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Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive from a license disk. How to make a bootable USB flash drive in UltraISO: step-by-step instructions

In this article, I will tell you how to burn an image to a flash drive (in this case, a Windows image) for subsequent installation of the system on a computer. Nowadays, many people have laptops and netbooks that simply do not have an optical drive, or there is no way to install windows from a disk; this is where creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive comes to the rescue. This article is primarily aimed at these tasks.

We will write the image to a flash drive in two ways. The first method will be implemented using a very good ultra iso program, and the second using WinSetup From USB. We will start by looking at the steps to work with ultra iso, since this method is less labor-intensive and the process of creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive will be quite fast. The second method will remain for those who, for some reason, “didn’t work out” with the first option.

Method No. 1

So, let's go. First, download the program Ultra ISO. After the program has been downloaded, installed and launched (click on the trial period if you don’t want to buy), you can begin the fairly simple process of writing Windows to a flash drive:

1. You must specify the path to the image that should be placed on your hard drive:
Click “File” => Open (Fig. 1)

Fig.1


Rice. 2


Rice. 3

Method No. 2

This method will also tell you how to write windows to a flash drive. What you will need for this option:

1. A little free time;

2. Computer (with iron, which supports booting from a flash drive);

3. Program for preparing a flash drive ( download);

4. Actually the flash drive itself (even an SD card will do);

5. An image of the operating system that we want to install.

As an example, I will show how we will write an operating system image to a 4GB SD cardMicrosoft Windows 7Home Premium 64-bit. I would like to immediately draw your attention to the choice of operating system. If your computer has less than 4GB of RAM, then you should install a 32-bit (x86) version of the operating system, since a 64-bit version will simply clutter up the RAM with unnecessary processes.

We insert the flash drive into the USB port and format it to FAT32 or NTFS using Windows. To do this, you need to go to My Computer, find the flash drive there and right-click on its icon. In the context menu, select “Format...”. In the format window, select the file system FAT32 or NTFS (the latter will be better if the flash drive has a capacity of more than 4GB), and also select the cluster size “Standard cluster size” and click the “Start” button. Everything is shown in the picture:


Next, we download a small program in which we will do all the operations we need. There are several programs of this type, but I chose WinSetupFromUSB because it does not require installation and takes up almost no space on disk and easy to use.

Let's launch the program. First, we need to select the device on which we will burn the image. This is done in the drop-down menu at the top (if the flash drive is not displayed in this menu, click on the Refresh button). Next, we need to prepare the flash drive for recording the image, because if we simply copy the image, it will be impossible to enter the system installer, because there is no boot sector. To create it, click on the Bootice button.

In the Bootice utility window that opens, click the Process MBR button, then see if the Grub4Dos checkbox is checked (if not, check it) and click the Install/Config button. In the Config Grub for DOS window, click on the “Save to disk” button, the program will display a window that the boot record has been successfully written to the drive.


We return again to the Bootice utility window, where we click the “Process PBR” button and do everything the same, without changing anything in the last window, click OK.


That's it, now all we have to do is write the image to a flash drive, this is done in the main program window, which we saw immediately upon launch. You need to check the required box - if you are going to install Windows XP, then this is the first checkbox, but if Vista or Seven - the second. Next, click on the “…” button on the other side of the checkbox and set the path where our unpacked image is stored on the hard drive, or simply mounted in a virtual drive using DaemonTools or Alcohol. Click on the “GO” button and wait until the process finishes.

Upon completion, the program will display the message “Job Done!” That's it, dear friends, you can reboot and start installing the operating system.

Also, I advise you to read the article regarding

A large number of modern laptop models are produced without an optical drive. In such conditions, a bootable Windows 7 flash drive becomes the main method and most used tool for installing the operating system.

To create a bootable Windows USB flash drive, you must have:

  1. ISO image of the operating system;
  2. Removable media with a capacity of 4 GB;
  3. A motherboard that supports booting from a flash drive.

Important Note: The drive should be connected via USB 2.0 interface. Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0 (it is usually colored blue inside) during installation, and therefore, when trying to boot through this interface, the user will see an error message.

Programs for preparing a bootable Windows 7 flash drive can be distributed either free of charge or for a significant amount. Using free software in this case is absolutely justified - the utility will cope with its functions perfectly, and you will solve all your problems without spending anything except time.

Let's take a closer look at how to make a bootable Windows 7 flash drive using utilities specially designed for this.

Important Note: Some programs require the user to have administrator rights to perform tasks. To get them, just right-click on the utility shortcut and select “Run as administrator”

UltraISO program

The program has a Russian interface, which is very important - you will not just press buttons sequentially, relying on your knowledge of English, but you can thoroughly understand which process is launched after the next action with the utility.

Any user can create a bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive using the ultraiso program. You just need to follow the simple step-by-step instructions:

Run the program as administrator. Load the operating system image into the window that appears. It can be recorded in ISO, MDF or NRG format. Using the Open button or a similar item in the File menu, add it to the application work area.

The next step in creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive is writing the image to disk. This is done by clicking on the corresponding item in the “Boot” menu.

The recording window will appear. Check that the Disk Drive line contains the name of your flash drive and its letter. The recording method should look like USB-HDD+. If all parameters are specified correctly, click the “Record” button.

A warning will appear on the screen stating that all data on the removable media will be destroyed. Continue the process of writing a bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive by confirming your intention by clicking Yes.

UNetBootin program

The main window of the program looks quite ascetic. Here you need to select Disk Image, the letter that is assigned to the removable media. The ISO image address is specified manually. After adding the image, extraction and copying of files to the flash drive begins.

Other programs for preparing a bootable Windows 7 flash drive work similarly, such as USB/DVD Download Tool, Rufus, the operation of which will be described below, etc.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7 is not enough - the image recorded on it still needs to be opened somehow. If the system continues to work, then this should not cause any problems. However, if nothing else starts, you will have to go into the BIOS settings.

Important note: Depending on the year of manufacture, BIOS versions vary. They also differ in appearance, but the names of menu items remain virtually unchanged.

Having opened the BIOS by pressing the Del, F2 or other key specified in the start boot window, you need to go to the Advanced BIOS Features tab. Here the devices are placed in the order they were launched. Simply put, first the system, for example, loads the CDROM, then the hard drive, then the USB-HDD.

Since we made a bootable Windows 7 flash drive, and now we want to launch it, we should put booting the USB-HDD first. To do this, press the Enter key on the first line to open a menu in which all connected devices are presented. Then select USB-HDD from the list provided. Put booting from the hard disk (HDD) in second place, and let CDROM remain in third position.

Possible problems loading media through BIOS:

  • The motherboard simply does not support booting from an external drive (if it was designed before 2003, this is a very real reason);
  • Incorrect bootable windows 7 usb flash drive. Perhaps mistakes were made during its creation. To rule out this option, test the media on another computer where the motherboard clearly supports reading removable drives;
  • The USB controller is disabled in the BIOS.

If you are installing the system on a computer, it is recommended to immediately connect the drive through the port located directly on the motherboard, bypassing the connectors located on the front panel of the system unit.

If the UEFI interface is installed

The traditional BIOS is being replaced by UEFI - a new interface that better copes with modern hardware. Essentially, UEFI performs the same functions as BIOS, providing a pre-boot environment for the OS.

However, creating a bootable Windows 7 uefi USB flash drive is somewhat different from the usual procedure for preparing installation removable media.

There are two ways:

  • Use of software;
  • Manual drive setup.

Let's consider each option in detail.

Rufus program

Why this particular utility? It has several advantages, including being free, portable, high speed, user-friendly interface and Russian language support.

Note: the algorithm described above is also suitable for creating installation media with Windows 8.

The main program window looks like this:

As you can see, there is nothing complicated here. All fields are very clear and are usually filled in automatically. But so that the question of how to make a bootable Windows 7 flash drive using this program is studied thoroughly, let’s briefly go through the points presented in the main window:

  • The device is your flash drive on which you plan to write the operating system image;
  • Partition scheme - leave GPT with UEFI by default;
  • The file system and cluster size are also set automatically. They should not be changed;
  • The Create bootable disk field allows you to select the path to the ISO image.

After specifying and checking all the parameters, all that remains is to click Start, starting the process of copying files. The recording speed is approximately comparable to the speed of conventional copying of information to removable media.

Considering that the program creates a bootable USB flash drive, a higher figure is simply impossible.

Manual setting

If you don’t want to download Rufus or for some reason creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive does not happen or ends with an error, internal Windows tools will come to the rescue.

Important note: the steps described are for 64-bit versions of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. Users with the 32-bit version are advised to use the software recording method listed above.

Run Command Prompt as Administrator. This can be done using the context menu, called up by right-clicking on the command line shortcut in standard Windows programs.

Enter the following lines in the window that appears:

  • diskpart;
  • list disk.

A list of connected drives will appear. Find your flash drive (you can do this by its size). Look at what number it was identified under - you will need it for further work with the media. For example, let's take number 6 (it may be different for you).

So, the order is as follows:

  1. Select disk 6 – select a specific disk with which all further manipulations will be performed;
  2. Clean – the media is cleared of data written to it;
  3. Create partition primary – a partition is created;
  4. Format fs=fat32 quick – the created partition is formatted into the FAT32 file system;
  5. Active – the section is marked as active;
  6. Assign – assigns a name or connection point;
  7. List volume – check the correctness of your actions. Pay attention to the letter that is assigned to your carrier. Remember it;
  8. Exit – exit from Diskpart.

For clarity, look at the picture - there is nothing complicated here.

After preliminary preparation, all that remains is to copy the contents of the image to the media.

Since we are making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7, we will have to use additional software to open the image (in the eighth version of Windows, you can mount the image directly in the system). It's good if Daemon Tools is installed on your computer. With its help, you can mount the image into a virtual drive, go into it and copy all the contents to a flash drive.

If Daemon Tools is not available, you can use the functionality of WinRAR or 7Zip archivers. To do this, you need to open the ISO image through these programs, and then unpack it directly onto a removable disk.

Conclusion

The process of burning an operating system image to a removable disk is not as complicated as it sometimes seems to novice users. The simplest option is to use Russified software, which automatically performs all preparatory activities. As a result, the ISO image of the bootable Windows 7 flash drive can only be written directly to an external drive.

Most users have problems already at the installation stage, when they have to configure the BIOS or solve some other issues with launching the installation removable media. However, if all of the above steps are performed consistently and correctly, then installing Windows 7 from a flash drive should be successful.

That's what he told how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 in the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. This is an official program from Microsoft and it seems to work quite well. But a comment appeared that it was impossible to create a bootable USB flash drive with this program. Maybe so, anything can happen, so I’ll write another way in which you can create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7. And this time we will use a good program Ultra ISO, I have already written about her more than once on the blog, in various articles.

I think that there is no need to tell us why such a bootable flash drive will be useful to us; if you are reading this article, then most likely you are interested in the question of how to create it, and not why it is needed.

In this way, you can create a flash drive not only with Windows 7, but also Windows XP and Windows 8. Why, you can burn any image, any boot disk, for example Dr.Web LiveCD. Well, if you have already changed your mind about creating such a flash drive, then the image can be written to disk without any problems, I wrote about this in the article.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7?

We will need:

  • UltraISO program. You can download it on the Internet in a couple of minutes, just type in the search engine the request “Download UltraISO”. After downloading, you need to install it. Installation is the most common, but if you don’t know how, then read the article. The program is paid, but when starting just select “Trial mode”. And if you want, you can buy it.
  • A disk image with Windows 7, or any other image that you want to burn to a flash drive. This image must be in the format .iso, I hope you have already downloaded it.
  • Flash drive size minimum 4 GB(this is for Windows 7, if you want to burn a small image, then 1 GB is enough). The flash drive will have to be formatted, and this will destroy all the files on it, so you need either a clean flash drive, or copy all the information from it to your computer in advance.

If everything is ready, then let's begin.

Launch the program Ultra ISO(there should be a shortcut on the desktop and in the start menu). I will show the example of the English version, since I had a problem with the Russian one, all menu items are displayed in an incomprehensible font. But there’s nothing wrong with that, everything is clear and so.

The program has opened, now we need to select the .iso image of the boot disk, in our case with Windows 7. Click “File” and select “Open”.

Find our image, select it and click “Open”.

Now our image is open in the UltraISO program, all that remains is to write it to a flash drive. Click and select “Write Disk Image...”.

A window will open in which we need to specify some settings. Look what's opposite “Write Method:”, the value has been set to “USB-HDD+”. And opposite “Disk Drive” the flash drive we needed was selected.

Now we still need to format the flash drive and we can start recording. Click the button “Format”. Don’t look at the fact that I have a 1 GB flash drive, I just don’t have a larger capacity at hand. You must have a flash drive of at least 4 GB.

A small window will appear in which we will format our flash drive.

Formatting a flash drive will destroy all files on it. So save them to your computer in advance.

Only needed at point "File system" select NTFS, and click “Start”.

A warning will appear, click “Ok”.

That's it, the flash drive is formatted. Closing the window “Format” by clicking on “Close”.

Currently, CDs are increasingly losing their former popularity, giving way to other types of storage media. It is not surprising that now users are increasingly practicing installing (and in case of emergency, loading) the OS from a USB drive. But to do this, you need to write the system image or installer onto the installation flash drive. Let's figure out how to do this in relation to Windows 7.

You cannot create a bootable USB drive using only the built-in tools of Windows 7. To do this, you will need special software designed to work with images. In addition, you will need to create a backup copy of the system or download the Windows 7 distribution for installation, depending on your goals. In addition, it should be said that by the beginning of all the manipulations that will be described below, the USB device must already be connected to the corresponding connector on the computer. Next, we will look at a detailed algorithm for creating an installation flash drive using various software.

Method 1: UltraISO

First, let's look at the algorithm of actions using the most popular application for creating bootable flash drives - UltraISO.

  1. Launch UltraISO. Then on the menu bar click "File" and from the drop-down list select "Open" or use instead Ctrl+O.

  2. A file selection window will open. You will need to go to the directory where the pre-prepared OS image in ISO format is located. Select this object and click "Open".

  3. After the contents of the image are displayed in the UltraISO window, click and select the position “Burn Hard Disk Image...”.

  4. The recording settings window will open. Here in the drop down list "Disk Drive" select the name of the flash drive on which you want to burn Windows. Among other media, it can be identified by the letter of the section or by its volume. First you need to format the media to remove all data from it and bring it to the required standard. To do this, click "Format".

  5. A formatting window will open. In the dropdown list "File system" select "FAT32". Also make sure that in the block for selecting the formatting method, the checkbox next to the option is checked "Fast". After completing these steps, click "Begin".

  6. A dialog box will open warning that performing the procedure will destroy all data on the media. In order to start formatting, you need to take note of the warning by clicking "OK".

  7. After this, the above procedure will start. Its completion will be indicated by the corresponding information in the window that appears. To close it, click "OK".

  8. Next click "Close" in the formatting window.

  9. Returning to the UltraISO recording settings window, from the drop-down list "Recording method" select "USB-HDD+". After that press "Record".

  10. Then a dialog box will appear where you again need to confirm your intentions by clicking "Yes".

  11. After this, the procedure for writing the operating system image to the USB flash drive will begin. You can monitor its dynamics using a green graphic indicator. Information about the stage of completion of the process in percentage and about the approximate time until its completion in minutes will also be displayed.

  12. After the procedure is completed, the following message will appear in the message area of ​​the UltraISO window: “Recording complete!”. Now you can use a flash drive to install the OS on a computer device or to boot a PC, depending on your purposes.

Method 2: Download Tool

Next, we will look at how to solve this problem using the Download Tool. This software product is not as popular as the previous one, but its advantage is that it was created by the same developer as the OS being installed - Microsoft. In addition, it should be noted that it is less universal, that is, it is only suitable for creating bootable devices, while UltraISO can be used for many other purposes.

  1. After downloading, activate the installer file. In the utility installer welcome window that opens, click "Next".

  2. In the next window, to start installing the application directly, you need to click "Install".

  3. The application installation procedure will be performed.

  4. Once the process is complete, click to exit the installer. "Finish".

  5. After that on "Desktop" A shortcut to the utility will appear. To launch it, you need to click on it.

  6. A utility window will open. At the first stage, you need to specify the path to the file. To do this, click "Browse".

  7. A window will open "Open". Navigate to the directory where the OS image file is located, select it and click "Open".

  8. After displaying the path to the OS image in the field "Source file" click "Next".

  9. The next step requires you to select the type of media on which you plan to record. Since you need to create an installation flash drive, press the button "USB device".

  10. In the next window, from the drop-down list, select the name of the flash drive you want to record to. If it is not displayed in the list, then update the data by clicking on the button with the icon in the form of arrows forming a ring. This element is located to the right of the field. After your selection is made, click "Begin copying".

  11. The procedure for formatting the flash drive will begin, during which all data will be deleted from it, and then recording the image of the selected OS will start automatically. The progress of this procedure will be displayed graphically and as a percentage in the same window.

  12. After the procedure is completed, the indicator will move to the 100% mark, and below it the status will appear: "Backup completed". Now you can use the flash drive to boot the system.

This installation method is suitable if you own a netbook or your CD/DVD drive has failed and you need to install Windows 7. This method is also good because the process of installing Windows 7 from a flash card is several times faster than from a CD or DVD disk.

Before you start writing Windows 7 to a flash drive, copy all important data from the flash drive to other storage media (a hard drive where Windows will not be installed, another flash card, disk, etc.), as during the formatting and recording process Windows 7 image onto a USB flash drive, all the data on it will be destroyed.
First way
If you are creating a bootable USB flash drive while in the Windows 7 operating system, then you will need a program Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which can be downloaded from Of. Microsoft website following the link.
If you are creating a bootable USB flash drive under the Windows XP operating system, you will need to install Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0 And Microsoft Image Mastering API 2.0. Of course, if you already have them installed (usually the first program), then you do not need to install them again.

1) Insert the USB flash drive into the laptop.
2) Launch the program. Click the button Browse.

3) Select the Windows 7 ISO image and click the button Open.


4) After you have specified the ISO image of Windows 7, click the button Next.


5) Click the button USB device.


6) Your flash drive should appear in this window. Click the button Begin copying


7) Click on the button Erase USB Device


8) Click Yes.

9) The process of writing the Windows 7 image to the USB flash drive will begin


10) When recording is complete, the status will change to Backup completed. Close the program


Second way
For the second method you will need a program Ultra ISO.
1) Insert the USB flash drive into the laptop.
2) Launch the program. In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, it is recommended to run the program as an administrator.
The UltraISO program is paid, but you can use a trial period, we will consider this option. Click the "Trial period..." button


3) Select a menu item File ->Open...


4) Select the Windows 7 ISO image and click the button Open.

. Select an item Burn a Hard Disk Image...


6) In the field Recording method: select USB-HDD. Click the button Format.


7) The formatting utility will launch. Click the button Begin.


8) Click OK.


9) After formatting, a success window will appear. Click OK.


10) Close the program.


11) Press the button Write down.


12) Click Yes.


13) The process of writing the Windows 7 image to the USB flash drive will begin.


14) Upon completion of recording in the column Event The message “Recording complete!” will appear. Close the program.


Third way
For the third method, we need the WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 Beta 7 - program.

Note: the link has a newer version, but the principle remains the same.
1) Insert the USB flash drive into the laptop.
2) Launch the program. In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, the program must be run as an administrator.


In field USB disk selection and format your flash drive should be listed.
Note: If the flash drive is not detected, then format it using the PeToUSB or HPUSBFW utility.
Also, the flash drive may not be detected if it is inserted into the laptop after the Winsetupfromusb 1.0 Beta7 program has been launched and for it to be detected, just press the button Refresh.
3) Click the button RMPrepUSB.


4) Mark the following lines: WinPEv2/WinPEv3/Vista/Win7 bootable (CC4), NTFS. Place a check mark opposite Boot as HDD (C: 2PTNS). Click the button 6 Prepare Drive.


5) Click the button OK.


6) Click the button OK.


7) After this, something like this will appear Dos window.
Warning: Do not close this window. It should close automatically.


8) After Dos the window will close click the button Exit.


9) Check the box next to it Vista/7/Server 2008 - Setup/PE/RecoveryISO. Click on the square on the right.


10) A window will appear Browse folders in which you need to select the virtual drive in which the Windows 7 ISO image is mounted.
After you have done this, press the button OK.


11) Press the button GO. The process of writing Windows 7 to the USB flash drive will begin.


12) At the end of recording, a small window will appear. Click OK.


13) Close the program.


Fourth method
The installation method is quite simple, so anyone can do it! For this we need:
1) Windows 7 image
2) Flash drive with a capacity of at least 4GB
3) A program for creating and editing ISO images, ultraISO from the above method or free MagicDisk
You can take any media from a regular flash drive to an SD card, but not less than 4GB!
4) Launch the command line (in Windows XP this is standard->command line. In Windows Vista/Windows 7, open start, at the very bottom there is a search, enter cmd and open with administrator rights).
5) Next on the command line enter diskpart, the disk management utility will open.


6) Next, in the diskpart utility itself, enter: list disk, this will display all the physical disks of the PC, namely disks and not partitions.
Among them we are looking for our flash drive.


7) Then we execute the command select disk #, Where # This is the number of our flash drive.
In this case, the flash drive on the screen is number 1, therefore s elect disk 1. All further manipulations will be carried out only with this disk.
8) Execute the command clean, clean the drive, then the command create partition primary- create a new partition on the disk.
9) After creating a new section, write select partition 1, select this section for manipulation, enter active, thereby making the section active.
10) Now for the flash drive to be visible in bios, you need to format it in NTFS format, which we do with the command format fs=NTFS.
11) Next, you need to activate the process of connecting the device and assigning letters to it, we do this with the command assign.
That's it, the preparation process is complete.


Installing Windows 7
You can record the distribution using any file manager or a free one.
In this case, you need to somehow open the image of the installation disk with the OS, this can be done with any disk emulator, Alcohol or MagicDisk, create an image and copy everything from it with a file manager to our prepared flash drive.
That's it, the process of creating the installation flash drive is completed, now we try to install the OS by first setting it in bios.

Well, that’s all, which of the four methods of creating a bootable flash drive to use is up to you.

Enabling booting from a flash drive in the BIOS
Before you start installing Windows 7 from a flash drive, you need to go into the BIOS and enable booting from the flash drive.
To enter the BIOS you need to press a certain key when the computer boots. On desktop computers, this is the Del key. On laptops, the F2 key is most often used.
Usually, when you turn on the laptop, a screen appears on which at the very bottom there is a line that says which key you need to press in order to enter the BIOS.
If you do not have such a line, then you need to look at the information on how to enter the BIOS User Manual walking with a laptop.

1) Insert the flash drive into the laptop if it is not inserted.
2) Turn on the laptop, if it is on, then reboot.
3) Go to BIOS.

Using an example, the whole process will look as shown below; if your BIOS is different, then the principle will remain the same. If you have questions, write in the comments.



4) Go to the tab Boot. In it, in boot order, you need to put our flash drive in first place, using the arrow keys and keys F5 And F6. That is, we use the arrow keys to select our flash drive, and use the key F6 We take her to the very top.
To find out which keys you need to use to set the boot order, see the tips on the right.
The name of the flash drive should appear in the line USB HDD.
Also, the flash drive may appear in the line USB KEY.
To save changes and exit the BIOS, press the key F10. (Depending on the BIOS manufacturer, the key may be different. See tips on the right or below).


5) A window will appear asking in English whether to Save changes and Exit? You are taking Yes.


6) After this, a reboot will occur and the Windows 7 installation process will begin.

Installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive

If a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 was created using the WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 Beta 7 program, a green screen will first appear. Select Start Vista/Win7/Server 2008 Setup or PE/Recovery ISO from partition 0.


Next, the Windows 7 setup program will launch.

Write in the comments what is not clear and what questions you have.