Vista bootable flash drive. Installing Windows from USB

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Installing the OS if you have a disk drive is quite simple. However, when you need to do this USB help– drive, many users have problems. In fact, this procedure is very simple, and anyone can handle it.

What do we need

In order to install Windows Vista you will need a distribution. It can be downloaded from the official website or from third-party resources. Commercial sales have been discontinued.

Although Vista is a relatively outdated OS, some users are interested in its minimum requirements.

They are:

  1. processor with a clock frequency of at least 900 MHz;
  2. RAM - at least 1 GB;
  3. free disk space— 15 GB;
  4. Availability of Internet access (for further registration).

Preparing a bootable flash drive

Surely, inexperienced users may think that it will be enough to just throw the distribution onto disk and that’s it. In fact, in order for the OS installation to start, you will need to perform some manipulations.

UltraISO utility

After downloading the distribution, you need to write it to a flash drive in a certain way. The lightweight and easy-to-use UltraISO utility will help us with this.

Photo: UltraISO - a utility for working with disco images

Important! Previous versions OS, for example, XP, this program will not be able to write correctly.

To make a simple USB flash drive bootable, do the following:

  • download the UltraISO application. This can be done on the official website. It is distributed completely free of charge;
  • open the program, and be sure to have administrator rights;
  • Click on the “file” tab;
  • then in the list that appears, select “open”;
  • open the image we need on the hard drive;
  • click “open”;
  • as a result, the image will open, that is, all the files contained in it;
  • After opening, you need to write to a flash drive. To do this, select the “Boot” item in the main menu;
  • in it we select recording an image from the hard drive;
  • A panel will open in which we select the “USB-HDD” recording method. This measure is necessary for the system to correctly identify the device to launch. Only in this case will she be able to correctly interpret the data;
  • the line Disk Drive indicates the name of the future flash drive;

  • Important! If you have several USB devices inserted, check this item.

  • Then press the “record” button. An informational message will appear stating that this operation will delete all files from the drive. We confirm;
  • We are waiting for the recording to complete.

Video: Installing Windows Vista

Command line

If you don't want to clutter your computer with unnecessary software, you can create a boot drive via the command line. Press “Win+R”. The Run application will open.

  • DISKPART— denotes the launch of the command interpreter;
  • list disk— display of active drives;
  • select disk x (x - disk number)— selecting a specific drive;
  • clean- disk formatting;
  • create partition primary— creating a section;
  • select partition X (x - number)- choice;
  • active— section activation;
  • format fs=NTFS— erasing all files from the drive
  • Exit— completion of the process.

Photo: managing hard drives using Diskpart

They must be entered in the same order.

Installing Windows Vista from a USB flash drive via BIOS

Having prepared everything you need, you can proceed to the main work front.

Boot priority in BIOS

To start installing Windows Vista from a flash drive to a laptop, you need to set a certain boot order.

To enter this menu, you need to press a system button immediately after starting the computer. Most likely, the name of the key will appear in a message on the screen.

If it does not appear, you can try the following options:

  • Enter;
  • Backspace.

Once you enter this menu, you need to find the Boot section. You will see a list there various devices, with digital designation. They indicate the loading order.

Photo: approximate order of priority

You need to make sure that USB-HDD comes first (depending on the version motherboard name may vary). To change the order, use the F5 and F6 keys (or “-” and “+”). At the end, be sure to select the “save and exit” option.

Installation process

Reboot the laptop. If everything is done correctly in the previous steps, a system message will appear asking you to press any key.

Photo: this message should appear

So, we do the following:

  • First, a window will open allowing you to select a language for further work. In addition, you can define the time format and keyboard layout;
  • select the “install” button;

    Photo: click on the only button

  • Please note: there is a “system restore” option here. If problems arise with the OS, this tool will fix everything.

  • then a window with input will appear serial number. It can be found on the bottom of the laptop. If this is not the case, you can skip this point, but there is a possibility that this will lead to errors. This measure is needed so that the system can determine which version should be installed;

  • Having entered the key, click the “next” button. Will open license agreement. We read (optional, of course) and click “next” again;
  • A window will appear asking you to select the type of installation. Click on “full”. Now you need to select the partition in which you want to install the OS. By the way, at this stage you can edit the existing hard drives. In particular, you can split, delete or format them;

  • Tip: It's best to format all drives. This will get rid of all sorts of problems (especially viruses).

  • if you intend to install a second OS, then it is strictly forbidden to unpack it into the existing system partition;

  • Having dealt with the sections, click next. This will launch the installation program.

Now all you have to do is wait a while (about half an hour). The system will do everything automatically.

Pre-setting

After unpacking and copying the files, you will need to do some minor system setup.


Drivers for OS

The main work has been completed, but an equally time-consuming task remains - finding drivers. Where can I get them? The ideal option would be to have a special factory disk (this is usually given when purchasing a laptop). But what to do if it is not there? There may be several options:

We use the official website:

  • go to the official Internet resource of the manufacturer.
  • Then in the search window we enter the laptop identification code. It is written on its bottom and consists of 12-16 digits.

Advice: if you just enter the laptop model, there is a chance that the new software will not work. The fact is that many stores like to modify the “insides” of PCs and laptops.

  • click search;
  • as a result, a set of necessary drivers should appear;
  • download it and install it.

However, this method is not always possible to use. The identification code may be erased, or the manufacturer may be too unknown. In this case, you will have to search for drivers manually.

We do it like this:

  • click “my computer” and call context menu;
  • in the window that appears, click on “device manager”;
  • A list of all equipment will open. Here you need to select each device one by one and write down its identification code;
  • To do this, call the context menu on the desired device and select the “properties” item. Next, go to the “details” tab. It will contain the ID;
  • copy this set of letters and numbers into a search engine. As a result, it will provide the necessary information.

If you don't want to use this method, you can make things a little simpler. In particular, you will need to download some kind of bootloader (for example, X-Driver). This is a utility that diagnoses your computer and downloads and installs it itself. necessary drivers latest version. The only problem may be finding a working version.

Important! This software actively cooperates with virus toolbar developers. Therefore, during installation, do not forget to uncheck unnecessary boxes.

To use the software described above, you need a fast and stable Internet connection. If it is missing, you can download the driver package. They will be packaged in a single archive. You will need to run autorun and then follow the instructions. Remember that such a package weighs quite a lot (on average from 1 to 10 GB or more).


As you can see, there is nothing complicated about this. If you strictly follow all the instructions, you can easily achieve the desired result. Don't forget to get it right away good antivirus(NOD or AVAST). The fact is that Vista is considered the most vulnerable to malicious files.

One fun and not-so-used feature is the ability to install Windows Vista from a regular USB flash drive. Who might need this? There may be several options, for example, the user needs to install Windows Vista on a computer without an optical drive. Very often this is how Windows Vista is installed on netbooks. In addition, installation from a USB flash memory is an order of magnitude faster than from installation disk, since the speed of reading data from the disk is less than the speed of data exchange with flash memory (which, however, depends on the type of flash memory and its speed characteristics).

The first thing you need to do is purchase a quick USB flash drive. The capacity of the flash drive must be at least 4 GB, and its speed must be as high as possible. In this case, you should purchase a flash drive recommended for use in Windows Vista. Such flash drives can be identified by the corresponding sticker with Windows logo Vista printed on the flash drive packaging. You will need the same flash drive in the future in the same installed Windows Vista, for example, for use within the ReadyBoost technology.

Now format the purchased flash drive (you can do this in the window My computer by clicking on the flash drive icon right click mouse and selecting the command Format). Now you need to check the list of all connected drives and find out what number your USB flash drive is. Select a team Start>Run and enter the command in the request field that opens CMD.EXE, then click on the button OK.

As a result, a “dark and scary” window will open command line, in which you should enter a set of specific commands in a row. However, before you do this, find out your phone number USB storage. To do this, enter the command on the command line and then the command List Disk. Find your drive in the command results and remember its number. In this case, the list of disks will look something like this.

DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Condition Size Free Din
Disk 0 Connected 112 GB 1528 KB
Disk 1 Connected 559 GB 12 MB
Disk 2 Connected 2048 MB 0 bytes

Now, having found out the number, enter a sequential set of such commands on the command line. In the second step, specify the disk number of the USB flash drive shown by the DISKPART utility. IN in this case, we need disk 2.

Select disk 2
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
assign
exit

Xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

Moreover, instead of the disk “D:” specify the drive letter of the optical drive into which the installation DVD is inserted, and instead of “ E:"– drive letter of the USB flash drive.

The result will not take long to arrive. You will receive a USB flash drive from which you can install Windows Vista on absolutely any computer with USB ports, which is not only very convenient, but also very fast. For example, the typical installation time for Windows Vista with DVD takes about half an hour, while installation from a USB flash drive, depending on its speed characteristics, can take only 15-20 minutes.

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 Windows entries 7 to a flash drive, copy all important data from the flash drive to other storage media ( hard drive where Windows will not be installed, another flash card, disk, etc.), since during the process of formatting and writing the Windows 7 image to a flash drive, all 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 create a bootable USB flash drive under the operating system Windows system XP, 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 ISO image Windows 7 and click Open.


4) After you have specified the Windows 7 ISO image, 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. On Windows 7 and Windows Vista program It is recommended to run as 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 Write down image of Hard disk...


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 the 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 next to it 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 image 7
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.


Windows installation 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 ways to create bootable flash drive Use - it's up to you.

Inclusion in BIOS boot from a flash drive
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? Choose 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.

In this article you will learn how to make a bootable (multi-boot) flash drive for installing Windows XP/Vista/7. We will look at the simplest and effective way creating a bootable Windows flash drives. We’ll also look at the process of installing Windows from a flash drive.

You can also watch a video tutorial from which you will learn how to make a bootable Windows USB flash drive.

Stage No. 1. Preparing USB flash for Windows recording.

1. Let's launch.
2. The flash card must be formatted in Bootice utility. You just need to click on Bootice and wait for the utility to load.
3. After launching the utility, select your flash card from the list (of course, the flash drive must be connected).
4. Press the button Parts Manage.
5. Then press the button ReFormat USB disk.
6. Next, select USB-HDD mode(Single Partition) and click Next Step.
7. Next step: choose file system NTFS, in which the flash card will be formatted (in this case, all files on the flash drive will be erased!).
8. Then we agree with all messages and wait for formatting to complete.
9. We return to the Bootice window, but now click the button Process MBR.
10. If you want to install Windows XP, then choose Windows NT 5.x MBR. If you want to install Windows Vista or Windows 7, you must select Windows NT 6.x MBR.
11. Then click on the button Install/Config and agree with the message.
12. Finally, we return back to the main WinSetupFromUSB window.

Stage No. 2. Making a bootable Windows USB flash drive.

Now let's look at how to burn Windows onto a USB flash drive.
1. Select your flash card from USB list Disk Selection.
2. Then select the folder with your Windows installation files. There are two options here:
2-1. If you are installing Windows XP: you need to check the box next to Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup and by clicking on the button on the right, specify the path to installation files(to the location where the I386 folder is located). The disk image must be unzipped into a folder or mounted into a virtual drive.
2-2. If you are installing Windows Vista or Windows 7: you must check the box next to Vista/7/Server 2008 - Setup/PE/RecoveryISO and by clicking on the button on the right, specify the path to the installation files.
3. Press the big button GO. The processing of your installation documents will begin. Windows files and then recording them onto a USB flash drive.

Stage No. 3. Installing Windows from a flash drive.

1. You need to insert the bootable USB flash drive into the USB connector of your computer.
2. Turn on the computer (if it was turned on before, you need to restart the system).
3. During POST (Power On Self Test- self-test after switching on) press the F12 button (or F10, depending on the BIOS version).
4. A list will appear boot devices, in which you need to select your flash card.
5. When the list appears operating systems to install, click Enter.
6a. To start text mode Windows installation (changing disk partitions and then formatting them, copying installation files to disk), select First part of setup Enter.
6b. After the first stage of installation and reboot, you need to boot from flash again and now select Second part of setup(the text should be highlighted in yellow) and press Enter.

Screenshots







It is very convenient to have a bootable USB flash drive. It takes up little space and is more difficult to break than a disk. No, seriously, it is very easy to damage a CD/DVD disc. Just a few random scratches in certain places and the disc can be thrown away. Plus, a flash drive will always help you out in a situation when there is simply no DVD drive, but the computer needs to be repaired urgently.

Note: In case of damaged CD/DVD, do not rush to throw away the disc. Perhaps scratches will not affect its serviceability. If the drive still refuses to read such a disk and gives you errors, then you can try the old method. Only use it in extreme situations. Wet the disc under warm water and wipe with a soft cloth that does not leave small particles. If you don’t have a source of water at hand, you can simply breathe on the disc and wipe it with a cloth. And this is not a joke. Seasoned users will confirm this method, which has proven itself well in the era of 2/4 and 8-speed drives. By the way, despite the fact that the 2-speed drives were very slow, they even read strongly damaged disks(when they almost walked over the surface with sandpaper).

There are many in various ways create a bootable USB flash drive, including various free third-party tools. But, within the framework of this article, the greatest interest is system utility diskpart. And there are several reasons for this. First, you can create a boot disk without any additional tools, which is very important in critical situations. Secondly, Microsoft has a pretty good track record of creating and using bootable disks (mostly due to common problems with older Windows versions, but still). Therefore, you can count on such an important factor as stability.

The "DiskPart" utility itself is designed to perform various disk operations, including creating bootable flash drives.

Note: diskpart command also exists in Windows XP, but it cannot be used to create a bootable USB flash drive.

Create a bootable flash drive in Windows from the command line

Programs for creating bootable USB flash drives in Windows

If you prefer to use GUI instead of the command line, you can download and install one of the many free programs, of which there are plenty on the Internet. One such program is EasyBCD, which includes, in addition to creating bootable disks, a number of other useful functions. However, even though the program has a graphical interface, you still need to be careful when using it, as in inexperienced hands it can also erase all information from the disk.

If you're interested in a simple standalone utility that won't require installation, then you'll love Bootable USB Drive Creator Tool. The utility creates boot disks running MS-DOS or FreeDOS. So in the future you need to take this fact into account.

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