Free program WinSetupFromUSB, designed to create a bootable or multi bootable flash drive I have already touched on it more than once in articles on this site - this is one of the most functional tools when it comes to recording bootable USB drives with Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7 (can be simultaneously on one flash drive), Linux, various LiveCDs for UEFI and Legacy systems

Where to download WinSetupFromUSB

In order to download WinSetupFromUSB, just go to the official website of the program http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/downloads/ and download it there. Both the latest version of WinSetupFromUSB and previous builds are always available on the site (sometimes useful).

The program does not require installation on your computer: just unpack the archive with it and run the desired version - 32-bit or x64.

How to make a bootable USB flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB

Although creating a bootable USB flash drive is not all that can be done using this utility (which includes 3 additional tools for working with USB drives), this task is still the main one. Therefore, I will demonstrate the fastest and easiest way to do it for a novice user (in the given example of use, the flash drive will be formatted before writing data to it).

Images that can be added to a bootable USB flash drive WinSetupFromUSB

  • Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup- we use it to place the distribution kit of one of the specified operating systems on a flash drive. As the path, you need to specify the folder in which the I386/AMD64 folders (or only I386) are located. That is, you need to either mount an ISO image with the OS on the system and specify the path to the virtual disk drive, or insert a disk with Windows and, accordingly, specify the path to it. Another option is to open the ISO image using an archiver and extract all the contents into a separate folder: in this case, you will need to specify the path to this folder in WinSetupFromUSB. Those. usually, when creating a bootloader Windows flash drives XP, we just need to specify the drive letter of the distribution.
  • Windows Vista/7/8/10/Server 2008/2012- to install the specified operating systems you need to specify the path to the file ISO image with her. In general, in previous versions The program looked different, but now it has been made simpler.
  • UBCD4Win/WinBuilder/Windows FLPC/Bart PE- also, as in the first case, you will need the path to the folder that contains I386, intended for various WinPE-based boot disks. A novice user is unlikely to need it.
  • LinuxISO/Other Grub4dos compatible ISO- required if you want to add a distribution Ubuntu Linux(or other Linux) or any disk with utilities for computer recovery, virus scanning and similar, for example: Kaspersky Rescue Disk, Hiren’s Boot CD, RBCD and others. Most of them use Grub4dos.
  • SysLinux bootsector- intended for adding Linux distributions, which use the syslinux boot loader. Most likely it won't be useful. To use, you must specify the path to the folder in which the SYSLINUX folder is located.

Update: WinSetupFromUSB 1.6 beta 1 now allows you to write an ISO larger than 4 GB to a FAT32 UEFI flash drive.

Additional options for writing a bootable USB flash drive


Video instructions for using WinSetupFromUSB

I also recorded a short video that shows in detail how to make a bootable or multiboot flash drive using the program described. Perhaps it will be easier for someone to understand what's what.

Conclusion

This completes the instructions for using WinSetupFromUSB. All that's left for you is to boot from the flash drive to Computer BIOS, use the newly created drive and boot from it. As noted, these are not all the capabilities of the program, but in the vast majority of cases the points described will be quite sufficient.

Reinstalling the operating system is the most popular way to solve all computer problems. People prefer to install a new OS instead of dealing with its problematic issues themselves and spending long hours to edit the registry, manipulate the command line and so on. It’s hard to blame them for this, because simply reinstalling the system is sometimes much easier and faster than manually “treating” it. Especially considering the fact that there are many that automatically write an operating system image to a flash drive and other removable media.

One of the most popular programs developed for such purposes is “WinSetupFromUSB”. In this article, we will look at this program in as much detail as possible - from downloading it (we will dwell on this point in more detail) to the additional functionality that it has.

The “WinSetupFromUSB” program is not as simple as it might seem at first glance, because difficulties begin already at the very first stage - at the downloading stage. If most programs can be easily found using a search engine by typing in their name, then this is a completely different story. If you download a program from a dubious site, then at best you will receive an outdated and irrelevant beta version, and at worst - a lot of unnecessary additional software and viruses.

Therefore, if you want to download the most current version utility that does not contain malware, then do everything as described in the instructions:


On a note! From the time the article is written to the time you read it, new versions of the program may appear, so click on the top list to download the latest one. The expanded list also contains information about updates.

Installation

So, you have downloaded the latest version of the program, which does not contain viruses or other unwanted software. Now let's move on to installation. Do it next steps to install "WinSetupFromUSB" on your computer:

  1. Go to the directory where the downloaded file is stored. If you haven't changed anything in your browser settings, then this is " Local disk C:" => "Users" => "[Username]" => "Downloads". This folder will store installation file, which looks like the screenshot below - open it by double clicking the mouse. To avoid wasting time searching for it, sort all files in “downloads” by date modified.

  2. The installation process involves unpacking necessary files V specified directory. To select the folder where the files will be extracted, click on the button to the right of “Extract to:” (it is marked in blue in the screenshot). After this, an explorer window will appear. When you select a folder, click "Extract".

  3. Wait for the installation to complete. This will take no more than five seconds.

  4. When the installation is complete, find the folder with the program files in the directory you specified. The folder name will contain the name of the program and its version number. In the example under consideration, the program was installed in the “Downloads” folder, but this is not recommended. Space on system disk It's better to save money.

  5. Open the above folder. It will store two files - each of them is tailored for a different bit capacity of the system. If you have a 32-bit version of the operating system, then select the first file (the name of which contains only the name and version of the program), if it is 64-bit, then run the second file (the end of the name of which contains “_x64”). The system capacity can be found in the properties of the “Computer” shortcut.

On a note! If you have an operating room Windows system 7, then difficulties may arise with sorting this folder - for example, if you set the folder to be sorted by date of modification, this does not guarantee that it will be first in the list.

After installation and launch, you will see the main program window containing many buttons. In addition to its main task – writing an operating system image to a USB drive, “WinSetupFromUSB” has a number of additional functions, but more on them later. First, let's briefly look at the program interface. For convenience, the main window was divided into five fields, each of which was numbered. Remember the numbers of these fields - we will refer to them more than once.

  1. Field for selecting a USB storage device. In this field, you can select a flash drive to burn the OS image to. The flash drive itself must be inserted into the USB port.
  2. Buttons with additional functions.
  3. Field for selecting the OS version. As you can see, with this program you can record not only all versions of Windows starting from 2000, but also Linux.
  4. Additional options. We'll look at them in more detail later.
  5. Process indicator. Using the buttons located in this field, you can start the process of writing the operating system to a flash drive and close the program.

On a note! In field No. 4 there is also a “DONATE” button, with which you can transfer money to the program developers, thanking them for their work. Remember that they produce their products for free.

The main task of the “WinSetupFromUSB” utility is to transfer the operating system to a flash drive. Therefore, below we will tell you how to do this.

Burning OS to a USB flash drive and additional options

So, if you want to create a bootable USB flash drive using this program, then follow these steps:


As you can see, writing the OS onto a flash drive turned out to be even easier than finding a normal link to the program. Also, during recording, you will have access to additional options that were mentioned earlier (field No. 4). Let's look at them in more detail:


Additional functions

On a note! The additional features that are included in the WinSetupFromUSB program are not intended for beginners. Therefore, if you do not understand what all these complex terms and abbreviations mean, then it is better not to touch them at all. However, there is nothing wrong with this - for the main function of the program (creating a bootable USB drive) they are not particularly needed.

As mentioned earlier, in the program, in addition to easy creation The bootable flash drive has a number of additional functions located in field No. 2. Let's look at them in more detail:


So, we examined the “WinSetupFromUSB” program in detail and dealt with each stage of its use - from downloading to creating a bootable flash drive. As you can see, she is much more than she seems. After all, in addition to writing an OS image to a flash drive, you can do many other useful things with it.

Video - WinsetupFromUsb instructions

To create a multiboot USB drive using the WinSetupFromUSB utility you need:

  1. computer with Microsoft operating system installed
  2. iso images of operating systems that are required for a multiboot USB drive, for example, MS Windows XP, 7, 10, Acronis Disk Director 11, Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10.
  3. WinSetupFromUSB utility
  4. a blank USB drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB for the above ISO images

Program WinSetupFromUSB designed to create a bootable or multiboot USB drive. Download this program you can from our website:

Supported systems:

  • OS Microsoft Windows XP/2000/2003/7/8/8.1/2008/2012/10
  • operating rooms Linux systems/ *BSD / *nix
    • Ubuntu – 13.04 (32 and 64 bits) / 13.10 Server / 12.04.03 Server LTS
    • Debian 7.1 Netinst i386, AMD64/7.2/7.6
    • Linux Mint– 15 cinnamon dvd 32bit
    • Mageia – 3 Dual CD
    • CentOS – 6.4 LiveCD i386
    • Fedora – Live Desktop 19 x86_64
    • OpenSuse – 12.3 GNOME Live i686
    • PCLinuxOS – KDE MiNime 2013.10
    • SlackWare – 14.0 x86 DVD ISO
    • OpenBSD – 5.3 Minimal, 5.3 Full
    • m0n0wall – 1.34 CD-ROM
    • ArchLinux – 2013.10.01-Dual
    • Beini – 1.2.1, 1.2.5
    • CloneZilla – 2.1.2-43-i686-pae
    • DamnSmallLinux (DSL) – 4.4.10, 4.11.rc2
    • Elementary OS – stable-amd64.20130810
    • Gentoo – x86-minimal-20131022 , amd64-minimal-20140313
    • GParted – gparted-live-0.18.0-2-i486
    • Inquisitor – v3.1-beta2 Live CD (x86), 3.1-beta2 Live CD (x86_64)
    • Knoppix – 7.2.0 CD EN, Adriane 7.2.0F EN
    • Manjaro – openbox-0.8.7.1-i686
    • Ophcrack – xp-livecd-3.6.0
  • Antivirus systems:
    • Avast Rescue Disk
    • Sophos Bootable Anti-Virus
  • Other:
    • Acronis True Image
    • Acronis Disk Director
    • HDD Regenerator 2011
    • Memtest86+ – v5.01
    • MS-DOS – 7.1
    • Paragon Hard Disk/Partition Manager
    • UltimateBootCD – 5.20, 5.26

1. Download the utility WinSetupFromUSB

2. Download iso images of operating systems that are required for a multiboot USB drive

3. Unpack the archive with the utility WinSetupFromUSB

4. Launch the program WinSetupFromUSB

5. In the window that opens WinSetupFromUSB select from the drop-down list required USB storage device

Fig.2 Selecting a USB drive in the program WinSetupFromUSB

6. Check the checkbox AutoFormat it with FBinst to automatically format a USB drive.

Fig.3 Setting up automatic formatting of a USB drive in the program WinSetupFromUSB

If you have previously used this program to create a multiboot flash drive for this drive and there is a need to add several more operating system images, check the box AutoFormat it with FBinst no need to install.

7. Select the required file system.

8. To add an operating system Microsoft Windows XP, you must first unpack the ISO image of the system or mount it into a virtual drive, check the checkbox Windows 2000/ XP/2003 Setup and indicate the path to the folder or drive in which the folder is located I386 .

9. To add an operating system Microsoft Windows 7 (or others) you need to check the checkbox Windows Vista/7/8/ Server 2008/2012 based ISO and specify the path to the iso image of the desired operating system.

10. To add an operating system Ubuntu(or other Linux operating system) you need to check the checkbox Linux ISO / Other Grub4 dos compatible ISO and indicate the path to iso image of the required operating system.

11. After completing the process of adding the required distributions, you must click the button Go.

12. Upon completion of creating a multiboot USB drive, in the Done pop-up window, click the button OK.

13. To exit the program, press the button EXIT.

14. To add distributions to the created multiboot drive the next time you start the program WinSetupFromUSB you must specify the desired drive, do not check the checkbox AutoFormat it with FBinst and indicate the path to them.

Everyone knows that it is possible to reinstall the operating system or replace it with another distribution. But many don't know how to do this. And this is done through a bootable USB flash drive. The article will talk about the WinSetupFromUSB program: how to use it and what functions it has. It is this program that will help us create that same bootable USB flash drive, which we subsequently need to use to install a new operating system.

Where to download the program

Before we talk about WinSetupFromUSB and how to use it, it’s worth talking about where to download this program. Indeed, despite all the awareness about the correct downloading of applications from the Internet, the user often makes serious mistakes. Now let’s figure out exactly how and where to download the program.

By entering a search request for this program into the search engine, you will be given a bunch of links to choose from where you can download it to your computer, but this does not mean that you need to do this from the first resource you come across. Firstly, most likely, on such a site you will be confused which Download button to press. Before you download WinSetupFromUSB, you can download a bunch unnecessary programs. Secondly, the program itself may contain some kind of malware, and a bunch of useless ones will be installed along with it.

To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to download from the official website of the developers - www.winsetupfromusb.com/download. At the moment, the latest version is WinSetupFromUSB 1.6, dated November 28, 2015. This is exactly what we will consider.

Installation and launch

While talking about WinSetupFromUSB (how to use the program), you also need to tell us how to install it. The fact is that this process is slightly different from the more usual one using the installer. Now let's take a closer look.

By downloading the file from the official website, an archive containing program files will be downloaded to your computer. Once you launch it, a window will appear in which you can select a folder for unpacking, start the process, or cancel all actions. Everything is simple here. In the Extract to line, specify the path to download the files. In order not to enter it manually, you can use the "..." button, which is located to the right.

Once you have selected a folder, you can safely click on the Extract button. After this, the unpacking process will begin. It won't last long. After that, by going to the folder you specified, you should find a new one named WinSetupFromUSB-1-6. Enter it. The WinSetupFromUSB program is launched by opening one of the files attached to this folder. If you have a 64-bit system, then run the one with this number after the name; if you have a 32-bit, then without the marking.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive

We have already explained where to download the program from and how to install it. Continuing the conversation about WinSetupFromUSB, instructions for creating a bootable USB flash drive will be provided right now.

To get started, you will need to have only two things with you - the flash card itself and an image of the downloaded operating system from the Internet. Make sure the extension is ISO. If you have this, then we can get started.

  1. First of all, insert the flash card into the computer. In the program window, select its name. If the flash drive is not found, try updating the information by clicking the Refresh button.
  2. Now we need to determine the operating system that will be written to this flash drive. To do this, check the box next to the appropriate version of the distribution and, by clicking the "..." button, specify the path to the downloaded ISO image.
  3. All that remains is to press the GO button to start recording the WinSetupFromUSB bootable flash drive.

We figured out how to burn a flash drive, now let’s move on to the special function that this program provides.

Creating a multiboot flash drive

We continue to talk about WinSetupFromUSB. You already know how to use this program, but I would like to tell you about some of its features and functions. We'll start by creating a multiboot flash drive. Let's describe the process itself and tell you what it is.

As you may have already noticed, in the Add to USB disk column, there are several checkboxes that can be checked; accordingly, it is possible to select several operating system images at once. This function is quite functional and involves creating a multiboot flash drive. After recording it, when installing the OS, you will be given a choice of which OS you will work with in the future.

Working with various distributions

I would also like to talk about the choice of items in this menu. There are five options. Now let's talk about each one separately.

  1. Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup. In WinSetupFromUSB Windows can be written starting from version 2000. To do this, you need to specify the folder in which the Windows distribution itself is located. But since most often you can only find an ISO image of the system on the Internet, you can use some tricks. Using the program Daemon Tools mount the image and indicate its letter. Or use an archiver to extract all files from the ISO image.
  2. Windows Vista/7/8/10/Server 2008/2012 based ISO. Everything is simple here. This item must be selected if you want to record one of the listed Windows versions. To do this, you need to specify the path to the downloaded ISO image of one of the distributions.
  3. UBCD4Win/WinBuilder/Windows FLPC/Bart PE. This item is intended for boot disks based on WinPE. In this case, you will need to specify the path to the folder where the folder called I386 is located.
  4. LinuxISO/Other Grub4dos compatible ISO. This item is needed if you want to install Linux distributions. In addition, by selecting it, you can burn a number of programs such as Kaspersky Rescue Disk, RBCD, Hiren's Boot. To start recording, you need to specify the path to the ISO file.
  5. SysLinux bootsector/Linux distribution using SysLinux/IsoLinux. Also necessary for recording Linux distributions, but for those that are installed using the syslinux boot loader. To start recording, you need to specify the path to the folder, which contains a folder called SYSLINUX.

Having dealt with all the components of this category, you can safely select distributions and start recording them on a flash drive.

Additional options

You might also notice three options just below: Advanced options, Test in QEMU and Show Log. Let's also talk about them in a little more detail.

  1. Advanced options. The most extensive option. Its essence is to make some adjustments to the process of writing to a flash drive. By checking the box next to it, a window will appear in which you can mark a number of adjustments to be made. So, Custom menu names for Vista/7/8/Server Source will make sure that all OS menu item names are standard. And Prepare Windows 2000/XP/2003 to be installed on USB to properly prepare the selected distributions for recording.
  2. Test in QEMU. Everything is simple here. By checking this box, after finishing recording the flash drive, the program will check it for errors.
  3. Show Log. It's even easier here. A window will appear summarizing all your actions within the program after opening it.

As you can see, these three options can be very useful, so don't hesitate to use them.

The process of formatting a flash drive into a USB Flash Drive

Now let's talk about how to format a flash drive in the WinSetupFromUSB program. Instructions included.

  1. In the program window, in the USB disk selection and format tools column, click on the FBinst Tool button.
  2. In the window that appears, click on Boot tab in the top panel. Select Format option from the menu.
  3. Now, in the window that appears, check the boxes next to zip and force. Then click the Format button.
  4. As you can see, a file called PartitionTable.pt will appear. You need to enter the program folder in Explorer and go to the files folder. Find the grub4dos file there. Use the mouse to drag it into the program window where PartitionTable.pt is located.
  5. Now on the top panel, click Fbinst Menu. You should see three lines: 1st - "default 0", 2nd - "timeout 0" and 3rd - "menu F1 grldr "grldr"". If this is not the case, then enter them manually.
  6. Press Ctrl+S to save changes.

That's all, you now know how to format a flash drive into a USB Flash Drive using the WinSetupFromUSB program.

Format conversion process

Now we will figure out how to convert the flash drive format to MBR. This operation should be done if the flash drive is very old. The fact is that in this case its format will be GPT, which will cause conflicts when installing the OS.

So, to carry out the conversion, you will need to click on the Bootice button, which is located next to the FBinst Tool. After clicking, a window will open. In it you need to go to the Physical Disk tab. On it you should see a number of buttons, among which should be Process MBR. By the way, if your flash drive already has this format, it will not be highlighted. As you might guess, to convert your flash drive to MBR, you will need to press this very button.

In the window that appears, select which MBR type you want and click the Current MBR Type button. That's it, your flash drive has now been transformed.

RMPrepUSB program

You may have found the RMPrep USB button next to the previous two buttons. If you are wondering why it is needed, then you will find out below in the text. But the list of its functions is so large that it will take an inordinate amount of time to explain each of them, so we won’t go into detail.

By clicking on the button, a window will open in front of you. Please note that of the entire program, only this is in Russian. If this is not the case, you can change it in the upper right corner.

This program provides the following tools:

  • recovering deleted data from a flash drive;
  • changing or creating a new file system (you can select all known file systems that currently exist);
  • unzipping files directly to a flash drive;
  • creating ISO images;
  • testing;
  • cleaning the flash card;
  • copying system files.

And this is not the entire list of this utility, so if you are an experienced user, be sure to check it out.

Where can I get the Russian version?

We have looked at almost all the functions of the program, now let's step aside a little and talk about the Russification of WinSetupFromUSB. There is no Russian version. It’s worth pointing this out right away, because that’s how it is. Of course, you can find pages on the Internet where they will claim the opposite, but, most likely, this is a canard, and by downloading such a program, you will introduce a virus to your computer. Moreover, at the very beginning of the article it was said that the program must be downloaded from the official website of the developer, but as you can see, this site is on English language, and you can’t switch it to Russian. Accordingly, all versions of the programs will also be in English.

When entering in a search engine: WinSetupFromUSB RUS, do not believe sites that offer you to download a program in Russian or use a Russian language. In general there is no need. After all, this article described all the processes of this program. Simply following them, you can burn a bootable USB flash drive. And over time, you will hone your skills to such an extent that you won’t even need instructions.

I have already touched upon the free program WinSetupFromUSB, designed for creating a bootable or multiboot flash drive, more than once in articles on this site. In addition, many other thematic resources may draw your attention to this tool as one of the most functional when it comes to recording bootable USB drives.

Where to download WinSetupFromUSB

First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that by asking the corresponding request in search engine you, with high probability, you will come across a site on which there will be a lot of green Download buttons leading incomprehensibly to where, and after the necessary download link is found, it turns out that when installing WinSetupFromUSB, several more “junk” programs of dubious usefulness were installed on the computer.

To prevent this from happening, just go to the official website of the program Http://www. winsetupfromusb. com/downloads/ and download it. The final version 1.0 was released a little less than a month ago (October 17, 2013), and it is this version that we will consider (before that, WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 beta6 and beta8 were the most frequently used).

Update 2015: The current version is 1.4, working with the program has not changed. Below in the article there are video instructions for using WinSetupFromUSB 1.4.

By the way, the program does not require installation: you need to unpack the archive with it and run the desired version - 32-bit or x64.

How to make a bootable USB flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB

Responsive2(width:300px;height:300px)@media(min-width: 500px)(.responsive2(width:336px;height:280px))

Despite the fact that creating a bootable flash drive is not all that can be done using this utility (which actually includes at least 3 additional tools for working with USB drives), this task is still the main one. Therefore, I will demonstrate the fastest and easiest way to do it.

In the main program window, in the top field, select the USB drive to which recording will be made. Please note that all data on it will be deleted. Also check the AutoFormat it with FBinst checkbox - this will automatically format the flash drive and prepare it to become bootable when you start. In fact, this can be done manually using the Bootice and RMPrepUSB utilities, but, as I already said, the instructions are for beginners and we will use the simplest method.

Note: However, you should check the box for automatic formatting only if this is your first time writing images to a flash drive using this program. If you already have a bootable USB flash drive created in WinSetupFromUSB and you need to add, for example, another Windows installation to it, then simply follow the steps below, without formatting.

The next step is to indicate what exactly we want to add to the flash drive. This can be several distributions at once, as a result of which we will get a multi-boot flash drive. So, tick the required item or several and indicate the path to the files necessary for WinSetupFromUSB to work (to do this, click the button with the ellipsis to the right of the field):

    Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup - we use it to place the distribution kit of one of the specified operating systems on a flash drive. As the path, you need to specify the folder in which the I386/AMD64 folders (or only I386) are located. That is, you need to either mount an ISO image with the OS on the system and specify the path to the virtual disk drive, or insert a disk with Windows and, accordingly, specify the path to it. Another option is to open the ISO image using an archiver and extract all the contents into a separate folder: in this case, you will need to specify the path to this folder in WinSetupFromUSB. That is, usually, when creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP, we just need to specify the drive letter with the distribution. Windows Vista/7/8/Server 2008/2012 - to install these operating systems, you need to specify the path to the ISO image file with it. In general, in previous versions of the program it looked different, but now it has been made simpler. UBCD4Win/WinBuilder/Windows FLPC/Bart PE - just like in the first case, you will need the path to the folder that contains I386, intended for various boot disks based on WinPE. A novice user is unlikely to need it. LinuxISO/Other Grub4dos compatible ISO - required if you want to add Ubuntu distribution Linux (or other Linux) or any disk with utilities for computer recovery, virus checking, and similar, for example: Kaspersky Rescue Disk, Hiren’s Boot CD, RBCD and others. Most of them use Grub4dos.SysLinux bootsector - designed to add Linux distributions that use the syslinux bootloader. Most likely it won't be useful. To use, you must specify the path to the folder in which the SYSLINUX folder is located.

After all the necessary distributions have been added, we simply press the Go button, answer affirmatively to the two warnings and begin to wait. I'll notice if you do bootable usb drive containing Windows 7 or Windows 8 when copying windows file. wim may seem like WinSetupFromUSB is frozen. This is not the case, be patient and wait.

Update 2015: in latest version WinSetupFromUSB makes it possible to write an ISO of more than 4 GB to a FAT32 UEFI flash drive.

This completes the instructions for using WinSetupFromUSB. All that's left for you is to set boot from the flash drive to the computer's BIOS and use the newly created drive and boot from it. As I already said, these are not all the capabilities of the program, but in the vast majority of cases the points described will be quite sufficient.