How do you make a USB drive bootable so I can load W7 on a netbook?

[racoonlab]

Hi saverio, yep you can use ImgBurn, or PowerIso, or Alchol 120%. Yep, it will recognise it, but your BIOS has to support that...if your pc is new, don't worry, it will.

r.

 

[Captain Zero]

Using UltraISO 9.3 is probably the easiest way to do it.

1 - Open the ISO
2 - Bootable > Write Disk Image
3 - Select your USB drive and check 'Verify'
4 - Done.

 

[saverio]

I followed your excellent thread and it worked like a charm!

I'm truly impressed, I really am!

And then there was easy transfer.... I can only say I still backed everything up thinking I can't put my life in the hands of easy transfer... what can I say... superb!

I am really really impressed, it was only let down by an issue with some still stuck in the floppy age antics from adaptec which meant that I couldn't try the system out on a sata controller card but hey...

 

[Jon55]

Anyone know if any of these methods work with EFI?

 

[quertiy]

if it does not boot after following any of the tutorials, try writing the boots sector also

the commands should look like this

diskpart
select disk 1 *the usb disk
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=NTFS QUICK
assign
exit
e:\ *the mounted or unrared windows instalation folder
cd boot *the mounted or unrared windows instalation folder
bootsect /nt60 f: *f: is the usb stick

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

I always did it the simple way.. set USB as my first 'device' to check during boot, in my BIOS. Then downloaded the ISO of Windows I wanted, un-rar'd it with WinRAR, copied the contents of the un-rar'd folder and pasted it onto the flash drive. Works like that for me

I <3 Simplicity.

 

[Darryl Licht]

Using UltraISO 9.3 is probably the easiest way to do it.

1 - Open the ISO
2 - Bootable > Write Disk Image
3 - Select your USB drive and check 'Verify'
4 - Done.

Escellent tip! I was unaware you could do this so easily with UltraISO!!! REPS!

 

[EVGABuzzer]

Boot.Zip Password Protected ?

I am trying this but when I double click Bootme.Zip I a box that says "Archive not readable, would you like to try a password?" Is it password protected ? I think I will try downloading from another source. Maybe this one is corrupt ?

Please advise

Thanks !


EVGABuzzer

or this which to me seems less complicated: Creating Bootable Vista / Windows 7 USB Flash Drive at Kevin’s Blog

^^ Ugg, that's clunky too
So instead do this: (even less complicated)

You will need HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 (be warned many google links for the HP tool are DEAD)
You can find it Here!
and Bootme.zip

1. Run "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool"
2. Select your Thumb Drive as Device
3. Select FAT as File system
4. Volume name "Windows 7"
5. Select Quick Format
6. Select Create a DOS startup disk
7. unzip the bootme.zip and point "Using DOS system files located at" to the unzipped folder with files inside
8. Start Format
Ta-Da
Sorted!
PS You wont see any files on the usbstick as they are in the boot sector

(you can also optionally do a second "format" using NTFS- don't worry "all data on drive will be lost" does NOT include the boot sector files.

There you go-My first How to... for WSF.
Cheers ALL

 

[gregrocker]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[jossie5]

Hi,

I followed the guide where I used HP USB storage format tool and bootme.
I got it to boot from the USB but when it does it opens a command prompt, now my question is:
how doe I start the windows installation from there?

kind regards,

Jos

 

[gregrocker]

Use the tutorial given to load flash stick.

 

[jossie5]

thanks but HP USB storage... it didn't work for me so i tried windows 7 usb/dvd.
it tells me to erase the usb so everything will be gone and i click yes.
then it tells me it's formatting and then stops and gives me: status: we were unable to copy your files..

help please?

Jos

 

[WindowsStar]

The method above works well, however if you want the long method and works 100% here it is:

Requirements:
• USB Flash Drive (4GB+)
• Microsoft Operating System DVD (Vista / Windows 7)
• A computer with Vista / Windows 7 installed.

Step 1: Format the Drive
WARNGING!: This will erase everything on your USB drive.

1. Insert the USB Drive
2. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
(Right click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”)
3. Find the drive number of your USB Drive by typing the following.

diskpart
list dis

The number of your USB Drive will in the list. You will need this for the next step.
Note: I will assume that your USB Drive is disk 1.

4. Format the USB Drive by typing. Replace the number “1” with the number of your USB Drive.

sel dis 1
clean
cre par pri
sel par 1
act
for fs=NTFS quick
or
for fs=FAT32 quick (if you wish to use FAT32)
ass
exit

Note: Do not close the Command Prompt you will need it for more steps.

Step 2: Make the Drive Bootable

Use the bootsect utility from the Vista or Windows 7 DVD to make the USB drive bootable. In the same Command Prompt Window you were using above.

1. Insert your Windows Vista / 7 DVD into your drive.
2. Change directory to the DVD’s boot directory where bootsect is stored.

I will assume your DVD drive is E:

e:
cd e:\boot

3. Use bootsect to set the USB Drive as a bootable NTFS drive. I will assume your USB drive has been labeled P:
bootsect /nt60 P:
xcopy e:\*.* /s /e /f p:\

Note: if you are not comfortable using xcopy you may skip xcopy and use Windows Explorer for Step 3.
4. Close the Command Prompt Window.

Step 3: Copy the entire contents of the Vista or Windows DVD to the USB drive.
Set your Computers BIOS to Boot USB devices: Boot this USB Drive to install Windows or start a system recovery.

 

[macgyver2]

what about the windows 7 USB tool?

Microsoft Store: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Help

I used it with an 8GB Lexar flash drive and added some IT tools to it as a complete USB tool kit. I added all the FREE software listed elsewhere on this site.

So it has a boot-able install of my windows 7
all my drivers
tools to fix any issues
and a windows transfer file to restore my settings and files.

 

[gregrocker]

If MS tool doesn't work try:

USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create,

Win2Flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srOoGhm-jcI

Ultra ISO Bootable tab shown earlier in thread.

These are the simplest and most reliable. One of these will always work, but sometimes it takes trying others first.

When I first got my Kingston Data Traveler tool stick, I could format Primary, copy over install files into stick and it would boot if I spilled the files out of folder into root, even with other tools on it. Now, however, it requires writing it to stick using UltraISO to apply bootsecting. So this is a changeable process.