Run an ISO file in Linux?

Question

I have mounted an ISO file on my Linux machine. It's an ISO file to install Windows 7. It's mounted but I have no idea how to run it. There are EXE files inside, but I don't think I should touch them (even if I try I can't because they are windows EXE files). I really want to uninstall Linux because I can't update or install any new software -- or even connect to the internet. So does anyone know how to run the ISO after it is mounted?

Answer 1

What you probably need to do is is to loopmount the iso, not burn it.

We will use sudo- which elevates accounts according to the sudoers file - i assume that its a standard ubuntu system and uses that. if doing this as root, ignore the 'sudo' in front of commands. These commands should work as the user you created during install without any additional work. All this is in terminal, so you can just copy and paste the commands with the appropriate changes.

Create a mountpoint if you haven't already (you seem to have, but lets assume you haven't)

make mountpoint by

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disk

mount file at /home/user/Desktop/disk1.iso to mountpoint - this uses the standard mount command

sudo mount -o loop /home/user/Desktop/disk1.iso /mnt/disk

However you will not be able to start a windows install from linux

Answer 2

wretrOvian's suggestion is the easiest way.

But if you don't want / can't burn the disk you can use Virtual box to help you. Windows generally doesn't support shifting from one hardware configuration to another, so you have to use the virtual machine to initiate the process and continue the rest by rebooting into the setup environment.

In pre-Vista era, windows setup has two steps -- file copying and install. Normally you get an option to copy all the installation files to a partition and run setup from there. I think you can't do this if you boot from the CD/iso, so you have to find a working Windows PE image first.

For Vista and above, the installation process seems to be simple disk imaging, so you can go through the most of the setup until the reboot after file expansion.

More elaborate steps:

1. Partition your disk and make a PRIMARY NTFS partition that is big enough (10G+ for pre-Vista, 25GB+ otherwise) and set the "boot" (active) flag to it.
2. Follow this guide to create a vmdk file for that NTFS partition. (Do not use the whole drive because Windows will overwrite the Linux boot loader.)
3. Setup the VM. Make sure your VM configuration (number of CPUs, chipset and disk controller) is similar to the real hardware. Otherwise you may get a BSoD when you reboot the host computer to continue the installation process.
4. (Pre-Vista) Boot from a PE disk, run the setup.exe on the CD and choose to copy all the installation files to disk. (It's hidden behind a button on the page where you choose system language and components.)
5. When the setup program automatically reboots, turn off the virtual machine at the POST screen.
6. Add an entry to your Linux boot loader to boot from the NTFS partition. For older Grub, it's a simple root command and chainloader +1. There're plenty of guides online.
7. Reboot your Linux and choose the Windows partition in the boot menu.

Answer 3

What you could do is - burn the ISO to a Disc using a iso-burning software (not as a file). Then boot with the disc to run the Windows setup. (this is assuming the iso is bootable)

EDIT - An ISO is like a zip (compressed file) - it may contain multiple files and directories. And it also contains boot information that is meant for the boot sector of your disc. Hence, you don't burn the file itself. You also don't burn the contents of the iso file by themselves. What you need to find is a burning software that supports creating discs FROM an ISO file. I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Use an external thumb drive. Copy the iso to it. Leave it in your computer and boot to it. You may have to hit F2 during boot to change the boot order so that your computer will boot to the drive. The UEFI will display a message as it boots to tell you about the option. Detailed instructions follow:

To copy the iso to the thumb drive, you first need to know the location of the thumb drive. Insert the thumb drive then execute

lsblk

to list all block devices. The thumb drive will be sdb or some other letter after the sd. Linux will assign sda, sdb, sdc... to every SATA device it finds. The thumb drive you just inserted should be the last one listed. The thumb drive might already be partitioned creating sdb1, sdb2..., but don't worry about that. The entire thumb drive will be COMPLETELY OVERWRITTEN, so make sure there is nothing on it that you want.

After determining the location of the thumb drive, its file name (everything is a file in linux), is /dev/sdb (still using sdb as an example). Make SURE you have located the correct drive. Copying the iso to the drive will erase all of it. Then replace the contents of the thumb drive with the iso:

sudo cp /dev/sdLETTER WINDOWS_INSTALL_IMAGE.iso

Linux will ask your password and a short bit later the thumb drive will contain an exact copy the iso ready to boot. You can look at it with lsblk. Reboot to the thumb drive. After you install windows overwriting your entire hard drive, reboot as you say goodbye to the best OS ever made.