ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM
Installing
Windows
froma
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 5 is the USB drive
(this can be a different one in
your case). Now issue the
command as shown below:
SELECT DISK 5
NOTE: In the above command, 5
is the USB drive number on my
system. If you have a different
number on your system, then
you need to replace 5 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.
I hope you like this post. Pass
your comments to express your
opinion.
