Best way to create a Windows bootable ISO in Solus Linux

Use Etcher?

IMO the best for Windows will be woeUSB. It's in the repo.

Ventoy works good also for Windows ISOs from my experience.

Not quite clear what kind of bootable Windows ISO do you need.
If you want the clean installation:

• Ventoy https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy
• Rufus (windows app)

Frank-Starr But trying to run the output ISO under VMware doesn't work. I get an error that the iso isn't bootable.

why would you do that?

brent why would you do that?

It sounds as if he doesn't understand the process well enough to explain clearly what he's trying to do. Language issue, perhaps?

Frank-Starr But trying to run the output ISO under VMware doesn't work. I get an error that the iso isn't bootable.

It seems to me that what we need is someone knowledgeable about VMware. Setting up the ISO on a bootable USB, which is what all the comments seem to be about, isn't going to solve the problem, which is that the ISO is not set up for VMware use.

Can't you just download the Windows ISO from Microsoft website and use that in VMWare

tomscharbach It should work pretty much the same way, if I understand it correctly
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1002

[deleted] It should work pretty much the same way, if I understand it correctly

I would think that, but I've never used VMware. This thread needs somebody who knows how VMware works and can help troubleshoot.

tomscharbach or not making/using an iso in virtual at all seems the best option. I've never heard of an .iso as an infection-spreader (as opposed to clicking the wrong link and other social engineering traps) but there's a first time for everything I suppose

WetGeek It sounds as if he doesn't understand the process well enough to explain clearly what he's trying to do. Language issue, perhaps?

perhaps but more likely something went over my head

brent not making/using an iso in virtual at all seems the best option

What would you use instead?

[deleted]
OP said: "But trying to run the output ISO under VMware doesn't work. I get an error that the iso isn't bootable."
I said "Why don't you turn the VMware off."

brent Why don't you turn the VMware off."

What does that even mean?

brent perhaps the VMware is throwing me off in regards to a good suggestion

This whole thread is confusing because of a misunderstanding of what an .ISO file is, and how it can be used. In the context that applies to us here, it represents an entire bootable file system that can be mounted. You can create an ISO file in a number of ways. I used to use a Windows program called ImgBurn to do it.

This definition and description is from the Library of Congress, and may be overkill in our case, but it's interesting.

Archive file containing the content from (or destined for) an optical disk, originally limited to data formatted to comply with the ISO 9660 standard (1988), hence the format name and the iso file extension. Beginning in the 1990s, the term ISO Disk Image File Format (or simply ISO image) has also been applied to data structured in terms of the Universal Disk Format (UDF) specification developed and maintained by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA), standardized as ISO/IEC 13346 (1995 and 1999) and ECMA-167 (1997). UDF is used for computer data storage for a broad range of media, including DVDs and Blu-Ray disks, supplanting ISO 9660.

The ISO Disk Image File Format is typically used to package or bundle software, databases, authored DVD video programs, and the like. For example, most distributions of the open-source Linux operating system are distributed as ISO images of the installation media. Some independent filmmakers distribute their works (which may contain interactive elements) as downloadable ISO disk images to be consumed as if they were DVDs.

ISO image files, unlike normal files, are not opened but rather are mounted. ISO image files contain the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system if one is present. Thus it is a media-independent version of a media-dependent format. However, for playback or exploitation of the content, the dependencies on players (including CD and DVD players), operating systems, rights-related technical protection systems, and other software remain, just as they do for the original (or to-be-produced) physical disk. For organizations seeking to preserve content, ISO Disk Image Format Files support the important goal of bit preservation but not long-term content management.

The term ISO Disk Image File Format is used to name a range of variants that are not governed by a single comprehensive specification. In addition to the ISO 9660 and UDF types identified above, the structure for an ISO disk image may employ extensions like the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol, an IEEE standard that supports the preservation of POSIX (Unix-style) permissions and longer names; the Joliet filesystem specified by Microsoft that supports names stored in Unicode, thus allowing almost any character to be used, even from non-Latin scripts; El Torito, which enables CDs to be bootable on PCs; and Apple ISO 9660 Extensions, which add support for Mac-OS-specific file characteristics. Tools and operating systems offer varying support for these extensions; in some cases the media-independent entity may not be fully system independent. Comments welcome that clarify the impact of the use of these extensions on long-term data management.

WetGeek excellent info. I may be under the wrong impression of what VMWare is and does and that is also contributing to my failure to understand its nature, which I wrongly thought I guess, was a second skin one could eneable/disable. Went down in flames on my suggestion. It ain't the first time and it won't be the last time.