How to install Windows 7 in UEFI Mode with a USB

Can I use winrar to extract the ISO?

Hello,
I've been looking all over the web on how to install Windows 7 in UEFI mode on a 3TB HD, and I've tried your method exactly step by step, but when done, neither one of my computers will boot from the USB flash drive.
I have played around in the bios and changed all sorts of things, but none of them have worked.
I also used another flash drive thinking that it could be something to do with that, but still no luck.
One flash drive goes back into the bios every time.
The other flash drive just gives me a black screen.
So I have not been able to get this to work.
And I've tried some other methods as well, but so far no joy.
I've tried this on my HP laptop and my own desktop build with an ASUS ROG MOBO.
I have disabled secure boot on both if you are wondering, and I have tried on both from legacy boot and UEFI boot.
Nothing has worked.

BizkitBoy said:

There is one thing that should be pointed out.
If your Windows installer has all the updates slipstreamed into it (like mine does), it will be impossible to create a FAT32 bootable USB because when trying to copy the installation files it will fail on install.wim due to its large size.
For example, my installer has all updates slipstreamed into it up to January 2019 (I used simplix update pack) and my install.wim is 4,66GB which exceeds the max 4GB per file size of the FAT32 file system.

I did try to follow the exact steps with the sole exception that I formatted the USB flash drive in NTFS file system but did not boot successfully from it.
My error has been thoroughly detailed in a separate thread here

Edit: Tried a different image with smaller install.wim size and I'm having the same trouble when flash drive is formatted as FAT32 file system.
So it's something on my side, most probably the mobo.

well BizkitBoy I have a different problem where the Toshiba C55Dt-A based laptop made in late 2013 can boot from the usb flash drive but it would hang at the "Starting Windows" win7 animated boot logo screen and go nowhere for many hours; secure boot disabled and using uefi boot mode; after creating the win7 usb install media from rufus.


also I think your ASUS board is "too new" to try to install Win7 on there. you need to get an older UEFI based board (one made between 2012-2014 or early 2015) before Win10 came out

It doesn't boot for me. When I try to boot it, it just says boot failed and kicks me back to the bios. However, if I turn the folder into an iso using imgburn, and put it on the USB using Rufus, then I can actually boot from it. Once I boot from it, I get stuck on the Windows 7 start screen, the problem which lead me to this thread. It doesn't freeze at the start screen, as I can still see the windows logo pulsating. It's just nothing happens, no matter how long I wait.

Megahertz07 said:

Windows can be installed on a Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT disk.
To install as Legacy-MBR or repair a Legacy-MBR installation you must boot the installation disk as Legacy.
To install as UEFI-GPT (The computer MUST have UEFI BIOS) or repair a UEFI-GPT installation you must boot the installation disk as UEFI.
If your computer have UEFI BIOS I recommend you to install as UEFI-GPT.

To create a Win 7 installation USB flash disk:
Format the USB flash disk as Fat32.
Open a CMD window as administrator and type:

Diskpart
list volume (take note of the volume number (n) of your USB flash disk)
select volume n (replace n by the number found by list volume)
active
exit (to exit diskpart)
exit (to exit CMD)

Copy all files and folders from the DVD or iso file to the USB flash disk.
Extract the Boot folder and paste it under EFI


Now your Win 7 installation USB flash is Legacy and UEFI boot able.

PS.: If you had slipstream updates and your \sources\install.wim is bigger than 4G, you can split it into smaller install.swm using Split_Wim attached file.

It will create two install.swm files that replaces install.wim

I've done that, it still gets stuck at the Windows 7 logo. If I try to do your command, I get this error: The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.