How To Boot And Install Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive (Updated)
Previously, I have discussed the way to create a Windows 7 USB installer drive using the command prompt. Even though I have make it easy to follow, there are still some of you having some difficulty in the process. Recently, I have come across this little cool portable application that is able to do all the things covered in the previous tutorial in a breeze and without the command prompt.
The application that I am talking about is WinToFlash. This is a small application (only 2.1MB) that allows you to convert your Windows installer CD/DVD to a bootable USB drive. Not only is it easy to use (nearly idiot-proof and does not require you to have any technical knowledge), it is also fully portable – No installation is required and you can bring it wherever you are.
Preparation
Before you start, here are some stuffs that you need to take note of:
1) You need to have a USB drive of at least 3GB space in order to create a Windows 7 bootable USB drive.
2) The process will format and wipe off all your files in the USB drive. Remember to backup before you proceed.
3) You need to have a Windows 7 installer DVD and an optical drive to read the DVD. If you have only the ISO file (downloaded directly from Microsoft), you can use Virtual Clone Drive to mount the ISO in your computer.
Installation
Download WinToFlash
Put in your Windows 7 installer DVD and plug in your USB drive.
Unzip the folder to your desktop and run the WinToFlash.exe file
Some of you might see the “WinToFlash DLP_NotFound” error message. You can safely ignore this error message.
On the main screen, click on the Window Setup Transfer Wizard. This will bring you to the wizard mode where it automates (almost) the whole process for you.
On the next screen, there is an option for you to go into the Advanced mode and tweak some of the settings. You can ignore that (if you are not into tweaking) and click Next to proceed.
Point the Windows file path to the Windows Installer DVD directory.
Point the USB drive to the USB directory.
Click Next.
Accept the agreement.
Preparing your USB drive. Make sure you have backup all the important files before you proceed. This will erase all your data.
Transferring in progress. This might take a while. Go for your coffee break.
Once you see the following message, the whole process is done. You can now boot Windows 7 from the USB drive.
Some computers require you to change the bootup setting in the BIOS before you can boot from USB. Look into your motherboard/computer manual for more instruction.
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Tags: bootable USB drive, installer, Software, windows 7
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[Click to close]48 Responses
this will be useful for installing win7 to netbooks with no cd-rom drive
4abetteryou.netau. net
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I just tried this and it worked 100%. You are a life saver man, i had wasted a lot of DVDs trying to burn windows 7, and i could never get them to work properly. I give this post 5 stars. Good work!!!
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Worked for me a treat many thanks……
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It is very good guide for how to install a windows 7 through flash drive. I have tried yesterday and it works nicely. Thank you for giving a article which is helped me a lot to install windows 7 very easily!
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Great Tut, so clear and concise! If you don’t have a Flash Drive, you event can use a virtual Drive to install Windows 7. It’s very easy and useful if you only have a ISO file of Windows 7.
Again! Thanks for this Tut.
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1 BIG QUESTION: can we with win to flash program, do the same things to make bootable flash for vista and xx instead of windows 7? iam expecting answer very quick :) tanx in advance
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Damien Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
YES. WintoFlash can be used for WinXP and Vista too.
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i made it with win 7,didnt try with vista but it works probably.but with xp i didnt make it,maybe because i didnt disable sata disc in bios?
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Damien Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:12 am
If you are installing WinXP on a sata drive, you need to have the sata driver ready. WinXP installer doesn’t come with a sata driver.
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Nearly wet myself when I saw this. Been looking for a simple Win to Flash utility for a long time and here it is! Thanks Novicorp.
Now I have to and dry myself…
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I got the WIN7 install up and running fine but now find that I do not have the option to go back and dual boot back to Vista. Is this when I will need to reboot with a Vista disk and repiar and then run Easy BCD
Thanks in advance
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Damien Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 am
You can run Easy BCD from Win7. There is no need for you to reboot with a Vista disk.
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Very useful information provided. Does this flash drive works as data storege too after this installation?
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Damien Reply:
October 6th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Yes. You can still use it as a data storage drive.
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Hi, I got problem. I have netbook Lenovo S10e. I got completely everything what you suggested and installation process worked fine till first restart after copying files. Then installation process stoped to work – 1. did not go further if I have boot from hard disk or 2. started from the very beginning (copying files again etc) Help me, its very annoying. By the way, I have installed xp from usb by little help of Win From USB_0-2-3.
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Roman Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
misalasa, The guide tells you to boot from USB EVERY time untill you see the windows desktop. Have you done that? It seems to me that you have not paid much attention to the bit after the copying process was done…
Read the guide, then ask questions!
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misalasa Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I read guide carefully and did boot from usb every time. But obviously you have not paid much attention on my post – I said that when I boot from usb system takes me to very beginning every time (I tried several times and boot from hard disk when I lost hope). I did not mention that all process works fine in my laptop (MSI ex700), but in my netbook (Lenovo S10e) NO! I hope that you will be more polite next time
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mawts Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Hi! I also have the same problem as misalasa!
The instructions were:
1. Make a bootable win7 usb (as instructed)
2. boot usb thru BIOS until win7 desktop appears
but after the 1st restart of the installation and my USB gets booted again, and the installation repeats all over again! (copying windows files, choose language, etc)
What do I do? My Win7 is Ultimate OEM, I’m trying to get a hold of my friend’s RTM. Maybe it has a difference? Need help, thanks!
Hi, I’m wondering if these steps would work to install Windows 7 on an external hard drive using a Macbook. Actually i’ve followed this tutorial (and the previous one without win to flash), and i’ve come across one problem. After using win to flash and setting up the hard drive and everything, i can’t find a way to boot the computer from my hard drive. I’ve used the startup manager (hold “Option” while booting up) but it can’t find the external hd. However, i CAN find it normally if i use the computer. the problem is i cant boot from it. Know a solution?
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i really want to try this and i have everything to start but i have one question. do i have to boot from the usb every time i want to start windows 7? please answer Damien.
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Damien Reply:
October 6th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Nope. Once you have installed Win 7 on your computer, you can boot directly from the hard drive.
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I need help with this process, for some reason when I try to transfer the files I get a message saying “Novicorp cannot lock the drive; Please close the applications may use this drive and press retry”.
What does this mean?
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NVM I fixed the problem :]
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Thanks for this guide! I’ve paid for a direct download of Windows 7 Professional 64 bit from microsoft on release day (22nd october) so I’m going to have to boot and install from my USB drive to perform a “custom” installation (formatting my hard drive and installing a clean install of win7 from boot), this looks like a real life-saver!
So, just to confirm, the step are;
- Use WinToFlash to make USB drive bootable.
- Boot from USB drive to run windows 7 installer.
- KEEP booting from USB drive until windows desktop appears – then can boot from HDD
Is this correct? Many thanks for the guide.
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Damien Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 2:24 am
@Barzini: Yes.You are correct.
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Hello and thanks for this tut. I went through the whole process of creating the thumb drive and it was successful. When trying to install on my ThinkPad X31, the install process does not do anything. I am able to boot from USB this much I know, I have done it many times. I am using a Corsair 8GB thumb drive and like I said the Win7 was copied just fine. If I take the DVD that I sued to make the thumb drive and stick it in a DVD drive, the installer GUI pops up and begins, so I am certain my install disk is good, but the thumb drive install just hangs….just a flashing cursor, no splash screen, no error messages…nothing.
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I get this error when I choose a Windows file path. “incorrect source of windows files” Where is that source anyway?
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Damien Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 2:18 am
@Dani: You should point to the DVD-ROM drive that contain the Win 7 installer DVD.
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Hello,
I am having problem with booting this USB, I am trying to boot windows 7 x64 from removable and nothing happens, even then when I disable all other boot devices and removable still doesn’t get detected. Anyone knows the problem?
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Andy Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Pak-N4Z, I’m not sure exactly how your computer works, but for me to boot from a USB I have to enter the BIOS boot setup at start-up (F2 for me) and manually tell the computer to boot from the USB drive. If the removable USB drive isn’t being detected it may be that your BIOS doesn’t support booting from USB. How old is your computer? As I was under the impression pretty much all motherboards from the last few years supported this. Perhaps it’s a problem with the USB drive itself?
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Pak-N4Z Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hmm could be true that i should boot from USB as you say for my motherboard is with using F8 i think ok will try this.
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Can I use this tool in Vista 32-bit to create a bootable usb drive for Windows 7 64-bit?
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Hey all, just to let you know – if you register for the Microsoft Store (don’t need to buy anything, just sign up for a free account) and go into the ‘Help’ section for Windows 7, you can download for free the “Microsoft Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool” which will make a bootable DVD or USB drive from a downloaded Windows 7 ISO. I haven’t tried it yet (my pre-paid download for Windows 7 is available tomorrow) but you’d think that since Microsoft have made it specifically for Win7 it should work well enough.
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Best USB bootable write up EVER! Amazing how this worked without any issues! You ROCK!
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here is the official link to the Microsoft tool which does the same
http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool
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Hi! I also have the same problem with others!
The instructions were:
1. Make a bootable win7 usb (as instructed)
2. boot usb thru BIOS until win7 desktop appears
but after the 1st restart of the installation and my USB gets booted again, and the installation repeats all over again! (copying windows files, choose language, etc)
What do I do? My Win7 is Ultimate OEM, I’m trying to get a hold of my friend’s RTM. Maybe it has a difference? Need help, thanks!
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Hi! I’m encountering the same problems as with misalasa (September 30, 2009 at 10:32 am message)
I’ve also commented there, so please do check it out you you guys got the time!
Thanks!
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I get…
No bootable partition in table
???
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while the transfering with wintoflash, the loading screen didnt reponse, so restarted it, but my pc does not recognize my external harddrive anymore. any help?
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To the people having the installation process restart every time the computer reboots without ever finishing the install – I believe I know what is happening. It is re-reading the data on the usb stick which tells it to start the installation process. At this point you want to be booting off the hard drive for the process to continue. If you temporarily remove the usb stick each time windows install restarts you computer it will go to the hard drive where you will see that it resumes from where it was (even if you have already let it restart with the usb stick in place and see the beginning screen again, just pull it out and restart you computer).
Here’s why I think this – I used a usb drive to install win 7 and it went perfectly smooth, but then had unrelated trouble and decided to reinstall. When I went to reinstall I discovered that during the first installation my bios had been changed so that my hdd had become 1st in boot order. I had to change it back to usb in order to initiate the re-install, however this time around it appeared to be trying to restart the installation process after rebooting as several of you have described. What I did was pull out the usb drive and hit restart. This made it boot to the hdd, which at this point of the installation is where you want to boot from so as to resume the installation. After booting up and resuming installation I stuck the usb stick back in case there were more files needed from it. Windows install restarted my computer a couple times before finishing and each time I pulled the usb stick out until I saw the installation screen and then put back in. I could have probably went into the bios and given the hdd boot priority after windows first restart during installation and then I wouldn’t have had to mess with pulling the usb stick.
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Whew, these instructions are a God send! I had been fumbling with this install all day long!
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So does anyone know if this will work where I do the steps outlined above on a Vista computer (where I have a DVD drive), only to actually use the USB stick on an XP netbook? (Asus EeePC)?
Thanks in advance and for the very easy/helpful post.
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Damien Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 1:22 am
@Colin: It will work regardless your netbook is running XP, Vista or 7
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I tried to use the USB installation for my netbook, the netbook went into the setup screen BUT only with the selection of my usb drive to install in and not my netbook’s hdd?! Help anyone? There is no C:\ at all mentioned…
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Damien Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 1:08 am
@Cands: Is your netbook HDD running Linux or Windows? Windows installer cannot detect the HDD if it is running Linux partition (ext3/4).
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You are AMAZING. I was looking for this for a while and now there’s a programm for this (made by Russians ha ha go Russia). Thank you. I also really liked your advertisments if you now what I mean… ;)
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This is my first time posting here, just thought I’d let people know,
I’m using Windows 7 RC 2 64 bit. Only WinToFlash 0.4.0021 beta version worked. the newest version did not work.
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Guys!!
I think you are all very software dependent. If you can do the same job with out installing any software then why will you use software? Just by some simple dos command you can install Windows 7 from your USB drive.Link
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