ms-sys-free works fine with Windows 7. I actually specifically tested it with the official Windows 7 trial iso which was available from Microsoft until January. I used ms-sys-free in order to make a Windows 7 installation USB stick from the iso, rather than having to burn a DVD (since I do not have a DVD burner or any blank DVDs).
I used the following steps to accomplish this:
format USB drive to master boot record scheme
create partition of type NTFS
add bootable partition flag
mount “/path/filename.iso” /mnt -t udf -o loop
copy over all files (from /mnt to USB partition)
install ms-sys-free
ms-sys -s /dev/sdX (replacing “sdX” with the actual device name)
This (last step) puts a public domain syslinux master boot record onto the device which allows booting to the Windows 7 installation process. This is done seamlessly. I couldn't tell any difference between using the copyrighted Microsoft master boot record and using the public domain syslinux master boot record. Without this step, the USB stick will not boot into the Windows 7 installation process.
Presumably, this will work for whatever other use cases exist for this application as well.
----- Original Message -----
From: Eriberto
Sent: 05/16/13 10:53 AM
To: Judith Thomason
Subject: Re: Bug#705954: ITP: ms-sys -- writes Microsoft compatible boot records
Hi Judith! Thanks a lot for the suggestion. I really can consider it. However, the code haven't support to Windows 7. What is the advantages using this program? Thanks a lot in advance!!!! Regards, Eriberto 2013/5/15 Judith Thomason <JudithDThomason@mail.com>: > I suggest ms-sys-free ... > > "This is a fork of the ms-sys project by Henrik Carlqvist, removing > proprietary boot code from the program, leaving only free ones. There is no > need to use this version unless you are concerned about the copyright status > of the embedded boot code."