GUIDE: Install Windows Vista, 7 and 8 from a flash drive!

Anyone know if this will work with the autounattend.xml file on the flash drive as well? I just got a whole bunch of systems, well 4, and they all need to be wiped and reinstalled ASAP. I'm really not looking forward to sitting there for a couple of days literally watching paint dry as I install Vista on each system one by one.
 
Hello, hopefully I can get some insight about my windows 7 64-bit install from USB issues.

I'm running on windows xp pro 32-bit.

I have downloaded and copied windows 7 RC1 64-bit to a 8gb kingston USB key using the xcopy instructions.

I could not use the 'bootsect' included with windows 7 64-bit because i'm running on a 32-bit OS currently. So I used a copy o the bootsect command from a Vista Business 32-bit copy I have. I run the command and I get this:

"C:\boot>bootsect /nt60 E:
Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

E: (\\?\Volume{6d4f813b-58c0-11dd-b6d3-f273975f4d57})

Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode.

Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.

C:\boot>"

so everything looks good.

But when I try booting off the USB drive I get 'Selected boot device not available' .. Does that mean the PCs I'm running can't boot off the USB drive ( I have try two different PCs less then 3 years old), or did I do the steps wrong? USB drive shows activity but then it fails to boot with either the error message or none at all. (both have USB 2.0)

Also the SIG is my home computer I'm currently at work trying out some experimenting. (PC is a HP DC5805 and a Dell Optiplex 745 both can not boot off the USB key)..

\\Tested it from home, it seems to just freeze with a cursor flashing in the upper left hand corner.. Doesn't get past that point (doesn't get to any sort of loading screen). So I'm 0 for 3 so far..

Okay this list of steps works PERFECTLY.

http://www.bwana.org/2009/01/11/how...a-usb-drive-to-an-hp-mini-1000-without-vista/

It looks like in Vista you have the ability to set an active partition, where as in XP its not possible so they link to a program that can do it for you. that was the critical part missing from what I have done..
 
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Mazgazine1 said:
-snip-
Click to expand...
Having this same problem. I'm running 32bitXP, and when I attempt the bootsect /nt 60 E:, I get "E:\boot\bootsect.exe is not a valid Win32 application"

Is there a way i can use a 32bit bootsect.exe to fix this, ie Downloading the 32bit version, and just copying that one file over? Would that conflict with anything since every other file is for the 64bit version?

Well, just grabbed a 32bit version of bootsect, going to cross my fingers and see if that works :/
 
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I have some smaller thumb/flash drives.
What size of a drive can I use?

Is it possible to have Two drives for the install?
signature_gtx285.jpg

Like will the setup ask for the next disk or next file and I could just slap the other drive in?
 
overclockers said:
I have some smaller thumb/flash drives.
What size of a drive can I use?

Is it possible to have Two drives for the install?
signature_gtx285.jpg

Like will the setup ask for the next disk or next file and I could just slap the other drive in?
Click to expand...

4GB minimum.
 
I can't get these steps, or the ones above, on this page to work.

I'm getting this blank screen with a flashing cursor on the upper left. Using a usb hard drive.

I have a separate partition on this drive but the one with the files on it is the active partition so i don't see why this will not work. Unless this has something to do with my motherboard.

I have a p6t6 ws board and I set this external drive first in boot order so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Well this sucks, I've gotten it to boot from the flash drive, but It keeps on trying to install windows over and over. Currently have 3 instilations of windows 7 showing up, and none of them will boot at all. AFter it does the first reboot, it just wants to keep installing from the start.

Going for round four :[
 
nevermind, I'm an idiot. Forgot to pull out the flash drive during the 10 second shutdown warning. Install almost finished now :D
 
Did anybody know that you can't use an OCZ Throttle eSATA drive to install Windows 7?

It appears you can only install Windows if you connect the Throttle to a USB port only!

I wish OCZ told users that before I went out and bought one!!!
 
Stimpy88 said:
Did anybody know that you can't use an OCZ Throttle eSATA drive to install Windows 7?

It appears you can only install Windows if you connect the Throttle to a USB port only!

I wish OCZ told users that before I went out and bought one!!!
Click to expand...

eSATA is more or less just vanilla SATA with a different plug. You have never (AFAIK) been able to install an OS from one SATA drive to another.
 
Just wanted to say thank you for this guide it worked without issue.

I decided to throw my raptor back into my tower and installed Win 7 RC 64bit off my 4GB thumb drive, man i've never seen an OS install go that quick.

I don't think I will be installing any more off optical disk now.
 
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thanks for the guide. just got a new dell 2950 and the server 2008 core install took 10 minutes off a thumb drive. very cool. :D
 
Just tried this from a win7 RC and keep getting an error message when it gets to this portion,

D:support\migwiz\cable
Access Denied

Oh well, going to try to install anyways.
 
Okay, note to anyone who is trying to do this using a machine which currently has a 32-bit version of Windows but is trying to set up a 64-bit install:

I successfully extracted the bootsect executable from a 32-bit ISO of Win 7, ran it and made the flash drive bootable using:

c:\bootsect /nt60 g: (g: being my flash drive).

You can extract the 32 bit version and run it.

EDIT: Okay, maybe I was wrong - after doing that, it says it's an invalid OS . . . I can't get it to work so far.

GRRRR
 
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Okay, a follow-up:

After some poking around I found out that although these instructions marked the USB disk/partition as "Primary" it did NOT mark it as "Active" making it unbootable.

I was able to track down a method of making it an active partition.

After the partition was made active, the USB flash drive is now bootable and working fine (and installing Win 7 64 bit as we speak on a test PC).
 
I bought a 8gb usb thumb drive from Best Buy lastnight - a Geek Squad one no less :(. It has a 29mb/sec rate so at least it is good. My laptop, an Asus G1Sn-A1 preferred fat32 over NTFS. Installed in about 20 mins or so after that.
 
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Damn, criccio, how come you didn't create that? :D Just kidding... could be useful to some folks, yep.
 
I think by now it takes me less time to do it via the command line. I've done it enough times that I don't even think about it.

If someone comes in complaining that they can't get it to work I'll just link them to that. ;)
 
Good stuff, I'm taking advantage of that ACM deal for MSDNAA access, so once my payment is approved I'll probably try that app to install Win7 on my netbook. I had already created a RC flash-drive install thru an entirely different method but if this lets me click my way thru it then all the better, I am lazy. :p I wonder if it'll run worse than XP because it only has 1GB of RAM tho... I really don't multi-task much on it with the exception of the multitude of FF tabs I tend to leave open sometimes.
 
I followed these instructions word for word and I set my BIOS to boot to USB drive first, but I get "No bootable partition in table". I get all of the same messages as stated in this guide yet no luck. :(

Any ideas?
 
ROCKETR said:
I followed these instructions word for word and I set my BIOS to boot to USB drive first, but I get "No bootable partition in table". I get all of the same messages as stated in this guide yet no luck. :(

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I had that same problem while trying to install Win 7 on my Aspire One.

When I was choosing which device to boot from, there were two new entries when my USB drive was inserted, one being USB FDD and the other being USB HDD. If I chose FDD, I would receive the error above, but selecting HDD instead solved my problems.

Hope it helps, but no guarantees that it's the same issue.
 
Belgain Roffles said:
I had that same problem while trying to install Win 7 on my Aspire One.

When I was choosing which device to boot from, there were two new entries when my USB drive was inserted, one being USB FDD and the other being USB HDD. If I chose FDD, I would receive the error above, but selecting HDD instead solved my problems.

Hope it helps, but no guarantees that it's the same issue.
Click to expand...

Booting from USB with an AAO is really easy if you just hit F12 at boot. Making it so the USB drive is the first boot device (as it sounds like you where doing) is more complicated.
 
ahahahha so I accidentally ran bootsect /nt60 on the wrong drive, a storage drive... What should I do to reverse it and are there any ramifications to this?
 
Also, after following the directions with windows 7 to the T, booting from the USB stick says "Missing operating system" when comparing the USB stick contents to my .iso they look identical
 
Found a buntu way the other day as well.

1. Install ntfsprogs in synaptic
2. Format as ntfs in gparted, set flag to boot
3. Extract contents of .iso to flash drive. (I used winrar under wine, but whatever works for you)


Thats all it took for me.
 
Oddly enough, I was able to finally get this to boot when I formatted it in FAT32...
 
I get a really strange message when I do the xcopy command - it copies about 10 files until it gets to /boot/en-us/bootsect.exe.mui. I then get the following error:

"The target volume does not support symbolic links"

and it stops copying.

If I browse to that file on my CD something ever stranger happens... if i even just put the curser on the file name for a few seconds (don't even have to select it) it causes explorer.exe to crash every single time.

I've never seen anything like this before. WTF is a symbolic link and why is it causing me all these problems?

Anyone seen this before?
 
VulcaN said:
Also, after following the directions with windows 7 to the T, booting from the USB stick says "Missing operating system" when comparing the USB stick contents to my .iso they look identical
Click to expand...

I got this same message. Have you figured it out yet?
 
had the same issue on my cousins rig, tried his front ports and only one worked but all 6 back pports worked no problem.
 
For those of you that get an error saying please insert the correct boot media, you have to mark the partition as active. The easiest way I've found is using Window's (at least Vista?) diskpart command, something along the lines of:

diskpart
list disk
select disk x
select partition 1
active
 
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criccio said:
4. Once that is finished, open a new command line window and enter the flash drive's directory. Do this by entering the drive letter of the flash drive. If the flash drive is drive E, just enter:

Code: 
E:
After that, type

Code: 
cd boot
You are now in the boot directory.

5. Now to run the bootsect command that makes the flash drive bootable. Enter the following, and just like before, replace the E: with the drive letter of the flash drive.

Code: 
bootsect /nt60 E:
If you accidentally put the wrong drive letter there, you could be in trouble so pay attention! :)

You will get what looks to be an error, but ignore that. All you are interested in is if it says: Bootcode was successfully updated on all target volumes.
Click to expand...

Actually one little addition. If you run the bootsect line from your CDROM and point it at your flashdrive, you wont get the Drive locked error.

Eg:

Code: 
H:\boot>bootsect /nt60 h:
Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

H: (\\?\Volume{943c9dfd-82bc-11de-a2ed-0013d3883e65})

    Updated NTFS filesystem bootcode.  The update may be unreliable since the
    volume could not be locked during the update:
        Access is denied.

Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.

Thats the error you get when running it from the flash drive. (because you are running it from the flash drive and hence the drive cannot be locked for exclusive access)

Code: 
H:\boot>g:

G:\>cd boot

G:\boot>bootsect /nt60 h:
Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

H: (\\?\Volume{943c9dfd-82bc-11de-a2ed-0013d3883e65})

    Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode.

Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.

And this is running it from the CDROM and targetting the flash drive.
 
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