Solved How to put system repair disk on a usb thumb drive

[blumesan]

I have previously made a "system repair disk" on a CD. I now wish to do the same using a usb thumb drive. When I plug the thumb drive in and then go to Control Panel > Backup and select "create system repair disk", the only destination option is the Optical (CD) drive. The usb drive does not show as an option.

Can it be so simple as to just copy the contents of the CD to the thumb drive?

If this is to work, should the usb drive be formatted beforehand; and if so, what file format?

 

[GokAy]

You can use many of the bootable USB creators. I use YUMI but it needs some configuration for repair disks.

I guess you can try Rufus. https://rufus.akeo.ie/

You may need to make an ISO of the CD first. I use ImgBurn for ISOs. Uncheck any extra crap they may be offering with ImgBurn if you install that one.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Hi

If you already have a CD, all you need to do is make the USB bootable using DISKPART ( Option three of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html ) and then copying the entire contents of the CD to the USB flash drive.

 

[mjf]

Hi

If you already have a CD, all you need to do is make the USB bootable using DISKPART ( Option three of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html ) and then copying the entire contents of the CD to the USB flash drive.

Ditto. If you have a small USB flash drive dedicated to the task this is a really simple way to go.

 

[blumesan]

Hi

If you already have a CD, all you need to do is make the USB bootable using DISKPART ( Option three of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html ) and then copying the entire contents of the CD to the USB flash drive.

This seems to work just fine. Thanks to all who responded.

 

[Stevekir]

I read somewhere that "the motherboard must support USB booting. Most modern computers can."

How do I find out whether my motherboard supports USB booting?

Thanks

 

[stevefsusd]

You should be able to go into your Bios at startup and check for a USB option in the boot order preferences. The wording can vary from one Bios to another but once you are in there, you should be able to find it. Then, when you boot up your computer, there should be something that flashes on the screen briefly that says something like "Press ESC for startup menu" or it might say you need to tap F12 or whatever. You do whichever thing it says to do and you should see your startup options. In fact, I suppose you could try that before even going into your Bios to see if USB is an option already. You might not even need to turn it on.

Note - Make sure you have a USB inserted when you are booting up. If you don't have a USB plugged into the computer, you won't see it as an option even if it is set in Bios. If it doesn't see one, it won't give it to you as an optional boot device.

 

[Stevekir]

Hi

If you already have a CD, all you need to do is make the USB bootable using DISKPART ( Option three of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html ) and then copying the entire contents of the CD to the USB flash drive.

I am preparing a laptop (not yet in my hands) for a group responsible for producing a parish magazine. The laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive.

My W7 tower offers only one option to store a System Repair Disc - on the built-in CD/DVD drive, and therefore the OS on the laptop might not offer the ability to make any type of system Repair disc. (The laptop is rather old).

If so, what to do please ?

Perhaps it means that the laptop must rely on going back to an earlier Restore Point, or if that doesn't work, starting up on a System Image, as the way to get out of trouble. Correct ?

 

[stevefsusd]

If you are trying to use a Win 7 repair disk to work on the laptop, you could use another computer to put the iso (disk image) from a repair disk you have onto a bootable usb drive. I like to use YUMI ( YUMI ? Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux ) for doing that.

If the laptop you are going to receive doesn't have Win 7 installed and you are wanting to install it. You can use the Win 7 install DVD you have to create an ISO image to put on a flash drive. You'd be able to install right from the USB (since you don't have a CD/DVD drive).

It sounds like the laptop you will be working on has Win 7 on it already but just isn't working right. That's where the first option I mentioned...putting the repair disk ISO onto a bootable USB can help out. You may want to explore some of the repair utilities available through the YUMI site. There are quite a few utilities available to help with things like repairing MBR, partitioning help, and other cleanup.

 

[stevefsusd]

Oh...here's a link to a Microsoft download page for one of the Win 7 repair disk ISO images:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38435

I've seen other web pages which have downloads for various Win 7 repair disk ISOs. There are some for 32-bit and others for 64-bit versions.