What to expect from win 10 ISO download?

[Bill LaC]

I've just run a download of win10 ISO using

https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-iso-download-tool

The reason I'm here is that the standard windows "helper" demands 8 GB of space on C: drive (literally - I thought only script kiddies did that exact addressing). I tried various other things such as running the 'helper' from the USB, but all fail, generally saying there is a later version (there isn't, it's up to date) & demanding that I run that.

Using the heidoc  utility, I pointed the download at a USB flash drive. (I had to put the ISO into a folder, it wouldn't play otherwise.)

I chose the 1709 version  2017 fall creators update   pro/home, latest full version.

The download promised 4.38GB and ran for 1hr 15m approximately, then seemed to do a large copy to the USB, after which it gave no indication of having finished, but sat there.

This would tend to indicate that this utility also tried to download to my C drive, where there is limited space.

The size of the ISO on the USB is only 2.76GB or so. Is that right? I looks wrong.

The hash archive page times out, so I cannot check.

I'm suspecting that the download ran out of space on C: (where I didn't ask it to download to), and copied a truncated file over to the USB.

[Can that be fixed to download directly to where I tell it to go?]

 

There is a second problem.

The utility seems to have set up an AUTORUN.INF file, unexpectedly.

It has an index entry, but does not exist as a file; following some problems in that area involving loss of data from malware,  I have a utility that 'vaccinates' my USB drives, and does not allow autoruns to be set up. {Good riddance, in general.}

What is the AUTORUN.INF for, and what should it contain? Do I need it? Is there another way?

When I  do get a full-size ISO, I suppose I should burn that to a boot disc file (USB) and boot from it to install. Is that correct?

I gave up with this once before, because the ISO was not a boot disc at all, but expected to be run from within windows (or presumably a minimal DOS would do) .  I want to install on a fresh empty disk. This machine is pre-UEFI, thank the Lord.

Also, am I right in thinking that the install process will ask me what kind of install I want? And accept the Win7 key?

At the moment I have a win10 Pro 32bit upgraded from 7, on a full 40GB hdd. Somehow it lost the activation it had (it was fine before - maybe I deleted the activation in a clear-up), so now it nags & restricts me, but the activation process fails. I was hoping to install to a replacement hdd before bothering MS HQ.

My intent is to go to a fresh win10 64bit (hardware permits this) on the larger drive, perhaps allocate 50G to Windows if that is enough.

I would appreciate advice on how to proceed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mooms]

Download the iso, then transfer it to your USB stick with Rufus

[Bill LaC]

Thank you mooms.

Further help required, please, anyone:

How do I download the full ISO directly onto external media, without attempting to use an intermediate file in internal space which I have not got. Same problem as prevents the MS 'utility' from working.

 

My problem is that I do not have sufficient space on the machine to download it to C.

If I had, the MS 'utility' would have been fine. [ If it wasn't amateurish, buggy and inflexible, but that isn't your problem, just that MS cannot afford to employ competent programmers. ]

Quote

Download the iso ...

Yes, that is what I have tried to do, thanks, using the wincert utility kindly supplied and found after much searching.

I directed the download to a USB memory stick where I do have space. The wincert utility seems to allow that.

The end result was a copy of an ISO in a folder on my USB drive, as I said, 2.76GB  in size. (And I suspect some unfathomable temp file on C: )

To me this 2.76GB seems a little short of the expected 4.38GB (as I said, above).  You could read my question, above,  for further detail.

 

As for the second part of my question  (see above),

I suspect the unexpected hidden autorun (which is prohibited on my system) is irrelevant, but I'd like to know what it was supposed to do. I am wary of malwares.

I could then burn the ISO, fine, using whatever. Rufus is good. I don't want to attempt to boot a faulty ISO.

And I could not check the hash, because the site does not respond (as I said, above).

 

Also, I am curious whether it is a boot ISO (as I implied, above), or whether it is one of the peculiar MS in-o/s upgrades, requiring one to have installed already what one is attempting to install.

 

Thanks again. Further insights welcome.

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by Bill LaC
tpyo

[mooms]

You need to download the iso in an other drive than the usb stick that will be used by RUFUS (other stick, or make some space on your C: drive) , because it will be formatted by RUFUS.

You have to set RUFUS as showed in this picture, (you have to tell it where is stored the iso file obviously) then it will not create an autorun.inf and it will be bootable: