Does the Windows 10 ISO have a EI.CFG file for changing the edition?
I found that the Windows 10 does not have a ei.cfg
file like in Windows 7 and Windows 8. Microsoft however provides two "All Editions" versions in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. Also, due to the layout of the disc, it is possible to combine both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of both of the "All Editions" discs in order to create a "Universal Install Disc"
I explain below how to obtain 32-bit or 64-bit All Editions disc and then a Universal Install Disc
How to download a Windows 10 All Editions Disc
- With a web browser running on any operating system apart from Wiindows 7 or Windows 8 (e.g. OSX, Linux, Android, Windows XP), visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO.
You can also modify your User Agent to falsely report your operating system if your browser supports it before clicking on the link. - Select the edition you want to download (i.e. Windows 10, Windows 10 KN, Windows 10 N, Windows 10 Single Language) and then click Confirm.
- Select the language you want to download and then clck Confirm.
You will now be presented with two buttons for downloading the 32-bit and/or 64-bit versions of Windows 10. The links are valid for 24 hours after which they expire.
How to create a Windows 10 Universal Install Disc
- Download both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10 as shown above.
- Download the disc layout from here.
- Extract the Win10MultiIsoBase.zip file to a destination of your choice.
- Merge the contents of the Windows 10 ISO images with the extracted files by extracting the contents of the 32-bit ISO into the x86 folder and the 64-bit ISO into the x64 folder.
- Using ImgBurn, create an ISO image with the merged data.
Remember to make the image bootable by following these steps:- Select the Advanced tab and then the Bootable Disc tab.
- Check the Make Image Bootable check box.
- Download and use this file as the Boot Image.
- Choose
80x86
as the Platform ID. - Enter
Microsoft IMAPIv2
as the Developer ID. - Enter
07C0
as the Load Segment. - Enter
8
as the Sectors to Load.
- Optionally, burn the ISO to disc. You will have to use a DVD DL since the image file generated will be larger than 4.7 GB.
After completing my download and examining the ISO, I have found that there is no
ei.cfg
file.
Credit to DOOManiac for finding how to download the ISO images and Danial B for the Windows 10 Multi-ISO base layout.
Original Post:
After completing my download and examining the ISO, I have found that there is no ei.cfg
file.
I am still searching for a way to achieve 'universal' install capability and I'll update this answer when I find one.
As Windows 10 build 10586 (also called version 1511 – for November 2015 – or Threshold 2) has come out since this question was asked, I'm going to write an up-to-date answer.
The short answer is no, there is no ei.cfg
in the .iso
by default.
If having an all-in-one .iso
containing Windows 10 Home and Pro 32-bit and 64-bit is what you want, this is fairly easy to do with the updated Media Creation tool that was released along with the November 2015 update.
1) Preparation
You have two options. If you want to start with a 'template', go to 1.1) Downloading the template. If you prefer to start from scratch, follow 1.2) From scratch.
1.1) Downloading the template
- Go to this OneDrive folder.
- Right-click on "Windows10AIO" and click on "Download" (VirusTotal rating).
- Extract the downloaded archive to your
C:
drive. You should now have aWindows10AIO
folder in yourC:
drive, which contains an emptyiso
folder, aprograms
folder,ei.cfg
andoscdimg.exe
. - Install 7-Zip if you don't have it (or a similar program) installed already from the
C:\Windows10AIO\programs\7-Zip
folder (use7z[version].exe
if you're following this guide on a 32-bit system, and7z[version]-x64.exe
for a 64-bit system).
1.2) From scratch
- Create a folder called
Windows10AIO
in yourC:
drive (soC:\Windows10AIO
). - In that folder, create a folder called
iso
(soC:\Windows10AIO\iso
). - Download 7-zip from its website and install it (if you don't have a program that can extract
.iso
files installed already). - Download the Windows 10 Media Creation tool from here and save it to
C:\Windows10AIO\programs\Windows 10 Media Creation tool
(create theprograms
andWindows 10 Media Creation tool
folders first). - Download the Windows 10 Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK) and install it (you need only the Deployment Tools, so untick everything else during installation).
- Copy
oscdimg.exe
fromC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\Oscdimg
toC:\Windows10AIO
. - Download the portable version of Rufus (
rufus-2.6p.exe
at the time of writing) from here, and save it toC:\Windows10AIO\programs\Rufus
. Open Notepad and input the following text:
[Channel] Retail
Save this file as
ei.cfg
toC:\Windows10AIO
. Make sure "Save as type:" is set to "All files (*.*)" when saving.
2) Downloading the .iso
- Run the
MediaCreationTool.exe
and accept the license. - Select "Create installation media for another PC" and click on "Next".
- Untick "Use recommended options for this PC" if it's ticked.
- Select the language you want.
- Make sure "Windows 10" is selected next to "Edition" (unless you don't want/need Windows Media Player, in which case you select "Windows 10 N").
You may notice that you can't choose between Windows 10 and Windows 10 Pro. This is because they're both included in the.iso
by default. - Select "Both" for the architecture.
- Click on "Next".
- Choose "ISO file" and click on "Next".
- Save the
.iso
toC:\Windows10AIO\iso
asWindows10.iso
. - Do something else while the Media Creation tool downloads and verifies the Windows 10 installation files, and makes an
.iso
out of them (unless you really like watching progress screens and percentages). - Click on "Finish".
3) Adding ei.cfg
to the .iso
- Navigate to
C:\Windows10AIO\iso
with File Explorer, right-click onWindows10.iso
and select "7-Zip" > "Extract Here". If you have another decompression program installed, use that to extractWindows10.iso
toC:\Windows10AIO\iso
. - Once everything is extracted, delete
Windows10.iso
. - There should now be four folders in
C:\Windows10AIO\iso
(boot
,efi
,x64
andx86
), and four files (autorun.inf
,bootmgr
,bootmgr.efi
andsetup.exe
). - Copy
ei.cfg
fromC:\Windows10AIO
toC:\Windows10AIO\iso\x64\sources
andC:\Windows10AIO\iso\x86\sources
. - Navigate to
C:\Windows10AIO
in File Explorer, hold down the Shift key and right click in an empty space. Click on "Open command window here". In the Command Prompt that appears, type (or copy and paste) this and press Enter:
oscdimg -lWindows10AIO -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,bC:\Windows10AIO\iso\boot\etfsboot.com#pEF,e,bC:\Windows10AIO\iso\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin C:\Windows10AIO\iso C:\Windows10AIO\Windows10AIO.iso
There should now be a
Windows10AIO.iso
file inC:\Windows10AIO
.
4) Making a bootable USB/DVD
If you want to create a bootable Windows 10 installation USB-stick, follow 4.1) USB.
If you want to create a bootable DVD, follow 4.2) DVD.
If you don't want to do either, this is the end of this guide.
4.1) USB
- Plug in your USB-stick (must be at least 8 GB).
- Start
rufus-2.6p.exe
fromC:\Windows10AIO\programs\Rufus
. - Change the settings so they are like this:
- Device: the USB-stick you just plugged in.
- Format options
- Create a bootable disk using: ISO Image.
- Click on the button next to the dropdown box and select
C:\Windows10AIO\Windows10AIO.iso
.
- Partition scheme and target system type
- "GPT partition scheme for UEFI" if the computers you're going to install Windows 10 on all have an UEFI BIOS, or "MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM" if the computers you're going to install Windows 10 on all have a legacy BIOS (pre-UEFI), or if some have UEFI and some have BIOS.
- Leave the other settings as they are.
- Double-check that the right USB-stick is selected, and make sure that there's nothing important on it.
If there is, this is your last chance to back everything up, as the USB-stick will be formatted while making it Windows 10 installation media. - Click on "Start" and wait until Rufus has finished.
- Et voilà! You've created an all-in-one bootable Windows 10 USB-stick.
4.2) DVD
- Insert a double layer DVD in the disc tray.
- Navigate to
C:\Windows10AIO
and right-click onWindows10AIO.iso
. - Select "Burn disc image".
- Make sure the correct disc burner is selected, optionally tick "Verify disc after burning", and click on "Burn".
- Et voilà! You've created an all-in-one bootable Windows 10 DVD.
- For more information about
oscdimg.exe
, check this page.- The example on this page was used as basis for the
oscdimg
command line options in my answer.
- The example on this page was used as basis for the
- For more information about
ei.cfg
, check this page.
Disclaimer
- The Windows Media Creation tool and
oscdimg.exe
both copyright Microsoft.
I have no affiliation with Microsoft, nor do I claim to have any affiliation with the company or its employees. - Rufus – copyright Pete Batard/Akeo.
I have no affiliation with him or his website. - 7-Zip – copyright Igor Pavlov.
I have no affiliation with him or his website.