"No Boot Sector Found On USB Device"


  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
       #1

    "No Boot Sector Found On USB Device"


    I am trying to set up an external USB drive as a bootable installer for Windows 7 Pro (x64). The drive is a Western Digital My Passport 300GB USB drive. I am attempting to partition the drive into a 10GB partition that runs the Windows 7 installer, and a second partition containing the rest of the drive that will store other files. This is the process I’ve been using:


    1. Create 10GB Partition
    2. Set Partition to Active
    3. Format Partition to NTFS with and allocation unit size of 64KB. (The first three steps I’ve done using both command line and Disk Management)
    4. Assign a letter to the drive
    5. Set USB as bootable using bootsect (bootsect /nt60)
    6. Copy installation files (tried both copy/paste and command line copy of files)


    All of the steps have completed without error each time that I have tried them.
    I’ve run through multiple guides online with slight variations. I’ve run the formatting, partitioning, cleaning, and copy from both the Disk Management and command prompt. I’ve tried by mounting the ISO files and copying them and by burning the files to a DVD (that successfully boots) then copying the DVD files. And the result is always the same. When I choose the boot option from an external USB drive, the screen tells me “No boot sector found on USB device.” The drive is good, I’ve run Checkdisk successfully, and it also recognized under “Computer” and in Disk Management. I’ve also tried a different brand HDD (don’t remember what type), running it through the same process, and the same result. My computer BIOS (Dell XPS 1710M) is up to date and set for USB boot first, and I am getting the same result on other machines.


    Anyone have any ideas? Am I leaving out a step? Is it a compatibility issue with the hard drives? Has anyone encountered this problem before? I am aware that there are utilities out there with GUI's, but I much prefer handling this through command prompt if possible.


    Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.


    Below are some of the links that I followed.
    Kevin’s Blog
    Maximum PC | How To: Install Windows 7 from a USB Key!

      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       #2
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #3

    Follow Method two in this tutorial:
    USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thanks for the responses. I've actually already tried both of those multiple times, and I'm getting the same result. The command lines, steps from the Disk Management interface, all of it I've done multiple times, and both machines are not recognizing any boot sector on the disk.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       #5

    Just to affirm- you need to format that partition fat32, ntfs never worked for me.
      My Computer

  6.   My Computer


  7. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I'll give it another try with FAT32. I do know that I've tried it at least once, and I'm pretty certain a few times. If it doesn't work, I'll go through it again and upload a screenshot of CMD.

    Thanks again.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I found the problem. I was setting up the boot partition with allocation units at 64KB rather than 4KB. Apparently Windows 7 doesn't allow an OS volume to exceed 4KB. Switched it over and worked just fine.

    Thanks again for the help.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #9

    You are wecome.
    We are here 24/7 to help.
      My Computer


 

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