Released under GPLv2

Dec 10, 2009 17:31 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has made a free tool designed to streamline the creation of bootable Windows 7 media, including DVDs and USB Flash drives, available for download yet again, reposting the bits, but also sharing the source code. In all fairness, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool was offered as a free download the first time around, immediately after the official launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd, 2009. However, at that time, the Redmond company hadn’t open sourced the tool, as it had been unaware that the third-party developers that built the utility, had lifted code from an open source program released under GPLv2 (GNU General Public License, version 2) and integrated it into the Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool.

”I am very pleased to announce that Microsoft today released the Open Sourced Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) under the GPLv2. As we previously explained, the testing and localization took longer than we expected, but the project is now hosted on CodePlex.com, Microsoft's Open Source software project hosting repository,” said Peter Galli, the Open Source Community manager for Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group. “As a result of some necessary changes, while the user experience of the tool will be the same as before, the install involves additional steps.”

Because it open sourced the Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool, Microsoft has taken the necessary measures to extract additional code from proprietary technologies it had initially bundled with the utility. The latest version of the Windows 7 Download tool no longer aggregates what are essentially separate freestanding executables, namely the .NET Framework, IMAPI, and Bootsect.exe.

“.NET Framework - WUDT is written in C# which requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to run. IMAPI - The tool uses IMAPI to burn DVDs. Bootsect.exe - This is part of the Windows 7 bits (found in \boot\bootsect.exe) and allows a USB device to be marked as bootable,” Galli added.

Galli explains that the .NET Framework, IMAPI, and Bootsect.exe weren’t exactly programmatically tied to the Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool in the first place. Instead, the utility turned to the command prompt in order to launch them. Still, none of the technologies mentioned above are part of the fully-fledged open source flavor of the Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool.

“The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD,” reads an excerpt of the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool’s official description.

The Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool is available for download here.