For many users, installing Windows is a frequent thing, both for those who provide assistance to other people, and for those who prefer to solve any problem or error by reinstalling from scratch.
Having a bootable USB stick at boot of the computer to be used for Windows installation saves time (and money saving a DVD) and is especially important for those who own a notebook without a CD player.
It is true that in these types of computers there is always the factory reset or reset function, but this forces you to keep the starting system which is often not the best choice.
The guide to create a bootable USB stick has been tested by Windows 7 to create the bootable and ready to install USB stick of Windows 7, Windows 10 or 8.1
READ FIRST: How to download the ISO of each version of Windows
1) Insert the 4GB USB stick or higher into the USB port and consider that all its contents will be deleted (therefore, if necessary, make a copy of the files on the computer).
2) Use the Microsoft Windows 7 USB / DVD program which automatically copies the Windows 7 installation files to the USB stick and makes it bootable.
This tool also works for Windows 8 ISOs while for Windows 10 there is the Media Creation Tool .
In case of problems, this is the manual procedure for creating the installation USB stick for Windows 7, 10 and 8, via DOS
Open the DOS command prompt from the Start menu > All programs> Accessories or by typing the command cmd on the search box. Once you find the Command Prompt, right click on it and then Run it as administrator. From the black DOS command prompt window you have to write the following commands, one by one, and for each press Enter to execute .
4) Insert the Windows DVD into the DVD player.
In My Computer, note the letters assigned to the DVD and USB stick; for example, D is the letter of the DVD while F is the letter of the USB drive.
5) Go back to the Command Prompt and write:
Wait for DVD content to be copied to USB.
This procedure will make the USB bootable if the USB drive is selected as the first boot option when you turn on the computer (see how to access the bios). It should also be noted that the BOOTSECT / NT60 command works and is present only within the installation DVDs of Vista and Windows 7 while if you want to install XP it should be BOOTSECT.EXE / NT52 (not tested). The DVD can also be mounted as an ISO image through programs such as Daemon Tools.
This procedure should allow you to install Windows 7 by copying the DVD or ISO files from the USB stick but it is not the only possibility.
Alternatively, without following all the manual procedure, you can create a bootable USB stick at boot simply by using the Rufus program or the Etcher program to create a bootable USB.
In addition to Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 8, the software also supports Arch Linux, Boot CD Hiren, Parted Magic, Knoppix, Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Fedora and many other Linux distributions. Just download, run the utility, select the USB drive and select the ISO file to start transferring files to the USB disk.
In another post, in fact, I had already reported several automatic programs to install Windows 7, XP and Vista from a USB stick, without CD and HP Format Tool for booting the PC from USB.
Having a bootable USB stick at boot of the computer to be used for Windows installation saves time (and money saving a DVD) and is especially important for those who own a notebook without a CD player.
It is true that in these types of computers there is always the factory reset or reset function, but this forces you to keep the starting system which is often not the best choice.
The guide to create a bootable USB stick has been tested by Windows 7 to create the bootable and ready to install USB stick of Windows 7, Windows 10 or 8.1
READ FIRST: How to download the ISO of each version of Windows
1) Insert the 4GB USB stick or higher into the USB port and consider that all its contents will be deleted (therefore, if necessary, make a copy of the files on the computer).
2) Use the Microsoft Windows 7 USB / DVD program which automatically copies the Windows 7 installation files to the USB stick and makes it bootable.
This tool also works for Windows 8 ISOs while for Windows 10 there is the Media Creation Tool .
In case of problems, this is the manual procedure for creating the installation USB stick for Windows 7, 10 and 8, via DOS
Open the DOS command prompt from the Start menu > All programs> Accessories or by typing the command cmd on the search box. Once you find the Command Prompt, right click on it and then Run it as administrator. From the black DOS command prompt window you have to write the following commands, one by one, and for each press Enter to execute .
- DISKPART (press enter)
- LIST DISK (press enter) (list disk, it will show the numbers of all the hard drives connected to the PC)
- SELECT DISK 1 (enter) (Replace "DISK 1 with the number indicated for the USB drive, for example: If the USB stick is 4GB and disk 2 shows the size of 4000 MB, type
- SELECT DISK 1)
- CLEAN (enter)
- CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY (enter)
- SELECT PARTITION 1 (enter)
- ACTIVE (enter)
- FORMAT FS = NTFS (enter) (Formatting process may take several minutes, depending on the size of the USB drive)
- ASSIGN (enter)
- EXIT (enter)
4) Insert the Windows DVD into the DVD player.
In My Computer, note the letters assigned to the DVD and USB stick; for example, D is the letter of the DVD while F is the letter of the USB drive.
5) Go back to the Command Prompt and write:
- D: CD BOOT (where D: is the letter of the DVD) and press Enter.
- BOOTSECT / NT60 F: (where F: is the USB) and press Enter; this is the command to make the USB stick bootable.
- XCOPY D: \ *. * / S / E / FF: \ (Where D: is the DVD drive, and F: is the USB drive) and press Enter; this copies the files to the DVD inside the USB stick.
Wait for DVD content to be copied to USB.
This procedure will make the USB bootable if the USB drive is selected as the first boot option when you turn on the computer (see how to access the bios). It should also be noted that the BOOTSECT / NT60 command works and is present only within the installation DVDs of Vista and Windows 7 while if you want to install XP it should be BOOTSECT.EXE / NT52 (not tested). The DVD can also be mounted as an ISO image through programs such as Daemon Tools.
This procedure should allow you to install Windows 7 by copying the DVD or ISO files from the USB stick but it is not the only possibility.
Alternatively, without following all the manual procedure, you can create a bootable USB stick at boot simply by using the Rufus program or the Etcher program to create a bootable USB.
In addition to Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 8, the software also supports Arch Linux, Boot CD Hiren, Parted Magic, Knoppix, Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Fedora and many other Linux distributions. Just download, run the utility, select the USB drive and select the ISO file to start transferring files to the USB disk.
In another post, in fact, I had already reported several automatic programs to install Windows 7, XP and Vista from a USB stick, without CD and HP Format Tool for booting the PC from USB.
