Create Windows 10 ISO image from Existing Installation  

balubeto said:

If, when creating a reference computer, I create two partitions in order to use the second partition to save the install.wim file, the whole procedure (the one and four parts) works equally?

Thanks

Bye

Yes.

In Audit mode, to do a thorough cleaning of all unnecessary information, it is enough to run the %SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr /sageset:65535 /sagerun:65535 command from the Run window because, in this mode, is used only the Administrator user. Right?

Thanks

Bye

IIRC, /sageset:65535 /sagerun:65535 flags are only used to store and recall the parameters of cleanmgr...

johngalt said:

IIRC, /sageset:65535 /sagerun:65535 flags are only used to store and recall the parameters of cleanmgr...

So, my command above achieves its goal even if it will not be run from a Command Prompt (run as Administrator) window?

Thanks

Bye

Everything done in Audit Mode, every command run is run elevated because you are signed in as built-in admin.

Kari said:

Everything done in Audit Mode, every command run is run elevated because you are signed in as built-in admin.

So if, from the desktop, I impart the Win+r and %SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe /sageset:65535 /sagerun:65535 commands, this last command is working properly?

Thanks

Bye

The tutorial has been mostly rewritten today to be more up to date with latest changes in Windows 10. Some additional steps required earlier have been removed and instructions somewhat simplified.

An example: Making ISO as told in Part One no longer requires Windows being reset which makes the whole process a lot faster and easier.

To remind you about various options, here's a quote from beginning of tutorial:

   Information

The ISO image made as per instructions in this tutorial will be based on an existing Windows 10 installation. Tutorial shows you three alternative methods to create an ISO image, depending on your needs:

• Part One: Standard Windows 10 ISO install media
  
  • An "Out of the box" ISO, as any standard Windows 10 ISO image you can download from Microsoft. Alternative for ESD to ISO and UUP to ISO methods
  • This ISO will be generalized meaning it is hardware independent and can be used to install Windows on any computer capable of running Windows 10, regardless if the machine is a legacy BIOS machine with MBR partitioning, or a UEFI machine with GPT partitioning
  
  
• Part Two: Custom ISO with pre-installed software & pre-set user accounts
  
  • This option creates a Windows 10 ISO which already contains your preferred user accounts with all their settings, customisations and personalisations, preferred pre-installed software and so on
  • Using this ISO to install Windows is much faster than installing with standard ISO, at the same time making installing your standard software unnecessary as it's already pre-installed
  • Clean install will skip OOBE (Windows Setup) because user accounts and settings already exist
  • As the ISO is not generalized and it contains all existing user accounts and data it should only be used to install Windows on your home computers
  
  
• Part Three: Custom ISO with pre-installed software, no user accounts
  
  • As in Part Two but a generalized ISO image without any pre-set user accounts, with pre-installed software, desktop, File Explorer and Start customisations
  • All customisations and personalisations will automatically be applied to all new user accounts
  • Clean install will perform a normal OOBE, asking for regional settings, initial user and so on
  • This ISO will be generalized meaning it is hardware independent and can be used to install Windows on any computer capable of running Windows 10, regardless if the machine is a legacy BIOS machine with MBR partitioning, or a UEFI machine with GPT partitioning

Select Part One, Two or Three to prepare Windows for image capture according to your needs, continue from Part Four to capture Windows install image and create the ISO image.

ISO images will be bootable on both BIOS / MBR and UEFI / GPT systems.

Kari

Thanks for updating the tutorial!

Awesome work, @Kari. I might have a go at making one of these super .ISOs here soon.

johngalt said:

Awesome work, @Kari. I might have a go at making one of these super .ISOs here soon.

Me too, John. So far, I've been too busy with my move from Texas to Arkansas, but things should lighten up pretty soon. Or not . . .