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Friday, October 16, 2009

HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS VISTA/7 USING PEN DRIVE

I had earlier posted on how to Install Windows XP using a Pen Drive.
This post would help you Installing Windows Vista/7 using Pen Drive.

The need is same as earlier. A crashed system requires fresh windows installation and unfortunately CD-DVD Drive is also sailing in the same boat, thus use a Pen Drive.

Although XP installation takes longer time than CD/DVD,Windows Vista/7 installaion on the other hand is faster than DVD disc.This is because XP installtion environment does not have latest USB 2.0 drivers, but Vista/7 does.


REQUIREMENTS :
  • USB-Boot enabled BIOS.
  • A Pen Drive (Atleast 4GB).
  • Windows Vista/7 Installation Files (As DVD Image File or RAR/ZIP Compressed File)
  • MBRwiz2.0 (Download).
  • UltraISO,a CD-ROM drive emulator (Download). 
NOTE : The Vista/7 installation files can be obtained by downloading a DVD-image file from internet. Alternatively there are rar or zip files available on internet which have the installation files in compressed form. In latter case the "UltraISO" software is not required.


1) SETTING UP BIOS

Before anything is done,check if your BIOS allows USB-BOOTING.

Refer to my post "Setting Up BIOS for Booting from Pen Drive or External HDD" to enable booting from Pen Drive.


2) FORMATTING PEN DRIVE

The Pen Drive should be formatted in NTFS to install Windows Vista/7.
If you are working on Vista/7 then simply format the Pen Drive in NTFS file system.

But if you are working on XP then you don't find the NTFS option while formatting a Pen Drive.
Follow these steps :
  • Right click My Computer icon on desktop (it is also found in start menu).
  • In the Tools tab,click Device Manager.
  • A number of system components are listed here.Click on Disk Drives.
  • Right click your Pen Drive in the Sub Menu of Disk Drives and choose properties.
  • In the window that pops up,go to the Policies Tab.
  • Under this check the option "Optimize for performance".

Now if you go for formatting the Pen Drive then NTFS option will be present.

3)) PREPARING BOOTABLE PEN DRIVE

The whole thing is just making Pen Drive bootable.Rest all installation is exactly same as with DVD disc.
Before making Pen Drive Bootable,it must be made an Active Partition.After that it can be made bootable.

# SETTING PEN DRIVE AS ACTIVE PARTITION

   If You Are Working On XP


Download the file MBRwiz2.0 and extract to a folder (i extract to the directory d:/temp).

1. Open command prompt(cmd).

2. Use command 'cd' to go to the directory where you extracted MBRwiz2.0 (as shown below,Click the image for zoomed view).Then type the following command "mbrwiz /list" (all commands must be typed without the quotes) as shown in red box and press ENTER.


3. Once you do so,it will dislpay all the storage devices connected to the system and their respective partitions,here "disk 1" is the Pen Drive (if no other pen drive/usb Hdds are connected).By default the active parameter is set to "no" for Disk 1(shown in red box below).Now type the command "mbrwiz /disk=1 /active=1" and press ENTER.

Note : the command should be typed as it is,be careful with spaces too.




4. Now it will ask for confirmation.Type 'y'.Then the screen should look as below


5. Now the Pen Drive is an active partition and can be made bootable.

Also in step 3 if you type command "mbrwiz /disk=1 /active=0" then the pen drive will become inactive partition as it was earlier.



   If You Are Working On Vista/7 
  • Plug in the Pen Drive.
  • Go to Start Menu and type "cmd".The cmd icon appears in list.
  • Right Click the cmd icon and choose "Run as administrator",click "yes" on the next UAC window (User Account Control).
  • Type "diskpart" and press ENTER.
  • Type "list disk" and press ENTER.This will  list down all storage disks connected to the system,even your HDD.Note the Disk No. for your Pen Drive (usually it is Disk 1 if no other pen drives and external hdd's are connected).
  • Type "select disk x" and press ENTER,where "x" is your disk no. of your pen drive.This will select your Pen Drive.The screen should look as below till this step.

  • Type "list partition" and press ENTER.This will list down the partitions on your pen drive (usually there is only one partition with no. "1").
  • Type "select partition 1" and press ENTER.This will select the only partition on your Pen Drive.
  • Now type "active" and press ENTER.This makes the pen drive active partition.To make it inactive simply type "inactive" instead of "active".The screen now should be as below.



  • Exit cmd

Note : The Pen Drive is not bootable now,it is an Active Partition.Only an Active Partition can be made bootable.

Now simply extract the Windows Vista/7 installation files to a folder named "win" on desktop if you have the rar/zip file of Windows Vista/7 DVD.

But if you have a DVD Image file of the Windows Vista/7 DVD,then you need a Virtual CD-DVD drive Emulator.Download and Install UltraISO and mount  the image file on virtual drive and then copy the files to folder "win" on desktop.

A small tutorial to work with UltraISO :

  • After installing,go to My Computer.
  • There you will find an extra virtual CD-ROM drive.Right click this drive.
  • In the subsequent selection menu there will be an option "UltraISO".Choose it.
  • Another sub menu will pop out.Choose the option "Mount" here.
  • A window will appear where you can browse your cd-image file.
  • Browse it and click OK.Your CD-IMAGE FILE is now mounted on to the drive.
  • Open the drive and copy all files to "win" folder on desktop.

# MAKING PEN DRIVE BOOTABLE

FOR VISTA/7 -
  • Open cmd by "run as administrator" option.By default the current directory is "c:/windows/system32".We have to change this directory to desktop.
  • First type "cd\" and press ENTER.This will take you to root directory,i.e,C:
  • Now type "cd users/xxxx/desktop" and press ENTER.Here "xxxx" is your User Name with which you logged into Windows.
  • Type "cd win/boot" and press ENTER.
  • Then type "bootsect /nt60 x:" and press ENTER.Here "x" is the drive letter for your Pen Drive.Once you hit ENTER the screen should look as below
  • Exit cmd.
 FOR XP -
  • Open cmd.
  • Type "cd desktop/win/boot" and press ENTER.
  • Then type "bootsect /nt60 x:" and press ENTER.Here "x" is the drive letter for your Pen Drive.The results should be same as above.
  • Exit cmd.

NOW JUST COPY ALL THE CONTENTS OF "WIN" FOLDER TO YOUR PEN DRIVE.
IT IS FINALLY READY TO INSTALL WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7.

JUST RESTART SYSTEM WITH PEN DRIVE PLUGGED IN AND INSTALL WINDOWS AS YOU WOULD DO USING A DVD.
CHECK OUT THE SPEED!!!!

1 comment:

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