This will walk through the steps to create a bootable USB flash drive for the purpose of installing a Vista or Windows 7 OS. These instructions assume that you have a computer with Windows Vista installed on it.
Required:
- USB Flash Drive (4GB+)
- Microsoft OS Disk (Vista / Windows 7)
- A computer running Vista / Windows 7
The steps here are to use the command line to format the disk properly using the diskpart utility. [Be warned: this will erase everything on your drive. Be careful.]
- Plug in your USB Flash Drive
- Open a command prompt as administrator (Right click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”
- Find the drive number of your USB Drive by typing the following into the Command Prompt window:
diskpart
list disk
The number of your USB drive will listed. You’ll need this for the next step. I’ll assume that the USB flash drive is disk 1. - Format the drive by typing the next instructions into the same window. Replace the number “1” with the number of your disk below.
select disk 1
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=NTFS
assign
exit
When that is done you’ll have a formatted USB flash drive ready to be made bootable.
Next we’ll use the bootsect utility that comes on the Vista or Windows 7 disk to make the flash drive bootable. In the same command window that you were using in Step 1:
- Insert your Windows Vista / 7 DVD into your drive.
- Change directory to the DVD’s boot directory where bootsect lives:
d:
cd d:\boot - Use bootsect to set the USB as a bootable NTFS drive prepared for a Vista/7 image. I’m assuming that your USB flash drive has been labeled disk G:\ by the computer:
bootsect /nt60 g: - You can now close the command prompt window, we’re done here.
The easiest way is to use Windows explorer to copy all of the files on your DVD on to the formatted flash drive. After you’ve copied all of the files the disk you are ready to go.
Step 4: Set your BIOS to boot from USB
This is where you’re on your own since every computer is different. Most BIOS’s allow you to hit a key at boot and select a boot option.
ANOTHER SHORT WAY IZ :-
How to Make a USB Pen Drive Bootable
The Guide is based on creating/getting a USB Pen Drive to boot on the DFI NF4 series mobo. The second part shows how to flash your bios from the pen drive.
Part 1
1. The easiest way to do this is with a floppy drive, if you don't have one, there is an alternative method at the bottom of the guide.
2. For XP users insert a blank floppy disc into the drive, open My Computer and right click on your floppy drive and choose "Format" from the popup.
3. Make sure the 'create a bootable system disk' option is checked. This will add the system files needed by the USB drive from the floppy. Click 'OK' to format the disk.
4. HP are constantly changing this utility, and as such the version you download might differ from the one in the guide HP Drive Key Boot Utility V2.1.8. Its intended obviously for HP usb drives but works fine with most other usb drives.
5. Plug in your USB drive and run the HP USB disk storage tool.
6. Ensure that the tool has found the correct drive in the "Device" box. Change the "File System" to "FAT". Check the "Create a DOS startup disk" option, and in the "using DOS system files located at:" window, enter "A:\" to point the program to your floppy disk or browse to it. Now click 'Start'. The program will create the necessary boot files on the USB drive.
7. Reboot your pc, when you see the post screen hit the Escape key, this will bring up a Boot Menu screen. Choose your USB drive from the list and hit Enter.
8. If all has went well you should have rebooted to the C:\ prompt. Congratulations you have just made a Bootable USB pen drive.
Alternative Method for users with no Floppy drives For users without a floppy drive download the XP Custom Boot disc HERE. This is a .exe file that contains all of the system files that you will need. Extract the files to a folder using Winimage etc. In Step 6. Point the HP USB utility to the folder containing the XP Custom Boot files.
Notes: Some USB pen drives do NOT work, mp3 type pen drives don't work or at least the ones i have tried do not, only a dedicated pen drive should be used. The Corsair Flash Voyager USB Pen Drive work perfect.
*****************
Part 2
How to flash your bios from USB pen
WARNING!!!!! Do Not Flash a Bios While Overclocked, always set Stock Settings before Flashing any bios.
If you have followed the guide above and have a working bootable USB pen drive then you can easily use it for say, flashing your bios....here's how.
1. Download the correct bios for your motherboard from www.DFI.com
2. Next extract your downloaded DFI Bios to a folder using WinRAR or similar, Copy the xxxxxxx.BIN, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and AWDFLASH.EXE utility to your new Bootable USB drive.
3. Right click the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and choose Edit, add the following lines to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or open the AUTOEXEC.BAT file with any text editor (Notepad) and Edit/Add the the lines below.
@echo off
cls
@ECHO OFF
C:\AWDFLASH xxxxxxx.BIN /cks/sn/py/cc/cd/cp/ld/qi/WB/ch
echo "The version of BIOS was inaccurate,"
echo "Please remove the floppy, download the right one and re-flash."
@ECHO OFF
4. Where xxxxxxx.BIN = the name of your bios.Bin file. The prompt needs changed to C:\ from A:\ as above.
5. Save the AUTOEXEC.BAT and Close it.
6. Make sure your Bootable USB drive is inserted and Reboot your Pc.
7. Hit Escape key when the post screen comes up to enter the Boot Menu Screen.
8. Select your Bootable USB pen drive from options listed and hit Enter. The bios should flash automatically. Follow instructions when its finished flashing.
9. Restart your Pc and enter the bios and Load Optimized Defaults. F10 to save settings and exit.
Thats it, if all went well you should have flashed your bios successfully from a Bootable USB pen drive. Congratulations.
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