Steven Warren shows you a no nonsense approach to creating a flash key drive that you can use to install the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
I have read a lot lately on how to install the Microsoft Windows operating system from a flash drive. The directions on how to do this were spotty at best and required lots of third-party tools. None of this is necessary. Here is a no-nonsense approach to creating a flash key drive that you can use to install the Windows 7 operating system.
This blog post is also available in PDF format in a TechRepublic download.
We will begin by inserting a flash drive key into a laptop or desktop, as shown in
Figure A.
Figure A
Next, click the Start button and type
cmd in the instant search bar. Right-click on the
cmd entry and select Run as Administrator, as shown in
Figure B.
Figure B
Now we are ready to run Diskpart. Type
diskpart, as shown in
Figure C. Type
List Disk, as also shown in Figure C, to find your USB key. In this case, it is Disk1.
Figure C
We will continue by typing
Select Disk 1 and cleaning the flash key by typing
clean, as shown in
Figure D.
Figure D
Let's continue by typing
create partition primary, as shown in
Figure E.
Figure E
Next, type
active to mark the disk as active; we are getting closer to the finish line. Now we are ready to format our partition by typing
Format FS=Fat32, as shown in
Figure F.
Figure F
Now you can copy over the installation files of Windows 7, as shown in
Figure G.
(Note: This technique applies to Vista or XP also.)
Figure G
Once you have copied the installation files, the next thing is to configure your laptop/PC to boot from the flash drive. You should log in to your BIOS settings to make sure booting from USB is available. Finally, start your laptop/desktop and select from which boot device you want to load the operating system. In this example, I will choose the USB 4GB SanDisk, as shown in
Figure H.
Figure H
It is time to get a cup of coffee and let your Windows operating system load, as shown in
Figure I.
Figure I
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