USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

How to Create a Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive​

   Information

This will show you how to create a USB flash key drive that you can boot from to install Windows 7 with.

   Tip

If the USB flash drive is of sufficient capacity, say 8GB, then after copying the Windows 7 installation DVD onto it, you can create a new folder (ex: Device Drivers) in the USB key and place all of your latest driver installation files in it. This way you will have them handy to manually install the drivers after installing Windows 7 from the USB key.

   Note

If you booted from the USB drive to install Windows 7, then you may need to change the hard drive back to being listed before the USB key in the boot order in BIOS after the computer restarts during installation to prevent the computer from booting right back into the USB key starting the installation process over and over.

   Warning

• The USB key needs to be at least 4 GB in size.
• This will delete everything on the USB key. Be sure to save anything that you do not want to lose on it somewhere else.
• Before installing Windows 7 from the USB key, you will need to:
  • Enable Legacy USB storage detect in the BIOS.
• When ready to install Windows 7 from the USB key:
  • Connect the USB key.
  • Restart the computer, and keep tapping the F key (see screenshot below) responsible to open the Boot Menu screen for the brand and model of your motherboard or computer until it does.
    • 
      
  • Select the USB key to boot from.
  • Start installing Windows 7.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: Use "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" to Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB
• Option Two: Use "Rufus" to Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB
• Option Three: Manually Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive

OPTION ONE

Use "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" to Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB

   Tip

If you do not have a Windows 7 ISO file, then you can either download the latest ISO version at the links below.

:ar: Microsoft Software Recovery

:ar: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links

You could also use a free program like ImgBurn or ISODisk to create a ISO from your Windows 7 installation DVD.

1. For how, see the Part 2 section here: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.

OPTION TWO

Use "Rufus" to Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB

1. Download the latest version of Rufus at the link below, and save it's .exe file to your desktop.
:ar: Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

   Note

This is a standalone exe file that doesn't install anything to your PC.

For Rufus FAQs, see: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ

2. Connect your USB flash drive if you have not already.

3. Run the rufus_v###.exe file, and click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.
NOTE: ### = latest version number.

4. Set Rufus with the settings below: (see screenshot below step 5)

• [Under Device, select the USB flash drive you want to format and use.
• Under Format Options, check Create a bootable disk using, click/tap on the browse icon to navigate to and select your 64-bit Windows 7 ISO file.
• Under Partition scheme and target system type, select MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers.
• Under File system, select NTFS.
• Under Cluster size, select the (Default) (ex: 16 kilobytes or 4096 bytes) it has listed.
• Under Format Options, check Quick format.
• Under Format Options, check Create extended label and icon files.
• Under New volume label, you can enter any name you like for the USB flash drive, or leave the default name.

5. When ready, click/tap on Start. (see screenshot below)

6. Click/tap on OK to confirm. (see screenshot below)

7. Rufus will now start creating the bootable UEFI USB flash drive. (see screenshot below)

8. When Rufus is "DONE", you can close Rufus. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: It could take a little while to finish.

9. You are now ready to installWindows 7 with your bootable USB flash drive.

OPTION THREE

Manually Create Bootable Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive

   Warning

Using this method:

• You will only be able to create a 64-bit Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive if your current Windows 7 installation is also 64-bit.
• You will be able to create a 32-bit Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive if your current Windows 7 installation is 32-bit or 64-bit.

64-bit installation + 64-bit ISO = 64-bit flash drive
64-bit installation + 32-bit ISO = 32-bit flash drive
32-bit installation + 32-bit ISO = 32-bit flash drive
32-bit installation + 64-bit ISO = unable to create

1. Plug the USB key in.

2. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it.
NOTE: Make note of what the drive size is for the USB key for use in step 6 below. You can also open Computer (step 19) to see what the drive size is to. For example, mine is 3920 MB. (See screenshot below)

3. Open an elevated command prompt.

4. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

5. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Make note of what disk # your USB key is listed as to use in step 6 below. You can also look for the drive size (step 2) of the USB key to help ID the disk number. For example, mine is listed as Disk 1 here for the 3920 MB disk.

6. In the elevated command prompt, type select disk # (your USB disk #) and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: For example, my USB key is listed as Disk 1, so I would type select disk 1 and press Enter.

7. In the elevated command prompt, type clean and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

8. In the elevated command prompt, type create partition primary and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

9. In the elevated command prompt, type select partition 1 and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

10. In the elevated command prompt, type active and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

11. In the elevated command prompt, type in the command below to format the USB as NTFS or FAT32, and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This may take a few moments to finish formatting the USB key.

   Note

You can substitute Windows 7 within quotes in the commands below with whatever name (drive label) you would like to have displayed for the USB drive instead.

See also: Choosing between NTFS, FAT, and FAT32



FAT32 volume labels

• If you have an UEFI instead of BIOS motherboard, then you will need to use FAT32 and not NTFS.
• Volume labels can contain as many as 11 characters and can include spaces but no tabs.
• Volume labels cannot contain the following characters: ? / \ | . , ; : + = [ ] < > "
• Volume labels are stored as uppercase regardless of whether they contain lowercase letters.

NTFS volume labels

• Volume labels can contain as many as 32 characters.

format fs=ntfs label="Windows 7" quick

OR

format fs=fat32 label="Windows 7" quick


12. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it.

13. In the elevated command prompt, type assign and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will assign a new drive letter to the USB key. Make note of the new USB drive letter to use in step 22 below. For example, mine is now H.

14. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the USB key, then just close it.

15. In the elevated command prompt, type exit and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will exit you from DiskPart from step 4.

16. Close the elevated command prompt.

17. Insert your Windows 7 installation DVD into the DVD drive.

18. If AutoPlay opens a pop-up for the Windows 7 installation DVD, then just close it.

19. Open the Start Menu, right click on the Computer button, and click on Open.

20. Right click on the DVD drive (ex: E: ) that has the Windows 7 installation DVD in it, and click on Open. (See screenshot below)

21. Highlight all of the contents, right click on the highlighted contents, and click on Copy. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will need to copy all of the files and folders on the Windows 7 installation DVD to the USB key.

22. Go back to Computer, right click on the USB key drive (ex: H ), and click on Paste. (See screenshot below)

23. The contents of the Windows 7 installation DVD will now start copying over to the USB key. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This may take a few moments to complete.

24. When finished, you can close the Computer window and unplug the USB key.

25. You now have a Windows 7 Installation USB key.

   Warning

If you have UEFI instead of BIOS motherboard, then you will need to temporarily disable Secure Boot to use the USB to install Windows. After installation is complete, you can enable Secure Boot again.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
• How to Do an Upgrade Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
• How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Create a Bootable ISO from an Older ISO
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
• How to Get and Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
• How to Make a MS-DOS Bootable Flash Drive
• How to Create a Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc
• How to Install Windows 7 from USB Pen Drive Using Grub4Dos
• How to Slipstream Windows 7 SP1 and Updates to Create a Bootable USB, Installation DVD, or ISO File
• How to Install Windows 7 Using "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)
• How to Create a Bootable UEFI USB Flash Drive for Installing Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Golden]

Hello, I'm new here.
I have a laptop that is HP Pavilion dv5, it has Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bits installed on it, I have the 64 bit installation on a USB drive, can I install the 64 bit on my 32 bit system?

(PS: I have all my important stuff as a backup on my hard drive, and I'm totally ready for a clean installation.)

Yes, no problem, as long as you have a genuine product key. Only consider x64 if you have more than 4GB of RAM.

Regards,
Golden

 

[brightstar]

Well, I've tried like a million times, but when I boot the computer , press ESC , and press the boot thingy from the USB, it keeps giving me an error! Anyone got a solution for this? Please help me, I'd be extremely grateful.

##EDIT: I have written down the error, so tell me if you need it.

 

[Brink]

Hello Brightstar,

Yes, posting back with what the error message said would be helpful to be able to give a solution for if known.

 

[brightstar]

Okay, here it is.
When i restarted my computer, and the HP Logo came, i pressed ESC for the startup menu, and then F9 for boot device options, and in the boot option menu i had three choices:
Notebook Hard Drive
Internal CD/DVD ROM
Sony Storage Media (My USB),
So I chose Sony Storage Media and then this came up:
Windows Boot Manager.
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.
To fix the problem:
1. Insert you windows installation disk and restart your computer.
2. Choose you language settings and then click "next".
3. Click "Repair your computer".
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.


^ That was the error. I guess.
So.. Help? I really need to install this 64 bit on my laptop, also when I did the "View and print detailed performance and system information", it said 64 capable: Yes.

 

[Brink]

Brightstar,

It sounds like the USB you made is not bootable due to some mistake made while creating it. Double check to make sure that you followed each step exactly, and if you may have missed one.

I'm assuming that you did OPTION ONE since you will not be able to do OPTION TWO to create a 64-bit USB on your 32-bit Windows 7. You would have to create it on a 64-bit Windows 7. If so, be sure that you didn't just copy the ISO to the USB. Instead, it must be extracted to the USB using one of the programs in the steps.

Hope this helps.

 

[brightstar]

Well, I did use option one indeed, I did the exact same as this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html
I'm going to try option two and tell you my results
Thanks a lot.

 

[brightstar]

OMG OMG OMG IT WORKED!
Thank you SO SO SO MUCH guys!!! I'm VERY grateful!!! LOL Yayy I'm so happy
I did method two and it worked!
I know im overreacting , sorry about that xP

##EDIT: Ooops sooo sorry for double post
Anyway THANKS A LOTTTT

 

[Brink]

LOL, it's no problem. You're most welcome. I'm happy to hear that you got it working.

 

[soho1]

I found your tutorial and am working through it. CLEAN ALL never finishes (or takes hours more than I have patience for). At least that's the case on Windows 7 pro on my Toshiba portege. The CLEAN command without the ALL option runs instantly. What was the significance of the CLEAN ALL vs CLEAN?

 

[Brink]

Hello Soho,

They both basically do the same thing except that "Clean" doesn't do a secure erase like "Clean All" does. The secure erase part is what takes so long since it's overwritng every sector on the HDD with zeros.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

 

[Britton30]

True soho, it took about 4 hours to "Clean all" on a 500GB HDD. Don't use either on a SSD.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Wow Shawn how COOL was that !

 

[Brink]

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hey mate I wish I had cottoned on to this little beauty before I did all that legwork with disks! It went so smoothly after I used another one of your tuts for initialising a very stubborn (and old) HDD.

Now theres Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Neptune, Brink just to name a few of the Gods

 

[Britton30]

Hey mate I wish I had cottoned on to this little beauty before I did all that legwork with disks! It went so smoothly after I used another one of your tuts for initialising a very stubborn (and old) HDD.

Now theres Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Neptune, Brink just to name a few of the Gods

Good job John! Shawn has 2-3 good tips eh?

 

[USlava77]

Invalid MS-DOS Function

Hello!

I enjoyed the quite detailed tutorial, so a great thanks for that.

But I ran into a problem when copying the windows files from the ISO to my USB.
When copying, the following error comes up: Invalid MS-DOS function
for several, I'm guessing, important files. I'm given the choice to try again, skip, or cancel. After skipping, Windows Explorer stops working O.O

Any help will be greatly appreciated in my first attempt to create a bootable USB.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello!

I enjoyed the quite detailed tutorial, so a great thanks for that.

But I ran into a problem when copying the windows files from the ISO to my USB.
When copying, the following error comes up: Invalid MS-DOS function
for several, I'm guessing, important files. I'm given the choice to try again, skip, or cancel. After skipping, Windows Explorer stops working O.O

Any help will be greatly appreciated in my first attempt to create a bootable USB.

HUm USlava how "clean" was the drive mate perhaps a brand new one would be better and as a matter of course I diskparted mine - cleaned it - before I ran the ISO. (To clear it off the software they come with)

 

[USlava77]

ISO problem

The thing is, I can't even copy the files from the iso to my desktop or anywhere. Same error.

I also tried using xcopy in cmd and after copying some files it stopped and said this:

the target volume does not support symbolic links

The Windows 7 iso I have is legit from Microsoft's website.

 

[Brink]

Hello USlava, and welcome to Seven Forums.

How did OPTION ONE work with your ISO file?

 

[USlava77]

Option One - The Windows 7 tool did not work either, after selecting the ISO, it told me that I had an invalid ISO.

No worries though, as I believe my issue will soon be resolved. I have managed to obtain a different ISO, and with this one, copying to my computer seems to work. I will try the second method again, and get back to you on my results.