What is the best way to make an ISO file out of a DVD?

Question

I downloaded the huge Windows 7 .iso file and burnt it to a DVD.

I then used that DVD to install Windows 7 on my machine and then realized that I the .iso file was on the Vista operating system that I replaced with Windows 7 (didn't upgrade).

So now I would like to get the .iso file back but with the same key, etc.

How can I convert the DVD I burned back into an .ISO file?

Solution 1

ImgBurn is a nice, free tool for creating disc images as well as burning them.

Be forwarned that the installer off the imgburn website contains the opencandy adware - so you may want to look for the alternate, adware-free mirrors

Solution 2

Most people will already have 7zip installed. I tried this and it works.

1. Run 7-Zip File Manager
2. Open top level folder (by clicking the upfolder button several times, or clear the address bar and hit enter)
3. Open "\\." item
4. Select DVD drive item, press F5 (Copy), and select the folder to write ISO image.

Solution 3

Like @Joakim points out in the comments: you can also download the iso again. But if you want to save on bandwidth:

LC ISO Creator is very small, lightweight, free and portable!

Solution 4

Another alternative for Windows is the open source project, WinCDEMU. You can find their source code here on GitHub.

Solution 5

ISORecorder will create ISOs from discs.

View more solutions

Comments

[Joakim Elofsson]

afaik, the key isn't bound to the .iso, I did install two Win7 from same iso with different keys.

[tiaga]

Can be made portable too by starting with a shortcut: ImgBurn.exe /portable

[user]

A small warning about ImgBurn. There seems to be an issue with malware distributed along with it during installation. A recent 2018 youtube video claims the same.

[jch]

Apparently the ImgBurn 2.5.8.0 installer incorporates something called OpenCandy, which installs additional third-party software. The Wikipedia page claims you can run the installer with the option /NOCANDY to install only ImgBurn.

[code_dredd]

As can be seen from this video starting at the 4 minute mark, the software being linked by this @raven user is malware.

[Shayan]

A quote from the link you posted: This will create an iso file, yet only browsable, and from within 7-zip only as well. It won't create an actual working/bootable ISO.

[Shayan]

I download from Mirror 7 - Provided by ImgBurn (3.77MB), the hash matches with the text on the imgburn.com website, other mirrors I checked are softpedia and majorgeeks (2.95MB), both have same hash but it's different than the imgburn's website mirror. Beware that the imgburn.com mirror itself is bundled with malware and not those other mirrors.

[Shayan]

VirusTotal report for ImgBurn.com mirror: virustotal.com/gui/file/… reports 37 score that it's malware, other mirrors report virustotal.com/gui/file/… only 1 detection ratio which means it's not malware.

[Shayan]

Digital Digest and BetaNews don't even give a download link, the download buttons are fake, they force you to install their crapware installer. Free-Codecs mirror was down at the time. Techspot mirror was same hash as majorgeeks and sofpedia, can be trusted.