How to Create a Windows 7/Vista Boot USB Drive

Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Top. This free and available program is provided by Microsoft. Despite the name Windows 7, this tool also works with Windows Vista ISO disc images. You can run this tool on most versions of Windows.

Select the source file. This is the ISO disc image that you created or loaded in the first part. Then, click Next.

Select the USB device. You can burn to DVD or create a USB device. In this guide, click USB Device.

Select your USB device. You need to make sure that the flash drive is properly connected. You will need at least 4 GB of free space on the USB to copy the entire Windows installation program.

Wait for the program to run. The program will format the USB drive to boot properly, then copy the ISO file to the drive. This process may take about 15 minutes depending on the speed of your computer.

Plug the USB into the computer. First, you need to plug the flash drive into the USB port and copy the entire contents to a safe location on the hard drive.

Run Command Prompt as administrator. To open the command prompt, go to the Start menu and search with the keyword CMD. Right-click the program and select Run as Administrator to use the command line as administrator.

Use the Diskpart feature to find the USB drive number. Enter the following command at the command prompt: DISKPART

• When the DISKPART command executes, the version of DISKPART you are running with the name of your PC will appear.
• Enter the command “list disk” to see all connected drives. You need to write down the number assigned to the flash drive.

Format the drive. Execute each command in the following list in order. You must replace “1” in “Disk 1” with the appropriate number from the result of the DISKPART command.

select disk 1
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=NTFS QUICK
assign
exit

Make the flash drive bootable. Use the bootsect utility available on Windows 7/Vista as follows:

• Insert the Windows 7/Vista DVD into the machine and write down the letter of the DVD drive. In this tutorial, the DVD is the D: drive and the USB is the G: drive.
• Navigate to the folder containing bootsect .

  D:
cd d:boot

• Use bootsect to make the USB drive bootable. The drive will be updated with a compatible BOOTMGR code and prepared to boot Windows 7/Vista.

  BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 G:

• Close the Command Prompt window.

Copy all files from Windows 7/Vista DVD to formatted USB. The safest and fastest way is to use Windows Explorer. Open the disc, select all the data, drag and drop them onto the flash drive. This copying process may take several minutes.

Change the boot order. To boot from a USB drive, you need to set the BIOS to boot from the USB first instead of the hard drive. If you want to open the BIOS, restart the computer and press the key shown on the screen to access Setup. This key will vary by manufacturer, but is usually F2 , F10 , F12 or Del .

• Open the Boot menu on the BIOS. Change the first Boot Device to a USB drive. You need to make sure the USB is plugged in, or you won’t have that option. Depending on the manufacturer, the option will display as Removable Device or the model name of the flash drive.

Save changes and reboot. If you set the correct boot order, the Windows 7 or Vista installation program will be loaded after the manufacturer’s icon disappears.