Install Windows from a USB Flash Drive

Here’s how to create a bootable Windows installation USB drive starting with a Windows .iso file or a Windows Setup DVD.

If you’re looking for an easy way to create a bootable USB Windows installation drive, use the media creation tool.

What you need

• Windows 10 install .iso or DVD
• USB flash drive with at least 5GB free space. This drive will be formatted, so make sure it doesn’t have any important files on it.
• Technician PC — Windows PC that you’ll use to format the USB flash drive
• Destination PC — A PC that you’ll install Windows on

Step 1 — Format the drive and set the primary partition as active

Connect the USB flash drive to your technician PC.

Open Disk Management: Right-click on Start and choose Disk Management.

Format the partition: Right-click the USB drive partition and choose Format. Select the FAT32 file system to be able to boot either BIOS-based or UEFI-based PCs.

Set the partition as active: Right-click the USB drive partition and click Mark Partition as Active.

If Mark Partition as Active isn’t available, you can instead use diskpart to select the partition and mark it active.

Step 2 — Copy Windows Setup to the USB flash drive

Use File Explorer to copy and paste the entire contents of the Windows product DVD or ISO to the USB flash drive.

Optional: add an unattend file to automate the installation process. For more information, see Automate Windows Setup.

Step 3 — Install Windows to the new PC

Connect the USB flash drive to a new PC.

Turn on the PC and press the key that opens the boot-device selection menu for the computer, such as the Esc/F10/F12 keys. Select the option that boots the PC from the USB flash drive.

Windows Setup starts. Follow the instructions to install Windows.

Remove the USB flash drive.

If your Windows image is larger than 4GB

Windows USB install drives are formatted as FAT32, which has a 4GB filesize limit. If your image is larger than the filesize limit:

Copy everything except the Windows image file (sources\install.wim) to the USB drive (either drag and drop, or use this command, where D: is the mounted ISO and E: is the USB flash drive.)

Split the Windows image file into smaller files, and put the smaller files onto the USB drive:

How to Install Windows 10, 8, 7 to USB as Portable OS Device?

Installing Windows to USB drive allows you to directly run OS on other computers with this portable bootable USB flash drive.

By Dylan / Last Updated June 16, 2020

Can Windows be installed on a USB drive?

«I can use a USB flash to install Windows on my computer from ISO. But I’m often on a business trip, so I’m wondering if I can install Windows 10 to a USB, and wherever I go, I can directly run my customized operating system from the USB drive.»

— Question from Microsoft.com

When you work from home or on a business trip, you may want to run a different Windows system like Windows 10, 8, 7 from a bootable Windows USB. Actually, it is not a difficult operation. And in this post, we are going to give you a tutorial of making a portable system by installing Windows to USB drive.

Content table:

How to install Windows 10/8/7 onto USB?

To install Windows to a USB, you can use a feature called “Windows To Go Creator”, which is provided by AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional . It allows you to deploy a Windows environment on a USB drive so that you can use your own system wherever you go on any other PC.

Besides, This tool can create Windows USB with either ISO files or the current system. And it also supports creating a Windows OS bootable USB on Mac. And you can download the demo version to see how it works.

Before the operation, you need to know (and you need to do):

An ISO file/disc: You can insert an installation Disc, or download ISO file from Microsoft website. Also, you can install the current system to USB,

A 2.0/3.0 USB flash drive: Taking running speed into consideration, we recommend 3.0 USB drive, which can take much less time than 2.0 USB and port.

Backup the files on USB : The USB drive will be formatted before it is created to be a “Windows To Go” device.

в—Џ Install Windows to USB with ISO file

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant. In the main interface, click “All Tools” and select “Windows To Go Creator”.

Step 2. In this window, choose “Create Window To Go for personal computer” and click “Next”.

вњЌNote : If you are using a Mac computer, you can choose the second option to run windows from USB on Mac.

Step 3. Then select “Create Windows ToGo with system disc/ISO” and choose the ISO file, and click “Next”.

Step 4. Then the USB drive will be detected automatically by the program, if it doesn’t, you can click fresh, and click “Browse” to choose the ISO file. And click “Proceed”.

Step 5. It will pop up a small window to tell you the files on the USB drive will be erased. Please back up the USB beforehand.

в—Џ Install Windows to USB with the current system

Step 1 and step 2 are the same, just open “Windows To Go Creator” in the main interface, and select Creating Windows To Go with PC.

Step 3. Choose “Create Windows To Go with the current system, and you will see the elaborate information of current OS on the computer, and click “Next”.

Step 4. Then the program will detect your USB drive. Reinsert it if it can’t be detected. Besides, you can click “Advanced” to decide the type of the created system and startup mode. Then click “Proceed”.

When the operation gets finished, Windows will be stalled on the USB. And you can insert it boot other computers.

How to Boot a PC from the portable Windows USB

Now, you can connect the USB to any other PC, and enter BIOS setup to set it as the boot drive. Then follow the steps below.

Step 1. With the USB inserted, turn on the computer.

Step 2. When the initial startup screen appears, tap the BIOS key (F2, F3, F4, F7, F8, it depends on the manufacturer that created the BIOS).

Step 3. And the BIOS setup will be launched. And use the arrow keys to choose «Boot» tab.

Step 4. And choose «Change boot order», and move the USB to the first one on the boot sequence.

Step 5. Save the change and exit, and the PC will be started from the USB.

Further reading: how to install Windows with USB drive?

If you want to create a Windows creation tool (create a bootable USB for installation) you can refer to the following content and learn how to install Windows to your computer through USB drive.

Step 1. Insert a USB drive to your computer and download Windows ISO file.

Step 2. Click “Search” icon on the left bottom, type “cmd” in the search box and hit Enter to open the Command Prompt.

Step 3. Type “diskpart” and press Enter on Command Prompt to open Disk part tool.

в—Џ list disk
в—Џ select disk n (n is the drive letter of your USB)
в—Џ clean
в—Џ create partition primary
в—Џ select partition 1
в—Џ format fs=ntfs quick.
в—Џ active

After executing these commands, your USB is bootable for installation, and you need to burn the ISO file to USB drive.

Step 4. And leave the Disk part tool, and open Command Prompt, then execute the commands as follow:

● xcopy A:\*.* B: /s/e/f”(A is the ISO image drive, and E: is the USB drive letter).
● A:\Boot\Bootsect /NT60 B: /force /mbr”.

The two commands will copy ISO files to USB drive and write a bootloader to your USB. After that, you can use this USB to boot up your PC and install Windows.

✍Attention : This way cannot directly run your own system on a computer. If you need, please use the “Windows To Go Creator” of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Conclusion

This is all about how to install Windows to USB. This tutorial can be applied to different Windows systems including Windows 10/8/7, Windows XP, and Vista. Besides, the versatile software-AOMEI Partition Assistant provides other functions, like migrating OS to HDD or SSD , extending system disk. And if you meet some boot issues, you can use it to create a bootable USB to repair your computer.

In addition, if your computer is running with Windows Server system, you can turn to AOMEI Partition Assistant Server Edition .

How to Install Windows 7 From USB

A tutorial on using a USB flash drive to install Windows 7

Chances are you’ll need to install Windows 7 from a USB device if you have a tablet, a small laptop, or a netbook device, few of which include optical drives as standard hardware.

As of January 2020, Microsoft no longer supports Windows 7. We recommend upgrading to Windows 10 to continue receiving security updates and technical support.

Prepare for the Installation

You must migrate the Windows 7 setup files onto a flash drive (or any USB-based storage) and then boot from that flash drive to get the Windows 7 installation process started. However, simply copying the files from your Windows 7 DVD to a flash drive won’t work. You have to specially prepare the USB device and then properly copy the Windows 7 install files to it before it’ll work as you expect.

You’re in a similar, but slightly easier to solve, situation if you’ve purchased a Windows 7 ISO file directly from Microsoft and need that on a flash drive.

No matter what situation you’re in, just follow the instructions below to install Windows 7 from a USB device.

The following tutorial applies equally to whatever edition of Windows 7 you have a disc or ISO image of: Windows 7 Ultimate, Professional, Home Premium, etc.

What You’ll Need

• A Windows 7 ISO or DVD
• Access to a computer with Windows 7, 8, 10, Vista, or XP installed and working properly, as well as with a DVD drive if you have a Windows 7 DVD
• A 4 GB (or larger) flash drive

How to Install Windows 7 From USB

Correctly preparing a USB drive for use as an installation source for Windows 7 will take around 15 to 30 minutes depending on your computer speed and what edition of Windows 7 you have on DVD or in ISO format

Start with Step 1 below if you have a Windows 7 DVD or Step 2 if you have a Windows 7 ISO image.

Create an ISO file from the Windows 7 DVD. If you already know how to create ISO images, fantastic: do it, and then come back here for further instructions on what to do with it.

If you’ve never created an ISO file from a disc before, check out the tutorial linked above. It’ll walk you through installing some free software and then show how to use it to make the ISO. An ISO image is a single file that perfectly represents a disc—in this case, your Windows 7 installation DVD.

Next, we’re going to work on properly getting that Windows 7 ISO you just created onto the flash drive.

Download Microsoft’s Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Once downloaded, execute the file and follow the installation wizard.

This free program from Microsoft, which works in Windows 10 through Windows XP, will correctly format the USB drive and then copy the contents of your Windows 7 ISO file to the drive.

Pick the en-US.exe download for the English edition of this tool.

Start the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool program, which is probably located in your Start menu or on your Start screen, as well as on your Desktop.

On the Step 1 of 4: Choose ISO file screen, click Browse.

Locate and select your Windows 7 ISO file, and then click Open.

If you downloaded Windows 7 directly from Microsoft, check for the ISO image wherever you tend to store downloaded files. If you manually created an ISO file from your Windows 7 DVD in Step 1 above then it will be wherever you saved it to.

Click Next once you’re back on the Step 1 of 4 screen.

Click USB device on the Step 2 of 4: Choose media type screen.

On the Step 3 of 4: Insert USB device screen, choose the flash drive or external hard drive you want to put the Windows 7 installation files on.

If you haven’t yet plugged in the flash drive or other device you’re using, you can do that now. Just click the refresh button to make it show up in the list.

Click the Begin copying button.

Click Erase USB Device if you’re prompted to do so on a Not Enough Free Space window. Then click Yes to the confirmation in the next window.

If you don’t see this it just means that the flash drive or external hard disk you’ve selected is already empty.

Any data you have on this USB drive will be erased as part of this process.

On Step 4 of 4: Creating bootable USB device, wait for the program to format the USB drive and then copy the Windows 7 installation files to it from the ISO image you provided.

You’ll see a Status of Formatting for several seconds, followed by Copying files. This part might take as long as 30 minutes, maybe even longer, depending on which edition of Windows 7 the ISO file you have is from, as well as on how fast your computer, USB drive, and USB connection is.

The percentage complete indicator may sit on one or more percentages for a long time. This apparent pause doesn’t mean anything is wrong.

The next screen you see should say Bootable USB device created successfully, with a Status of Backup completed.

You can now close the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool program. The USB drive can now be used to install Windows 7.

Boot from the USB device to start the Windows 7 setup process.

You might need to make changes to the boot order in BIOS if the Windows 7 setup process doesn’t start when you try to boot from the USB drive. See How to Change the Boot Order in BIOS if you’ve never done that.

If you still can’t get the flash drive to boot, and you also have a UEFI based computer, see the information at the bottom of this page.

If you arrived here from How to Clean Install Windows 7, you can now return to that tutorial and continue installing Windows 7.

You should have now installed Windows 7 by USB.

Tips & More Information

When the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool formats the flash drive during the process above, it does so using NTFS, a file system that some UEFI systems won’t boot from if present on a USB stick.

To get the USB drive to boot on these computers, you should copy the data from the flash drive onto a folder on your computer, then reformat the flash drive using the older FAT32 file system, and then copy that same data back onto the drive.

See How to Burn an ISO File to USB for an alternative method for getting a Windows 7 ISO image onto a USB drive.