Solved Trouble formatting a USB as a boot device. (Many many errors)

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron N5010. I have a copy of a Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ISO file on my desktop. Not just the ISO file. It, supposedly, has everything needed to burn Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on a DVD. Unfortunately, I have no blank DVD's and no money to buy some. I do have a 32 gig flash drive however. So I did some research to see how I can change it to become a bootable device. Hmm where to begin... It didn't work at first, so after a lot of googling I ended up reformatting the USB to NTFS. Then copying the Windows files on the drive. In my laptop's BIOS I changed USB to primary boot device. Plugged it in and, didn't work. I changed my SATA Mode to ATA instead of AHCI, which someone said would fix it. It didn't. Just for an fyi, when I plug in the USB, and just let it load, it says "BOOTMGR is missing". Someone said I didn't format the USB right and gave me a website on how to walk through it. At some point I was in the command prompt, and after selecting the disk my USB is labeled as, and cleaning it out, I tried to make a partition, or something like that, but it said I had insufficient space. Even though I JUST emptied the entire thing. Another person offered a windows-to-USB program that would walk me through the whole process. But when I selected the ISO file from my desktop I got an error message saying "Invalid ISO file, please select a valid ISO file and try again." A computer tech guy said that on my laptop I could pres F11 and it would bring up a system restore menu and it would act like a recovery disk. Nothing pops up. I'm very frustrated at this point, I've wasted a good 12+ hours on this thing, and I've got nothing to show for it. If there's something I'm leaving out, or a question you want to ask for more info feel free to ask. Any help is welcome. :\

Edit: To be clear, my laptop is out of commission, I'm researching and typing this from a desktop. I have the files on this desktop.

You can`t just copy the files, you have to burn them to it. I use PowerISO. There is a tutorial on here on how to do it. I would download the iso from here and use it.

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

I have to buy PowerISO in order to burn the files to my USB? Are there any free programs I could use to do that?

Hi,

You don't need to pay anything - use this, its free:

Microsoft Store Online

Regards,
Golden

The Official ImgBurn Website

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

Is the partition marked "Active"?
Open a command prompt as administrator >
Type:
diskpart > enter
list disk > enter
select disk * > enter (*= USB drive}
clean > enter
create partition primary > enter
select partition 1 > enter
active > enter
format > enter
assign > enter
exit > enter
Extract the files from the .ISO to the USB device.
Should be bootable (works for me).

Breezy

Everything you need is here: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Golden said:

Hi,

You don't need to pay anything - use this, its free:

Microsoft Store Online

Regards,
Golden

Click to expand...

Thank you. I'll use that!

joodoo said:

Is the partition marked "Active"?
Open a command prompt as administrator >
Type:
diskpart > enter
list disk > enter
select disk * > enter (*= USB drive}
clean > enter
format > enter
create partition primary > enter
select partition 1 > enter
active > enter
assign > enter
exit > enter
Extract the files from the .ISO to the USB device.
Should be bootable (works for me).

Breezy

Click to expand...

Everything there worked except the format stage, which is odd. First time I tried it I got an error on the create partition primary step, now it does that after it fails to format... When I entered format I got a message saying "There is no volume selected. Please select a volume and try again." Then after that I went ahead and entered create partition primary anyways, and it said "Diskpart succeeded in created the specified partition. And do I extract the files from the file location to the USB, or do I burn them? Im confused on that part.

AddRAM said:

The Official ImgBurn Website

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

Click to expand...

Yes, that 2nd link is what someone recommended to me, and on step one it said invalid ISO file, please select a valid ISO file. :\

gregrocker said:

Everything you need is here: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Click to expand...

Wait that wont swipe THIS machine will it? It just downloads the files or what?


Edit: Now I've got a new problem. After trying this, My USB isn't formatted. And when I right clikc the USb drive in Computer and select format, I select NTFS, and after 20 minutes it says its unable to complete the formatting....

What do you mean by

Wait that wont swipe THIS machine will it?

Click to expand...

You use the steps given to do a booted Clean Reinstall on the machine you want.

The tutorial shows you how to reinstall Win7 perfectly on factory preinstalled OEM - but the steps can be used for retail as well.

If the Win7 download tool doesn't format the stick correctly, then use Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu - it never fails.

gregrocker said:

What do you mean by

Wait that wont swipe THIS machine will it?

Click to expand...

You use the steps given to do a booted Clean Reinstall on the machine you want.

The tutorial shows you how to reinstall Win7 perfectly on factory preinstalled OEM - but the steps can be used for retail as well.

If the Win7 download tool doesn't format the stick correctly, then use Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu - it never fails.

Click to expand...

But now my USB isn't even formatted, and it fails to format every time I try :\

Doing that command prompt screwed something up.

And I mean Im typing this from my desktop, with the ISO files on it. I want to put it on a USB so I can use it on my Laptop which is broken. Downloading those files isnt gooing to mess with my desktop will it?

No, the applications only create a bootable installer which can be used wherever you want to boot it.

The applications given will format the stick for you. If there is further problem with the stick plug it in and run a Disk Check

I suggest you read carefully all of the steps and ask back any questions so that you are clear on everything involved first.

The free ( unregistered ) PowerIso does everything except edit iso files. ( It does let you edit small ones)

All the other functions are fully operational.


note - some usb sticks are shipped with a protected mbr - very difficult to work around.

And that`s why I use PowerIso.

I have powerISO. I managed to format the USB. Using PowerISO I extracted the installation files to my USB drive. Plugged it into my laptop. And got the error
"File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000001
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt"

Does that mean my files are worthless? :\

Yep. Just download them from the link. They are perfect.

AddRAM said:

Yep. Just download them from the link. They are perfect.

Click to expand...

And then I just enter my own serial number after that finishes installing on my laptop right? Oh and one more question. Whats the difference between x86 and x64? I heard x64 is better than x32, but requires more ram. I have 6 gigs in this machine I believe. Might be 4 I dont remember. Where does x86 come from?

x86 = 32 bit
x64 = 64 bit

x86 originated with the Intel 8086 processor. x86 has become synonymous with a 32 bit OS.

One is not necessarily better than the other. A 64 bit OS does not require more RAM than a 32 bit OS - it can take advantage of more than 4GB, which is the limit for a 32 bit Windows OS.

Lol apparently these Windows files from that site are going to take 6 hours to download. So I guess I'll update my progress tomorrow when I get a new error. (Im sure I will -_-)

What version of windows originally came with your pc and can you read the keycode ?

It won`t take that long.

Im not entirely sure. I know it was x64. The bottom of my laptop says Windows 7 Home Prem OA. And key code for what? On the bottom of my laptop I have a "Product Key" with a Microsoft label on it. 25 characters of numbers and letters. 5 by 5. I assumed this would be able to activate my new windows on this after I reinstalled windows with my USB drive files on it.