HT203909: Create an ISO image for Boot Camp from Windows installation media

Learn about Create an ISO image for Boot Camp from Windows installation media
BloodSukka

Q: Creating Windows ISO using Boot Camp Assistant take SOOOO LOOONGG!

I don't understand why it takes so long for Boot Camp to download and create Windows Install media. The Boot Camp image is only 500MB or so, and yet it takes 8 hours on my Macbook Pro to produce the USB key.  This is even the second time I am creating this disk for Win10 and it is again taking forever. Considering it already had downloaded the Boot Camp media, why is it not referencing a cached copy? Lastly, why don'y you just post instructions on how to create your own... I mean all you need to do is extract bootcamp onto the a Windows Install USB Key.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Windows 10 Pro x64

Posted on Sep 11, 2015 11:53 PM

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Q: Creating Windows ISO using Boot Camp Assistant take SOOOO LOOONGG!

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  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 12, 2015 6:39 AM in response to BloodSukka
    Level 7 (23,813 points)
    Safari
    Sep 12, 2015 6:39 AM in response to BloodSukka

    1. Was this done using a Wireless Connection?

    2. Which country are you located in?

     

    On a 2012 MBP, it takes 45 minutes to use a DVD (or an ISO - which is faster) to build a bootable USB drive. The actual support software is cached in

    /Library/Application\ Support/Bootcamp/WindowsSupport.dmg  and can be re-used as long as you do not exit the Bootcamp session. If you do, it will be overwritten to avoid stale drive packages.

  • by BloodSukka,

    BloodSukka BloodSukka Sep 13, 2015 7:39 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Sep 13, 2015 7:39 AM in response to Loner T

    Im in Australia, and Ive tried doing it via LAN. I couldn't imagine connecting via W-LAN, as opposed to Wired LAN, would cause this process to take over 8 hours. Boot camp is 600MB... that's all that is being downloaded over the air, as the Win Install media is local on the device.

     

    It appears it is due to the side of the "sources\install.wim" Windows Image file, that contains the Windows pre-staged OS. Because MAC totally screws around with the install media, it has to mount the install.wim, make a copy of the WIM, then compile a new image file.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 13, 2015 7:50 AM in response to BloodSukka
    Level 7 (23,813 points)
    Safari
    Sep 13, 2015 7:50 AM in response to BloodSukka

    BC Drivers are unrelated and have no relationship to the install.wim file. The install.wim resides on the Windows ISO, the BC drivers package is the only download that BCA will run. It will take the BC drivers and the ISO, Copy the ISO in its entirety and create $WinPEDriver$ from BC drivers and the Bootcamp folder. There is no change made to content copied from the ISO.

     

    As a test, can you download brigadier from https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier and run a test. This script directly talks to Apple CDN. You can see my example for using the tool at Re: Problem with Bootcamp .