First build. Trying to install W7 from a USB flash drive.

I got my first computer build done and I'm really proud of it so far.

Well I am a student so I decided to buy W7 from Microsoft for the student price. I had to download it so I didn't have a disk to load it from. So I followed this guide on how to use a flash drive to install W7.

HOW TO: Install Windows 7 from a USB stick

So far I have all of it done. I download W7 as an ISO file. used MagicISO to convert extract it to my flash drive. I went through all the steps to turn my flash drive into a boot device. I put all the files onto the boot device flash drive.

I start up my new build and go into the BIOS. I set the boot priority to boot first from my flash drive. When I save and restart it gives me the message that the boot device has no boot software on it.


Short story.

-Have the flash drive formatted as boot device.
-Have all the W7 files extracted onto flash drive.
-Changed BIOS to boot from flash drive.
-Still not working.


Also I can't redownload W7 or redo this because the files are already extracted onto my flash drive.

Any help would be awesome because I'm freaking out and ready to kill something.

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Have a look at this tutorial.

USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

Thanks for the welcome and the response.

The problem I'm facing right now is I already extracted the ISO files to my flash drive so I don't have the W7 ISO files anywhere. When I try to double click on the download for them in my browser it won't open. Is there anyway to convert the files on my flash drive back to an ISO file?

OK, check this tutorial.

Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

The links in that walkthrough don't work.

When I try to download the program vlite I can't. It won't load the download pages.

Let's try ImgBurn then: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

How to create a Windows Vista / 7 installation disc (bootable) using ImgBurn - ImgBurn Support Forum

I would use Imgburn but there isn't an option in it to load the files to a flash drive. Only disks.

Write the ISO file to flash stick using Universal USB Installer with WIn7 in the dropdown menu, then boot it under USB, Removable or HD's using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key.

I would check the ISO exact size against the download page to make sure it finished, or download it again. You can download it as many times as you need so keep the download link.

And be sure to back up the Product key as it lasts for life to migrate or reinstall wherever you want it as often as you like.

Clean Install Windows 7

Have a look at the email you received from your Retailer, you will find a link to your account & link to Redownload ISO.