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:
1. USB flash drive
with a minimum capacity of 4 GB.
2. Windows 7 set-up
DVD.
Step-1: Plug-in your USB flash
drive and backup all the existing data in it.
Step-2: Open the command prompt.
If you are using Windows 7/Vista then open it with administrator rights*.
* Goto Start -> All
Programs -> Accessories -> Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select
“Run as Administrator”.
Step 3: In the command prompt,
type in the following command:
DISKPART
This will start the Microsoft DiskPart utility as shown below:
Now issue the following
command:
LIST DISK
This will show you a list of available disks on your system. Disk 0 is usually the hard disk. In my case, Disk 1 is the USB drive (this can be a different one in your case). Now issue the command as shown below:
SELECT DISK 1
NOTE: In the above command, 1 is the USB drive number on my system. If you
have a different number on your system, then you need to replace 1
with that number.
Step-4: Now issue the following list of commands one by
one as shown below:
CLEAN
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 OS 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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment