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Old March 14th 19, 10:17 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Can I install Win 10 like this?

KenW wrote:
On Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:04:41 -0700, bilsch
wrote:

I currently have no Windows system on any PC. I have Ubuntu. I want to
purchase and download a Win10 bootable install iso for use on another PC
(an old Dell Inspiron N4110 laptop). I can make a bootable USB stick
using linux command line something like:

dd if=windowsinstall.iso of=/dev/sdb

I know how to do that.

What i need to know is where to purchase and download the iso file that
will boot the laptop into the Windows 10 installation routine. I assume
I will get a long registration code when I purchase the file that I will
need to enter during installation. I prefer to get the file from
Microsoft if possible. TIA. Bill S.


The Media Creation Tool can get the iso to burn or make a bootable ?
usb stick


The problem the OP is presenting to us is:

1) A Linux user "wants to switch to Windows"
2) The Linux user seems to have an option to purchase a license key.
3) The user wants to obtain media from MS to go with the key.
4) The target computer lacks an optical drive.
5) Now, how do we make a USB key using only a
Linux box, when MS will only give a Linux user "windows10.iso"
and MediaCreationTool won't run on a Linux box.

One of the limitations of USB key makers, is
some of them need low level access (/dev).
And that can prevent a WINE approach from working.
If you had a Windows tool that worked in WINE, that
might have been an option, but a typical tool like
the "Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe" won't work. It wants
to do stuff like format the USB stick and so on.
Whereas WINE uses ~/.wine/drive_c as an example
of the path to its storage area. WINE should not be
granting low level access to hardware. This is one of the
limitations as you move from platform to platform. High level
applications work, but fiddling with disk drivers or USB ports
is seldom an option.

*******

I did think of a way. I have a test setup that was already
pretty close to doing this. But, I could not get it to work.

1) Linux.
2) Install VirtualBox (package manager).
3) Install Windows 10 in VirtualBox.
Install Extension Pack (an optional tick box in package manager)
Install VirtualBox Additions (via internal CD image)
4) Install Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe
5) Enable USB passthru.
6) Insert USB key into Linux box port.
7) In Settings on VirtualBox, convince VirtualBox
to pass the USB key to the Windows 10 Guest.
8) Use Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe to make the USB key.
9) Boot the laptop with the USB key and perform
the installation, using the OPs favorite destructive
and messy options (installing Windows *after* Linux
is nasty, whereas the reverse order is easy).

Now, I've been trying to do that, but I *cannot*
get passthru to work in Linux. I have had passthru
work in Windows, but the very first time I did it,
I had to reinstall the software three times until
for some reason, it started working.

Conclusion: Buy the USB key version from Newegg!!!

*******

There are a raft of USB key makers from the open
source community, but they've never heard of Windows
and your chances of finding a working one are slim.
The above Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe , if you could find
the source and build for Linux, might work. I suspect
that program has "weird" origins, and wasn't written
by an actual MS employee. But I also haven't managed
to track it down.

The OP could track this down and try it. No promises.

http://www.webupd8.org/2017/06/tool-...ndows-usb.html

WoeUSB is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA, for
Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10, 16.04 or 14.04 / Linux Mint 18.x or 17.x.
To add the PPA and install WoeUSB, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install woeusb

That one might be a kind of GRUB wrapper for the Windows image.

Paul
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