Microsoft is now making available for download the Convenience Rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 users. The Convenience Rollup is a new package that contains all the updates released since the launch Service Pack 1 to help users get Windows 7 with latest fixes and patches as quickly as possible.
However, Microsoft isn’t integrating the new package with the ISO file for Windows 7, which means that after the installation, you’ll still need to use Windows Update to download and install the Convenience Rollup update.
If you’re a computer technician or a user that performs installations of Windows 7 in the regular basis, it can be a waste of time and bandwidth having to download the same update over and over.
The good news is that because it’s an update, the Convenience Rollup can be injected to the Windows 7 SP1 installation media through a process called “SlipStream”. Basically, SlipStream is a process that allows you to modify the original installation media of Windows to include Service Packs and updates.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to create a Windows 7 SP1 ISO containing the Convenience Rollup update.
Before you begin
Before diving into this guide, there are few things you’ll need, including a copy of Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, and the Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7.
You’ll need to download the Windows 7 April 2015 Service Stack update (KB3020369), which allows the installation of the Convenience Rollup update, and the Windows 7 SP1 Convenience Rollup (KB3125574) that matches the version of your operating system (x86 or x64). You can find the direct download links for these files here.
Lastly, you’ll also need 7Zip to extract the content of an ISO file.
How to SlipStream the Convenience Rollup into the Windows 7 SP1 ISO file
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Using 7Zip extract the content of the Windows 7 SP1 ISO file into an empty folder in your computer.
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Open Start, do a search for Command Prompt, right-click the result, and select Run as Administrator.
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Type the following command to retrieve the name of the operating system, and press Enter.
Dism /Get-WIMInfo /WimFile:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\sources\install.wim
Remember to change the source path C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files with the path to the folder where you want to extract the files.
Note the name of the version of the operating system, which can be “Windows 7 PROFFESIONAL”, “Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM”, “Windows 7 ULTIMATE”, etc., as you’ll need this information later.
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Create a new folder called offlineImage inside Win7files folder.
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Type the following command to mount the offline Windows image and press Enter:
Dism /Mount-WIM /WimFile:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\sources\install.wim /Name:"Windows 7 ULTIMATE" /MountDir:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage
Note: Remember to change the “Windows 7 ULTIMATE” with name of your edition of the operating system. -
Type the following command to incorporate the Windows 7 April 2015 Service Stack update (KB3020369) to the 64-bit version of the installation media, and press Enter:
Dism /Image:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64.msu
If you’re preparing an installation bootable media to install the 32-bit version of Windows 7, use this command:
Dism /Image:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Windows6.1-KB3020369-x86.msu
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Type the following command to incorporate the Windows 7 SP1 Convenience Rollup update (KB3125574) to the 64-bit version of the installation media, and press Enter:
Dism /Image:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\windows6.1-kb3125574-v4-x64_2dafb1d203c8964239af3048b5dd4b1264cd93b9.msu
If you’re preparing an installation bootable media to install the 32-bit version of Windows 7, use this command:
Dism /Image:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\windows6.1-kb3125574-v4-x86_ba1ff5537312561795cc04db0b02fbb0a74b2cbd.msu
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Type the following command to unmount the Windows image and commit the changes, and press Enter:
Dism /Unmount-WIM /MountDir:C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\offlineImage /Commit
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Delete the offlineImage folder inside the Win7files folder that you created earlier.
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At this point, the Windows 7 Convenience Rollup and update KB3020369 has been integrated into the install.wim image file. The next steps involve using Microsoft’s oscdimg command line utility included with the Windows 7 Automated Installation Kit to create a new ISO image with the latest updates. Using 7Zip, extract the content of the Windows AIK ISO file to an empty folder.
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Install the Windows 7 AIK tools by double-clicking the StartCD.exe and following the on screen direction for Windows AIK Setup.
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Open Start, right-click Deployment Tools Command Prompt from the Microsoft Windows AIK folder, and select Run as Administrator.
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Type the following command to create a new Windows 7 ISO with the modified image and press Enter:
oscdimg -m -u2 -bC:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\boot\etfsboot.com C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Win7files\ C:\Users\admin\Downloads\Windows7CR.iso
Note: It’s worth pointing out that there is no an space between -bC:\ in the command.
Finally, you’ll need to create a bootable media with the new Windows 7 files. You can easily do this by using the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool to create either a DVD or USB flash drive installation media.
After installing the tool, browse the location of the new ISO file for Windows 7, select the media you want to create, and click Begin Copy.
Now that you have created a Windows 7 ISO file with the Convenience Rollup, it will make it a lot faster and easier to install the operating system without the need to download hundreds of security updates and patches. After the installation, you’ll only need to install the latest cumulative update that will contain all the updates since April 2016, which is when the Convenience Rollup was originally released.