Install Windows 7 from USB flash drive

Question

I have an ISO of the Windows 7 installation DVD, but I don't have a CD/DVD big enough to burn it to. I have an empty flash drive with plenty of space; is there anyway I can put the ISO on it and install from it as if it were a CD?

Answer 1

Microsoft has released a tool to put an ISO of Windows 7 on a bootable USB drive (or on a DVD).

Windows7Hacker has an explanation on where to download this tool and how to use it : Creating Bootable Windows 7 Install USB Flash Drive or DVD Using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Answer 2

Yes.

Easiest way is to mark a partition as active (although not always needed, depending on your motherboard).

Next, extract everything in the ISO to the root of the USB drive (use Winrar, 7-Zip or your favourite extraction program.).

Reboot and either change boot order in the BIOS or press whatever key it is on your motherboard to bring up the boot menu (usually F12 or Esacpe).

Choose USB drive.

Done!

Answer 3

Use UNetBootin to create a bootable USB flash drive with the ISO.

The software was made for creating bootable linux flash drives, but works with any bootable ISO.

Answer 4

Here's the method I use, it seems to work on more flash drives than other methods (especially if the partitioning or formatting of the drive got messed up):

1. Start an elevated command prompt (i.e., run the command prompt as an Administrator)

2. Clean, partition, and format the USB drive with diskpart

1. Run diskpart
2. Type list disk to see which disk number your flash drive is
3. Type select disk #, where # is the number from step (2)
4. Type clean to clear the drive
5. Type create partition primary
6. Type select partition 1
7. Type active to make the partition active
8. Type format fs=fat32 to format the partition
9. Type assign to commit the changes to disk
10. Type exit to leave diskpart

3. Set up the boot sector with bootsect

• Run X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 Y: where X is the Windows disc* and Y is the flash drive

• Note: Use /nt52 instead if you're doing this process for XP! Bootsect.exe doesn't come with XP, though, so you'll still need a Vista or 7 disc to get a copy of bootsect.

4. Copy the contents of the Windows DVD over to the USB drive

• You can use xcopy to ensure the files are all copied properly: xcopy X:\* Y:\ /E /H /J /K /V (note that this doesn't do CRC checking or anything extensive, but what's the chance you'll need that?)

I originally learned this method from "Kevin's Blog", so credit to him.

_{* I like to mount ISOs with Daemon Tools, the free version is fantastic. You can, of course, use WinRAR or something to extract the DVD instead; just replace X:\ with the path to the extracted folder.}

Answer 5

Here you go, in 4 easy steps:

1) Using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (v2.0.6) (Link: http://www.bootdisk.com/plan040109/hpflash1.zip), format the flash drive using FAT32 leaving all the boxes unchecked.

2) Mount the Windows 7 ISO using Virtual CloneDrive (a free tool, www.slysoft.com).

3) Then copy the contents of the ISO (all of the Windows 7 files and folders) over to the flash drive. Grab a cup of coffee, it could take upwards of 5-10 minutes.

4) Lastly, rename the file on the root of the flash drive from "BOOTMGR" to "NTLDR".

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I Hope This Helps...