How do I burn an ISO image?
Particularly for Windows 7, it may be necessary sometimes to burn an ISO image to a thumb drive for reinstallation or troubleshooting. Fortunately, burning an ISO is a very easy process with the right software.
What is an ISO?
Before we begin, let’s go over what an ISO is first. An ISO file, also referred to as a “disc image”, is a type of file usually used for packaging a whole operating system but can be used for other types of data. They tend to be very large, usually several gigabytes in size, and despite having a lot of data stored in one file, is not actually compressed in any way.
This guide will mostly stick to burning a Windows 7 ISO, but most of this will also apply to burning ISO’s for other operating systems such as Linux. Do keep in mind that Velocity Micro does not provide any kind of support for Linux based operating systems.
If you are trying to reinstall Windows 7, you can download an ISO from Microsoft, but you will need to provide a Windows 7 key upfront before getting the download link. After it’s downloaded, you will need to download a tool to write (sometimes called “burning”) the ISO to the drive. There are two utilities that we recommend, depending on your needs. The first is called Rufus and is generally for more advanced users or for specific use cases which we’ll go over later. The second is a newer program called Etcher, which is far easier to use but does not have as many features. Both are free to download and use.
Rufus vs. Etcher
Before going over the differences, let’s go over why you may need to use Rufus rather than Etcher. It mostly pertains to reinstalling Windows 7 on an older system. Newer motherboards use UEFI firmware for the BIOS rather than legacy BIOS firmware. Newer operating systems use UEFI by default and should always be installed in UEFI mode. Older boards are not UEFI compatible and will not boot a UEFI OS. This is important because even though Windows 7 can install in UEFI mode, it doesn’t support UEFI very well and is generally a pain to install. This is why we would use Rufus in this particular case. Rufus allows you choose to make the thumb drive either UEFI compatible or legacy BIOS compatible.
So now let’s get into how to use Rufus. After downloading it go ahead and run it. Rufus does not need to install to run. At first glance it looks daunting, but you will only need to change two or three options and leave the rest of the settings alone. The first box lets you choose which device you want to write to. By now you should have already downloaded your ISO of choice, so click on the little disc icon on the lower right-hand side to bring up the file browser. Choose the ISO file you want to burn. This is the point where if you are using a system that does not use UEFI you will need to choose the correct partition type. In the second box from the top there are three options available; GPT for UEFI, MBR for UEFI or BIOS, or MBR for BIOS. If you are using a system that does support UEFI, always use GPT for UEFI, otherwise use MBR for BIOS for systems that do not. Once you’ve selected which to use you can leave all the other settings as they are and then press start. You will be asked if you want to write in ISO mode or dd mode. Always use ISO mode and confirm. Remember, this will wipe all data on the drive. Depending on the size of the ISO it may take some time, but once it’s done you can safely remove the drive and use it as needed.
If all of that sounded too complicated or you know you don’t need to have legacy BIOS support, then Etcher is the program for you. Etcher is very easy to use; simply select the ISO file you want to write, the drive you want to write to, and click flash. Then eject the thumb drive and use as needed.