Win7 bootable USB "A Disk Read Error Ocurred"

[Aeqvinox]

Hello, registered to get some help with setting up a desktop PC, seven forums seems like good place to start ;]

I've made a bootable USB Win7 x86 installation stick using Rufus, following the instructions to the letter and the PC gave me "A disk read error occured" on boot. I formatted it in NTFS, 4096 bytes allocation unit size, and i'm having doubts if this is the correct way to do it. I've repeated the process with Yumi USB Creator, and the speed at which it was copying the files was rather slow - around 3000 KB/s.

Now i've successfuly booted the USB, but when i start the installation, te Windows Boot Manager gives me this: imgur: the simple image sharer

My main question is, am i doing something wrong with how i prepare the USB (do i need to format it again in a different way?), or is it something with how the PC is set up in BIOS (it does see the stick, just doesn't want to boot)? It's a relatively old machine i built for the household from parts i scrounged up from my attic, specs are in my profile.

Thanks in advance,
Aeqvinox

 

[gregrocker]

If it's not UEFI BIOS then I'd use the latest official ISO and download tool in Clean Reinstall Windows 7
then stick with those steps to get and keep a perfect install.

For any further problem Troubleshoot Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[AddRAM]

Use wintobootic to put the iso file on the usb stick, it works perfectly.

WiNToBootic bootable usb drive windows vista/7/8 - Bootable USB | Bootable USB

Where did you get your iso file file from ?

 

[Lionte]

This is what I usually do since forever. Never trust other software.
Enter these commands on a privileged command prompt in exact order:

diskpart
list disk (***then look for your flash drive***)
select disk N (***where N is your flash drive's number. e.g. select disk 2**)
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32 quick
assign
exit

Do not close command prompt.
Assuming your Windows 7 Install Disk is on G:/ and your flash drive is H:/, type these in order (Make sure you replace the drive letters with the appropriate ones, otherwise the ghost of your PC will haunt you)

G:
cd boot
bootsect.exe /nt60 H:
xcopy G:\*.* /s/e/f H:


Then you wait. It might take a while on a file called "sources.wim" or something. It's more or less 3GB in size.

Why xcopy you ask? Well it copies even the hidden files. In explorer, there's no assurance that it copied everything.
Why do this instead of rufus? Rufus might fail to do some stuff. This does everything you need to boot and install windows 7 from a flash drive.

Then set up your bios to boot from the flash drive.

 

[AddRAM]

Well, you could keep doing it your way, and keep having trouble, or try 1 of the suggestions Greg or I gave you and see if it works.

Wintobootic works perfectly, what have you got to loose, but more time.

WiNToBootic bootable usb drive windows vista/7/8 - Bootable USB | Bootable USB

And when`s the last time you`ve downloaded a good iso file ?

 

[alphanumeric]

@ AddRAM Post 1 and post 4 are two different people.

If it's not a UEFI BIOS I'd just use the Windows 7 DVD download tool.

 

[AddRAM]

I knew that, I was speaking to the op

Poster #4 never mentioned he had a problem. I was just in a re posting kind of mood.

I was in the middle of watching one of the Hobbit movies, and well.... they are so stupid my mind just went numb :roflmao:

 

[alphanumeric]

OK, I wasn't sure. It looked (to me anyway) like you might of mistaken post #4 as being by the OP. All's good now.