Windows 7 Ultimate Live CD: Everything You Need to Know to Build and Test Your Own Disc
How to Create a Live CD with Windows 7 Ultimate and Your Own Applications
A live CD is a bootable disc that contains a complete operating system and some software that you can run without installing anything on your hard drive. A live CD can be useful for many purposes, such as testing, troubleshooting, data recovery, security, and portability. In this article, I will show you how to create a live CD with Windows 7 Ultimate and your own applications using some free tools and an ISO image of Windows 7.
PATCHED Windows 7 Ultimate Live CD 2010 | ISO | 408MB
What You Need to Create a Live CD
To create a live CD with Windows 7 Ultimate and your own applications, you will need the following items:
An ISO image of Windows 7 Ultimate. This is a file that contains the entire contents of the Windows 7 installation disc. You can download it legally from Microsoft if you have a valid product key, or you can use an existing disc if you have one.
A blank CD or DVD. You will use this to burn the ISO image and create your live CD. Make sure it has enough capacity to hold the ISO image, which is about 3 GB for Windows 7 Ultimate.
A CD/DVD burner. You will use this to write the ISO image onto the blank disc. Most computers have one built-in, or you can use an external one.
A software tool to burn the ISO image. You will use this to create the live CD from the ISO image. There are many free tools available for this purpose, such as ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, or InfraRecorder.
WinBuilder. This is a free software tool that allows you to customize and create your own live CDs based on Windows operating systems. You can download it from [1](http://winbuilder.net/).
Some scripts for WinBuilder. These are files that contain instructions and settings for adding or removing applications and features on your live CD. You can find many scripts for different purposes on [2](http://reboot.pro/forum/22/).
Step 1: Download Windows 7 Ultimate ISO Image
The first step is to get the ISO image of Windows 7 Ultimate that you will use as the base for your live CD. There are two ways to do this:
If you have a valid product key for Windows 7 Ultimate, you can download the official ISO image from Microsoft's website. To do this, go to [3](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7) and enter your product key. Then select the language and edition of Windows 7 that you want and download the ISO file. Note that this method requires an internet connection and may take some time depending on your download speed.
If you have an existing disc of Windows 7 Ultimate, you can create an ISO image from it using a software tool. To do this, insert the disc into your CD/DVD drive and launch the tool that you have installed for burning ISO images. Then select the option to create an ISO image from a disc and choose the source and destination folders. Note that this method does not require an internet connection but may take some space on your hard drive depending on the size of the ISO file.
After you have downloaded or created the ISO image of Windows 7 Ultimate, you should verify its integrity to make sure it is not corrupted or tampered with. To do this, you can use a software tool that can calculate and compare the checksums of files, such as HashCalc, HashMyFiles, or HashTab. A checksum is a unique code that identifies a file based on its contents. You can find the official checksums of Windows 7 ISO images on [4](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842). To verify the integrity of your ISO image, launch the tool that you have installed for calculating checksums and select the option to calculate the SHA-1 checksum of your ISO file. Then compare the result with the official checksum of Windows 7 Ultimate that matches your language and edition. If they are identical, then your ISO image is valid and safe to use. If they are different, then your ISO image is corrupted or modified and you should download or create it again.
Step 2: Download and Install WinBuilder
The next step is to download and install WinBuilder, which is a free software tool that allows you to customize and create your own live CDs based on Windows operating systems. WinBuilder works by using scripts that contain instructions and settings for adding or removing applications and features on your live CD. You can find many scripts for different purposes on [2](http://reboot.pro/forum/22/), or you can create your own scripts if you have some programming skills.
To download and install WinBuilder, follow these steps:
Go to [1](http://winbuilder.net/) and click on the Download button.
Choose a mirror site that is closest to your location and download the ZIP file that contains WinBuilder.
Extract the ZIP file to a folder on your hard drive. You can use any software tool that can handle ZIP files, such as 7-Zip, WinRAR, or PeaZip.
Open the folder where you extracted WinBuilder and double-click on the WinBuilder.exe file to launch it.
Accept the license agreement and wait for WinBuilder to initialize.
Congratulations! You have successfully downloaded and installed WinBuilder. You are now ready to customize your live CD project. dcd2dc6462