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linux:win-boot-usb

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Create custom Win USB install

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install woeusb
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update

or build manually from git: 

git clone https://github.com/slacka/WoeUSB.git
cd WoeUSB/
./setup-development-environment.bash
sudo apt-get install devscripts equivs gdebi-core
mk-build-deps
sudo gdebi woeusb-build-deps_*.deb
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -b
sudo gdebi ../woeusb*.deb

identify USB stick's device 

lsblk and/or
sudo blkid

Create adjustable USB stick from Windows ISO file 

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

sudo woeusb --target-filesystem NTFS --device win_10.iso /dev/sdb

or use 

woeusbgui

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/create-a-bootable-windows-10-usb-in-linux/

Create bootable win7 USB drive in linux

https://askubuntu.com/questions/289559/how-can-i-create-a-windows-bootable-usb-stick-using-ubuntu

Plug in USB Drive
check the device name using dmesg | tail
unmount the drive if it was mounted automatically while /dev/sdX is the device name shown in dmesg 

sudo umount /dev/sdX1

Partition using fdisk: 

sudo fdisk /dev/sdX
  1. Type p and Enter to print the current partition table.
  2. Delete all the current partitions by typing d then Enter for each partition.
  3. Type n and Enter. Type p and Enter. Type 1 and then type Enter three times to create one new primary partition that uses all available space.
  4. Type t and Enter (Partition 1 is automatically selected because it’s the only partition). Type 7 and Enter to change the type to HPFS/NTFS/exFAT.
  5. Type a and Enter. Type 1 and Enter to turn on the Boot flag.
  6. To verify everything worked, type p and Enter and make sure the Boot column has an asterisk (*) set and the Id column is set to 7.
  7. Finally, type w and Enter to write the changes.
sfdisk /dev/sdX <<EOF
label: dos
unit: sectors
type=7, bootable
EOF

format the first partition with ntfs: 

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g
sudo mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sdX1

or: use gparted using GUI

Add Grub bootloader: 

#MBR instructions (note: EFI does not support NTFS!)
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/usb
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb
sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc --boot-directory="/mnt/usb/boot" /dev/sdX


cat <<EOF >/mnt/usb/boot/grub/grub.cfg
default=1  
timeout=15
color_normal=light-cyan/dark-gray
menu_color_normal=black/light-cyan
menu_color_highlight=white/black
 
menuentry "Start Windows Installation" {
    insmod ntfs
    insmod search_label
    search --no-floppy --set=root --label dos --hint hd0,msdos1
    ntldr /bootmgr
    boot
}

menuentry "Boot from the first hard drive" {
    insmod ntfs
    insmod chain
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod part_gpt
    set root=(hd1)
    chainloader +1
    boot
}
EOF

mount usb drive 

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/usb
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb

mount win7 iso (iso needs to be available locally): 

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/iso
sudo mount -o loop /tmp/en_windows_7_professional_x64_dvd_X15-65805.iso /mnt/iso

copy win7 iso content to usb: 

sudo cp -av /mnt/iso/* /mnt/usb/

copy any additional software, drivers etc to usb drive, then unmount it.

Add Drivers to Boot Image

If specific drivers are required for the installation like USB3 Host adapter drivers, follow these steps to add them to the boot/install image:

https://wimlib.net/

Download wimtools, libntfs-3g88 and libwim15 from:
https://packages.debian.org/sid/libwim15
and install them using 

sudo dpkg -i x.deb

mount the windows usb stick and go to the sources directory

in there you'll find a boot.wim and install.wim file.

make a backup copy of both just in case.

use wiminfo to list the images contained in the wim file. 

sudo apt-get install wimtools dos2unix

To add a folder to an image, use this command:

create a commands.txt file and list all directories that need to be added: 

add /home/drivers /DELL_DRIVERS
wimupdate boot.wim imageno. < commands.txt

repeat with install.wim and the required image number for the windows version.

Unattended Windows install

An autoattend.xml file can be created using this website: http://www.windowsafg.com/win7x86_x64.html

Mount the USB stick, create/copy/adjust an autoattend.xml file and either copy it in the root of the usb stick in MSDOS format or embed it into the Windows boot image.
Windows setup will use the xml file in the root automatically when the setup recognises the device as a removable media. USB HDDs, redirected USB drives for VirtualBox and even some USB sticks etc are considered as fixed drives and the autoattend.xml file on those is being ignored. In this case, the only option is to embed it into the boot image: 

sudo apt-get install wimtools dos2unix
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/usb /mnt/loopback
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb
sudo wimmountrw /mnt/usb/sources/boot.wim 2 /mnt/loopback
sudo cp autounattend.xml /mnt/loopback
sudo unix2dos /mnt/loopback/autounattend.xml
sudo wimunmount /mnt/loopback --commit
sudo umount /mnt/usb

Example script: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
                    <Key>XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX</Key>
                </ProductKey>
                <FullName>Information Technology Services</FullName>
                <Organization>Amati Global Investors</Organization>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
                <Disk>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Path>net user administrator /active:yes</Path>
                    <Order>1</Order>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
            </RunSynchronous>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <FilterLevel>High</FilterLevel>
            <ShowInformationBar>false</ShowInformationBar>
            <DisableAccelerators>true</DisableAccelerators>
            <DisableDevTools>true</DisableDevTools>
            <DisableFirstRunWizard>true</DisableFirstRunWizard>
            <DisableOOBAccelerators>true</DisableOOBAccelerators>
            <Home_Page>http://www.google.com</Home_Page>
            <SearchScopes>
                <Scope wcm:action="add">
                    <ScopeDefault>true</ScopeDefault>
                    <ScopeDisplayName>Google</ScopeDisplayName>
                    <ScopeKey>SearchProvider1</ScopeKey>
                    <ScopeUrl>http://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}</ScopeUrl>
                </Scope>
            </SearchScopes>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-ErrorReportingCore" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DisableWER>1</DisableWER>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>2057:00000809</InputLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
                <SkipUserOOBE>false</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>password</Value>
                            <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Name>UserName</Name>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
                <AdministratorPassword>
                    <Value>secretadminpassword</Value>
                    <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                </AdministratorPassword>
            </UserAccounts>
            <TimeZone>GMT Standard Time</TimeZone>
            <ComputerName>PC-WULF</ComputerName>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>
linux/win-boot-usb.txt · Last modified: 2023/05/29 11:55 by 127.0.0.1