Installing Win7 from bootable USB

[artemm]

I'm sure this has been tried by many of you or even covered on the forum, but this is a pretty useful tool when dealing with farms, so I thought I'd share.

Instead of relying on a disc and optical drives, you can install directly from USB. I'll be doing this from now on since almost all (if not all) new mobos support booting from USB.

Here's a good guide.

As an added bonus, the install is LIGHTNING fast compared to optical.

[cadaveca]

That method is overly complicated.

Find the Windows 7 USB Download Tool.

Make a .iso of your Win7 disk. Let the tool do the rest. The tool is provided by Microsoft, even.





PS: Tool info here:

http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en...-Download-Tool

[artemm]

yup, that tool's mentioned in the guide I linked to, but thanks for pointing it out. Pretty sure it is easier, but I only had to go through this process once, lol

[95blackz26]

first time i did it i used the method in the first post but then i discovered the windows7 usb tool

[shoota]

How did you decide which version of Win7 you wanted to put on there? I've got disks for every version in 32-bit and 64-bit. that would be a lot of usb drives..

[cadaveca]

You can rol lthem all into the same USB, and install which ever one you like. Dont have a direct link, but it's very possible.

[artemm]

You can rol lthem all into the same USB, and install which ever one you like. Dont have a direct link, but it's very possible.

I did this. Most importantly, 32 and 64.

Alas, I too lost the link because I also did this only once... and just kept the data on the stick for all installs.

[Tom128]

I know during the win7 betas you could make a disk with a flag that let you pick from all possible distributions which one you wanted to install at launch. I wonder if a custom install ISO could be made with that kind of option.

[STEvil]

Probably. Its how the "all windows" DVD's worked..

[Sparky]

I wish the Win7 DVD was like the Vista DVD - all the versions on the disc (except for 32 bit and 64 bit being separate discs), the key is what determined the version that got installed and activated. Made things much easier. That is one thing they got right with Vista IMO, why they had to go back to the one version per disc I don't know.

At least there isn't any OEM vs retail difference in the disc anymore like there was with XP.

[Kurz]

Sparky they still are, You need a conversion tool to convert the iso to other versions.
Then they are ready to go.

[Kingcarcas]

Hehe, i just did this yesterday, now i have to jump through more hoops to bring back Ubuntu from the grave because 7 starts on the netbook automatically.

[josh1980]

I bought a 64GB thumb drive recently and put all of the Windows 7 (64 bit and 32 bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 installers on the same USB stick. I also copied over alot of common drivers I use at home and work as well as alot of software I use regularly.

[mezcal]

I wish the Win7 DVD was like the Vista DVD - all the versions on the disc (except for 32 bit and 64 bit being separate discs)

http://windows7center.com/news/how-t...-of-windows-7/

Works fine.
I recently did this tweak again and burned new discs with SP1.
Still requires one disc for 32-bit and one for x64.

You have to have a key for the version you're installing of course.