Now that the ISO file is properly 'burned' to the USB drive, you can boot from it and then continue with whatever it is you're using this bootable drive for. For example, if you've put a memory testing program on a flash drive, you can now boot from that flash drive and test your RAM with it. Using Rufus takes four simple steps: Select your USB drive from the Device dropdown menu. Click Select by the Boot selection drop down and locate your Windows ISO file. Give your USB drive a descriptive title in the Volume Label text box. Choose the menu 'File Properties' to set the iso file properties. Click on the 'Save' button on toolbar, or click on the 'File Save As.' Choose the menu 'Action Boot Add Boot Information' to load a bootable image file. Save the iso file to 'Standard ISO Images (.iso)' format. To make bootable CD, please burn the iso file to a blank CD / DVD disc. Well, if you are searching for a free utility that allows users to select an ISO file, a DVD or even a folder as a boot disk source, then you need to install WiNToBootic. WiNToBootic is a portable tool that doesn’t need installation and it can be used to create a bootable USB flash drive.
- Create Boot Disk From Iso Mac
- Boot Disk From Iso
- Create Boot Disk From Iso Image
- Make Usb Boot Disk From Iso
The other day I decided to upgrade and rebuild my test PC. This is simply a machine I can use for installing and trying out software as well as trying slightly more adventurous things out I wouldn’t, or couldn’t do on my normal machine. Sometimes a virtual machine might do the job, but often there’s no substitute for getting the required tasks done on real hardware for the most accurate results. Some of you will probably have an old second PC or laptop and use it in a similar way.
One thing you do want when using a system that you know is going to have issues, is a complete backup of the operation system. The System Restore option or snapshot software like Comodo Time Machine might get things back running, but there’s nothing like restoring the Windows installation to a known completely clean and stable state.
Bearing that in mind, I made a bootable USB stick and created some backups using EaseUs Todo Backup Workstation. Unfortunately, I put the recovery files on a slow stick and it took forever to boot into the backup software. It was then I remembered that there exists the ability to take an ISO image and get it to boot from hard drive using the Windows Vista and 7 Boot Manager. This would make booting into the recovery environment far quicker and also removes the need to use a CD or plug in a USB stick every time.
The software I used to achieve this is EasyBCD from Neosmart Technologies and it’s free for non commercial use. EasyBCD has a large amount of options for editing and creating entries for the Windows Bootloader and has helped me out quite a few times. Although the program does not come as a portable version, you can simply create your own by opening the installer and extracting it with 7zip.There are also options to mount Virtual Hard Disk images, WinPE Ram disks, Floppy images and Raw disk / partition images. The option to be looked at here is the ISO function which will put an entry into the boot menu and then boot from the ISO you have selected. Firstly start the program, you will begin in the View settings window which shows the current entries in the Boot Manager.
As incorrectly making changes to the Boot menu could potentially cause none of your operating systems to boot, it’s a good idea to make a backup of the Bootloader settings first. Click ‘BCD Backup/Repair‘, choose a location to save the backup to and then click ‘Backup settings‘.
To create the ISO Boot Manager entry:
1. Click the ‘Add New Entry‘ button.
2. In the Portable/External Media window click the ISO tab.
3. In the Name: box, enter the text to appear on the Windows boot menu
4. For the Mode: dropdown, use Load from memory if your ISO is relatively small (less than ~200MB). Select Run from Disk for anything bigger.
5. Point to the ISO file you want to boot from in the Path: box. Make sure not to move or rename the file after adding it to the menu or it obviously won’t boot.
6. Click Add Entry.
If you go back to the View settings window, the new entry should now be entered into the list. There will be a new folder called ‘NST’ created in the root of the partition where the Bootloader is located, make sure not to delete it. Close EasyBCD.
Now when you reboot your Vista or Win 7 machine the options will be visible on the Windows Boot Manager and are selectable like any other option. You may have to scroll down to see all the entries if you have entered quite a few.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do be aware that not all ISO’s will work using this boot method and Linux distro’s are known to be a little troublesome. All the images in the above screenshot worked fine, but for example, Parted Magic did not work from Hirens Boot CD but works fine using its own standalone image. The Hiren MiniXP and the older Hiren version of RIP Linux work OK though. Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 did not work. Although I have not tried this myself, I have heard of someone successfully mounting and installing Windows 7 using this method. It is simply a case of try it and see.
This method is obviously dependent on being able to get to the Windows Boot Manager in the event of a system crash. It is highly recommended NOT to try this on your main / only machine if you are not 100% confident you know what you are doing.
Download EasyBCD
You might also like:
How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and XP3 Ways to Run Bootable ISO Image Files Directly in WindowsDisable Third Party Services and Programs for a Clean Boot in WindowsBoot your Computer From USB Even If the BIOS Doesn’t Support itXBoot Easily Creates a Multi Boot USB Drive or ISO ImageNo More Crying for Blue Or Other screen :D
ReplyHi All, EasyBCD’s functioning for UEFI is very limited & one would need to use something like EasyUEFI for this particular functioning !
ReplyAwesome sharing man!!! very useful @ certain times like Windows crashes or boot time bluescreen errors
ReplyFor WinPE images, don’t use the boot from ISO tool in EasyBCD since it doesn’t boot correctly. Instead, extract the WinPE ISO wherever you want. Then in EasyBCD choose Add new entry > WinPE > Navigate to the folder where you extracted the ISO > Choose sourcesboot.wim. This will boot the WinPE WIM file instead of the ISO.
ReplyHello Raymond, you mentioned Hiren’s MiniXP could be added using EasyBCD but… how??
I have tried the ISO option using the XP.BIN since there is no ISO in Hiren’s MiniXP folder but it only boots to a grub console.
Just looking for this issue in the net…
and as usual… the search ends at your site…
No more need to be said!
Thanks!
i will use this no doubt use this to use my windows 7 sp1 iso incase something goes wrong… great idea one of the strongest hardest things to break in windows is the boot menu.
Reply
I know this is an old post but i have been gone along time. Ray you have posted so much i need to catch up on i just created a Raymond.CC folder in favorites and add the article for later reference there is so much and no way i could absorb iut all. your the best
ReplyIt’s actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m satisfied that you simply shared this useful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyThanks!
Replyhi!
firstly, thanks for this articulate article. this could be of big use for those not yet exposed in retrieving / restoring Windows installation to a known completely clean and stable state.
but i thought it was raymond himself the author and then found our it is …hal9000.
anyway, i thought this may be of help too! once, raymond himself posted about using macrium reflect, the free edition(version 4.2, build number 3141). I still use it and it’s hassle-free!
-@bsoluto:)
Great great tutorial and software with excellent suggestions! I have used a number of backup and disk mirror strategies in the past, but this really seems like a fine and easy method to insure a stable alternate recovery with a known OS image. I might also suggest that one might easily create an updated ISO image with your existing documents and settings, using any of several reliable ISO burning tools, such as Magic ISO or WINISO, etc.
Thanks a lot for this, I will definitely play with this strategy and duplicate for clients and friends if it proves as easy as I think it will be. :-)
ReplyI read about similar operation to boot hirens boot cd from windows boot manager. Thanks for completing this procedure.
ReplyHello, Raymond,
could you write more for Mac users?
I suppose that I am not the only one who need more good quality assistance about Mac
Best wishes
Bob
Thanks Ray. I always use this software during dual boot.
ReplyWow…Good Tutorial.
ReplyI was surprised when I was reading this article’s title, terrific article hal9000.
ReplyLeave a Reply
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| Overview News Download UBCD Download CDR Labels Make a Donation Linking to UBCD Getting a Physical Copy Frequently Asked Questions Forums/Mailing Lists Tutorials Customizing UBCD Version History You Can Help! How it all started Acknowledgements User Feedback Useful Links UBCD Live *BETA* |
Create Boot Disk From Iso Mac
Current release: 5.3.9
Ultimate Boot CD is completely free for the download, or could be obtained for a small fee. If you had somehow paid a ridiculous amount of money for it, you have most likely been fleeced. The least you could do is to make as many copies of the offical UBCD and pass it to your friends, relatives, colleagues or even complete strangers to minimize the per unit cost of your loss!
Boot Disk From Iso
Please note that some of the freeware on UBCD explicitly prohibits redistribution for commercial purposes eg. DIMM_ID. If you intend to resell UBCD for commercial gains, please contact the respective authors for their permissions.
If you like trying out new stuff, please check out an early beta version of UBCD Live and give us your feedback. This is a Live Rescue CD based on Debian, which we hope will eventually be good enough to replace Parted Magic.
You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:
- Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.
- Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.
- Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn't you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!
- Run Ultimate Boot CD from your USB memory stick. A script on the CD prepares your USB memory stick so that it can be used on newer machines that supports booting from USB devices. You can access the same tools as you would from the CD version.
Create Boot Disk From Iso Image
New features in UBCD V5.x include:
- New! The Linux-based distro Parted Magic is now included with UBCD V5.0. This should be the method of choice when you need to resize/rescue partitions, access NTFS filesystems or work with USB storage devices.
- New! UBCD V5.x now supports both syslinux/isolinux and grub4dos. This helps improve the chances that UBCD will boot on any particular machine.
When you boot up from the CD, a text-based menu will be displayed, and you will be able to select the tool you want to run. The selected tool actually boots off a virtual floppy disk created in memory.
Tools currently included with the Ultimate Boot CD are:
| Name of Tool | Version | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /BIOS | |||
| !BIOS | 3.20 | Freeware | |
| BIOS | 1.35.0 | Freeware | Website says V1.35.1, but program displays V1.35.0. |
| CMOSPWD | 5.0 | GPL | |
| KEYDisk | n/a | Freeware | |
| PC CMOS Cleaner | 2.0 | Freeware | Included as module in Parted Magic. |
| Q&D Vital Data Manager | 1.4h | Freeware | |
| WipeCMOS | 1.2 | Freeware | |
| /CPU | |||
| CPUstress | 2.5.4 | Freeware | |
| CPUburn | 1.4a | GPL | Included in CPUstress. |
| CPU Burn-in | 1.00 | Freeware | Included in CPUstress. The Linux version which is included in UBCD is at V1.00. V1.01 applies to Windows only. |
| CPUinfo | n/a | GPL | Included in CPUstress. |
| CPUID | 2.19 | GPL | |
| Intel Optimized LINPACK Benchmark | 11.2.0 | Freeware | Included in CPUstress. |
| Intel Processor Frequency ID (P3 and below) | 7.2 | Freeware | |
| Intel Processor Identification Utility (P4 and above) | 5.30 | Freeware | |
| Mersenne Prime Test | 23.9.2 | Free software | Included in CPUstress. |
| Mersenne Prime Test | 28.5 | Free software | Included in CPUstress. |
| Stress | 1.04 | GPL | Included in CPUstress. |
| StressCPU (requires CPU with SSE) | 2.0 | GPL | Included in CPUstress. |
| System Stability Tester | 1.5.1 | GPL | Included in CPUstress. |
| x86test | 0.10a | GPL | |
| /HDD/Boot Management | |||
| BOOTMGR | 05-AUG-2012 | Freeware | |
| Boot Partition | 2.60 | Freeware | |
| EditBINI | 1.01.1 | Freeware | |
| GAG (Graphical Boot Manager) | 4.10 | GPL | |
| Gujin | 2.8.7 | GPL | |
| MBRtool | 2.3.200 | Freeware | |
| MBRWork | 1.08 | Freeware | |
| PLoP Boot Manager | 5.0.15 | Free for personal use | |
| Smart BootManager | 3.7.1 | GPL | |
| SPFDISK (Special FDISK) | 2000-03v | Freeware | |
| Super Grub Disk | 0.9799 | GPL | |
| Super Grub2 Disk | 2.00s8 | GPL | |
| XFDISK (Extended FDISK) | 0.9.3 beta | Freeware | |
| XOSL (Extended Operating System Loader) | 1.1.5 | GPL | |
| XOSL-OW (Extended Operating System Loader) | 1.1.6 | GPL | |
| /HDD/Data Recovery | |||
| Q&D Unit/Track/Head/Sector | 1.3j | Freeware | |
| Offline NT Password & Registry Editor | 140201 | n/a | |
| PCLoginNow | 2.0 | Freeware | Included as module in Parted Magic. |
| PCRegEdit | 1.0 | Freeware | Included as module in Parted Magic. |
| PhotoRec | 7.1 | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| TestDisk | 7.1 | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| /HDD/Device Info and Management | |||
| AMSET (Maxtor) | 4.00 | Freeware | |
| ATAINF | 1.3 | Freeware | |
| ATA Password Tool | 1.1 | Freeware | |
| Change Definition Utility (for Fujitsu M16xx/M2915 HDDs) | n/a | Freeware | |
| DiskCheck | 4.3.0 | Freeware | |
| DISKINFO | 1.02 | Freeware | |
| ESFeat (ExcelStor) | 2.30 | Freeware | |
| Feature Tool (IBM/Hitachi) | 2.15 | Freeware | |
| GSmartControl | 0.8.6 | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| SMARTUDM | 2.00 | Freeware | |
| UATA100 (Seagate) | 3.06 | Freeware | |
| UDMA Utility (for Fujitsu MPD/MPE/MPF series HDDs) | 1.13 | Freeware | |
| UDMA Utility (for Fujitsu MPG series HDDs) | 1.17 | Freeware | |
| Ultra ATA Manager (Western Digital) | June, 2003 | Freeware | |
| WDIDLE3 (Western Digital) | 1.05 | Freeware | |
| /HDD/Diagnosis | |||
| ATA Diagnostic Tool (Fujitsu) | 7.0 | Freeware | |
| Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (Western Digital) | 5.27 | Freeware | |
| Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (Western Digital) | 5.21 | Freeware | Latest V5.22 has the note in version history 'Removed missing test tracks check'. Since we are uncertain of the impact of this change, older version has been included just in case. |
| Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (Western Digital) | 4.15 | Freeware | V5.x has been reported not to work on some older machines, so V4.15 has been included as a backup. |
| Drive Fitness Test (IBM/Hitachi) | 4.16 | Freeware | |
| ES-Tool (Samsung) | 3.01v | Freeware | |
| ESTest (ExcelStor) | 4.50 | Freeware | |
| GWSCAN (Gateway) | 3.15 | Freeware | For IDE hard drives 10GB or smaller. |
| GWSCAN (Gateway) | 5.12 | Freeware | For IDE hard drives larger than 10GB. |
| HDAT2 | 5.3 | Freeware | Latest stable release, but with device-level testing disabled. |
| HUTIL (Samsung) | 1.21 | Freeware | From soeren: 'HUTIL 2.00 lacks the possibility to view the SMART values and it appears to be a lot slower than 1.21. It's only needed for the newest Samsung drives, the 'older' ones still work with 1.21.' |
| HUTIL (Samsung) | 2.10 | Freeware | |
| MHDD32 | 4.5 | Freeware | Older version included because it supports ATA/SCSI Terminal for scripting, which was removed in the new version. |
| MHDD32 | 4.6 | Freeware | |
| PowerMax (Maxtor/Quantum) | 4.09 | Freeware | Older version included because this is an uncripppled version that works with non-Maxtor HDDs. |
| PowerMax (Maxtor/Quantum) | 4.23 | Freeware | |
| SCSIMax (Maxtor/Quantum) | 1.21 | Freeware | |
| SeaTools for DOS (Seagate/Maxtor) | 2.22 | Freeware | Version included is 2.22 instead of 2.23 at Kaur Kuut's recommendation. Apparently the only feature introduced in V2.23 was 'Long Test time out failure for drives that take too long to complete the Long Test', but that prevents large capacity HDDs from completing the long generic test because all modern HDDs time out by default. Seagate subsequently removed this feature in SeaTools for Windows V1.4.0.2, but never did for SeaTools for DOS V2.23. |
| SeaTools for DOS (Seagate/Maxtor) | 1.12 | Freeware | |
| SHDIAG (Samsung) | 1.25 | Freeware | |
| TAFT (The ATA Forensics Tool) | 1.2 | Freeware | |
| ViVARD | 0.4 | Freeware | The official website is down. Various third party websites claim to have V1.0, but is actually V0.4. |
| /HDD/Disk Cloning | |||
| Clonezilla | n/a | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| CopyWipe | 1.14 | Freeware | |
| EaseUs Disk Copy | 2.3.1 | Freeware | |
| g4u | 2.6 | BSD | |
| HDClone (Free Edition) | 7.0.2 | Freeware | |
| partimage | 0.6.9 | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| Partition Saving | 4.30 | Freeware | |
| PC INSPECTOR clone-maxx | 1.0 | Freeware | Actual version is 0.95 Build 769, but is referred to as 1.0 on product website. |
| Q&D Unit Clone | 1.1r | Freeware | |
| /HDD/Disk Editing | |||
| Disk Editor | 3.0 | Freeware | |
| DISKMAN4 | 4.2A3 | Freeware | |
| DiskSpy Free Edition (Personal use only) | 2.0 | Freeware | |
| PTS DiskEditor | 1.04 | Freeware | Excellent information about this tool <a href='http://thestarman.pcministry.com/tool/de/PTS-DE.htm'>here</a>. |
| /HDD/Disk Wiping | |||
| Active@ KillDisk Free Edition | 4.1.2393 | Freeware | Free Edition. Supports 'One Pass Zeros' method only. Note that KillDisk V5.x is Windows only. |
| CopyWipe | 1.14 | Freeware | |
| Darik's Boot and Nuke | 2.3.0 | GPL | |
| Fujitsu Erase Utility | 1.00 | Freeware | |
| HDDErase | 4.0 | Freeware | |
| HDDErase | 3.3 | Freeware | Older version included because latest version is reportedly not compatible with Intel SSDs. |
| HDShredder (Free Edition) | 4.0.1 | Freeware | |
| MAXLLF (Maxtor) | 1.1 | Freeware | |
| PC Disk Eraser | 5.0 | Freeware | Included in Parted Magic. |
| PC INSPECTOR e-maxx | 0.95 | Freeware | Actual version is 0.95 Build 775, but is referred to as 1.0 on product website. |
| SUTIL (Samsung) | 1.01 | Freeware | |
| /HDD/Installation | |||
| Data Lifeguard Tools (Western Digital) | 11.2 | Freeware | |
| DiscWizard 2003 (Seagate) | 10.45.06 | Freeware | |
| DiscWizard (Seagate/Maxtor) | 11.0.8326 | Freeware | MaxBlast V5.0 is essentially the same thing i.e. OEM version of Acronis TrueImage. Startup Recovery Manager not included. Didn't see much use for it on the bootable CD, plus it can be activated in the Win32 program itself if required, or you can copy over the 'Recovery Manager' folder youself. |
| Disk Manager (IBM) | 9.61 | Freeware | |
| Disk Manager (Samsung) | 10.42 | Freeware | |
| MaxBlast (Maxtor) | 4.0 | Freeware | |
| /HDD/Partition Management | |||
| Cute Partition Manager | 0.9.8 | Freeware | |
| Dsrfix | 3.12 | Freeware | |
| FIPS | 2.0 | GPL | |
| Free FDISK | 1.3.1 | GPL | |
| GParted | 0.13.1-git | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| Partinfo | 1.14 | Freeware | V1.11 and above are Windows only. |
| Partition Explorer | 1.01 | Freeware | |
| Partition Resizer | 1.3.4 | Freeware | |
| Partition Saving | 4.30 | Freeware | |
| PTDD Super Fdisk | 1.0 | Freeware | |
| Ranish Partition Manager | 2.40 | Freeware | Using stable version because V2.44 is beta and reported to be buggy. |
| SPFDISK (Special FDISK) | 2000-03v | Freeware | |
| XFDISK (Extended FDISK) | 0.9.3 beta | Freeware | |
| /Memory | |||
| AleGr MEMTEST | 2.00 | Free for personal use | |
| DIMM_ID | 3.57 | UBCD Only | This is a special UBCD-only version authorized by the author. |
| Memtest86 | 4.3.7 | GPL | As of UBCD V5.2.8, V5.0.0 Free Edition extracts to V4.3.7. |
| Memtest86+ | 5.01 | GPL | |
| TestMemIV | n/a | Freeware | |
| Windows Memory Diagnostic | 0.4 | Freeware | |
| /Others | |||
| boot.kernel.org (BKO) | n/a | Freeware | |
| ClamScan Antivirus | 0.97.5 | GPL | Included in Parted Magic. |
| FileLink | 3.01 | Freeware | This program is part of Caldera OpenDOS V7.03. |
| F-PROT Antivirus | 6.2.3 | Free for personal use | Included as module in Parted Magic. |
| Kon-Boot | 1.0 | Free for personal use | |
| netboot.xyz | n/a | Freeware | |
| Parted Magic | 2013_08_10_i586 | GPL | Full list of programs can be found here. Parted Magic is now payware and can no longer be updated to the latest version. Last free version (2013_08_10) was obtained from this website |
| UBCD FreeDOS (Based on NwDsk V3.40) | R1.53 | n/a | Based on NwDsk V3.40. |
| /Peripherals | |||
| ATAPI CDROM Identification | 2.22 | Freeware | |
| CHZ Monitor-Test | 2.0 | Freeware | |
| Parallel Port Information System | 1.45 | Freeware | |
| Video Memory Stress Test | 1.7 | GPL | |
| Enhanced Keyboard Checker | n/a | Freeware | |
| AT-Keyboard Tester | n/a | Freeware | |
| /System | |||
| AIDA16 | 2.14 | n/a | Discontinued |
| ASTRA (Demo version) | 6.50 | 14-day Demo | |
| Hardware Detection Tool | 0.5.2 | GPL | pci.ids.gz: 20/02/2013 |
| HWiNFO | 5.5.5 | Freeware | |
| NSSI | 0.60.45 | Freeware | |
| PC-Config | 9.33 | Freeware | Discontinued |
| PCI | 1.1 | Freeware | pcidevs.txt: Ver 671 (22-01-2008) |
| PCISniffer | 3.0.0 | Freeware | |
| System Speed Test 32 | 4.78 | Freeware | |
Make Usb Boot Disk From Iso