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

 

[Brink]

Yep, it's best for Vista as well.

 

[carlomartin]

Booting with an external hard drive?

Is it possible to boot Windows 7 Professional 32-bit with an external hard drive?

 

[Brink]

Hello Carlo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Only if the external drive was connected at both ends (ex: back of drive & on motherboard SATA port) with a eSATA cable without any type of adapters (ex: USB to eSATA). This type of connection is seen as being the same thing as a normal internal drive.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Icarus]

I was wondering if it's fine to copy the 'F6' Raid install files on to the same USB drive that I did this guide on?
I'm waiting for three SSD's that I plan to raid-0 together and wanted to try installing Win7 from USB this time. I just didn't know if I could put the F6 files on it too (in the root directory) I'm thinking it'll be fine, but wanted to double check...
Thanks for the help or any tips in doing this

 

[Brink]

Hello Icarus,

Sure, that would be fine and wouldn't hurt anything at all.

 

[Icarus]

Thank you

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[Ukiii]

Hello Brink,

Excellent tut. I'm just after finishing the USB Win 7 Installation Key Drive. Many thanks for your ongoing support. +1

Luc.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Lucas.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I thought I'd report my experience with this tutorial.

Short story: it succeeded, but at first I thought it had failed.

I have a Windows 7 32-bit installation on an Intel DG965RY motherboard that DOES support USB booting. I am likely to move to a Sandy Bridge processor and new motherboard in the next few months and will at that time move to 64-bit Windows 7, so I wanted to try a USB install.

I used method 1 in this tutorial, slightly modified. I used ImgBurn to make an ISO image of my 64-bit Windows 7 retail disc. No issues, but it did create 2 files: the expected ISO and a little MDS file. It turns out you can ignore the MDS file.

Then I inserted an 8 gig USB drive into a port. This drive was nearly full of files.

I then downloaded, installed, and ran the "Windows 7 USB DVD download tool" and pointed it at the just-created ISO file. It recognized the lack of space on the USB drive, reformatted it, and created a bootable USB drive.

I attempted to boot from the USB drive and failed--it was bypassed repeatedly and I ended up at my normal desktop. In spite of setting the USB drive to first in the boot order and in spite of setting the BIOS to "enable USB boot".

I thought that the USB drive was in fact not bootable or that there was a conflict because I had used 32-bit Windows 7 to make a boot drive for 64-bit Windows 7.

Well, it turns out there is another switch in the BIOS where you can change "USB mass storage" to "emulate fixed discs". That did it. The other choices on that switch were "emulate floppy discs" and another one or two that I don't recall.

So, I got it working and thanks for the tutorial. I plan to use this bootable USB within the next month or two.

 

[Brink]

Thank you for the feedback. I have added this into the WARN box to help others avoid the same issue.

 

[Anorko]

Hw do u know wen to use ntfs n wen to use fat32

 

[Brink]

Hello Anorko, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It would be best to use NTFS, and only FAT32 if it will not let you use NTFS.

 

[jeftzero]

needs help

hello. can anyone help me because i tried this today and i really want to put os in ma portable hd but after i get to the point the i its not working i just stop and decided not to continue and what happened now is. i cant see my hd everytime i connect it to my computer but i can still see the it is connected i just cant find it on my computer./.. thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Jeftzero, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like you said that you are trying to install Windows 7 to the USB drive. Is this so??

This tutorial is not for installing Windows 7 on a portable HD, but for how to create a USB flash drive that can be used to install Windows 7 with instead.

Please clarify. Thank you.

 

[jeftzero]

yeah thats my mistake. i forth its just the same usb and portable hd soo. now idk why i cant see my hd evrytime i plug it in.

 

[Prof Kerfuffle]

If you have a gigabyte motherboard you can make it bootable and select 'usb-hdd' as a bootable option.

Make sure you extract the 'Bootsect.exe /nt60 L:' from the cd or it fails. In fact my copy of windows now was off a external hdd, my odd was broken at the time.

 

[Oxymetazoline]

Hi there,

Thanks for creating this tutorial. I've been having problems installing 64bit Home Premium 7 on my PC ever since 7 was released and I bought a retail copy on preorder. Couldn't install via the DVD drive, and there was a whole thread about it on the MS support forums (CD/DVD Driver Error installing from 64-bit disk PURCHASED yesterday).

The long and short of it is that creating a bootable USB installation was considered a solution. As per your tutorial, I ripped the 7 disc (64bit) using ImgBurn, and then went to use the MS USB download tool with an 8gb USB stick. It got to the end of step 4, and then stated:

Status: Files copied successfully. However, we were unable to run bootsect to make the USB device bootable. If you need assistance with Bootsect, click the "Online Help".

I put it in the PC anyway, and it got to about 27% of installing files, hung for a bit, and then came up with a message like this (didn't have time to copy it verbatim):

Windows cannot access the installation files. Verify that the installation files are present.

I then downloaded a copy of bootsect.exe, put it in the relevant folder and repeated the whole process, with the same result.

I am doing all this on my girlfriend's laptop, which is running 32 bit Vista - is this likely to be the issue? Seems like other people haven't had that problem when using Method 1.

I'd be very grateful for any help/suggestions you might have - I'm almost at my wit's end and am closing to giving in and taking it to a computer repair shop - just my pride and wallet that have prevented this so far...

Cheers

 

[Brink]

Hello Oxymetazoline, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Was it a ISO file that you created from your Windows 7 installation DVD using ImgBurn to use in step 1 in Method One?

Be sure to double check the items in the WARNING box at the top of the tutorial to see if any of them may be of issue as well.

It shouldn't matter that you are doing this in 32-bit Vista since you are just basically burning a ISO file to a USB flash drive.

 

[Oxymetazoline]

Hi Brink - many thanks for responding so quickly. Yes, it was an ISO ripped from my W7 disc using ImgBurn, then transferred to USB as per Method One.

I've looked at all the warnings, and can't see why it should be an issue based on any of those. The only thing I haven't done is set my BIOS to recognize "Legacy USB" - I just move it up in the boot priority and it boots fine (I've installed Linux no problems on the same machine in the past via USB).

My next course of actions is:

1) try ripping the ISO with a different program, i.e. ISODisk
2) try to find a friend with a 64 bit machine, and try Method One on that
3) try Method Two on a 64 bit machine, if all else fails
4) mental breakdown

I'll post back here with my findings...

Cheers