Installing Windows 7 from a USB flash stick

David M Williams
Sunday, 03 May 2009 07:45

Business IT - Technology

Type the command DISKPART and press enter. This launches a program to manage disk partitions on your computer. It will take a brief moment to scan your hardware before any prompt is displayed.

Type the command LIST VOLUME and press enter. The program will display a list of drive volumes (or partitions) on your computer. Find the volume number assigned to your USB stick. You will be able to identify it because the drive letter will be listed and its type will be marked as removable.

We want to work on the USB drive. Assuming the volume number is 3 type in the command SELECT VOLUME 3 and press enter. Be sure to change the number 3 to whatever the volume number is for your USB stick!

To be bootable, a partition has to be active (as opposed to passive.) Type the command ACTIVE and press enter. You will receive a confirmation message that the current partition – your USB stick – has been marked as active.

Type EXIT and press enter.

Leave the command prompt window open because we will return to it momentarily.

Open the folder where you downloaded the Windows 7 .iso image. If you already have a tool to extract ISO images into folders then use it. Otherwise, download and install 7-Zip and then use it to extract all the contents of the Windows 7 image into a new directory.

To make things simple, move the new folder to the top of your C:\ drive and call it something like “Win7” without any spaces.

Return to your command prompt. Type in the command CD \Win7 and press enter to change directory into the folder you have just made.

Now for the finishing touches!