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https://github.com/mattieb/windows-esd-to-iso
converts a Windows 11 ESD to an ISO image
https://github.com/mattieb/windows-esd-to-iso
apple-silicon arm esd iso utm virtual-machine vmware vmware-fusion windows windows-11
Last synced: 12 days ago
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converts a Windows 11 ESD to an ISO image
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/mattieb/windows-esd-to-iso
- Owner: mattieb
- License: mit
- Created: 2023-05-21T18:51:51.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-10-16T00:38:16.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-17T12:50:12.799Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: apple-silicon, arm, esd, iso, utm, virtual-machine, vmware, vmware-fusion, windows, windows-11
- Language: Shell
- Homepage:
- Size: 7.81 KB
- Stars: 58
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- License: LICENSE.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# windows-esd-to-iso
A tool to convert a Windows 11 electronic software distribution (ESD) to a bootable ISO image.
Since Microsoft does not distribute Windows ARM ISO images, [a way to download ESDs](#downloading-esds) plus this tool allows you to obtain a Windows ARM ISO image—e.g. for use in a virtual machine, such as [UTM](https://getutm.app) or [the free VMware Fusion Player](https://www.vmware.com/go/getfusionplayer).
## Requirements
- The command-line tools from [wimlib](https://wimlib.net) (available in [Homebrew](https://brew.sh))
All remaining requirements are already included in macOS. Patches are welcome for portability.
## Usage
```
windows-esd-to-iso ESD_FILE
```
Converts the ESD in ESD_FILE to ISO format.
## How it works
[windows-esd-to-iso](./windows-esd-to-iso) will use the wimlib tools to inspect, deconstruct, and assemble into an installation tree the images inside an ESD.
Specifically, it assumes:
- Image 1 is the base Windows setup media, which serves as the base of the installation tree
- Image 2 is Windows PE, exported to sources/boot.wim
- Image 3 is Windows Setup, appended to sources/boot.wim, and set bootable
- All remaining images are Windows editions, which will be exported into sources/install.esd
These steps are performed into a temporary directory. When finished, [hdiutil](https://ss64.com/osx/hdiutil.html) is used to create the ISO image from this temporary tree.
If the script exits for any reason—successful or otherwise—the temporary directory is cleaned.
## Downloading ESDs
There are a few ways you can get an ESD to convert with this tool.
- [My own download-windows-esd tool](https://github.com/mattieb/download-windows-esd) will get the Windows 11 ESD catalog from Microsoft, then download any ESD you wish that is referenced in that catalog and verify its SHA1 checksum.
- Paul Rockwell's [w11arm_esd2iso](https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/w11arm-esd2iso-a-utility-to-create-Windows-11-ARM-ISOs-from/ta-p/2957381) does both downloading and conversion of ARM images in a single shot.
- Bogdan's [ESD to ISO on macOS](https://gist.github.com/b0gdanw/e36ea84828dbd19e03eff6158f1fc77c) explains how to get and search through the catalog and download manually.
## Converting to USB drives
You can convert an ISO produced with this tool to a USB drive with [windows-iso-to-usb](https://github.com/mattieb/windows-iso-to-usb).
## Licensing
While this tool itself is [already licensed to you](./LICENSE.md), Windows itself may require licensing and activation.
You must address this; this tool does not.