Question about win7 iso

[ninjanoob]

What is new in the 2018 august update?

[SnowBall]

As the name implies, updates. If you download those ISOs, you don't need to download and install all those updates before August 2018. Some people may dislike the Windows 7 telemetry updates integrated but you can always remove them.

[TearsInTheRain]

It would help if what "2018 august update" actually means was made more obvious. How about Win7 (inc. all updates to August 2018)?

As the only Win7 ISO downloads available my assumption was just that they were download sources updated in August 2018 and not that they also included the MS updates to that date. Knowing they Included the telemetry gathering ones could have well put me off entirely too.

I'm really just interested in this for informational purposes:-

As I pointed out in an earlier thread here the install.wim folder in the  Win7 downloads are not set up as for any of the Win7 original install/reinstall discs I have do. Those have sub-folders "Index1, 2, 3....etc" for each Win7 version. I'd like to understand why there is that difference and why it can not be mounted using the Deployment Image Servicing and Management Command Prompt: Dism /Mount-WIM /WimFile:C:\location path\sources\install.wim /Name:"Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL" /MountDir:C:\location path\offline.

No other Win7 name template works either yet this is using the preferred tool for slipstreaming Windows updates into an installer alongside MS Windows AIK (Automated Install Kit) for creating the ISO disc image. If those tools had been used in creating the Win7 august 2018 update then the "install.wim" folder would not have been changed in structure like it has been.

So how was the updating done because, it does look like someone has just copied the files from an existing PC into the "install.wim" folder?  

Edited August 8, 2019 by TearsInTheRain

[SnowBall]

Those folders you were talking about are called index(es). Each index is one SKU and that only happen in a multi-SKU image. All of the original Windows 7 discs and downloads are actually multi-SKU but only one SKU can be installed because they have the file ei.cfg (which pre-selects the SKU for you during the setup). You can export one single index of a multi-SKU image and it will look just as you described (no 1, 2, 3... folders). I haven't looked at those August updated images yet but I am assuming that install.wim contains only one index and maybe that will explain why.

Sometimes, you can install Windows to a computer, then install all updates, Sysprep and add everything back to a WIM file but I don't think Microsoft does that very often. I don't think that the August updated ISOs were done this way and I will take a look at those ISOs later to figure out exactly how they did it.

[TearsInTheRain]

The Win7 (August 2018 Update) Home Premium and Pro downloads here both have the install.wim folder set up identically as far as I can see. I'm assuming the content is correct for those two different versions but they are not presented in a single index folder. The content is actually in the root of the install.wim folder not in an index sub-folder for each version as you'd think would be the case ie. index 2 for HP and index 3 for Pro.

This was the main point of my post, basically asking whether this is really set up correctly. It might install OK this way but I do not know for sure. What I do know is that none of the genuine Win7 install/reinstall discs I own have the install.wim folder set up like that. They all have the four numbered index sub-folders for each version.

The fact I could not mount the extracted disc image using MS own Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool because it does not recognise the version suggests something may be wrong but I'm just guessing. That's why I'm hoping someone here who knows more can help.

There's also another thing I've found with the download which varies from original discs too. In the "sources" folder is an "embeddedutil.dll" which is not included on any of my genuine Win7 install discs. I've also checked my existing Win7 installation and it is not a DLL on that machine either. So, obvious question: why is it there? Its probably not doing a harm but it suggests, again, that the Win7 downloads here have been edited at some point. 

That information about the "........the file ei.cfg (which pre-selects the SKU for you during the setup)" is what I've read too. I've found it for my original discs and know how to edit it but in the downloads here it is missing. It would be in the same place in "sources" as that embeddedutil.dll. No idea if that is significant.

As I understand without the ei.cfg it means you will be asked to choose the Win7 version you want during install. Again, with only one version actually available, it seems a little odd that the ei.cfg has not just been edited rather than removed.  

     

Edited August 9, 2019 by TearsInTheRain