pro disc will only
install Pro, etc.
Although Microsoft does not provide any such universal Windows 7
installation media, the function is indeed feasible. (see Screenshot
below) A disc such as this can be especially helpful to PC technicians,
IT staff, and the like who need to reinstall Windows 7 frequently.
Remember you will still need a valid license key specific to the version
you are installing. In addition, Microsoft has eliminated the
differences between the retail and OEM install discs with Windows 7, so
this disc can be used to reinstall Windows 7 on PC’s where the owner has
lost, or is unable to find, the OEM restore discs. In order to create
such a disc; just delete and remove the ei.cfg from any Windows 7 ISO to
convert that image into a universal disc for all editions of Windows 7.
Note
If you do not have a Windows 7 with
SP1 ISO, then you can download the latest official Windows 7
with SP1 ISO file here:
For any user who has the Windows 7 install DVD or ISO and wishes to make
a universal installer disc now there is an easier way to modify the ISO.
Normally this was accomplished by manually unpacking and extracting the
contents of the ISO image (or copying files from DVD to HDD), deleting
the ei.cfg and then repacking the installation files back into an ISO to
burn. Users can now eliminate these tedious procedures by making use of
the “ei.cfg Removal Utility”.
The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple tool that will disable the ei.cfg
from any Windows 7 ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a
“universal disc” that will prompt the user to select their preferred
edition during setup. The ei.cfg Removal Utility works directly to patch
the ISO image, by toggling the deletion bit in the UDF file table to
instruct the operating system to ignore and remove ei.cfg, or treat it
as if it does not exist. Best of all, the ei.cfg Removal Utility can
reverse the patching to restore the ISO disc image to its original state
when the tool is been used to apply on a disc image that previously been
patched by the utility.
The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a standalone portable app, and requires no
installation. In fact, the program does not have much of a user
interface at all. Simply selecting the target Windows 7 ISO, and the
disc image (ISO) will be patched right away. So make sure a
backup copy of your ISO is created beforehand.
STAGE 2 UNIVERSAL DVD - ALL 32 AND ALL 64 BIT ON 1 DVD
I was amazed at how easy it is to merge Windows 7 x86 and Windows 7 x64
editions (DVDs) in a single DVD or 4GB USB. The process is pretty
simple, you need a copy of both any 32 bit and any 64 bit Windows 7
install DVD or ISO. Either copy the DVD's contents to a folder on a HDD,
or extract the ISO's contents to a folder. Run 4 commands from the
prompt, then create and burn your new Universal install DVD/USB.
Windows Windows 7 x86 and Windows Windows
7 x64 DVDs.
An application that can extract the files from
an ISO (if using a downloaded ISO). I use WinRAR, but many apps can
do this extraction.
An application that allows you to build
a new iso or create a bootable DVD/USB. I use UltraISO for this.
Single Layer DVD, compatible DVD Burner and, of course DVD burning
software… or a 4GB USB flash drive.
We will merge the four
Windows 7 x64 editions into the Windows 7 x86 DVD contents, because
Windows 7 x64 DVD has 64-bit content that can’t run some of the Win32
installation components.
Getting Started
1. Install WAIK in your Windows (doesn’t matter you are running Windows
7 or Windows XP)
2. Make two folders, in my examples I use Win7_64 and Win7_32. Now copy
both Windows 7 x64 and x86 DVDs contents into their respective folders.
Or extract your downloaded ISO’s into their respective folder.
Note
If copying files over from a DVD
to the above folders, you actually only need the
Sources\install.wim file from the Windows 7 x64 DVD.
3. Run WAIK command prompt (Run as Administrator if UAC enabled):
Start à All Programs àWindows AIK àWindows AIK and PE Command Prompt
4. Each and every Windows 7 edition has an index no. in the install.wim
(WIM file), you can check using the following command:
Code:
Imagex/info G:\Win7_32\Sources\install.wim
Note
Where G:\Win7_32 represents the
location of your 32 bit DVD files
The results will look something like above.
This shows that INDEX=1 denotes Windows 7 Starter and so on… (you may
have to scroll down to observe these entries)
5. We will use the Imagex /export command to move our x64 WIM entries
into the x86 wim file.
6. After execution of above commands Win7_32's WIM file will be the
universal WIM file that contains all version of Windows 7. You can
export only desired versions into the image. For example you could make
a Windows 7 DVD, which includes Windows 7 Ultimate x86 and x64 version
only.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Homebrew PC - "Alpha_Dawg"
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Steve Ballmer Signature Edition
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad - Q9550 - 2.83GHz stock - OC'd to 3.6GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Memory 4GB DDR2
800MHz (PC6400) OCZ Reaper Graphics Card Nvidia GE
Force 8800 GTS Sound Card Asus Xonar DX
Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD Screen
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Keyboard MS Natural Wireless KB Mouse MS
Wireless Mouse PSU PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Case Gigabyte 3D Aurora Cooling Case is Air -
5ea. 120mm fans (mix of Arctic and Xigmatec) Hard
Drives WD Caviar Black 750GB - 7200RPM - 32MB cache WD
Caviar Green 1.5TB - 5400RPM - 64MB cache WD Caviar Green 2.0TB
- 5400RPM - 64MB cache Internet Speed 50 mbps
down/5 mbps up Other Info AVerMedia - AVerTVHD G2
Dual Tuner Card
OS Windows 7 x64 and x86 CPU Q8200
Motherboard Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Memory Patriot
6400LL 2GBx4 ddr2-800 Graphics Card ASUS 9600GSO
Monitor(s) Displays Sony 19 Screen Resolution
1280x1024
Keyboard Lenovo 101 Mouse Microsoft Wireless
IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 PSU Antec SmartPower 350w
Case Antec Cooling Intel box cpu cooling
Hard Drives WD 80G SATA I Seagate 80G SATA I
Internet Speed slow dsl
that is what I need to do. thumbdrive installs so much faster than a
DVD.
My current thumbdrive is only x86 so now I am going to attempt to
make the dual version.. thanks.
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model
Number Built them myself, Science Experiments ! OS
Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM
on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) CPU AMD fx8350 4ghz, AMD-32
2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G Motherboard SIS
755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), GigaByte & others Memory
2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM, 32gb on FX8350
Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards
Sound Card on motherboard Monitor(s) Displays 19"
flat scr, 28" I-Inc widescr,22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer
Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080
Keyboard Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill Mouse
Made in China Optical Wired Mouse PSU 430w, 550w,
600w, 700, 800, etc Case All Generic Full Towers
Cooling Open Air & a few fans, some w/ colored LEDs
Hard Drives 6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's added 80gb
external on Ult 7600 computer, numerous extra 1tb, 2TB, 3Tb SATA
HD's A collection of ext HD Docks w/ HDs Internet Speed
Fast Cable InterNet Antivirus AVG Free on 24
different Desktops, NO Problems! Browser IE 8 is
preferred, but use FireFox sometimes Other Info
Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs Too Many USB Flash Drives to
count, Biggest is 64GB ! Eight computers in my home network.
Sixteen computers at my business network. Linked via TeamViewer
! Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere!
System Manufacturer/Model Number Homebrew PC - "Alpha_Dawg"
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Steve Ballmer Signature Edition
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad - Q9550 - 2.83GHz stock - OC'd to 3.6GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Memory 4GB DDR2
800MHz (PC6400) OCZ Reaper Graphics Card Nvidia GE
Force 8800 GTS Sound Card Asus Xonar DX
Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD Screen
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Keyboard MS Natural Wireless KB Mouse MS
Wireless Mouse PSU PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Case Gigabyte 3D Aurora Cooling Case is Air -
5ea. 120mm fans (mix of Arctic and Xigmatec) Hard
Drives WD Caviar Black 750GB - 7200RPM - 32MB cache WD
Caviar Green 1.5TB - 5400RPM - 64MB cache WD Caviar Green 2.0TB
- 5400RPM - 64MB cache Internet Speed 50 mbps
down/5 mbps up Other Info AVerMedia - AVerTVHD G2
Dual Tuner Card
I have not added Enterprise to mine,, but having All the versions in
both 32bit and 64bot on one stick in one WIM file is pretty cool.
And it takes up one 4G stick, not sure how much if anything adding
both Enterprise to it would add.
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been
authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft
Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of
Microsoft Corp.
Note
Quote: Originally Posted by Darryl Licht 
