How to change a Windows 7 ISO to an all versions ISO

Necessities

You will need:

  • an USB we can convert to a bootable USB.
  • And of course, a Windows 7 ISO.
    Which you might still be able to find on the internet.
    I’ve removed my the Windows 7 ISO from my server because it used too much space for times downloaded ratio.
    Since February 2015 Microsoft has changed their ISO download page. Before that you could download any ISO as long as your had your product key.

The tutorial

The tutorial consist of two paragraphs.

  • Let’s Create a bootable USB with Windows 7.
  • Let’s change the Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO (Bootable USB)

If you already know how to create a bootable USB you can skip the blog post to the second paragraph.

We will create a bootable Windows 7 ISO with these versions:

  • Windows 7 Starter
  • Windows 7 Home Basic
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Ultimate

Let’s Create a bootable USB with Windows 7.

Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO
Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO.

You can only continue with these steps if you have a Windows 7 ISO.

To make a bootable USB you need a tool that can do this. I always use Rufus for this.
Click here to download Rufus.

The USB is formatted when using this tool. Make sure you have a backup, or an empty USB.

So, start Rufus.

Make sure to put File system on NTFS.
And Cluster size on 4096 (This is the default).
Name your Volume label to whatever you prefer. I’d choose Windows 7 image.
Click Start.

It will take awhile before Rufus finishes, but you’ll now have a bootable Windows 7 USB.


Let’s change the Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO (Bootable USB)

Now the bootable USB has been created we can start changing the windows 7 ISO to an all versions ISO.

Attach the USB to your device and open it in directory.
Open directory Sources.

Windows 7 USB to an all version Windows 7 USB
Windows 7 USB to an all version Windows 7 USB.

Search for ei.cfg.
Here we’ll have two options.

We can delete the file and the Windows 7 USB will automatically become an all versions Windows 7 USB.
This sounds like the easiest option to me, but if you’re sharing the USB with colleague’s and you only have a specific versions you could also change the USB to the specific version you want.

Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO
Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO.

Right click ei.cfg and choose Open with.
Select Notepad.
Ei.cfg will not be opened in Notepad as shown in the screenshot.

Windows 7 USB to an all version Windows 7 USB
Windows 7 USB to an all version Windows 7 USB.

So, my USB was an Home version. You can change the ‘Home’ to any version you like to change the Windows 7 version.

I’ve changed mine to an all versions one.
See the screenshot below.

Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO
Windows 7 ISO version to an all Windows 7 versions ISO.

Legacy Content

Yes, Windows 7 is legacy content.
Though, I don’t want to remove the blog post for nostalgic reasons.
So, the post has been updated on 19 July 2019.

Published by

Bas Wijdenes

My name is Bas Wijdenes and I work as a PowerShell DevOps Engineer. In my spare time I write about interesting stuff that I encounter during my work.

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