A bootable Windows flash drive is very easy to make. The article will describe three simple quick ways to create a bootable USB flash drive from a ready-made ISO image. All methods are free and popular, although among them there are simpler and more complex options, using different software. Also, all utilities fully work in Windows XP.
If your laptop or computer is new, with BIOS UEFI, a HDD which uses the GPT table layout style, then on such a computer you can also install Windows 7 using a different algorithm. Also, if the device, computer, laptop, netbook, etc. has a USB 2.0 port and USB 3, and you decide to install from a bootable USB flash drive to such Windows device 7, then surely USB 2.0 must be connected port, since Windows 7 itself does not support the USB 3 port type, which is usually marked in blue.
If the bootable flash drive is connected via USB port 3, then an attempt to install Windows 7 will end with the following error:
"Not found required driver optical disc drive. If you have a flash drive, floppy disk, DVD or CD with such a driver, please insert this media."
Create a bootable flash drive
Now the first thing you definitely need is an ISO image operating system. The second is the need to take care of the flash drive itself. Since this media will be formatted, the data from the flash drive must be moved to a safe, secure location. It is also important to note that the volume of the flash drive must be strictly at least 4 gigabytes.It is imperative to check and make sure that a particular motherboard accurately supports booting such a plan (from a flash device).
- Creating a bootable flash drive using tools (recommended last, since the method is not very effective);
- Creation at the expense of ;
- Utility ;
Creating a bootable flash drive with UNetBootin
You need to download the program and run it (the program is portable, it works without installation).
It is necessary to mark the item called ISO image, and then select the letter of the USB drive.
The location of a specific image must be specified manually.
Next, click open.
Now just click OK.
There is a short process of copying system files to a USB flash drive.
After a short extraction of the necessary files, our bootable USB flash drive is completely ready.
Create a bootable USB flash drive using UltraISO
A slightly complicated solution, unlike the above, is to use the program UltraISO. However, you can quickly understand the program by following the instructions. The functionality of the program is made in understandable Russian, and the trial period of use under the license is completely functional and suitable for our purposes.
Next, you need to select the Russian language and download the program, which is very simple. Run as administrator, then select the trial period of use.
Before us is the usual program window.
The next step is to find our ISO image on the hard drive, which contains the operating system. It is worth recalling that such an image can be created by any other program, and then indicated here. In the main UltraISO window, click right click on the file, and in the menu that opens, select the open option.
Next, we indicate our image with the system, in our case it is the image of Windows 8.1, which is located in the installation folder. Find your image and click open.
Also now you can put a USB flash drive in the slot of a netbook or laptop. You must select the Boot menu in the main window of our program and click on the image recording hard drive. An inserted flash drive should be present in this window.
Next, click write.
A hint will appear from the fact that your flash drive will be erased, we agree.
Then we wait for the recording process to finish.
Now we can carry our operating system in our pocket.
This installation method is suitable if you own a netbook or your CD / DVD drive is out of order and you need to install Windows 7. This method is also good because the process of installing Windows 7 from a flash card is several times faster than from a CD or DVD disk.
Before proceeding to Windows entries 7 to a USB flash drive, copy all the important data from the USB flash drive to other storage media (hard drive where Windows will not be installed, another flash card, disk, etc.), since in the process of formatting and writing the Windows 7 image to a USB flash drive, all data on she will destroyed.
First way
If you are creating bootable flash drive being in the Windows 7 operating system, you will need a program Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which can be downloaded from Of. Microsoft website at the link.
If you are creating a bootable USB flash drive under the Windows XP operating system, you will need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and Microsoft Image Mastering API 2.0. Of course, if you already have them installed (more often for the first program), then you do not need to reinstall them.
1) Insert the flash drive into the laptop.
2) Run the program. Click the button Browse.
3) Select the ISO image of Windows 7 and click the button Open.
4) After you have specified the ISO image of Windows 7, click the button Next.
5) Press the button USB device.
6) Your flash drive should appear in this window. Click the button Begin copying
7) Click on the button Erase USB Device
8) Click Yes.
9) The process of writing the Windows 7 image to a USB flash drive will begin
10) When the recording is completed, the status will change to Backup completed . close the program
Second way
For the second method, you will need a program UltraISO.
1) Insert the flash drive into the laptop.
2) Run the program. On Windows 7 and Windows Vista It is recommended to run the program as administrator.
The UltraISO program is paid, but you can use the trial period, consider this option. Click the "Trial period..." button
3) Select a menu item File ->Open...
4) Select the ISO image of Windows 7 and click the button Open.
6) In the field Write method: select USB-HDD. Click the button Format.
7) The formatting utility will start. Click the button To begin.
8) Click OK.
9) After formatting, a success window will appear. Click OK.
10) Close the program.
11) Press the button burn.
12) Click Yes.
13) The process of writing the Windows 7 image to the USB flash drive will begin.
14) At the end of the entry in the column event the message "Recording completed!" appears. Close the program.
Third way
For the third method, we need the WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 Beta 7 - program.
Note: the link is a newer version, but the principle remains the same.
1) Insert the flash drive into the laptop.
2) Run the program. On Windows 7 and Windows vista program must be run as administrator.
In field USB disk selection and format should be your flash drive.
Note: If the flash drive is not detected, then format it with the PeToUSB or HPUSBFW utility.
Also, the flash drive may not be detected if it is inserted into the laptop after the Winsetupfromusb 1.0 Beta7 program has been launched and in order for it to be determined, just press the button Refresh.
3) Press the button RMPrepUSB.
4) We mark such lines as: WinPEv2/WinPEv3/Vista/Win7 bootable (CC4), NTFS. Put a tick next to Boot as HDD (C:2PTNS). Click the button 6 Prepare Drive.
5) Press the button OK.
6) Press the button OK.
7) After that, this will appear Dos window.
A warning: Do not close this window. It should close automatically.
8) After Dos the window closes click the button exit.
9) Check the box next to Vista/7/Server 2008 - Setup/PE/RecoveryISO. Click on the square on the right.
10) A window will appear Folder overview in which you need to select the virtual drive in which the ISO image of Windows 7 is mounted.
After you have done this, press the button OK.
11) Press the button GO. The process of writing Windows 7 to a USB flash drive will begin.
12) When the recording is finished, this small window will appear. Click OK.
13) Close the program.
Fourth way
The installation method is quite simple, so anyone can do it! For this we need:
1) Windows 7 image
2) A flash drive with a capacity of at least 4GB
3) A program for creating and editing ISO images, ultraISO from the above method or a free MagicDisk
You can take any media from a regular flash drive to an SD card, but not less than 4GB!
4) Launch command line(in Windows XP, these are standard-> command line. In Windows Vista / Windows 7, open start, at the very bottom there is a search, enter cmd and open as administrator).
5) Next, on the command line, enter diskpart, the disk management utility will open.
6) Next, in the diskpart utility itself, enter: list disk, this will display all the physical disks of the PC, namely disks and not partitions.
Among them we are looking for our flash drive.
7) Then we execute the command select disk#, where # this is the number of our flash drive.
AT this case flash drive on the screen at number 1, therefore s elect disk 1. All further manipulations will be carried out only with this disk.
8) Execute the command clean, clear the drive, then the command create partition primary- create a new partition on the disk.
9) After creating a new section, write select partition 1, select this section for manipulation, enter active, thereby making the section active.
10) Now in order for the flash drive to be visible in bios, you need to format it in NTFS format, which we do with the command format fs=NTFS.
11) Next, you need to activate the process of connecting the device and assigning letters to it, we do this with the command assign.
Everything, the preparation process is completed.
Windows installation 7
Distribution recording can be done with any file manager or free .
In this case, you need to somehow open the image installation disk with the OS, you can do this with any disk emulator, Alcohol or MagicDisk, create an image and copy everything from it with a file manager to our prepared flash drive.
Everything, the process of creating an installation flash drive is completed, now we are trying to install the OS by first setting it in bios.
Well, that's all, which of the four ways to create a bootable flash drive to use is up to you.
Inclusion in Boot BIOS from a flash drive
Before you start installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive, you need to go into the BIOS and enable booting from a USB flash drive.
To enter the BIOS, you need to press a certain key when the computer boots. On the desktop computers this is the Del key. On laptops, the F2 key is most commonly used.
Usually, when you turn on the laptop, a screen appears on which at the very bottom there is a line that says which key you need to press in order to enter the BIOS.
If you do not have such a line, then you need to look at the information on how to enter the BIOS in User Manual walking with a laptop.
1) We insert the USB flash drive into the laptop, if it is not inserted.
2) Turn on the laptop, if it is on, then reboot.
3) We go into the BIOS.
For example, the whole process will look like below, if your BIOS is different, then the principle will remain the same. If you have any questions - write in the comments.
4) Go to the tab Boot. In it, in the boot order, you need to put our flash drive in first place, using the arrow keys and the keys F5 and F6. That is, with the arrow keys we select our flash drive, and with the key F6 take her to the top.
To find out which keys you need to use to set the boot order, see the hints on the right.
The name of the flash drive must appear in the line USB HDD.
Also, a flash drive can appear in the line USB key.
To save the changes and exit the BIOS, press the key F10. (Depending on the manufacturer of the BIOS, the key may be different. See the hints on the right or below).
5) A window will appear asking you in English to Save changes and Exit? You are taking Yes.
6) After that, a reboot will occur and the installation process of Windows 7 will start.
Installing Windows 7 from a flash drive
If a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 was created using the WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 Beta 7 program, then a green screen will appear first. Select Start Vista/Win7/Server 2008 Setup or PE/Recovery ISO from partition 0.
Next, the Windows 7 setup program will launch.
Write in the comments what is not clear and what questions you have.
Hello!
To install Windows on a modern computer or laptop, they increasingly use a regular USB flash drive rather than a CD / DVD disk with an OS. A USB flash drive has many advantages over a disk: faster installation, smaller size, and the ability to use even on PCs that do not have a disk drive.
If you just take a disk with an operating system and copy all the data to a USB flash drive, this will not make it an installation one.
I would like to consider several ways to create a bootable media with different versions Windows (by the way, if you are interested in the question of a multiboot drive, you can read this:).
What will be required
- Utilities for burning a flash drive. Which one to use depends on which version of the operating system you decide to use. Popular utilities: ULTRA ISO, Daemon Tools, WinSetupFromUSB.
- USB drive, preferably 4 GB or more. For Windows XP, a smaller one is also suitable, but for Windows 7+, less than 4 GB will definitely not be used.
- An ISO installation image with the OS version you need. You can make such an image yourself from the installation disk or download it (for example, from the Microsoft website you can download new Windows 10 at the link: microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10).
- Free time - 5-10 minutes.
Create a bootable Windows flash drive
So let's move on to how to create and record media with the operating system. The methods are very simple, you can master them very quickly.
Generic method for all versions
Why universal? Yes, because it can be used to create a bootable USB flash drive from any Windows version(except XP and below). However, you can try to burn the media in this way with XP - only it does not work for everyone, the chances are 50/50 ...
It is also important to note that when installing the OS from a USB drive, you do not need to use USB 3.0 (this high-speed port is marked in blue).
To burn an ISO image, you need one utility - Ultra ISO (by the way, it is very popular and many probably already have it on their computer).
By the way, for those who want to burn an installation USB flash drive with version 10, this note can be very useful: (the article talks about one cool Rufus utility that creates bootable media several times faster than analogue programs).
step by step
Download the Ultra ISO program from the official website: ezbsystems.com/ultraiso. Let's start the process right away.
If you are unable to create bootable media using the ULTRA ISO program, try the following utility from this article (see below).
Creating an image of Windows 7/8
For this method, you can use the recommended Microsoft utility - Windows 7 USB / DVD download tool (link to the official website: microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool).
However, I still prefer to use the first method (via ULTRA ISO) - because this utility has one drawback: it cannot always write Windows image 7 to a 4 GB USB stick. If you use an 8 GB flash drive, that's even better.
Let's consider the steps.
Windows XP bootable media
To create an installation USB drive with XP, we need two utilities at once: Daemon Tools + WinSetupFromUSB (I provided links to them in
The times when installing Windows seemed to an inexperienced user something unthinkably complicated are in the past. Today, it does not cause difficulties even for beginners, because the process of installing modern versions of Windows is 90% automated. In order to figure out what to do and in what sequence, it is enough to read the instructions once. The dark spot in this "mystery" remains, perhaps, the creation of installation media for the system distribution. Many do not understand what tools exist for this, how they differ, how to use them, which is better, etc.
Since USB flash drives are most often used as installation media, today's story is about them. More precisely, about how to make a bootable USB flash drive with different versions Windows - from XP to "tens", with the help of nine proven tools.
Media Creation Tool For Windows 10
The Microsoft MediaCreationTool utility is designed to upgrade old versions of operating systems to Windows 10, as well as to create installation DVDs and USB flash drives with the dozens distribution. The list of its features includes not only writing the OS to a removable device, but also downloading it from the Microsoft website. In this case, almost no user participation is required, except for plugging a USB flash drive into the computer and telling the program which edition of Windows to write to it. The rest MediaCreationTool does itself.
How quickly you get the finished result depends on the performance of your computer and the speed of the Internet. If the latter is not particularly large, the creation process may be delayed, but, as a rule, no longer than an hour and a half. With an average connection speed, downloading and subsequent recording takes 30-40 minutes. During this time, you can continue to use your computer for other tasks.
How to use Media Creation Tool
- Download the utility from the link (“Download tool now” button) and run it. It does not require installation.
- Connect a blank USB flash drive with a capacity of 3-4 GB to your PC.
- After accepting the license agreement, the program will offer a choice of 2 actions: upgrade to Windows 10 and create installation media for another PC. Check item 2 and click "Next".
- Specify the desired system characteristics - language, edition and architecture (bit depth). If you want to create an installation flash drive with the system of the same version as on this computer, check the "Use recommended settings" box.
- Specify the media type as USB Flash Drive.
- Select the flash drive from the list of connected devices. If there is only one, just click "Next" and wait for the recording to finish.
After the process is completed, click Finish. Now your flash drive is ready to install Windows on another computer.
The Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool is also a Microsoft product, but unlike MediaCreationTool, it can be used to create installation flash drives and DVDs of any Windows versions starting from the seventh. It is not suitable for downloading distributions of operating systems on its own, so you will have to prepare it in advance, for example, by downloading it from torrents as an ISO image.
How to use Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
- Install the utility on your computer. Burning bootable media with it is performed in 4 steps.
- Click the "Browse" button and indicate to the program the path to the iso image of the Windows distribution. To go to the next step now and later, click "Next".
- The second step is to select the media type. Click USB device.
- The third step is to select the carrier itself from the list of connected ones.
- To start recording, click the "Begin copying" button. If there are files on the flash drive, they will be deleted.
- The last step is the copy process. On average, it takes 15-40 minutes. The smaller the size of the distribution and the higher the performance of the PC, the faster it will complete.
The program will notify you that the flash drive is ready with the message "Booable USB-device created successully".
Rufus
A small program Rufus allows you to create bootable flash drives of any version of Windows, starting with XP. It also uses iso format images that the user has prepared in advance as a file source.
Rufus does not require installation - it is enough just to run it. By default, it opens in the language that is installed on the computer as the main one.
How to use Rufus
- Open the utility. If you want to change the language, click on the icon in the upper right corner of the window and select a different one.
- Expand the "Device" list and select the desired flash drive.
- From the list "Partition scheme and type system interface»Select the method of partitioning the hard disk on which you are going to install Windows - MBR or GPT. GPT-labeled drives only support modern 64-bit operating systems—Windows 7 x64, Windows 8 (8.1) x64, and Windows 10 x64. To create media with Windows XP and all 32-bit operating systems, select the MBR partition scheme. For PC based motherboards older than 2011-2012 - with the BIOS system interface type (on modern BIOS boards changed to UEFI), select "MBR for computers with BIOS and UEFI". For modern - any.
- Specify type file system in which the flash drive will be formatted. For Windows XP and older computers - FAT32, for modern ones - NTFS. Leave the cluster size as default.
- As a volume label (the name under which the flash drive will be displayed in Windows Explorer), you can specify anything, for example, Win_10. Or don't specify anything.
- Formatting options are also best left at their defaults.
- The last setting is the choice of distribution kit - the Windows iso image that you are going to transfer to the USB device. Click on the button with the disk icon and specify the path to the image. Click "Start" to start recording.
Rufus differs from many analogues in its high copying speed. It takes 10-20 minutes to create one bootable flash drive.
UltraISO
Unlike all of the above, UltraISO - paid app. It is designed to create, convert and edit disk images, and burning bootable media is one of its additional features.
UltraISO only creates installation media from iso images. But if you want to transfer the distribution to a USB flash drive, for example, from a DVD where it is presented separate files and folders, the program will help you convert this data into an image format.
To create an iso image of a Windows distribution from a set of optical disc files, open the "Tools" section in UltraISO and click the "Create CD / DVD Image" option. In the box shown below, specify the path to the drive, the location for saving the finished result and its format (iso). Click "Make".
After that, you can start transferring the distribution to a USB flash drive.
How to create an installation USB flash drive in UltraISO
- Open the iso image of the Windows distribution in the program.
- Open the menu section "Boot" and select "Burn hard disk image".
- From the "Disk drive" list, select your flash drive. If it is not formatted, click Format.
- After formatting, click Burn.
The duration of the transfer of "Windows" to a USB device is 20-40 minutes, taking into account the quality check of the recording.
Differs from analogues useful feature- built-in PC emulator ( virtual machine QEMU) to visually check the result of creating boot devices. Before you install Windows on real computer, you can see the work of the newly recorded flash drive in the program itself. In addition, WinSetupFromUSB allows you to create media with distributions of several operating systems.
The utility is designed for both beginners and experienced users. The first one allows you to get what you want with a few mouse clicks, the second one - to create complex multi-boot configurations with different types bootloaders, multi-level menus, etc. We will look at a simple option - how to create a USB flash drive with two operating systems - Windows XP and Windows 10, using the default settings.
How to use WinSetupFromUSB
- Run the utility (it does not require installation). In the "USB disk selection and format tools" section, specify the letter of the flash drive. If you want to format it, check the box "Auto format ...". Select the file system type, leave the rest as default.
- In the "Add to USB disk" section, check the types of operating systems that you are going to transfer to the USB flash drive. Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 distributions must be in iso format. Click the button in the second line on the right and specify the path to the desired image. The Windows XP distribution must be in the form of a directory of files and folders, such as on a DVD. Specify the path to the i386 folder for the program.
- After adding all distributions, click on the "Go" button. This will start the transfer process.
To check the quality of the recording after it is finished, check the "Test in QEMU" option and click "Go" again. Monitor download progress virtual computer from a flash drive in a separate window.
- a very simple utility designed to transfer iso and img format images to flash drives and memory cards. And also for the reverse conversion of a directory of files and folders on removable media into an image on a hard drive.
The current version, available for download from the official site, requires installation on a computer. The previous ones work without installation.
How to use Win32 Disk Imager
- Open the utility. In the "Image file" line, specify the path to the distribution kit in iso or img format. In the "Device" section - the letter of the flash drive.
- Click Write.
The speed of Win32 Disk Imager is no higher than similar programs. The time to copy the Windows 10 distribution to a USB flash drive is 20-30 minutes.
- Another simple program with an unusual design and atypical functionality. In addition to what everyone does, it supports Windows To Go technology - transferring the operating system to removable media and with the ability to run and work on it, like on a regular hard drive. As a source, WiNToBootic allows you to use not only images, but also directories with distribution files.
How to use WiNToBootic
- Select a flash drive from the list. If you want to format it, check the "Quick format" checkbox.
- Click on the green arrow image and specify the path to the image file. Or drag the image or folder with distribution files into the program window.
- Click Do it!
WinToFlash Lite
The WinToFlash Lite utility is designed to create portable drives in both mono and multi-boot formats. It allows you to use both images and directories with files as a source.
When you first start the program opens in wizard mode step by step creation mono or multi-boot flash drive, where each action is accompanied by tips.
For advanced users, WinToFlash has an advanced mode with the ability to skip individual operations, select the type of bootloader, configure boot menu etc.
How to create a bootable flash drive with one operating system in WinToFlash
- Open the app. To switch to wizard mode (if it does not start automatically), open the menu "Task" - "New" and go to the first tab. Click "Migration Wizard...".
- Specify the source - a folder, drive, or Windows image.
- Specify the path to the distribution kit and USB drive.
- In the next window, just click "Next" - this will start the transfer process.
After 15-30 minutes, the flash drive will be ready.
Windows Command Prompt (Diskpart)
Creating bootable media through the command line, more precisely, when Diskpart Help- console Windows utilities, does not require installation third party programs. As a file source, you can use either a DVD disc or an iso image previously mounted into a virtual drive.
How to create media
- Run the command prompt as an administrator and follow the first instruction: diskpart.
- Open the disk list with the command list disk.
- Select a flash drive from the list: select disk 1(instead of 1, substitute the serial number of your USB device in the command).
- Clear the flash drive: clean.
- Create a primary partition on it: create partition primary.
- Make the section active: active.
- Format it: format fs=fat32 quick(instead of fat32 you can write ntfs, if needed).
- Create a volume mount point (so that the system assigns a letter to it): assign.
- Close diskpart: exit. She completed her task.
- Copy the distribution files to the flash drive: xcopy f:\*.* /s /e /f /i e: (instead of f:, substitute the letter of your DVD drive, instead of e: - flash drive).
After copying is completed, the flash drive is ready for use. The whole process takes 20-40 minutes.
Today, more and more laptop and PC manufacturers refuse to integrate into their devices optical drive. This can be explained by the fact that CD and DVD media have lost their relevance. They have been supplanted by smaller media such as memory cards and USB sticks. In addition, it is simply impossible to build a drive into a thin ultrabook case. This trend has led to some inconvenience, for example, when installing an operating system. Creating a bootable flash drives windows 7 becomes simply necessary.
How to create a bootable flash drive
What is necessary:
- Flash drive
- UltraISO program
- Operating System DVD Image
The storage capacity must be at least 4 gigabytes. That's how much the standard weighs a copy of Windows 7. Larger drives can be used.
If you have everything you need - proceed directly to the creation.
First, insert the flash drive into any free USB port. Make sure that there is nothing you need on it, as all information from it will be erased.
If you are capturing an image from a laptop, check the battery charge and connect to a charger if necessary.
If the computer turns off during recording, then it is likely to turn the flash drive into a useless piece of plastic.
Step-by-step instruction:
1. Launch the UltraISO program. You need to do this on behalf of the computer administrator, otherwise the program will not be able to start the recording process. Right click. mouse on the program shortcut and select "run as administrator".
2. After the program starts, open your ISO file in it. In the left upper corner program, click on the file-> open button or press the CTRL + O button combination.
3. Select the file with way Windows 7 and click open.
4. The selected disk image will open in the program and you will be able to see all the files it consists of.
5. Then, go to top menu programs in the item "Boot". In the drop-down list of actions, click "Burn Hard Disk Image".
6. Another window will pop up, where you will need to select the recording options. First you need to specify on which device the image will be written to. Opposite the "Disc Drive" option, in the drop-down menu, select the flash drive that you prepared.
7. Opposite the "Recording method" parameter, select the "USB-HDD +" mode. Opposite "Hide boot partition" put "no". After that, you can safely press the "Record" button. The rest of the parameters do not need to be touched.
8. After that, the process of writing the selected image to removable media will begin. This usually takes 10 to 15 minutes.
You can check the status of the process by looking at the event log at the top of the window and at the progress bar. Above it will be indicated how much percent of the recording was completed, as well as how much time has passed and remains.
Do not close the program or turn off your computer during this time. If this happens, then you risk ruining the flash drive.
9. After the recording is completed, you will see a message in the event log that everything is ready and the recording was successful.
From a USB drive, installing windows 7 is faster than from a regular disk. This is because USB 2.0 is much faster than an optical drive.
10. The creation of a bootable flash drive has come to an end. It remains only to check its performance.
To do this, insert it into the USB port of the computer or laptop on which the installation will take place. Enable it and go to BIOS. To do this, hold down the DEL or F2 key. After the transition, check the download priorities. Boot priority (First Boot Device) should be your flash drive. Save the settings by pressing the F10 key and restart the computer. If the installation process has begun, then you did everything right.
When purchasing licensed software, the buyer receives it on a DVD. Therefore, in order to install it on a PC that does not have an optical drive, you need to create a bootable flash drive. Our step-by-step instruction will help you with this.