Installing Windows 7 From a USB Stick From Windows XP (Bootable USB)

Installing Windows 7 onto a USB drive in Windows XP is harder than Windows Vista. This is because the "diskpart" tool that is used to prepare the USB drive is different to Vista and 7. So after looking threw a few tutorials and trial and error I installed Windows 7 onto my EEE 1000H. Here is my method:

Required:

  • Usb Drive 4gb or more Buy
  • Daemon tools (or other ISO emulator)
  • The Windows 7 Disk or .ISO Buy

USB Install Method

  • Insert the USB Drive
  • Format the USB Drive with NTFS (Check this guide if NTFS is not an option)
Format NTFS
  • Open a Command Windows (start->accessories->command prompt)
  • type in disk part (download diskpart here)
  • type in listdisk and find the ID of your USB disk
Format NTFS
  • Next type in select disk 1 where 1 is the Disk ID
Format NTFS
  • Next type in select partition 1
  • Finally type active (You will get a confirmation)
Format NTFS
  • Mount the Windows 7 ISO with Daemon Tools (make note of drive letter it assigns)
  • Copy all files from the Windows 7 DVD to the USB Drive
Windows 7 Disk Files
  • Run the following command (Where D:\ is the Windows 7 DVD and E: is your USB Stick)

D:\boot\bootsect /nt60 E: /mbr

bootsect nt60
  • Set your Netbook or PC to boot from USB and your away!

Let me know if this helped you! Leave a comment.

23 Comments (Newest on top)

  1. topex says:

    thanks man..its a big help

  2. WIC says:

    Everything went well until the last step. When running bootsect I got the error: ” Coul dnot map drive partitions to the associated volume device objects: Access is denied.”

    Any suggestions?

  3. WIC says:

    Never mind, I got it! It as that I had to run the CMD prompt as Admin for the last command.

    Thanks. I’ll let you know how the actual install goes in a few minutes!

  4. ivan says:

    There is F: disk in system. It is a flash drive formatted in NTFS. I can use it, i mean i can copy to this drive and from. When I type “list disk” i have no my drive in list. There is HDD drives only. Why?

    p.s. by the way there is a mistake in instruction. Correct to type “diskpart” and “list disk” (not disk part and listdisk)

    • Ben says:

      On XP it is “diskpart” and “list disk” as you can see from the screenshots

      • alan says:

        I’m actually having the same problem as Ivan – the drive formats and works just fine, but diskpart doesn’t recognise it at all on two different XP machines I’ve tried it on (both SP3).

  5. J says:

    Great! After trying with couple of DVDs this methods really worked.
    Thank you!

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