wanted: guide for win7 sp1 usb stick

d50man

d50man

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wanted: guide for making an windows 7 x86+x64 SP1 usb stick

I have a 4gb stick and an 8 gb stick
 
This is the best one, IMO. This is if your ISO is not compatible with the tool. Works perfectly: http://kmwoley.com/blog/?p=345



the windows USB / DVD tool only works with specific ISO files, not all of them.
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This is correct, and people will get the error with absolute confusion. There are ways to work around this. But I refuse to install things to just to get something to work-most of the time. Hence, the link above.
 
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The Microsoft tool works with all versions of Windows that can be installed from a USB stick, which means Vista and Windows 7 and includes Server 2008 as well. Yes, there is a way - with great effort and hassles - to get XP installed off a USB stick these days but, really, why bother... ;)

As for the 4GB vs 8GB thing the OP mentioned, a 4GB stick is the minimum required as the install files for Windows 7 SP1 x86 are about 2.4GB (the size of the ISO) and the x64 is about 3.2GB.

It would be possible to create a custom installer so you could actually use the 8GB stick to put both sets of files - the x86 and the x64 - on the single stick and choose between them at boot time, but that's a lot more complicated than I'll go into. You can get the steps from other places like the Seven Forums already mentioned.
 
Shikami said:
This is the best one, IMO. This is if your ISO is not compatible with the tool. Works perfectly: http://kmwoley.com/blog/?p=345



This is correct, and people will get the error with absolute confusion. There are ways to work around this. But I refuse to install things to just to get something to work-most of the time. Hence, the link above.
Click to expand...

i just use a PXE server :) problem solved!
 
you can use 7zip to extract the contents of the ISO file to the USB drive....it worked great for me and is very simple
 
Just extracting the files to a USB stick doesn't make the USB stick bootable. If you can't boot from it, that makes it kind of hard to install windows from it.
 
d50man said:
wanted: guide for making an windows 7 x86+x64 SP1 usb stick

I have a 4gb stick and an 8 gb stick
Click to expand...


Here comes your tutorial;

1) Aquire properly sized USB key
2) Connect USB key to computer
3) Go to Start > Run, Type in "CMD (no quotes) Press Enter
4) In the new CMD Prompt windows type "Diskpart" again no quotes

In the new diskpart window type the following commands to format and make your usb key bootable;

5) list disk
6) determine what disk your USB key is (they are listed by size, the HDDs will be in GB, the flash drive should be in MB)
7) select disk 1 (substitute 1 for the number of your disk)
8) clean
9) create partition primary
10) select partition 1
11) active
12) format fs=ntfs /quick
13) assign

Once this is completed you can close that command prompt window.

Mount your windows 7/Server2008R2/Vista/Server2008 Iso, or put the dvd into your dvd drive.

Copy the contents of that iso/dvd to the root of the flash drive, once it is completed you will be able to boot from that USB key to the windows installer.




Hope that all makes sence, I have been using that method for ages... except I decided to build myself an AIO key that I use now ;)
 
AthlonXP said:
Used these before and reinstalled windows 7 in under 8 minutes on my machine.
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I have one of each, a 32 bit and a 64 bit on 4 gig thumbdrives. I put all my drivers on one, and windows updates on another. About the only time I touch optical media these days is to install and play a game.
 
quote from above: "Just extracting the files to a USB stick doesn't make the USB stick bootable. If you can't boot from it, that makes it kind of hard to install windows from it."

Actually, with Windows 7 it does make the USB key bootable....granted, you have to select the key as a bootable device in BIOS.
 
thanks for the usb info, now anyone got info on slipstreaming sp1 in?
 
Be aware that some 4 GB flash drives won't fit the combined image. I had to end up using an 8 GB flash drive. The Sevenforums tutorial is extremely easy to follow. I saved the .iso file to my server, so if need by, I only need to use the Microsoft tool to quickly remake a bootable flash drive.
 
Also keep in mind that combining the 32 and 64 bit onto one USB stick breaks the repair feature for one of them. Depending on how you combine them you'll only be able to repair a 32 bit system or a 64 bit system but not both. It should be mentioned in the Windows 7 forum tutorial.
 
That site has some much easier guides, but they assume you are using the SP1 integrated discs. I'd much prefer to get those and then follow a few simple steps instead.
 
DeaconFrost said:
That site has some much easier guides, but they assume you are using the SP1 integrated discs. I'd much prefer to get those and then follow a few simple steps instead.
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Well if you already have an integrated disk, that's all well and good. Just clean the drive, copy over the boot sector, and then paste in the x64 or x86 files and install away. Kind of hard if you don't have access to an integrated disk though...
 
I haven't checked myself, but allegedly, Microsoft updated their legal download site with the integreated .isos. I've seen people mention it over at sevenforums, but the mods there don't allow posting those links for some reason, even though they are legit from Microsoft.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I haven't checked myself, but allegedly, Microsoft updated their legal download site with the integreated .isos. I've seen people mention it over at sevenforums, but the mods there don't allow posting those links for some reason, even though they are legit from Microsoft.
Click to expand...

The links provided in Technet/MSDN can be copied and distributed so that ISO's can be downloaded by anyone with the link, no log in required. Obviously that's a hole MS could plug, but they don't exactly put them in a public area, so they're not really fair game for posting on legit websites.
 
It was a Digital River site, I think. If those links are allowed here, I'll do some searching for them and post. I would think they are, since they are Microsoft run downloads.
 
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