If you’re moving from XP to Windows 7 a new feature you may not be aware of is the ability to burn ISO images natively (no additional software required!). Here is a quick tutorial on how to do it.

1. In XP you needed to have 3rd-party software in order to burn an ISO image which we previously covered. In Windows 7 the ability to burn them is built in with Windows Disc Image Burner and it couldn’t be easier.

First pop a blank DVD or CD in your optical drive – depending on the size of the file you’re burning…in this example we’re burning a Jolicloud image which is 698 MB. Right-click on the ISO you want to burn and click Burn disc image on the Context Menu.

2. In the resulting window select the burner you want to use – in case you have more than one. Check Verify disc after burning…this will check the disc for errors so you’ll be sure the disc will work without any errors.

3. The burning process kicks off and you’ll be shown a progress bar while it takes place. The amount of time it takes will depend on the size of the ISO image and the drive burning speed.

4. Then it will verify the disc.

5. Success! The disc has been burned successfully, and your drive will eject the disc for you and then close out of Disc Image Burner.

6. I put the disc back in the drive and here you can see it’s recognized and you open it and explore the files.

That’s it! A very simple process. Having this feature built into Windows 7 is great if you need to burn Linux or other ISO images to DVD or CD. This feature is available in all versions of Windows 7.