₣ıđø Ðıđø™

Impotant Notes:

1. This tutorial is the most completed tutorial you can find on Internet.
2. Your Motherboard and your BIOS must support boot from USB (flash) Drive.
3. You must boot from USB drive by entering to your PC BIOS Setup or set your quick boot and make the
first boot device to the USB drive.
4. I will explain three ways to boot windows 7 from a USB stick (USB drive/USB flash memory).
5. Leave comments at the end of this post so I can answer your questions ASAP (as soon as possible).

A. The First Way (Microsoft’s Official “Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool”):


Recently Microsoft released a small utility to create Windows 7 bootable USB/DVD called "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" which was pulled down later due to some GNU General Public License (GPL) terms violation.

Now the good news is Microsoft has put it back under GPL. So you can download it again.

Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from Microsoft
Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from Mirror
Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from Mediafire

After downloading and installing the tool, when you launch it, it'll ask you to select the path where you have stored Windows 7 ISO file:

Provide the ISO file path and click on "Next" button. Now it'll ask you whether you want to create bootable USB drive or DVD:

Click on the desired button. If you select "USB Device", it'll ask you to insert the USB device. If your USB device is compatible, it'll be automatically detected by the tool:

Click on "Begin Copying" button. Now you'll be prompted to format the USB device. Accept the confirmation:

That's it. The tool will start copying the installation files to USB device:

At last, it'll show a message that "Bootable USB device created successfully".

System Requirements:
* Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
* Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
* 50MB of free space on your hard drive
* DVD-R drive or 4GB removable USB flash drive

B. The Second Way (Using DISKPART built-in command in DOS):

This guide works 100% for Vista & Windows 7 unlike most of the guides out there. The main advantage is that by using USB drive you will be able to install Windows 7/Vista in just 15 minutes. You can also use this bootable USB drive on friend's computer who doesn’t have a DVD optical drive.

The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.

Requirements:
* USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)
* Windows 7 or Vista installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily:

1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

A. Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

B. Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.

Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.

4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive No. is “Disk 1”.If you have Disk 2 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 2.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

5. Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive or If you have a Windows 7/Vista ISO image mount it to a virtual CD/DVD Drive using UltraISO or any other program like DAEMON Tools and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “G” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type the following command now:

G: CD BOOT and hit enter. Where “G” is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter.

7. Type another command BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H: and hit enter Where “H” is your USB drive letter to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code. Then you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Notes:
* If you are not able to boot after following this guide means you haven’t set the BIOS priority to USB or your Motherboard doesn't support boot from USB Drive.
* You can make (using this way) any USB Drive a bootable one for any purposes not just only for Installing Windows 7/Vista. Or using another way Check this page Hiren's BootCD From USB Flash Drive.
* If you got any problem in following this guide feel free to ask questions by leaving comment.

C. The Third Way (Utility to Create Bootable USB Drive to Install Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7):

Imagine a situation where you need to install Windows Vista or 7 in a system but you don't have access to DVD drive. We all know Windows Vista, Server 2008 or 7 comes in DVDs and you'll need a DVD drive to install them. Then how will you install them? The solution is, you can create a bootable USB drive which can be used to install Windows without using DVD drive.

We have posted a detailed tutorial to create such bootable USB drive long time back, you can read about it here.

The above method is very easy to follow but wouldn't it be great if we can use a utility to do the whole task automatically? Our reader "Aris" has created a small utility exclusively for AskVG readers which creates a bootable USB drive to install Windows Vista, Server 2008 or 7.

Prerequisites:
* A USB Drive (4 GB or more)
* Windows Vista, Server 2008 or 7 ISO image or DVD
* Host OS: Windows Vista (SP1 or SP2), Server 2008 or 7

How to Use:

Once you meet the requirements, run the utility. Its a portable utility so doesn't need installation. Simply run it and check the option "I have read and accepted the following License Agreement". Now click on OK button and it'll launch the main application.

It also shows a Help window so that you can use the utility easily. The utility requires only 4 easy steps to follow:

* Check USB drive (To check whether your USB drive is attached or not)

* Format USB drive

* Choose DVD or ISO image (To copy the required files to USB drive)

* Start the process to create bootable USB drive


Download Link:

Download A Bootable USB application (7z and EXE) from Aris SkyDrive
Download A Bootable USB application (ZIP) from Mediafire
Download A Bootable USB application (RAR) from Mediafire
Download A Bootable USB application (EXE) from Mediafire


PS: It also works in 64-bit Windows versions.

Thanks again to "Aris" for creating this utility for AskVG readers...