Installation of Windows Ultimate using USB Drive.

Hello Friends,

Today my friends computer crashed. He was still able to use his computer with his current operating system XP some how; however not all the functions. He wanted to somehow install windows ultimate. I had a complete version of it... But unfortunatley his optical drive was not functioning.

The only possible way to install was either through network or USB. Network was bit difficult for us, since we had to configure two systems and as the system did not allow to perform advanced operations due to some virus effect, i had to switch on to the USB alternative. I read so many articles and tried atleast 7 different ways, but none of them worked.

Finally 8th time i was lucky. I landed in a webpage which guided each and every step on how to windows ultimate using USB drive. I simply followed each and every step religiously and things worked out great. All the credit goes to the person who explained and posted the information in the webpage. It wont be good for me to just copy and paste the contents of that webpage in here, as it may sound like I have created them. But still so many web pages are lost either due to Application server crash or error. An article like this should not be missed.

Hence forth, i'm pasting the contents of that article in here as well as the link to the webpage.
Please visit the link; and due to some reasons if the webpage is not available then u can very well refer to this article which is the same but Ctrlc'ed and Ctrlv'ed.

Thanks to everyone.

Basic instructions:
You need a USB Drive for 4GB or Greater.
USB ports in your system
An Windows Ultimate version





Contents of the same Page:
How To: Install Windows 7/Vista From USB Drive [Detailed 100% Working Guide]
This guide works 100% for Vista & Windows 7 unlike most of the guides out there. I have seen many sites/blogs that have “Install Vista from USB guide” but either with incomplete steps or not working guide. I have also seen some guides that don’t’ use proper commands in this guide. After spending many hours I have come up with this 100% working guide.



I just did this method on one of my friends machine and installed the new Windows 7 BETA. The main advantage is that by using USB drive you will be able to install Windows 7/Vista in just 15 minutes. You can also use this bootable USB drive on friend’s computer who doesn’t have a DVD optical drive.

The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.

Requirements:

*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)

*Windows 7 or Vista installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.



Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.

4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive no is “Disk 1”.If you have Disk 2 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 2.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.



5. Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type the following command now:

D: CD BOOT and hit enter.Where “D” is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.

7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H:



Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Note: If you are not able to boot after following this guide means you haven’t set the BIOS priority to USB. If you got any problem in following this guide feel free to ask questions by leaving comment.