How to Create and Make Bootable Windows 7 ISO from EXE Plus Setup1.Box and Setup2.Box Files

For many people who order Windows 7 through online store such as Digital River, the download of Windows 7 ESD installation files (or 64bit Windows download links) is not in a single ISO image format, but as electronic digital distribution files. Instead, users will download and get an executable (.EXE) which name differs depending on the edition of Windows 7 ordered, plus Setup1.Box and Setup2.Box.

For example, the 3 files may be as follow:

Windows 7-HP-Retail-en-us-x86.exe or Windows 7-HP-Retail-en-us-x64.exe or Windows 7-P-Retail-en-us-x86.exe or Windows 7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe
setup1.box
setup2.box

For people who wants the ISO images (Windows 7 ISO can also be downloaded directly) instead, just follow the easy instructions below to create and make a bootable ISO image out of the downloaded files, which can be burned to a DVD disc for a bootable Windows 7 DVD disc.

Put all 3 downloaded files (the .exe, setup1.box and setup2.box) in the same folder (for this tutorial, let’s assume the files are put on C:\ else you need to modify the path accordingly).
Right click on each of three files, select Properties, and then click on Unblock button to prevent files from unable to be accessed. Click OK when done.
Run the .exe executable as administrator. It starts to unload the box (extract and unpack the installation content), and will create a new folder called expandedSetup, and will populate the folder with all necessary Windows 7 setup files, as shown in figure below.
Exit from Install Windows wizard dialog.
Download Oscdimg CD/DVD Premastering Utility: oscdimg.exe
Put the downloaded oscdimg.exe into %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32 folder.

Note: oscdimg is included in Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) as part of WinPE. So if you have that installed, there is no need to download the file again.
Open an elevated command prompt as administrator, and run the following command:
oscdimg.exe –bC:\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com –u2 –h -m -lWIN_EN_DVD C:\expandedSetup\ C:\Win7.iso

Above command assumes that expandedSetup folder is located at C:\ root directory. If it’s not, change accordingly. The -llabelname (note: it’s a small L, not 1) specify volume label, which can be changed, so do the output ISO file. Also remember that if the path contains space, use quotation mark (“) to enclose the full path.
A bootable Windows 7 DVD ISO image in UDF format will be created as Win7.iso in C:\ or any folder you specified above. Burn the newly created ISO with a CD/DVD burning software such as Nero, Ashampoo Burning Studio or Alcohol 120%. In Windows 7, burn the ISO direct from Windows 7 Explorer without third-party software. It’s also possible to create bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive with Windows 7 DVD/USB ISO Tool.

The created ISO is identical to official Windows 7 ISO for both full and retail version, and can be used to clean install Windows 7 with a upgrade license.

Update: Digital River is now also offering direct download of Windows 7 ISO.

180 Comments

Satya January 16, 2012 at 3:35 pm

Scanning source tree
ERROR: Failure enumerating files in directory “C:\USERS\SATYA\ûBC:\EXPANDEDSETUP
\BOOT\ETFSBOOT.COM\”
Error 123: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

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Suka January 12, 2012 at 2:33 am

Thanks a ton mate! I’ve been banging my head for days now and finally a solution. Was trying to install on VMware.

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ZACOO November 9, 2011 at 11:21 am

nstead, users will download and get an executable (.EXE) which name differs depending on the edition of Windows 7 ordered, plus Setup1.Box and Setup2.Box.

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nebiro October 30, 2011 at 3:18 am

i did all the tutorial, but its tells me the oscdimg.exe is not valid (it cannot recognize is exe for what i understand).

ive downloaded it from the link twice. :s

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mat September 13, 2011 at 10:33 pm

I followed the tutorial and was able to successfully burn the Win7.iso file. However, when I go to my C: drive, I am not able to see it there! I had around 4.7 GB space on my C: drive before I created the iso file. Now, it shows that I have only around 1.2 GB left, which means the iso file is on the C: drive!

So, the question is how can I find the final Win7.iso file on my C: drive, or remove it. Here is the command I used to burn the iso file.

C:WindowsSystem32>oscdimg.exe -bD:Windows7bootetfsboot.com -u2 -h -m -lWIN_EN_DVD D:Windows7 c:Win7.iso

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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pengchiaz August 16, 2011 at 7:07 am

Digitallife team rox! fully admire u all ! i think i found my another source of information of software tq o. veri details and useful too me

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Gilles July 21, 2011 at 7:12 am

Man you are a lifesaver… THANKS!!!!

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[...] burned to DVD disc directly or mount to a virtual DVD-ROM drive. User must first goes through the process to create a bootable Windows 7 DVD ISO image from these downloaded Windows 7 installation [...]

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michael June 9, 2011 at 7:32 am

this is my code:

oscdimg.exe –bC:win7ootetfsboot.com –u2 –h -m -l"win7" C:win7 C:Win7.iso

if you replace the "-"s after pasting, this code works if you have the expanded setup, which i renamed to "win7," on the C:. you want a simple name, fewer mistakes. and it creates the iso on the C: too.

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michael June 9, 2011 at 7:24 am

It works great, JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU !!HAVE!! TO REPLACE the "-"s once you rightclick/paste the code in the CMD. Just delete them and retype them, not all of the "special characters" can copy from windows into "DOS," this is why it doesn't work sometimes.

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USB Windows 7 Install May 6, 2011 at 11:10 am

[...] [...]

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Pedro April 13, 2011 at 6:09 am

Congratulations, i have a DVD but never i can boot wich hin, after read this topic i can extract DVD content in my computer and execute theses steps.

tanks a lot.

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[...] thinking you might need to make a bootable iso from the exe? like: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/1…up2-box-files/ could be wrong though, i've never heard of installing windows 7 through an exe [...]

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ak March 12, 2011 at 10:02 am

Hey GMC nice post… could you upload the oscdimg.exe to megaupload or uploading.com and post the link in these comments? I cant seem to download from depositfiles…

Any effort would be highly appreciated

Thank You

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Me March 4, 2011 at 6:06 am

GMC – YOU ROCK!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

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Jim February 25, 2011 at 2:49 pm

Thanks for the post. I got Error 123 when I ran the command. I had copy/pasted it from here. When I typed it in manually it worked. As GMC said in post 158, just retype the "-" signs and it should run.

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Jolly February 21, 2011 at 10:25 pm

Thanks a lot !!!! .. Worked like a charm ..

For those of you who had a little trouble in making the elevated command prompt work :

1. Its not "-1" (number 1) its "-l" (small L)..

2. There is a space between "C:expandedsetup" and "C:win7.iso".

Hope it works for u too … Cheers

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vikash February 13, 2011 at 4:37 am

I have contents as BOOT,EFI etc in another folder i put them in a folder name expandedsetup in H (my system drive) then insert following command in command prompt run as administrator

oscdimg.exe –bH:expandedSetupootetfsboot.com –u2 –h -m -lWIN_EN_DVD H:expandedSetup H:Win7.iso

it says error 123 andfailure in enumariting file ……..

please write commands for me

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John January 30, 2011 at 7:54 am

I am getting the message:

ERROR: Invalid flag "-1"

Any idea how to get around this?

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Ameensalam January 14, 2011 at 6:11 am

Great tip,very much helpful-Thank you

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Imacellist January 10, 2011 at 8:05 pm

Thank you gmc for that post. I was having a problem running that file and its working now perfectly when I did what you said. Look at post 158 if you are having problems.

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concord December 21, 2010 at 3:35 pm

Thanks for this great article man. after searching for so long and wasting a lot of time, I came across your article.I thank you for the helpful and easy to follow article. keep up the good work

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gmc December 12, 2010 at 4:42 am

If you copy and paste the command lines into the command window, beware that the minus signs for argument delimiting may get corrupted. You may then get an error message "Failure enumerating filed in dirctory …" and there will be a u character with a cirumflex accent over it in the displayed path. To fix, just delete the minus signs in the command line and retype each one.

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Tony December 10, 2010 at 5:50 am

Thankyou for the post. and thankyou commentor #106 ^^

Reply
Deno November 23, 2010 at 7:01 pm

Great tutorial ! worked like magic…. great website

Thanks once again

everything worked to perfection… just 1 q

does this work with win7 upgrade disc

Im sure it does hahahha

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HK October 23, 2010 at 12:49 pm

thank you ….good tutorial…was very helpful

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[...] [...]

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sjw October 1, 2010 at 11:29 am

Thanks you! this was so helpful…

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Todd September 27, 2010 at 8:04 am

ps =- You need quotes around the path names for your oscdimg command to work

Also, if you are trying to upgrade from 32bit to 64 , you will get an error at the end of unpacking. Ignore it and procede with these instructions : you should have all the files.

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