Wednesday, 9 October 2013

How to Create a Bootable Windows 7 or Vista USB Drive

Need to install Windows 7 on a computer with no DVD drive? Do you want to create a backup installer in case your install disc becomes damaged? Follow these guide to get the Windows install files onto a bootable USB flash drive.

Create or Obtain A Windows Vista/7 ISO

  1. Install a free burning program. There are a number of free burning utilities available online. You need one that can create ISO files.

    • If you received your Windows 7 as a downloadable ISO file from Microsoft, you can skip to the next section.
  2. Insert your Windows 7 DVD. Open your new burning program. Look for an option such as “Copy to Image” or “Create Image.” If prompted, select your DVD drive as the source.

  3. Save your ISO file. Choose an easy to remember name and location for the file. The ISO you make will be equal in size to the disc you are copying. This means it can take up several gigabytes of space on your hard drive. Be sure you have enough storage available.

    • Creating the ISO can take a long time, depending on the speed of your computer and DVD drive.


Create a Bootable Drive

  1. Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. This is available for free from Microsoft. Despite its name, this tool works with Windows Vista ISOs as well. You can run this tool on virtually any version of Windows.

  2. Select the Source file. This is the ISO that you created or downloaded in the first section. Click Next.

  3. Select USB device. You are given the option to either burn to a DVD or create a USB device. For this guide, click USB Device.

  4. Choose your USB device. Make sure that your flash drive is connected correctly. You will need at least 4GB space on your flash drive to copy over the Windows installation.

  5. Wait while program works. The program will format the USB drive to boot correctly, then copy the ISO file onto the drive. The copying process can take up to 15 minutes to complete, depending on the speed of your machine.



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