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You are here: Help > Computer Hardware > USB

How to create a bootable Windows USB

drive.
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
Windows XP users

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, rightclick 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

typeDISKPART and press Enter. Then type LIST DISK and press Enter.
See our diskpart command page for additional information on this command.

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).

Windows Server 2003 SP1
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
aC:\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, likeWSSP1.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.

Additional information

o
o
o
o

See our USB thumb drive definition for further information and related links.
How to or can't boot from a CD or DVD.
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