How to Install: Vista or 7 from a USB DRIVE

[killap4oc]

Hey there folks, Jenna here from eTeknix just waking up from a long nap! =D. Wow did I need that.

Alright, so for those of you that either no longer believe optical drives are essential or own a netbook; do I have a set of instructions for you that should help you with installing Windows Vista or Windows 7 from a usb drive.

*Note, not all computers support booting from a USB device, so make sure your computer can support it before continuing through these steps.

What you will need:

• A Windows Vista computer or a Windows 7 computer
• Flash Drive of at least 4GB in size, unless installing 64bit Vista or Windows 7 then you may need an 8GB.
• Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation media or Folders from the DVD

Now that you have the above we can continue down the road of a faster installation through USB stick, that is right, your install should even go faster once the USB stick has been setup as an installation media for Vista or 7.

Step 1: First you will want to insert your flash drive into a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer and wait until it is detected. It should be labeled as a Removable Device under Computer. Once detected, open up the folder and back up any contents of your flash drive to another folder on the computer you are on. Backing up the contents are essential as you will need to format this drive in a later step. Also make note of the drive letter of your flash drive, this is important in a later step.

Step 2: Now go to start in the bottom left hand corner on the taskbar, the big blue icon with the Windows logo and click on it. Then in the search field type cmd and in the above menu you should see cmd, scroll over this and right click 'run as administrator'. After the command prompt has loaded with administrator rights you are ready to continue on to the next step.



Step 3: Now in the command prompt you will need to find some important information about your flash drive and execute a series of commands so it can be used correctly as a Windows Vista or Windows 7 boot drive. So now in the open command prompt type DISKPART. This should execute the Vista DISKPART utility and should leave you with a DISKPART prompt.



Step 4: Now it is time to run that series of steps that I was talking about before. Now in your DISKPART prompt you will type LIST DISK. This command will give you an idea of what DISK you need to select for the DISKPART utility. Here you will be given a list of disks on your computer. You will want to select the one that looks like it is your flash drive. Generally a 4GB will report right around 3822MB in size, could be more could be less. In my example, my flash drive is disk 1.

Now these steps below you will want to type one by one pressing enter after each line.

SELECT DISK 1 *Note, if yours is not disk 1, this is ok, just replace disk 1 with your disk #*

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS *Note, format process could take some time to complete*



Step 5: Now after you are done running these steps go ahead and minimize the command prompt. You will now want to insert your media for Windows Vista or Windows 7 into the DVD drive or mount an image of your disc. After this is done locate what drive letter your virtual drive or your media drive is. Generally the DVD drive is listed as D: on most computers, however this could vary, so to be sure to go to Computer and find the drive with the Windows Vista or Windows 7 media pictured.

On my computer, my installation media is located on my F: drive as I am mounting an image of Windows 7.

Step 6: Once this is done, open up command prompt again and type exit, to leave DISKPART. Now follow the steps below, pressing enter after each line:

G: *Note, remember your USB drive letter, type this with a colon following it*

CD BOOT

BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 G: *Note, this will make the USB drive bootable with the boot manager code*



Step 7: Now go into my computer and copy everything from your Windows Vista or Windows 7 Media drive to your USB drive, and you will now have a fully functional bootable version of Windows Vista or Windows 7 on your flash drive.

If you have made it this far congratulations as your drive should be fully functional. The last step is to enter your computers bios that you plan to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 with from the USB drive and change the boot device order to the USB drive or Removable Media/Removable Device. If everything worked for you, give yourself a pat on the back you deserve it. However if something went awry in your setup of your bootable USB drive, let me know and I will try to help you.

[eden999]

YAYY, thanks a lot, i'll try it soon =)

[eden999]

oops didn't read last section.

[Aruffell]

Made Sticky

Andy