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Old March 15th 19, 02:39 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?

Paul wrote:
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


Some more test results.

1) A "dd" transfer of Windows10.iso to a USB stick
did not work. It would not boot.

A cursory examination of the ISO file in a hex editor,
helps re-enforce why.

The first 64K or so of the ISO file is all zeros.

The BIOS, when doing HDD emulation of USB devices,
is expecting one of two things. A file system header
sector with 0xAA55 signature in the last two bytes of
the sector. Or, an MBR with 0xAA55 signature in the
last two bytes. The MBR has a boot sector. The file
system header would likely have a PBR located a few
sectors from the file system header sector.

The ISO shoved onto a USB key, is only going to work,
if the BIOS HDD emulation of the USB key has "something"
in sector 0 besides "all zeros". At a guess.

I put the "dd"ed stick in the PC, and it prompted ignored
my popup boot request, and booted the first thing it could
find with a valid first sector.

2) I got virtualbox working.

1) Linux.
2) Install VirtualBox (package manager).
3) Install Windows 10 in VirtualBox.
Install Extension Pack (an optional tick box in package manager)
4) A new group will appear in /etc/group. That is vboxusers.
"adduser bullwinkle vboxusers". That adds the user bullwinkle
to the vboxusers in /etc/group amongst other places. It's
not clear whether, or why, this is necessary.
5) The other "known unknown", is the Extension Pack "likely"
uses DKMS or it inserts a module in the kernel, or something
of that ilk. Using the package manager (synaptic), I
requested the reinstallation of the current kernel package
("linux-image") in the hope that this would trigger DKMS and
"integrate" whatever the Oracle software had set up. I got no
complaints from the Oracle Extension Pack installation process,
so I was flying blind on what was missing. This was the closed
thing to a "Hail Mary" I could think of.

6) Install Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe in Win10 Guest VM.
7) Enable USB passthru.
8) Insert USB key into Linux box port.
Look in the VirtualBox Settings on the Win10 Guest
machine, for the "new" entry corresponding to the USB stick.
This will pass the USB key to the Windows 10 Guest.

If it still doesn't work, try:

Install VirtualBox Additions (via internal CD image) into Win10 Guest.
It's a menu item in the VirtualBox menu bar.

9) Use Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe in Win10 Guest to make the bootable USB key.
If the dialog claims that "bootsect did not work", ignore
that and try and boot the machine with the new USB key anyway.
In my example, I used a 64GB USB stick, which had an 8GB NTFS
partition at the front, as the tool.exe will throw a hissy fit
if the partition is too large. You'd think if they had "preferences"
in the matter, they'd just prep the damn key themselves. This
is a tradition with USB stick software, stretching back to the
stupid tool HP kindly provided :-/ The user has to "goose the key"
just the right way, before the tool will work.

10) 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).

So that recipe, of making a working USB key, works. And
it uses no more materials than the download of the
Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe , plus a set of materials
in the Ubuntu Linux package manager. No need for dodgy or
untrusted .ppas from hither and yon.

https://i.postimg.cc/0NKqdMwv/00-vir...x-passthru.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/sx6nNmkN/01-vir...x-ext-pack.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/cJRFSdqY/02-vir...k-download.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/9M11D1QQ/03-win...v1-enabled.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/bvhRL4Gv/04-prepare-materials.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/0jbGbs4V/05-vir...y-passthru.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/4d3VSGXX/06-vir...led-inside.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/5jWHbWWY/07-USB...peed-check.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/637fYZV9/08-tool-installed.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/7Y1MswzT/09-tool-opens-file.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/6QqrpZmd/10-pic...k-passthru.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/2jh4yr2X/11-request-to-erase.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/05YwxZyT/12-cra...n-bootsect.gif

In (12), the message says bootsect didn't work, but it did work...

Paul
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