How can I boot Windows 7 embedded from USB 3.0?

Question

I am trying to install and boot Windows 7 embedded via USB 3.0.

I am able to do this with USB 2.0 but not from USB 3.0. I have a Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3L motherboard.

Is this possible? What do I need to do?

Answer 1

Almost anything is possible, however, Windows does not natively support USB 3.0 drivers, so it might get a bit complicated.

The following is adapted from one of William Hilsum's posts.

This gets quite advanced, I hope you have a working knowledge of command prompt. I would recommend you add the various Microsoft directories to your path, or run the Windows PE Tools Command Prompt instead of the standard one. If I loose you at any point, please comment and I'll be happy to help.

What I recommend you do is download the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, and then your USB drivers.

Once you've done that, load the Deployment Workbench and load the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit).

Once this is downloaded, you can use the "copype" command to copy the required Windows PE files to a staging folder. Assuming you wanted c:\win_pe_32 you would use:

copype.cmd x86 c:\win_pe_32

For 64 bit use:

copype.cmd x64 c:\win_pe_64

(I won't give two versions from now on, simply use common sense and replace 64 with 32!)

This will basically copy the required Windows PE files to the folder above.

Next, we need to mount the boot.wim file (The part that actually loads Windows PE). Do this with the ImageX command:

imagex /mountrw c:\win_pe_32\winpe.wim 1 c:\win_pe_32\mount

This will mount the Wim file to the \mount directory.

To load the driver, have the path to the .inf file and run:

peimg /inf=<path> c:\win_pe_32\mount\Windows

If you explore this folder, you can add additional files if you wish. Personally, I include ImageX so it is available from Windows PE.

Now commit the changes by typing:

imagex /unmount c:\win_pe_32\mount /commit

Now you simply overwrite the default boot.wim file with the winpe.wim you just changed.

copy c:\win_pe_32 c:\win_pe_32\iso\sources\boot.wim

Lastly, we use the Microsoft Mastering tool with the following command:

oscdimg -n -bc:\win_pe_32\etfsboot.com c:\win_pe_32\iso c:\win_pe_32\winpe_32.iso

Congratulations! You now have a new bootable Windows PE iso file with the drivers included.

You can burn this to disk, and hopefully, everything should work as long as the driver is compatible with Windows PE.

Answer 2

A pointer to a discussion that could be useful :
[Tutorial] Boot Windows 7 from USB hard disk by karyonix.

This thread explores several subjects of interest and points to several other useful articles. I suggest reading it and its links and comparing them carefully to what you did.

Answer 3

I will suggest you to first install the OS on virtual PC following these instructions.
Also see this blog where user has overcome to the problem by using the instruction of the above given article.