Installing Windows from a USB flash drive has several advantages – First of all, the overall speed of the installation process will increase significantly, carrying a USB stick is much more convenient than a DVD, and finally it becomes possible to install the OS even on those systems that do not have a DVD drive, such as a netbook.
In this post, I will show you how to load the Windows installation on to your USB flash drive and make it bootable just like the DVD.
Tools Required to Load Windows 7 Installation Files:
-
USB flash drive with a minimum capacity of 4 GB.
-
Windows 7 set-up DVD.
Now, just follow the steps below:
Step-1:
Plug-in your USB flash drive and backup all the existing data in it.
Open the command prompt. If you are using Windows 7/Vista then open it with administrator rights.
ie: Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as Administrator”.
Step-2:
In the command prompt, type in the following command:
This will start the Microsoft DiskPart utility as shown below:
Step-3:
Now issue the following command:
This will show you a list of available disks on your system. Disk 0 is usually the hard disk. In my case, Disk 5 is the USB drive (this can be a different one in your case). Now issue the command as shown below:
Step-4:
Now issue the following list of commands one by one as shown below:
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
ASSIGN
EXIT
Minimize the command prompt and proceed to the next step.
Step 5:
Insert the Windows 7/Vista installation disc and note down the “drive letter” of your DVD drive. In my case, it is “H:”. Now type the following list of commands as shown below:
H: CD BOOT
CD BOOT
BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 M: (NOTE: M: is your USB drive letter)
EXIT
Step-6:
Copy the contents of your Windows 7/Vista installation disk into the USB flash drive.
That’s it! Your USB stick is now ready to boot and install the Windows 7 for you. Don’t forget to enable the “USB Boot” option and change the “boot priority to USB device from hard disk” in your BIOS settings.
I hope you like this post. Pass your comments to express your opinion. 
I am Srikanth Ramesh, a computer engineer from India.
61 Comments
siva_phd9
June 24, 2011 at 6:45 PMDP
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