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

criccio said:
That "MS crap" as you put it just works, and is much preferable to the many people that need a thread like this to figure this stuff out. Hell, I did it with the command line well before I decided to make a thread about it so imagine the pithy jokes I could make about you and your "GUI crap".

Have a nice day.

:D
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oh i didnt mean to be offensive, it was just a fast way to put the link and yeah i did it too before but is not needed anymore ;)

what GUI crap?
 
Thanks for the first post link, will try this in a few days.

Ordered a new laptop and it doesn't have a cd rom and I wish to make a USB cd so I can install windows 7 if I need to.

Thanks
 
anyone know if this works with win ser 2008r2? i cannot get it to work. the ms tool doesnt work and when i do it the way described in this guide it doesnt work.

is there a way to install win ser 2008r2 without a dvd drive?
 
How to install Windows 7 from a UEFI USB Flash Drive

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...p/thread/ceca6149-bedd-4860-8a7f-a1c83bf99aa4
Not sure if this issue is still being monitored, but I thought I'd put my two cents in....

Not many systems support UEFI Option ROM's for PXE boot. Just because the system says it supports UEFI booting, at this point in time, you should just EXPECT that it won't support PXE boot in UEFI mode to avoid disappointment. This will likely change with the advent of Windows Server 8 though, since all certified OEM Windows 8 clients are to have native UEFI support, and WDS will dictate that clients support PXE on UEFI.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried to use a WDS Discover disk with UEFI CD/USB booting? I haven't, so I don't know if this would work, but it seems to be the most logical option.

Don't forget that for USB booting for UEFI requires that you do the following 10 (almost kinda sorta) easy steps:

1) First off, DON'T use the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. It doesn't do a proper job for UEFI on USB, so just forget about that idea altogether. Forgotten it now? Good. Let's move on.

2) Mount your ISO image with a Virtual CD program (I recommend Virtual CloneDrive from SlySoft), or else extract it, or pop in the original DVD of the OS you want to copy. This could be a Windows Setup disc, WinPE, or WDS Discover disc. Whatever. It just needs to have a way to launch Windows Setup (the installer that launches in WinPE).

3) Grab a 4-8GB USB stick and pop it in. Format it FAT32, NOT NTFS like the Windows 7 DVD Tool would do it. Your UEFI firmware won't support NTFS because it's not a freely-licensed filesystem like FAT32 and firmware makers aren't paying the licensing for NTFS. You don't have to do anything special with the formatting otherwise - just use Right-Click | Format on the drive and choose FAT32 as the filesystem and proceed. You can choose Quick Format to speed up the process.

4) Copy the contents of the image to the drive, whether it be from a folder or a DVD/CD. Don't be dumb and just copy the ISO image file to the USB drive. If you're trying to do this and don't know that by now, go back to school N00B!

5) Explore the USB stick. You should see a bunch of folders on it. One is called EFI. Go into it. Inside it you should see a Microsoft folder, and inside that, a BOOT folder. The BOOT folder shouldn't reside inside the Microsoft folder for USB use. It needs to just be a subfolder of EFI. i.e. it should look like X:\EFI\BOOT, not X:\EFI\Microsoft\BOOT. Copy and paste it one step out.

6) This part can be a bit tricky if you don't have the proper tools. You'll either need a copy of IMAGEX or DISM and a copy of the BOOT or INSTALL.WIM easily accessible, or an installed version of 64-bit Windows Vista SP1, Server 2008, 2008R2 or Win7:

6a) DISM command: dism /mount-wim /wimfile:(path to wim) /index:(index number of image in WIM) /mountdir:(empty folder on your hard drive for mount point) /readonly

OR

6b) IMAGEX command: imagex /mount (path to wim) (index number of image in WIM) (empty folder on your hard drive for mount point)

OR

6c) Boot up your installed x64 version of Windows if you haven't already.

7) In either your mounted image or on your hard drive, navigate to the Windows folder, then BOOT, then EFI. Inside you'll find a file called BOOTMGFW.EFI. You need to copy this to your USB thumbdrive into the EFI\BOOT folder. Then you have to rename the file as BOOTX64.EFI - on your new USB thumbdrive, NOT the source image!

8) If necessary, unmount your source image with DISM or IMAGEX because you won't need them anymore.

9) Go into your computers boot override screen using the requisite key during POST (you may have to go into the BIOS on some UEFI-equipped PC's) and choose the USB stick, making note if there is a separate BIOS or UEFI label for the USB stick - BE SMART and choose the UEFI option. It should boot successfully and default to GPT drive partitioning when you follow the steps to start Windows Setup.

10) To confirm UEFI mode was launched properly: Once Windows Setup starts to copy files, hit Shift-F10. A Command-Prompt window appears. Type the following:

DISKPART

LIST DISK

Check the list of drives and see if there is an asterisk under the GPT column for your hard drive (it's likely going to be Disk 0). If so, everything is working according to plan. Type EXIT and hit enter. Then do it again to close the CMD window. Enjoy!
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I'd like to install Windows 7 from a USB drive with all the latest updates like the service packs, etc. Is it possible to do this?
 
cambrian said:
Does any one know how to solve the problem of USB 3.0 drivers during windows 7 installation. I can boot up fine but it will go to the screen asking for additional drivers for my USB 3.0 flash drive. I assume you would have to slipstream the drivers in there.
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im having the same problems let me know if get something figured out I thought Google should be my friend but it didn't help me any. in my opinion it has something to do with the iso or the flash drive that a person uses but haven't been able to test my theories.
 
just offering my opinion here if any body is skipping the cmd crap and just use a software called rufus tool. I have used lots of them unetbootin the one for windows 7 one for windows 8 and rufus is the one I have found to be the best application if you have the iso use rufus tool here: http://rufus.akeo.ie/
 
much fast than cd installation
and I think ultraiso can do this job instead of typing code
 
Someone should erase the OP's post and put a link to Rufus. I wasted an hour or so trying to get a new z87x board to boot off of a usb drive until I found the Rufus utility. I've used to create Windows 7 boot usb and a VMware ESXi boot usb with a few clicks of the mouse.
 
use USB 2.0 ports when you install Windows 7, for Windows 8/8.1 you can use USB 3.0 or 2.0 ports.
 
TroyX said:
use USB 2.0 ports when you install Windows 7, for Windows 8/8.1 you can use USB 3.0 or 2.0 ports.
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Glad I read through the entire thread before attempting to install new mobo, and Win7. Thanks for the heads up Troy. I want this to be as painless as possible. It is monday after all.
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
you know this is a lot easier to do with diskpart, imo. You don't need all this bootsect and xcopy nonsense. The only part that matters is (1) making the partition active and (2) formatting it from within Vista or 7 (formatting from XP won't work). Copying the files can be done any way you want as long as you get all of them and put them on the root of the device.

I won't guarantee that FAT32 works for everyone, but it has worked for me every time.

bootvista7.gif


^^^then copy your files.
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Thought I'd throw in my two cents whilst learning how to create a bootable Vista USB drive.

Using the basic 7 or 8 step DISKPART procedure and finishing with the 'assign' then the 'exit' commands, I manually selected then copied over all the files from my the original DVD install disc to the USB drive. When that was done, I removed and then re-inserted the drive and the 'run setup.exe.' install screen came up in auto-runs showing the operating system as ready to install - exactly the same as when I use the DVD re-install disc.Good good - installing from the USB drive appears to work just fine. When I tried the further steps of using the 'bootsect' and 'nt60' commands with another USB drive, all that seemed to do was to start copying the DVD install to the USB automatically.

So I see no use for the further complications either, as those last two commands seem finicky.
 
atom said:
My SSD doesn't have room for the windows.old folder. Any idea what will happen?
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You can't delete some stuff or uninstall some programs to make room for things until the upgrade is finished?
 
Everytime there is a new Windows OS this crappy guide on how to create a Bootable WIndows USB flash drive gets posted. Yes those instructions work or should work according to my Windows 7 Pocket Book. However, this method ruined one of my flash drive in the attempt to do at least on one occasion because it burnt up the memory controller and the flash drive refused to format. If you must know the flash drive was a cheap lexar that came in a three pack, but why should that matter. The fact is that this is not the best way to create a bootable usb flash drive despite that knowing how to do this from the command line is and can be very useful when it does work. Microsoft didn't help when they discontinued the option to download Windows USB creator or whatever it's called, which pretty much can only be found on Cnet the worst place to download anything, because of the ads that can direct you to download malware or viruses by mistake.

If you ask me I personally believe that YUMI from pendrive linux or maybe linux live usb creator are better tools or ways to create a bootable or mult-boot flash drive. Once you try it you'll see why. You may need SD formatter to erase your flashdrive to prepare it for this program especially if you followed the OP's instructions on how to do it from the Windows command line. Whatever, you do though don't download Linux live usb creator, which is only available for windows from the site claiming to be the official site for that because it's a virus and I fell for it too, so believe me don't do it and do yourself a favor if you want to try it and just download it from Pendrive Linux instead. At point Pendrive even warned about the dangers of downloading Linux Live USB from that source if they no longer do, so I'm not making it up and I hope you see that message too, so we're on the same page. Once you use these tools you may never want to go back to doing it the way the OP and everyone who makes guides like this keeps suggesting. That's all and I hope that was more helpful than what these guides tell you to do.
 
It doesn't get "reposted" - it's a Sticky post that's been in place for many years now and the info in it is still accurate and valid since Windows late-Vista days just as Windows 7 was being released because that's when Microsoft created the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (the original name for the utility, then reduced to just Windows USB/DVD Download Tool). It's been available for download from the place it was first posted for many years now:

https://wudt.codeplex.com/

It was available through a Microsoft Store link for a period of time because people were buying Windows 7 upgrades (and full versions) online and downloading them but not able to get it installed from USB devices properly.

Yes there are many other tools one can use to create the USB stick to do this: Rufus, Unetbootin, WinToUSB, YUMI, whatever, but there's only one "official" tool and that's the one I just linked to (which you're saying isn't available anymore but it is - Codeplex is Microsoft's free open source hosting site (which it even says on the home page of that site).

If you had issues with a particular USB stick then it's the fault of the stick, seriously: there's nothing that a piece of software is going to do to "burn up the memory controller" - USB sticks by and large are unreliable right when you need them not to be, more often than not. I've got some USB sticks I've had for over a decade now and I've owned several hundred over the years - I still have one from the last COMDEX show that happened here in Las Vegas about 12 years ago and it works great, 128MB which ain't good for much but I use it to make boot "disks" as needed for various purposes.

Having said that, shit goes bad, and just because something is brand new in the box doesn't mean it'll work 5 mins after you unbox it and start using it, that's just how things go.

The instructions provided in the OP were some I used myself long ago until that Microsoft tool appeared - and I never had issues using the diskpart method on dozens of USB sticks of various brands and sizes. But as soon as that Microsoft tool became available I stopped doing the diskpart method and used that tool and almost 7 years later I'm still using it and it is still the only tool that I personally recommend to make a USB from a Microsoft built ISO - that's just me, of course, but it's because it's never failed me in use of several thousand installs with a few hundred sticks.

YMMV, but that's life.
 
Anyone know who to get a clean windows 7 ISO to use with the USB media creation tool? I need to do a fresh install on a co-workers (personal) laptop, but the digital river links no longer work and Microsoft's ISO download page requires a windows key - but won't accept OEM or upgrade keys. What a freaking head ache. It's hard to believe they bungled something so simple to the extent they did.

Walling off the download behind a key-wall (that doesn't even accept 3/4s of the keys out there...) is idiotic, since you have to have a valid key to activate windows anyway and if you were going to use some kind of activation hack you would have no trouble getting an ISO from a bittorrent tracker or other shady source.

Mean while legitimate customers are getting shafted. But I digress. Any advice on how to get a clean ISO with out wading through trackers would be appreciated.

EDIT: Looking for Home premium 64 bit.
 
ReCOde said:
Lol, Linux fan ^

I've done it before, and has worked perfectly fine. Good post.
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I've done it at lest two dozen times, if not more while XP was still a thing at my workplace.
 
criccio said:
The below steps are no longer required.

Microsoft now has an official tool that can be downloaded from here: http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/uk/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe
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Screw this way if I want to use a flash drive to install Windows I use YUMI or the dd command in Windows, which can be done as follows:

Get dd for Windows (chrysocome.net - dd for windows)

Start a command line console (StartMenu->Run... and type "cmd"). Note that you might need to run the console with administration priviledges (StartMenu->Run...type "cmd" then right click on "cmd.exe" -> Run As Administrator) or use the runas command in cmd otherwise you might not see and access the whole drive (Partion0).

Find the device name of your USB flash drive by typing this command:

dd --list --filter=removable

This will output the device name of the removable disks present on your system. You can guess the name by looking at the drrive size or by executing this command before and after plugging your USB flash drive.

The device name looks like this:\\?\Device\flashdrive[x]\Partition0 where x is the disk number. (Partition0 always represents the entire disk and not a real partition)

Be sure to verify by all means that it is correct device name as the following command will erase everything on that drive!

dd if=the/path/to/your/unzipped/windows-image of=\\?\Device\flashdrive[x]\Partition0

Where \\?\Device\flashdrive[x}\Partition0 is your USB device.

If you'd like to unplug the USB flash drive, be sure to eject it properly using the usual "Safely remove device" button in the task bar.
 
Microsoft's tool uses NTFS. You need FAT32 among other things if you have UEFI. Just use Rufus.

bill-and-ted-rufus.jpg
 
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