make a bootable Win7 install USB 'disk'

[stuck]

I was reminded here that it is possible to do an in-place Win 7 reinstall and thus fix major Windows problems without having to go for the nuclear factory rest option. In the absence of a Win 7 master disk you first need to download a Win 7 iso, burn it to a DVD.

It occurs to me that it might be handy to have this trick up my sleeve in case my Acer netbook running Win 7 starter ever suffers the sort of problem that has befallen stuckling2's Acer laptop. Of course though the netbook has no DVD drive but the BIOS shows it can boot from USB.

So if I download a Win 7 iso, how do I get it onto a USB stick and make it bootable. Is it as simple as using 7zip to extract the iso onto the USB? Or are there other incantations that must be performed as well?

Ken

[jonwallace]

Have a look here: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/mss ... vd_dwnTool" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not tried it, so ymmv

[John Gray]

So if I download a Win 7 iso, how do I get it onto a USB stick and make it bootable. Is it as simple as using 7zip to extract the iso onto the USB? Or are there other incantations that must be performed as well?

I don't use 7Zip, but I'd be surprised if it can make a UFD bootable! You need something which burns ISO images and makes the drive bootable: like CDburnerXP, UNetBootin, Rufus, Universal USB Installer, ISOWriter, and the like, or the paid-for programs like Nero.

[stuck]

Have a look here: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/mss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... vd_dwnTool

I did see that while searching for an answer to my question but other searches gave me the impression it could be done manually, though I couldn't find a simple 'how to', hence my question here. People here tend to stick to the subject and answer the question posed in well laid out terms. They don't make general statements riddled with undeclared assumptions and then veer off down some technically interesting (to them) alley that makes the thread even more unintelligible (Scuttlebutt excepted )

You need something which burns ISO images and makes the drive bootable: like CDburnerXP...

Thought of that one already but CDburnerXP doesn't give me the option to 'burn' to a USB. The only device it offers me is my DVD drive.

I'm puzzled that modern BIOS permits boots from USB but it appears to take serious geekness to create a bootable USB device?

Ken

[John Gray]

Apologies - I have also created some Linux Mint DVDs as well as bootable USB Flash Drives, and I have conflated the use of programs. CDburnerXP is the only one on my list which doesn't work with USB drives, at the moment.

Remember in the dark days of 2008, the only program I could find which could make a USB Flash drive bootable came from HP (yes!), and that was quite messy since it required a diskette.

[stuck]

More searching has turned up this article:
http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/12 ... h-drive/2/
In outline you prepare the USB drive by formatting it as a bootable partition. Once that magic is done, then you can extract the ISO to the drive.

Ken

[jonwallace]

Having tried my fair share of Linuxes, my first thought was to recommend unetbootin, as detailed in this article, but when I spotted that Microsoft did a one-stop-shop tool, I suggested that.

But do it by hand if you want...

[Bigaldoc]

I'm sure glad you found that, Ken, AND for the subject of this thread. I've never made a bootable CD/DVD much less a USB drive. It'll be good to have this link just in case. Thanks for posting.

[stuck]

...recommend unetbootin, as detailed in this article

I think I'll try that option, it looks painless.

Ken

[John Gray]

I'm glad I mentioned UNetBootin already, many posts above!

[jonwallace]

I'm glad I mentioned UNetBootin already, many posts above!

So you did! (memo to self: read posts before firing)

[stuck]

I'm glad I mentioned UNetBootin already, many posts above!

:blush; Oops, sorry John!

Ken

[John Gray]

It's quite all right!

I'm trying to find a way, from Windows, to create a bootable external USB hard drive which has up to four Linux distro partitions in multiboot format!

So far, I have managed to get a STOP 0x7B when booting {a Windows 7 disk from a Dell Optiplex 755 cloned to a USB external hard disk} on an old Dell Dimension 8300!
(What's the opposite of a "proof of concept"?!)

[stuck]

Where I am now...
1) Tried UNetBootin, it put the files on to the USB but when the laptop booted from the USB it gave me a clunky graphic screen with a countdown to autoboot in 10 secs, which on reaching 0 started again at 10, So that didn't work. If I understand what I've read, this is because I used UNetBootin under XP (but that's the only working PC I've got).

2) Tried WintoFlash as an alternative. This appears to have worked. I have booted the laptop of the USB stick that contains a Win 7 SP1 64bit ISO but as yet I've not been able to use it to fix my problem

Ken