A common use of a bootable USB flash drive is to use it for booting
into Windows. This can allow you to perform diagnostics on a
computer that has hardware issues or can't boot into Windows. You can also use the flash drive to install
Windows, instead of using the Windows installation CD.
This guide will outline making a bootable USB flash drive with
Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Before we begin, it's
important to note that the computer you want to use your bootable
USB drive in will need to have the capability of booting to a USB
drive. Most recent computers built since Windows Vista was released are
capable of booting to a USB device. Prior to the Windows Vista
timeframe, it's hit or miss with motherboards.
To determine if a computer is capable of booting to a USB device,
access the computer's BIOS and check the bootable device list. If
a USB device is listed, set the USB drive to be the first boot
device. If you do not see a USB device in the list of bootable
devices, your BIOS is not capable of booting to a USB device.
(NOTE: You may need to have your USB flash drive plugged in when
you access the BIOS).
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
To make the bootable USB drive for Windows Vista or Windows 7, you
need to have Windows Vista or 7 installed on your computer. It is
recommended that you have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size,
in order to store all the necessary files.
Note: Before you start, plug in the USB
drive and backup any files you have stored on the USB drive. The
drive will be formatted during this process and all files on it
will be deleted.
Tip: You will need a Windows Vista or
Windows 7 disc for these instructions to be successful.
1. Open an
elevated Windows command line window by clicking
Start, typing in cmd in
the search text field, then pressing CTRL + Shift + Enter
on your keyboard (at the same time). You can also access this by
navigating to Start, All Programs, Accessories, right-click with
your mouse on the Command Prompt menu item and select Run as
Administrator.
2. At the command prompt, type cd
c:\windows\system32 to change the directory to the Windows
system32 directory. Ensure your USB drive is plugged in and type
DISKPART and press Enter. Then type LIST DISK and
press Enter.
3. You will see a listing of the disk drives
connected to your computer. Find the disk number of your USB drive
and type SELECT DISK [USB disk #], where "[USB disk #]" is
the disk # for your USB drive. It should now state that your USB
drive is the selected disk. If you're not sure what disk is the
USB disk, eject the USB drive, perform step number 2 again,
connect the USB drive again, and compare the results. Usually the
USB drive will be the last drive.
4. Type in the following commands, one by one,
pressing Enter after each command.
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS
(may
take a couple minutes, depending on the USB drive size)
ASSIGN
EXIT
Keep the command prompt window open, but you can
minimize it for a little bit.
5. You will now need your Windows Vista or 7
Installation DVD. Put the DVD in your computer's DVD drive. Open
up My Computer and note
which drive letter is assigned to your DVD Drive and your USB
flash drive.
6. Go back to the command prompt window and type in
D: CD BOOT (substitute your DVD drive letter for "D:" if
necessary) and press Enter. Type CD BOOT again and press Enter.
Lastly, type BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H: (substitute your USB
flash drive letter for "H:" if necessary) and press Enter.
7. The last step is to copy the entire contents of
the Windows DVD to your USB flash drive.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable
USB drive for Windows Vista or 7.
Windows XP users
To make the bootable USB drive for Windows XP, it is recommended
that you have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size, in order to
store all the necessary files. You will also need to download
Windows Server 2003 SP1 and a program called PE Builder
(also known as Bart PE).
Before you start, plug in the USB drive and backup any files you
have stored on the USB drive, to ensure you do not lose any of
them.
1. Install PE Builder on your computer. For the sake of ease,
install the program to a C:\PEBuilder folder. After you've
installed PE Builder, create a folder titled SRSP1 in the
PEBuilder folder.
2. Now you need to extract two files from Windows Server 2003 SP1.
The filename is quite long, so it is recommended that you
rename the file to something shorter,
like WS-SP1.exe. Open a command prompt (Start
> Run, type cmd and press Enter) and use the
cd command to change to the folder
where you downloaded the Windows Server 2003 SP1 file to (i.e. cd
c:\downloads to change to the c:\downloads folder). Then, type
WS-SP1.exe -x to extract the files. A window will open, asking
where to extract the files. You can enter the same folder where
the file was downloaded.
3. A new folder titled i386 will be created by the extraction
process. Type cd i386 to change to that folder. You now
need to copy the setupldr.bin file to the SRSP1 folder you created
in the PE Builder folder. Type copy setupldr.bin c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1
to copy the file.
4. You also need to expand the ramdisk.sys file to the SRSP1
folder.
Type expand -r ramdisk.sy_ c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1
5. Open My Computer and
navigate to the c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1 folder and verify the two files
are there.
6. Next, you need to create a compressed version of Windows XP
using PE Builder. Make sure you Windows XP Professional CD is in
your computer's CD drive, then launch the PE Builder program. In
the Source field, type in the drive letter assigned to your CD
Drive (you can check in My Computer if you are not sure) (e.g.
"d:"). In the Output field, type BartPE. Make sure the
None option
is selected in the Media output section. Then click the Build
button.
A progress report will be displayed, showing the progress of the
bootable image build. When the build process is complete, click
the Close button.
7. Now, you can create the bootable USB flash drive. Open a
command prompt again and type cd c:\PEBuilder to change to the
PEBuilder folder. Make sure your USB drive is plugged in to your
computer and type pe2usb -f e: (change "e:" to the drive letter
assigned to your USB flash drive, if necessary) to create the
bootable drive. You will be prompted to type YES to begin the
process. When the process is complete, press any key to exit the
program.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable USB drive for
Windows XP using the Bart PE interface.
and you can quickly switch between Start and the app you're in.
+Shift+Tab
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