10/31/13 5 Ways to Make a USB Bootable - wikiHow

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How to Make a USB BootableMaking a USB Drive to Install Any PC Operating System Making a Windows Vista or 7 Install

Drive Making a Windows XP Install Drive Creating a USB PC Repair Toolkit Making a Mac OS X10.7 or 10.8 USB Install Drive

Have an old USB drive lying around that you don't use anymore? Turn it intoan operating install disk for Windows, Linux or Mac, or a diagnostic tool foryour PC. Follow this guide to learn how.

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Open the Command Prompt. You will need to run Command Prompt as anAdministartor. Right-click on it and select Run as Administrator. You may need to

enter the Administrator password.

This method will create a USB drive that is bootable. You can then copy thecontents of an operating installation disc onto the drive to create a portableinstallation drive.This method only works in Windows Vista, 7, and 8.

Open the disk management utility. This can be opened by entering the commanddiskpart.

Display the connected disks. Type the command list disk to show a list of all thedrives connected to your computer. Your USB drive should be listed here as well.

Make note of the number next to your USB drive.

Select the USB drive. Enter the command select disk #, replace “#” with thenumber from the previous step.

Clean the flash drive. Enter the command clean to have the disk managementutility verify the integrity of the USB drive, and erase all data.

Create a bootable partition. Once the USB drive is clean, type in create partitionprimary. You will see a message saying that the operation was successful.

Method 1 of 5: Making a USB Drive to Install Any PC OperatingSystem

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Select the new partition. Enter the command select partition 1 and press Enter.Once you receive a confirmation message, type active and press Enter. This will

activate the partition.

Format the USB drive. Input the command format fs=fat32. When you pressEnter, the program will work for a few minutes, and the progress will be displayed

as a percentage.

Assign the USB a drive letter. Enter the command assign to give the thumb drivea letter designation. Type exit to end the disk management program.

Copy the operating system. Once the USB drive has been made bootable,you can copy over the installation files for the operating system you want to

install. You can do this by dragging and dropping using your preferred filemanager/explorer.

Copy over any drivers you might need during the operating system installation tomake the process much smoother.

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Create or Obtain A Windows Vista/7 ISO. Install a free burning program. Thereare a number of free burning utilities available online. You need one that can create

ISO files. If you received your Windows 7 as a downloadable ISO file from Microsoft, youcan skip to Step 2.

Insert your Windows 7 DVD. Open your new burning program. Look for anoption such as “Copy to Image” or “Create Image.” If prompted, select your DVDdrive as the source.Save your ISO file. Choose an easy to remember name and location for the file.The ISO you make will be equal in size to the disc you are copying. This meansit can take up several gigabytes of space on your hard drive. Be sure you haveenough storage available.Creating the ISO can take a long time, depending on the speed of your computerand DVD drive.

Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. This is available for free fromMicrosoft. Despite its name, this tool works with Windows Vista ISOs as well. You

Method 2 of 5: Making a Windows Vista or 7 Install Drive

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can run this tool on virtually any version of Windows.

Select the Source file. This is the ISO that you created or downloaded in the firstsection. Click Next.

Select USB device. You are given the option to either burn to a DVD or create aUSB device. For this guide, click USB Device.

Choose your USB device. Make sure that your flash drive is connected correctly.You will need at least 4GB space on your flash drive to copy over the Windows

installation.

Wait while program works. The program will format the USB drive to bootcorrectly, then copy the ISO file onto the drive. The copying process can take up to

15 minutes to complete, depending on the speed of your machine.

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Gather your software and hardware. You will need USB_Prep8 andbootsect.exe. These are developer tools both freely available online. You will also

need a flash drive at least 1GB in size, and a Windows XP installation CD or DVD.

Insert the USB drive and the Windows XP disc. Close any Autoplay windowsthat open.

Extract and run USB_Prep8. Once you extract the USB_Prep8 .zip file, open thefolder it creates and run usb_prep8.cmd. This will open a command prompt. Press

any key to format the USB drive with PeToUSB. Note: In Windows 7, you will need toopen a cmd as administrator and run usb_prop8.cmd from prompt, otherwise nothingworks.

Start the format. Do not change any of the settings in the PeToUSB window. Oncethe format is complete, leave both windows open and start a new command prompt

by pressing Windows key + R and typing “cmd” into the field.

Method 3 of 5: Making a Windows XP Install Drive

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Extract bootsect. Once it is extracted, navigate to the bootsect folder using thenew command window. Once you are in the bootsect directory on your computer,

type “bootsect.exe /nt52 Z:”. Change the “Z” to the drive letter of your USB drive.

You cannot have any windows open showing the contents of the USB drive atthis point, or the operation will fail and you will need to restartBootsect copies the files necessary to allow your computer to boot from the flashdrive. When it is complete you will see the message “Bootcode was successfullyupdated on all targeted volumes.” You can close this window and PeToUSBnow, but keep the usb_prep8 command window open.

Adjust the Prep8 settings. Once the bootsect is done copying, the usb_prep8command window will display a numbered menu allowing you to change some

settings. You will need to change the first 3 settings:

Press 1 and then Enter. A Browse for Folder window will open. Select the drivethat contains your Windows XP disc and press OK.Press 2 and then Enter. If you have a drive on your computer that is alreadyassigned to the letter T:, then change this option to a free letter. Otherwise, youcan leave this as is.Press 3 and then Enter. Enter the drive letter for your USB flash drive.

Start the copy process. To do this, press 4 and then Enter. You will be notifiedthat proceeding will format the virtual disk from the earlier menu. Press Y to

continue. Once the format is complete, press any key to continue.

Files will scroll up the screen as the copy process progresses. You will beprompted to press any key to continue again. After a few moments, a windowwill open confirming that you want to copy TempDrive Files. Press Yes, and waitaround 15 minutes, then press Yes for the next two windows that open.

Begin Windows XP setup. At this point the USB drive is complete. Insert it into thecomputer that you want to install Windows XP on. You will need to set the BIOS to

boot from a USB drive. Check out our guide on setting your BIOS correctly.

When the startup menu opens, select Option 1 for a text mode installation. TheWindows XP installation will now begin as normal.After the computer reboots after the text mode portion, select Option 2 to start theGUI (Graphical User Interface) portion of the installation.Keep your USB drive plugged in during the entire installation process.

Method 4 of 5: Creating a USB PC Repair Toolkit

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Download the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) ISO file. This file is available for freefrom the developers here. The UBCD is a collection of diagnostic tools that can be

run before the operating system loads. Having them all on one thumbdrive makes for aconvenient PC repair tool. You will also need the Universal USB Installer, which can befound here. Place the Universal USB Installer in the same folder as the UBCD .iso file.

Run the Universal USB Installer. Select Ultimate Boot CD from the menu. Makesure that the directory in the field is correct. Select the correct drive letter for your

USB flash drive. Click the Create button.

Boot from the USB drive. After the USB is done being created, you’re ready toboot from the drive and run the diagnostic tool.

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Assemble the hardware and software that you will need. You will need an 8GBor larger USB flash drive. You will also need the OS X installer app from the Mac

App Store. Download the app and insert the USB drive.

Launch the Disk Utility. It can be found in the Utilities folder inside theApplications folder. The Disk Utility will allow you to manipulate the USB drive. In

the left frame, select your USB drive and then open the Partition tab. Under PartitionLayout, select 1 Partition.

Select the format. From the format dropdown menu, select Mac OS Extended(Journaled). This will allow your drive to be read by any Mac OS computer. Click

the Options button and select GUID Partition Table.

Find the Install Mac OS X file. This is the .app file that you downloaded from theMac App Store. It is installed in the Applications folder by default. Right-click on the

file and select Show Package Contents. Open Contents and then Shared Support. Youshould see a file called InstallESD.dmg. Drag this file to your desktop.

Open the Disk Utility again. Click on the USB drive in the left frame. Open theRestore tab and click the Image… button next to the Source box. Select the

InstallESD.dmg file. For Destination, drag the newly created partition into the field.

Method 5 of 5: Making a Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8 USB Install Drive

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6 Click the Restore button. You will be asked for confirmation before the copyprocess begins. Press Erase to continue. The process can take up to an hour to

complete, depending on the speed of your Mac. Once it is finished, you can boot from theUSB drive and install Mac OS X as if you were using a disc.

If the USB you are using has data on it, back up all the data on itbefore going through with this.

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