Windows 7 won’t boot off external HDD

change the line

set installpath =

to whatever your usb letter is. for example if your usb stick is E:

set installpath=E:


set7_usb.cmd

Code:

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
pushd %~dp0
rem thanks to cdob
echo Setting USB boot drivers &echo.
set installpath=
copy "%installpath%\system32\config\system" "%installpath%\system32\config\system_%random%.sav"
reg.exe load HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM "%installpath%\system32\config\system"

set ControlSetDefault=
call :setReg Default
call :setReg LastKnownGood

reg.exe unload HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM
popd

goto :eof

:setReg
 set ControlSet=001
 reg.exe query "HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\Select" /v "%1" >nul 2>&1 && (
  for /f "skip=2 tokens=3" %%a in ('reg.exe query "HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\Select" /v "%1"') do set /a ControlSet=%%a
  set ControlSet=000!ControlSet!
 )
 set ControlSetNNN=ControlSet%ControlSet:~-3%
 if %ControlSetDefault%.==%ControlSetNNN%. goto :eof
 echo. &echo ControlSet "%ControlSetNNN%" used.

 set Services=HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\%ControlSetNNN%\Services
 set Control=HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\%ControlSetNNN%\Control

 reg.exe add %Control%\PnP /f /v PollBootPartitionTimeout /t REG_DWORD /d 30000
 
 reg.exe add %Control% /f /v BootDriverFlags /t REG_DWORD /d 0x6

 set ControlSetDefault=%ControlSetNNN%
goto :eof

copy the code and paste it into a text file.
change the line in red below to whatever your usb letter is
for example if your usb stick is E: the line should be
set installpath=E:
save it as set7_7usb.cmd
then rt click on the set7_usb.cmd file and run as administrator

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
pushd %~dp0
rem thanks to cdob
echo Setting USB boot drivers &echo.
set installpath=
copy "%installpath%\system32\config\system" "%installpath%\system32\config\system_%random%.sav"
reg.exe load HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM "%installpath%\system32\config\system"

set ControlSetDefault=
call :setReg Default
call :setReg LastKnownGood

reg.exe unload HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM
popd

goto :eof

:setReg
set ControlSet=001
reg.exe query "HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\Select" /v "%1" >nul 2>&1 && (
for /f "skip=2 tokens=3" %%a in ('reg.exe query "HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\Select" /v "%1"') do set /a ControlSet=%%a
set ControlSet=000!ControlSet!
)
set ControlSetNNN=ControlSet%ControlSet:~-3%
if %ControlSetDefault%.==%ControlSetNNN%. goto :eof
echo. &echo ControlSet "%ControlSetNNN%" used.

set Services=HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\%ControlSetNNN%\Services
set Control=HKLM\loaded_SYSTEM\%ControlSetNNN%\Control

reg.exe add %Control%\PnP /f /v PollBootPartitionTimeout /t REG_DWORD /d 30000

reg.exe add %Control% /f /v BootDriverFlags /t REG_DWORD /d 0x6

set ControlSetDefault=%ControlSetNNN%
goto :eof

Sorry for the late reply, I was sleeping cuz I posted that on 12:40 AM my time, do I put the letter of my usb stick with WinPE/Windows setup, or the drive that i want to install it in? And don’t I need an iSO?? I’m very confused, sorry…

I already gave you a batch file to do it.

Two registry edits are needed in the system hive of the operating system on the usb stick.

You could do it manually.

Use regedit or similar to load the system hive from the usb stick.

opps made a typo

set installpath=E:\windows

change the letter to the letter of your usb stick