A bootable flash drive can be useful to almost any user. Despite the traditional use of physical blanks, installation operating system from a flash drive has a number of undeniable advantages. Firstly, the image can be assembled and weigh much more than a regular disk can contain. In addition, the speed of copying files when installing from a flash drive is several orders of magnitude greater than from a regular disk. And finally, you can write many different images onto a flash drive, whereas discs are usually disposable. The method of installing an operating system from a flash drive is indispensable for users of netbooks and ultrabooks - disk drive most often absent there.
On the Internet, a user who has asked a question can find a huge amount of special software any functionality and with many possibilities. Among them, it is worth highlighting the literally legendary product - WinToFlash. Despite its short history, this program immediately won many fans for its simplicity and functionality.
This article will analyze the functionality of the program using the example of creating a bootable flash drive with the Windows 7 operating system. Working with the program requires having a ready-made disk image or a recorded physical disc, as well as an empty flash drive of appropriate capacity.
1. To get started, the program must be downloaded from the developer’s official website. The “arsenal” has several editions of the program, which imply differences in functionality. We will need the very first, Lite edition - it is completely free, does not take up much space, and has all the necessary capabilities to create a regular bootable flash drive.
2. It is also possible to download a portable version - it does not require installation and works directly from the folder, leaving no unnecessary traces on the system. Ideal for one-time use or for users who are used to working with programs in portable mode.
3. After the file is downloaded, the program must be installed (for portable version- just unzip the file into the desired directory).
4. The program immediately after launch shows Master quick launch . In this window you can read briefly about the program's capabilities. In the next paragraph, you must agree to the license (it is also recommended to uncheck the box “I agree to forward statistics”). In the last step of the Wizard, select the free version of the program for non-commercial use at home.
5. The program works in two modes - Masters And Expanded. The first one is simpler and will suit ordinary users in most cases. To launch it, click on the noticeable green checkmark.
5. The program can record bootable USB flash drive from two sources - from an operating system image saved on the hard drive or from a disk inserted into the drive. The second method saves the user from intermediate copying of the disc to a digital file for subsequent recording. The desired operating method is selected during the setup process using two switches.
5. If the image is saved in a file, then in the corresponding menu of the next item through the standard Conductor the path to it is indicated. If copying needs to be done from a physical disc, then after starting it you need to specify the path to the drive. Just below in this window there is a menu for selecting a flash drive for recording - if there is only one inserted into the computer, the program will automatically detect and display it, but if there are several, you will have to specify the path to it.
Use a flash drive without important information and without damaged blocks. All data on it will be destroyed during the process of recording the operating system image.
5. After all parameters are specified, in the next paragraph you need to agree with Windows license, after which the image will begin to be written to the flash drive. The write speed will directly depend on the drive parameters and image size.
6. After recording is completed, the output is a bootable flash drive that is completely ready for use.
7. Advanced operating mode implies more fine tuning the file recording itself, the preparatory stage and the flash drive itself. In the process of setting parameters, a so-called exercise— a set of parameters necessary for the user, which can be used for recording repeatedly.
Advanced mode is used by more advanced and demanding users to Windows migration, WinPE, DOS, bootloader and other data.
8. To record the operating room Windows systems 7 in Advanced mode you need to configure the following parameters:
— in the tab Main settings We indicate the file or path to the disk in the same way as described above, and do the same with the path to the flash drive.
— in the tab Preparation stages the steps that the program standardly performs in the mode are indicated sequentially Master. If, due to the specifics of the image or for other reasons, you need to skip some step, you just need to uncheck the appropriate box. IN free version Checking the disk for errors after burning the image is not available, so the last option can be disabled immediately.
— parameters in tabs Format and Layout And More Layout indicate the type of formatting and partition scheme. It is recommended to leave the default values, or change the necessary ones as necessary.
— tab Disk check allows you to configure parameters for checking removable media for errors and correct them so that recording is carried out to good memory.
— in the tab Loader You can select the type of bootloader and UEFI policy. The free version of WinToFlash does not have the GRUB boot loader.
9. After all parameters have been configured in detail, the program will begin recording Windows image to a flash drive. After successful completion of the program, the flash drive is immediately ready to install the operating system.
The convenience of the program is evident from the moment of downloading. Fast loading, the ability to use the installed and portable versions, detailed and functional settings presented in a simple and Russified menu - these are the advantages of WinToFlash that make it reliable program for creating bootable flash drives with an operating system of any complexity.
On the topic of choosing software, one person’s reasoning:
Task:
Backup and recovery (cloning) of a bootable USB flash drive ( USB Flash) to another flash drive.
This method turned out to be the simplest and fastest.
AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition did its job perfectly (creating an image file and restoring from the image to another flash drive)
I didn't even have to use it auxiliary utilities, as in previous experiments
Therefore - instructions (more precisely - the sequence of my actions)
1 Take an 8GB flash drive, insert it into the USB connector and call it LILI-LUBUNTU-5
2 Take the LILI-LUBUNTU-1 flash drive (created when writing the previous instructions) and also insert it into the USB connector
3 The AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition program creates a disk image file LILI-LUBUNTU-1 (Backup - Disk Backup - etc.) and saves it on a local drive (by the way - the file turned out to be small size and even in uncompressed form, its size corresponds to the size of the data on the flash drive, although the entire disk was backed up)
4 Next, from this image the data is restored to the LILI-LUBUNTU-5 flash drive (Restore - "Disk Backup" - "Full Backup" - Select A Partition in The Image To Restore It To Original Or Other - etc.)
5 Launch VirtualBox - and make sure that the system boots
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I didn't even have to restore the MBR and Syslinux
And in the image you could select a partition to restore (and not the entire saved disk)
Both creation and restoration took place quite quickly, faster than in previous experiments
AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition is my undisputed favorite, having already saved my system after a crash once, and now I am pleased
But it’s a pity that I had to take such a tortuous path to get to this result. Read all sorts of nonsense about reprogramming controllers and replacing PID\VID. Which just confuses you.
And here's the most important thing:
And it’s also surprising that programmers are willing to spend a lot of man-hours to create little-functional and semi-useless programs like ImageUSB, Novicorp Bootable USB Replicator - and at the same time there are absolutely no instructions for backing up and cloning flash drives using already widely known free programs
It turns out that I, having recently started mastering computers and software, already know more than these programmers? Very strange...
And it’s a pity that I wasted my time by following the wrong path (not only under the influence of what I read on the Internet)
I made a mistake - I decided to clone or backup a partition, not a disk.
Because it was more convenient for me when creating a flash drive for my purposes, and backup partition insured me against failure during the recovery process - if the new flash drive was smaller in size than the original (because the sizes of flash drives vary slightly)
From this article you will learn and burn Windows on it. Create a bootable USB flash drive we will, using the Novicorp WinToFlash utility. This article will suggest two methods creating a bootable USB flash drive. To complete this task, we need a flash drive or memory card with a capacity of at least 4 GB and the Novicorp WinToFlash utility.
LAUNCHING NOVICORP WINTOFLASH
First you need to download free utility Novicorp WinToFlash. You can download it at the end of this article. After downloading the archive with the program, unpack it from the NovicorpWinToFlash0.7.0020beta folder double click mouse launch the file WinToFlash.exe. Let's look at the screenshot:
The First Launch Wizard will open:
Check the box next to “I accept the license” and click “Next”
FIRST WAY TO CREATE A BOOTABLE FLASH DRIVE
note: if your flash drive has any necessary information, we recommend copying it to a secure storage location, since if creating a bootable USB flash drive it will be formatted.
The main window of our utility opened. Click on the button.
Preparation Wizard has opened Flash drives. Click “Next”
Now you need to specify the path to the Windows distribution. To do this, click on the “Select” button and indicate the folder with Windows, and also indicate USB disk.
note that you need to specify the folder with Windows files, not an ISO image. If you have an ISO image, then you need to unpack it using the HaoZip archiver. You can download the archiver in the article: How to open rar format? For unpacking ISO image open it in HaoZip and click "Extract Files". Let's look at the screenshot:
After the steps taken (specified the path to the Windows files), Novicorp WinToFlash will look approximately like this:
We accept the terms license agreement and click “Continue”
Began creating a bootable flash drive…
After the work is done creating a bootable flash drive and writing Windows installation files to it is completed, Novicorp WinToFlash will display the message:
Click “Exit”
Click “Next time”. So we created a bootable USB flash drive and transferred the Windows image to it. Now let's look at the second method creating a bootable USB flash drive.
SECOND WAY TO CREATE A BOOTABLE FLASH DRIVE
Let's go to Advanced mode:
In advanced mode, you need to specify the job type. A total of 8 types are available:
- program transfer Windows installations XP/2003 to drive
- PE transfer Windows environment XP/2003 to drive
- storage drive maintenance
- transferring the Vista/2008/7/8 installer to the drive
- transfer of Vista/2008/7/8 PE environment to the drive
- create a drive with Windows XP/2003 bootloader
- create a drive with MS-DOS
- create a drive with the console Windows recovery XP/2003
For creating a bootable USB flash drive and installing OSes such as Windows 7/Windows 8/Vista from it, select option 4: “Transfer the Vista/2008/7/8 installation program to a drive”; to install Windows XP/2003 - “Transfer the Windows XP/2003 installation program to a drive.” As an example, we choose option 4. Screenshots:
Click “Run”
Specify the path to the Windows files, as well as the USB drive and click “Run”:
Check the box “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and click “Continue”:
Click "OK"
Skip the license notification by clicking “OK”
Preparations have begun for creating a bootable flash drive.
Creating a bootable USB flash drive completed successfully.
RESULT
note It has been discussed more than once on our website. Therefore, if the proposed methods creating a bootable USB flash drive For some reason it doesn’t suit you or something doesn’t work out for you, you can use the information offered in the articles:
1) Create a bootable USB flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB;
2) How to make a bootable USB flash drive?
Please write questions and reviews on the forum.
This article will describe a method for preparing a flash drive with a Windows 7 distribution. To prepare a flash drive, the WinToFlash utility will be used.
Let's start installation
Traditionally, before installing Windows 7, you need to copy all important data from the partition on which you are going to install the system (usually C:\), to another partition (D:\, for example), to a flash drive or to another computer. Don't forget about documents, desktop contents and programs.
Installing Windows 7 can be roughly divided into the following basic operations:
Recording Windows 7 to a USB flash drive or memory card;
Inclusion in BIOS boot from a flash drive or memory card;
Direct installation of Windows 7 from a flash drive or memory card;
Search and installation necessary drivers and utilities.
Let's start preparing the flash drive
1. Preparing a flash drive or memory card with Windows
To prepare a flash drive or memory card with the Windows 7 distribution, we will need:
1. Archive with the necessary programs. You can download it;
2. Windows distribution 7 in the form of an image with the .iso extension or simply recorded on Windows disk. It is recommended to use pure MSDN Windows builds. With all sorts of Black Editions and others, problems with installation are more than likely;
3. Flash drive or memory card with a capacity of 4 GB or more. If you have a memory card, it is recommended to use an external USB card reader. This is due to the fact that not all laptops are able to boot correctly from the built-in card reader. It is worth noting that all contents of the flash drive will be deleted. Therefore, you need to copy all important information to the hard drive.
So. The first step is to copy the files from the Windows disk to a folder on the hard drive (D:\Windows_7\, for example). If you don’t have a Windows disk, but have an image of it, then install the 7-Zip utility (it’s in the archive at the links above) and use it to open the iso image of your disk:
Now click on the Extract button to unpack the contents of the image into the D:\Windows_7\ folder:
Click OK and wait a bit:
After some time, there will be Windows installation files in the D:\Windows_7\ folder. Now you can move on.
Launch the WinToFlash utility. You can find its distribution in the archive at the link above. When starting for the first time, you must accept the License Agreement:
After this, the main program window should open. Click on the big green check mark:
Then click on the Next button:
In the top field, indicate the path to the folder where the Windows files were copied. In our case, this is D:\Windows_7\.
In the lower window, indicate the letter of your flash drive in the system:
Click Next and accept the License Agreement:
Click Next and Exit:
That's all. Flash drive with installation files Windows is ready. Here are the approximate contents of the flash drive:
Let's move on to the second point of our guide.
2. Enable booting from a flash drive or memory card in the BIOS
First, turn off the netbook, then put a flash drive or memory card in it and turn it on. Now you need to go into the BIOS. Usually, this is done by pressing a certain key at the beginning of loading. This could be Del, F2 or some other button. It is usually indicated at the bottom of the boot window and in the laptop instructions.
After entering the BIOS, you need to configure the boot order. Typically these settings are located on Boot tab. To change the boot order, the F5/F6 or F7/F8 buttons are usually used. As a rule, the settings page indicates which buttons can be used to change the download list. How to change the boot order should also be indicated in the instructions for the laptop.
Install your flash drive or memory card first in the boot list. Flash drives usually act as USB-HDDs or something else. Sometimes the model of the flash drive is indicated next to the name. The loading order should look something like this:
Now you should save the settings and exit the BIOS. To do this, you need to find an item in the BIOS with the approximate name Save and Exit Setup.
After saving the settings, the laptop should reboot. Now you can proceed to installing the system.
3. Installing Windows 7
Installing Windows 7 from a flash drive or memory card is completely similar to installing from a disk.
Today we'll look at how to create bootable flash operating system drive, starting from Windows XP and higher, using the well-known Novicorp Win To Flash program. Good day, I am glad to welcome all visitors to my blog. Bootable USB drive First of all, it is necessary for owners of netbooks, since most of these mini computers (let's call them that) do not have a DVD drive.
I'll say more, such DVD drives not even on some laptops. And therefore, every user who has a netbook or laptop must have a bootable USB flash drive. Installing the Windows operating system using an installation flash drive is identical to the same as with DVD disc. And so, let's move on to installing and configuring the program. You can download the program here...
Novicorp Win To Flash program settings
After starting Novicorp WinToFlash, two program windows will open, in a small program window the name of which is “First Launch Wizard”, click “Next”.
Now you need to accept the license agreement, check the boxes next to a certain item, then click on the “Next” button.
In the next window, select “ Free license", click "Next".
The following “First Launch Wizard” window will open. You need to wait a little while the program starts.
In the next “Advanced Settings” window, you will need to select “Custom Settings”, then uncheck the corresponding item, then click the “Next” button.
In the “Wizard Completed” window, click on the “Next” button.
Creating a bootable USB flash drive using Novicorp Win To Flash
To create a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7/8/10 operating system, you will need a flash drive with at least 4 GB of memory, but for Windows XP 2 GB is enough. If the flash drive has any important information save it to your computer or netbook because after formatting the flash drive, all files will be deleted.
Netbook users will need to copy the image of the Windows operating system by first downloading it from the Internet to HDD your netbook, for further recording it on a flash drive.
The process of creating a bootable flash drive itself consists of several stages. We go into the program, in the “Windows Installer Transfer Wizard to USB” window, tap on the green checkmark, then in the next window that opens, click “Next”.
In the “Basic Settings” window, you will need to specify the path to the unpacked ISO image of the Windows operating system and the location of the flash drive on your computer. If you are creating a bootable USB flash drive with an ISO image, then you need to check the second box; if from a disk, then check the first box, as in my case.
In the next program window, check the box next to “I accept the terms of the license agreement,” then click “Continue.”
In the next window of the program, when prompted to format the flash drive, click “Continue”, the formatting of the flash drive will begin, after which the process of writing Windows operating system files to the USB drive will begin.
The process of writing Windows operating system files to a flash drive takes approximately 20~25 minutes. After finishing writing all the files to the USB drive, click on the link “Click here to return to the main screen.” After which you can close the program.
This method creating a bootable flash drive was created in “Wizard Mode”. “Advanced mode” in the Novicorp Win To Flash program differs from the usual “Wizard Mode” in that in advanced mode you can configure the installation parameters of the Windows operating system with answers to the questions that the system asks when installing it on your computer.
Conclusion
To install Windows, you need to install a USB flash drive in USB port, go to when you reboot your netbook and select a bootable USB flash drive. The further process of installing the Windows operating system on your computer is the same as from a DVD disc.
This is where I will end this post; I think that the article will be useful for most users. Good luck to all...
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