Tutorial: Integrate Windows Updates Into Windows 8.1 Install Dvd

BACKGROUND

I've developed this tutorial because I'm the type of person that likes to experiment with things on my computer. This has resulted in my having to re-install my operating system numerous times. Of course with each install comes the myriad of Security and other Updates that need to be re-installed as well.

I grew weary of the amount of time it took to search for, download and install those updates and wanted those Updates to be, somehow, integrated into the installation media. It would make things a lot easier and take considerably less time. So, I looked on the internet for a way to do so. Well, I couldn't find a way that worked for me so, I came up with this method.

Setting things up took a bit of time initially but, it saved a lot of time when I needed to re-install Windows.

This tutorial will contain instructions, screen shots, download links for software and additional information.

There are those who would rather have a bootable flash drive because they're much faster than DVD but, this tutorial does not cover that. It's for creating integrated optical media only.

Also, please note that I have to use my computer in a modified High Contrast Black Theme because of bilateral cataracts so, the screen shot colors will likely be different from the screens that are produced on your computer while performing the instructions in this tutorial.

IMPORTANT:

You must currently be running the version of Windows that you're going to be creating the integrated installation DVD for ie. if you're creating Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit installation media you must be running that version at the current time. Getting the proper set of Windows updates is the reason you need to be running the version you're creating the DVD for.

Part 1:

Obtaining Installation Media to be used for Source Material and other needed software.

Today's Windows based computers no longer come with re-installation CDs or DVDs. If your computer came with Windows 8 or later pre-installed at the factory, there will be a Recovery Partition containing enough information to restore the computer to it's factory state. But, it doesn't have all the files necessary to completely re-install Windows if you should ever need to.

If you didn't get a Windows re-installation DVD with your computer, you can create an ISO file using the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft.

Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool

Download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft (Scroll down the page to the Create Media link). Once downloaded, place the Tool on your Desktop and launch the program.

In the first screen that comes up, select the Language, Edition and Architecture from the drop-downs for the ISO file you're going to be creating and click Next.

On the next screen, select ISO file and click next.

On the next screen, select the Desktop as your save to location, give the file a name and click on Save.

The media Creation Tool will download the necessary installation file(s) to create the installation ISO file.

After the download of the installation file is complete, the Media Creation Tool will verify the download for accuracy.

Next, it will get everything ready to create the ISO.

Finally, it will create the ISO.

On the final screen, click Finish. We will not be burning the ISO at this point.

You now have a Windows installation ISO that you can work with for integrating.

7-Zip

Download 7-Zip from Major Geeks and install it (the 32-bit version works on both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures). This is the utility you'll use to extract the contents of the ISO file you created with the Media Creation Tool to a work folder on your desktop.

Portable Update

Download Portable Update from Major Geeks, unzip it, create a new folder on your Desktop named Portable Update and place PortUp.exe in that folder.

The reason to do this is because PortUp.exe creates additional folders and files when launched and you want those folders and files in the same folder as PortUp.exe.

This is the software you'll use to gather the Windows Updates you're going to be integrating.

Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 FREE (This is on my Google Drive.)

If you already have a Windows installation DVD, you'll need to extract the DVD to an ISO file that you can work with. For that, you'll use Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 Free. Once the integrated ISO is created, you can then use Ashampoo to burn it to a DVD.

I chose this particular version of Ashampoo because it extracts the Windows DVD contents to an ISO file in under 10 minutes.

Launch the installer. On the first screen that shows, select the setup language in the drop-down and click OK.

On the next screen, click on I agree proceed.

Ashampoo Burning Studio needs an activation key to proceed with the installation so, click on Get free activation key and follow the instructions on the web page that comes up. Then paste the key you received into the box and click Activate now. A green check mark will show. Click Next.

Leave things as they are on the following screen and click Next.

Another screen will come up for a short while as Ashampoo installs. When installation completes the final screen will come up. Uncheck Launch Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 FREE and click Finish. You'll notice a new icon on your Desktop that looks like a shopping cart with the name My Software Deals. You can delete this — it's for Ashampoo software.

Insert your purchased Windows installation DVD, wait for it to be recognized by the system and launch Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 FREE. If after you insert your DVD Setup wants to start, cancel out of it.

Set the Service Channel Configuration the way you want it and click OK (I uncheck both boxes but, the choice is yours).

From the Main Menu on the left, go to Create/Burn Disc Image and in the slide-out select Create a Disc Image from CD/DVD.

Ashampoo will detect and check the DVD in the optical drive and if it's ok, an icon of a disk with a green checkmark will show. Click Next.

On the next screen, Browse to your Desktop for the Disc Image Path and select ISO File Format from the Disc Image drop-down. Click Next.

In the Dialog box that comes up give the file a name and click Save.

You will see that the Disc Image Path has changed to what you specified in the Dialog box. Click Next.

Ashampoo will begin extracting the DVD to an ISO file on your Desktop.

When completed, you'll come to the last screen. Click Exit.

You now have an ISO created from your Installation DVD.

ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD.wimlib

Download ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD.wimlib (use 2nd link in Post #3). Unzip it and place the extracted folder on your Desktop.

The ISO you created with the Media Creation Tool has a file in the Sources folder called "install.esd". This little utility will convert the install.esd file to an install.wim file which you'll need in order to be able to integrate the Windows updates.

NTLite

Download NTLite from Major Geeks and install the proper architecture for your computer (click on download at authors site and select proper architecture — the MG's page says NLite but you'll be getting NTLite).

This is the program that does all of the integration of the Windows updates and creates the ISO file afterward.

Part 2:

Getting to Work.

The first thing you need to do is to extract the ISO file you created earlier to a folder of the same name as the ISO file. Right click on the ISO and in the Context Menu go to 7-Zip and in the 7-Zip sub-menu select Extract to "File Name\" (the name you gave the ISO will appear instead of the words "File Name").

7-Zip will extract the ISO to a work folder on your Desktop.

NOTE:

The ISO made with the Media Creation Tool produces a warning in 7-Zip stating that there's data after the payload.

This won't affect your work or end results. Click Close when the extraction completes.

Now, open the ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD folder. Also open the work folder you just extracted. Then, open the Sources folder and scroll down to the install.esd file and move it to the ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD folder by dragging it over.

Right click on convert.cmd and select Run as Administrator.

On the first screen, press 1 then Enter. The next screen will show the progress of the operation.

When the operation completes, the final screen will appear. Press any key to exit the program.

You'll now have an install.esd file and an install.wim file in the ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD folder. Move the install.wim file to the sources folder by dragging it over.

Close both folders.

Getting the Windows Updates

For this you'll use Portable Update. Open the Portable Update folder on your Desktop and launch PortUp.exe. Accept the EULA.

Note the two additional folders and three additional files that are created in the Portable Update folder.

In the Tools Download Status box, checkmark the top three items then press Start in the upper right. Progress for each item will be displayed.

The next screen defaults to the Settings tab. Click on the Search tab and press Start.

Portable Update will begin searching for updates from Microsoft Update.

When it completes it's search, the following will appear.



Close the box.

The following will appear. Note the annotation in red. I'm pretty sure many of you are familiar with the GWX update conundrum.



Click on the Download tab. Here the list of all of the available Update downloads appears. You will have to manually place checkmarks for all of the Updates you want downloaded by clicking in each box. If you want all of the updates except KB3035583 click the area on the left of the word "Priority". All Updates will be selected. Uncheck the three KB3035583 entries.

Press Start. Portable Update will begin downloading the Updates you selected and a progress bar will appear.

As the Updates are downloading, each one will become highlighted then disappear when completed and the list will scroll upward.

When the downloading completes, the Progress bar will disappear and the list of those Updates you didn't place checkmarks in will be left.

(Note that I selected everything except the 3 KB3035583 and Skype — but, that's what I chose to do. You might choose differently.)

Close Portable Update. When you click the "X" to close Portable Update, another box will appear.
Close the box and Portable Update will exit.

Now you have a work folder with an install.wim file in the sources folder and a folder with all of the Updates you want to integrate into your Windows 8.1 installation DVD (the Cache folder in the Portable Update folder).

Integrating the Windows Updates

Launch NTLite. The first screen is where you will add the Source folder which is the work folder you extracted from the ISO in an earlier step.

Click the downward arrow below Add and select Image folder. A box will open. Click Desktop in the left pane. Locate the work folder, select it by clicking on it then click on Select Folder.

Right click on the item with the grey dot to the left of it and select Load. Two progress bars will show to the right under Status. It will take several minutes for the operation to complete.

NOTE:

If you extracted a RETAIL Windows 8.1 Full version DVD to an ISO file, then to a work folder, it will contain installation files for BOTH Core and Professional versions.

IMPORTANT

You must Load the version your Product Key is for. If you try to use the other version, Windows won't activate when you re-install it. Your Product Key, which you enter near the beginning of Setup, determines the version that gets installed from the original DVD.

If you're not sure which version you have installed, right click This PC and select Properties. The Windows version will show.

The application window will now say Loaded and the grey dot will turn green. Several options will also appear on the left. You will only be working with Updates, Post- Setup and Apply. You could try the other categories but, you'd be doing so at your own risk.

Click on the Updates option. A window with a list of already included Updates in the right pane will appear.

Click on the downward arrow below Add and select Folder and subfolders found packages.
in the window that comes up, navigate totheDesktop\Portable Update\Cache folder, click on it and click the Select Folder button.

NTLite will read the package info and automatically import the packages in the best order.

When it's done, a list of already existing files and files that NTLite cannot integrate directly because they are installer executables will appear. You will deal with these in your next operation. Click Continue.

A list of Updates will now appear in the left pane. There is one Update that appears in red. Right click on it and select Remove. If installed, it will prevent the activation of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Special Features the first time you try to apply them.

Go to Post-Setup on the left. Click the arrow below Add and select File. A list of files will show with the File Type of Application. These include the Malicious Software Removal Tool, VC Redistributables, Silverlight and others.

To select more than one installer, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each installer you want. Then click Open.

The Execution Queue box will come up.

If you want the installation to be "silent" — in other words no interaction required from you, type /q in each Parameters box.

Now click on Apply on the left. The Tasks window will appear. Leave save changes and unmount selected. Uncheck Backup log and Backup preset otherwise, they'll end up on the DVD. Checkmark Create ISO and checkmark ESD Compression. If you don't checkmark ESD compression, the ISO that's created will be too large to fit on a standard single-layer 4.7 GB DVD or DVD ± RW.

When you checkmark ESD compression the following box comes up.



Click OK.

When you click on Create ISO the Choose ISO file destination box comes up. Choose Desktop on the left, give the file a name and click Save.

You'll then be asked to create an ISO label. Type the file name you just created in the box and click OK.

Now click on the green Process button in the top left. If you're running antivirus software, NTLite will detect this and recommend that you disable real-time protection to speed up ESD processing.

The choice is yours but, if you do, I recommend disconnecting from the internet FIRST. I've chosen both ways (with real-time protection disabled and with it not disabled) and I didn't notice a significant difference in the amount of time it took.

ESD compression COULD take as long as an hour depending on your computer.

You'll be asked if you want to apply the changes. Click Yes.

NTLite will begin going through the processes. You'll see an overall progress bar at the top and as each item is processed, individual progress bars. The little dots to the left of the items will change color — grey - awaiting processing, blue - processing, green - done. The list will scroll upward.

The final status will show with all tasks completed. Exit NTLite.

You can now burn your newly created integrated Windows Installation ISO to DVD. It should easily fit on a standard single-layer 4.7 GB DVD or DVD ± RW.

After I burned the ISO to a DVD + RW, I installed the integrated Windows 8.1 to a secondary hard drive on my computer to make sure everything worked. Note that the amount of Disk space used for the installation is a bit more than standard. But, afterall, if you use this tutorial you will have installed over 200 Windows Updates in one fell swoop.



Plus, a few Programs.

So, there you have it.

ADDENDUM

I went through the processes numerous times as I was compiling this tutorial. I also tried different programs for accomplishing the various stages and chose the ones here because they worked for me.

You will be working on YOUR computer. If you're more comfortable using other software for extracting a DVD to an ISO file like ImgBurn or InfraRecorder the choice is yours. You could use either of those for burning the DVD as well.The same with obtaining Updates. If your more comfortable with wsus offline update or Windows Update Minitool, the choice is yours.

During my last go-through, I forgot to convert the install.esd file to an install.wim file in ESD2WIM-WIM2ESD. I chose load in NTLite and NTLite offered to do the conversion. It converted and replaced the install.esd file with an install.wim file and everything proceeded normally from there.

mdonah

 

Thanks for the compliment and the like (you and Eldon). I wanted to post screenshots of all the stages because "pictures are worth a thousand words" but, there's the five file upload limit. All of those images would have taken a boat-load of space on the MG's servers anyway and I'm sure Major Attitude wouldn't have gone for that.

FWIW, I did the same with Windows 7 and Windows 10 and it works beautifully.

 

Upload the files to a file-sharing site and just post the links. Congratulations on your efforts mdonah.

 

Thanks for the compliment. I don't think the links would have been quite as effective because the reader would need to do an awful lot of clicking on those links and then downloading the images which would complicate things.

 

I was notified that the link to NTLite posted in the tutorial is now dead. I just searched for NTLite at Major Geeks and this is the link that works.

 

Thank you LauraR.

 

Important note:

As stated in Post #3, I used the procedures to integrate updates into Windows 7 and Windows 10.

Windows 7 doesn't support ESD compression and the selection is unavailable in NTLite. For this reason, you'll need a DVD-DL (dual layer) for burning the resultant ISO.

 

Yes but, quite a few of them. I really wanted the tutorial to be like others I've seen where the pictures accompany what's "written" and the reader get's definitive information.

 

Sorry, I meant gets not get's.

 

I've created a PDF of the Tutorial and it's available from my Google Drive. The PDF includes more images than I could include in this thread and because of the additional images, some of the wording is different. But, with the additional images to guide you, there should be no confusion when applying the steps in the tutorial. You'll see what's happening every step of the way.

mdonah

 

Just downloaded the pdf. Appears complete. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Thank you. I was waiting to hear back from you and via PM, it was suggested I make a pdf. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of it. Now there can't be any confusion/misunderstanding. The images are right there for the reader.

Now I'm wondering if I should also have a pdf.exe so those without a pdf reader app can view it as well.

 

YW. It's complete alright. I checked it 3 times.

 

Yeah, and PDF2EXE is $69US anyway — a bit out of my price range especially for something I may use only once or twice.

 

Great work mdonah. Your time and patience is definitely a virtue.

 

Thank you.

Now that the tutorial is done though, I can't seem to find another project to embark upon. I need to keep my mind active.