Create Bootable USB Pen Drive for Windows 7 and Windows 8 installation
Here I will describe the steps that help you to load the Windows installation on to your USB flash drive and make it bootable just like the DVD.
There are two options:
1. Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool.
Just download the Microsoft Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool from here. Then follow some easy steps.
2. Basic Option.
Tools Required:
1. USB flash drive with a minimum capacity of 4 GB but 8 GB is preferable for Windows 8.
2. Windows 7/8 installation Setup DVD or you can download Windows ISO file and extract it into your local PC.
STEPS:
Step 1 : Plug-in your USB flash drive (Pen Drive).
Step 2 : Open the PowerShell (Or Command Prompt if PowerShell does not exist in your system). Note: If you are using Windows 7/8 then open it with administrator rights.
Goto Start -> All Programs -> Accessories ->Windows PowerShell -> Right-click on “Windows PowerShell” and select “Run as Administrator”.
Step 3: In the PowerShell, type the bellow command.
DISKPART
Now type the following command.
LIST DISK
Then you can see 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).
Then type the following command
SELECT DISK 1
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: Then type following list of commands one by one as shown below.
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
ASSIGN
EXIT
Then Close Power Shell and proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Insert the Windows 7/8 installation disc and note down the “drive letter” of your DVD drive. In my case, it is “H:”
Open the command prompt. If you are using Windows 7/8 then open it with administrator rights.
Goto Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as Administrator”.
Now type the following list of commands as shown below.
Note: If you have Windows ISO file, then extract to your local PC. Then in the bellow command, instead of goto drive’ H:’, Using command prompt, Goto the folder in which you extract windows ISO files. Then goto BOOT folder inside the folder that contains your extracted ISO file as bellow.
H:
CD BOOT
BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 G: (NOTE: G: is your USB drive letter)
EXIT
NOTE: if you want to only make your USB pen drive bootable and not using for Windows installation, then don’t copy the content. That’s it.
Step 6: Then Copy the contents of your Windows 7/8 installation disk (or content of your extracted ISO files) into the USB flash drive as it is. You can directly Copy-Paste all file into usb drive.
And finally your USB pen drive 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.