As sad as it may be for many, the era of CD/DVDs is slowly but surely coming to an end... Today, users are increasingly thinking about having an emergency bootable USB flash drive in case they suddenly have to reinstall the system.
And the point here is not only to pay tribute to fashion. The OS is installed faster from a flash drive than from a disk; such a flash drive can be used on a computer that does not have a CD/DVD drive (and all modern computers have USB), and you shouldn’t forget about the ease of transfer: a flash drive can easily fit into any pocket, unlike a disk.
1. What is needed to create a bootable USB flash drive?
1) The most important thing is a flash drive. For Windows 7, 8 OS, you will need a flash drive with a size of at least 4 GB, preferably 8 (some images may not fit into 4 GB).
2) An image of a Windows boot disk, most often an ISO file. If you have an installation disk, you can create such a file yourself. It is enough to use the program Clone CD, Alcohol 120%, UltraISO and others (see how to do this).
3) One of the programs for writing an image to a flash drive (they will be discussed below).
Important point! If your PC (netbook, laptop) has, in addition to USB 2.0, also USB 3.0, connect the flash drive to the USB 2.0 port during installation. This applies primarily to Windows 7 (and lower) operating systems, because... These OS do not support USB 3.0! The installation attempt will end with an OS error stating that it is impossible to read data from such media. By the way, they are quite easy to recognize, USB 3.0 is shown in blue, the connectors for it are the same color.
usb 3.0 on laptop
And one more thing... Make sure your Bios supports booting from USB media. If your PC is modern, then it should definitely have this function. For example, my old home computer, bought back in 2003. can boot from USB. How configure Bios to boot from a flash drive - .
2. Utilities for burning a bootable ISO disk to a USB flash drive
2.1 WinToFlash
I would like to focus on this utility mainly because it allows you to burn bootable flash drives with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8. Probably the most universal! You can read about other functions and capabilities on the official website. Here I would like to look at how you can create a flash drive for installing the OS.
After launching the utility, by default, the wizard starts (see screenshot below). To proceed to creating a bootable USB flash drive, click on the green checkmark in the center.
The process of transferring Windows system files usually takes 5-10 minutes. At this time, it is better not to load your PC with unnecessary resource-intensive processes.
If the recording was successful, the wizard will notify you about this. To start the installation, you need to insert the USB flash drive and restart the computer.
One of the best programs for working with ISO images. It is possible to compress these images, create, unpack, etc. There are also functions for recording boot disks and flash drives (hard drives).
This program was mentioned quite often on the site, so here I will give only a couple of links:
2.3 USB/DVD Download Tool
A lightweight utility that allows you to burn flash drives with Windows 7 and 8. The only negative, perhaps, is that when writing, it may give an error of 4 GB. The flash drive supposedly doesn't have enough space. Although there is enough space for other utilities, on the same flash drive, with the same image...
By the way, the issue of recording a bootable USB flash drive in this utility for Windows 8 was considered.
2.4 WinToBootic
Website: http://www.wintobootic.com/
A very simple utility that will help you quickly and worry-free create a bootable USB drive with Windows Vista/7/8/2008/2012. The program takes up very little space - less than 1 MB.
At the first launch, it required Net Framework 3.5 installed; not everyone has such a package, and downloading and installing it is not a quick task...
But the process of creating bootable media is very fast and pleasant. First, insert the flash drive into the USB, then launch the utility. Now click on the green arrow and indicate the location of the image with the Windows installation disk. The program can directly record from an ISO image.
2.5 WinSetupFromUSB
A simple and main free program. With it you can quickly create bootable media. By the way, what’s interesting is that a flash drive can accommodate not only Windows OS, but also Gparted, SisLinux, a built-in virtual machine, etc.
To start creating a bootable USB flash drive, run the utility. By the way, please note that there is a special add-on for the x64 version!
Once launched you only need to specify 2 things:
- First, indicate the flash drive on which the recording will be made. Usually, it is determined automatically. By the way, under the line with the flash drive there is a checkbox: “Auto Format” - it is recommended to check the box and not touch anything else.
- In the “Add USB dick” section, select the line with the required OS and check the box. Next, indicate the location on your hard drive where the image with this ISO OS is located.
- The last thing you do is click on the “GO” button.
By the way! The program may behave as if it is frozen while recording. In fact, most often it works, just do not touch the PC for about 10 minutes. You can also pay attention to the lower part of the program window: messages about the recording process appear on the left and a green stripe is visible...
3. Conclusion
In this article, we looked at several ways to create bootable USB flash drives. A few tips when writing such flash drives:
- First of all, copy all the files from the media, in case you need something later. During recording, all information from the flash drive will be deleted!
- Do not load your computer with other processes during the recording process.
- Wait for a successful information message from the utilities with which you work with the flash drive.
- Disable antivirus software before creating bootable media.
- Do not edit the installation files on the flash drive after burning it.
That's all, happy OS installation everyone!
A universal multifunctional program that will allow you not only to create and mount virtual images of disks and various files, but also to create virtual drives. In addition, UltraISO has all the capabilities for recording a bootable Windows USB flash drive, since the maximum size of the created image is 50 GB!
UltraISO has many applications. As mentioned earlier, this program is often used to create and burn a bootable Windows USB flash drive. After all, it is much more convenient to put a USB flash drive in your pocket than to carry around bulky disks. In addition, the program allows you not only to create images or reproduce them, but also to edit them in every possible way. You don't need to make any effort to edit, as you can do it directly in the image!
Download UltraISO – burn a Windows image
You can download UltraISO absolutely free from the link below, and then use it as you wish: burn an image of Windows, a game, a movie, a disc, a hard drive, and more! By the way, UltraISO has its own ISZ (ISO Zipped) format. And this is not just a zip archive, it is a unique format for compressed files that allows you to save even more space! In general, UltraISO is a program with great functionality, the main of which are:Mounting and creating any disks, USB flash drives, hard drives and even floppy disks!
Ability to edit files or folders directly in the image.
Ability to create full bootable disks and usb-flash with two modes: USB-HDD and USB-ZIP
Nice and convenient interface that supports about 40 languages!
In this article, I will tell you how to burn an image to a flash drive (in this case, a Windows image) for subsequent installation of the system on a computer. Nowadays, many people have laptops and netbooks that simply do not have an optical drive, or there is no way to install windows from a disk; this is where creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive comes to the rescue. This article is primarily aimed at these tasks.
We will write the image to a flash drive in two ways. The first method will be implemented using a very good ultra iso program, and the second using WinSetup From USB. We will start by looking at the steps to work with ultra iso, since this method is less labor-intensive and the process of creating a bootable Windows 7 flash drive will be quite fast. The second method will remain for those who, for some reason, “didn’t work out” with the first option.
Method No. 1
So, let's go. First, download the program Ultra ISO. After the program has been downloaded, installed and launched (click on the trial period if you don’t want to buy), you can begin the fairly simple process of writing Windows to a flash drive:
1. You must specify the path to the image that should be placed on your hard drive:
Click “File” => Open (Fig. 1)
Fig.1
Rice. 2
Rice. 3
Method No. 2
This method will also tell you how to write windows to a flash drive. What you will need for this option:
1. A little free time;
2. Computer (with iron, which supports booting from a flash drive);
3. Program for preparing a flash drive ( download);
4. Actually the flash drive itself (even an SD card will do);
5. An image of the operating system that we want to install.
As an example, I will show how we will write an operating system image to a 4GB SD cardMicrosoft Windows 7Home Premium 64-bit. I would like to immediately draw your attention to the choice of operating system. If your computer has less than 4GB of RAM, then you should install a 32-bit (x86) version of the operating system, since a 64-bit version will simply clutter up the RAM with unnecessary processes.
We insert the flash drive into the USB port and format it to FAT32 or NTFS using Windows. To do this, you need to go to My Computer, find the flash drive there and right-click on its icon. In the context menu, select “Format...”. In the format window, select the file system FAT32 or NTFS (the latter will be better if the flash drive has a capacity of more than 4GB), and also select the cluster size “Standard cluster size” and click the “Start” button. Everything is shown in the picture:
Next, we download a small program in which we will do all the operations we need. There are several programs of this type, but I chose WinSetupFromUSB because it does not require installation and takes up almost no space on disk and easy to use.
Let's launch the program. First, we need to select the device on which we will burn the image. This is done in the drop-down menu at the top (if the flash drive is not displayed in this menu, click on the Refresh button). Next, we need to prepare the flash drive for recording the image, because if we simply copy the image, it will be impossible to enter the system installer, because there is no boot sector. To create it, click on the Bootice button.
In the Bootice utility window that opens, click the Process MBR button, then see if the Grub4Dos checkbox is checked (if not, check it) and click the Install/Config button. In the Config Grub for DOS window, click on the “Save to disk” button, the program will display a window that the boot record has been successfully written to the drive.
We return again to the Bootice utility window, where we click the “Process PBR” button and do everything the same, without changing anything in the last window, click OK.
That's it, now all we have to do is write the image to a flash drive, this is done in the main program window, which we saw immediately upon launch. You need to check the required box - if you are going to install Windows XP, then this is the first checkbox, but if Vista or Seven - the second. Next, click on the “…” button on the other side of the checkbox and set the path where our unpacked image is stored on the hard drive, or simply mounted in a virtual drive using DaemonTools or Alcohol. Click on the “GO” button and wait until the process finishes.
Upon completion, the program will display the message “Job Done!” That's it, dear friends, you can reboot and start installing the operating system.
Also, I advise you to read the article regarding
In articles on how to install Windows from a flash drive, I have already described some ways to create a bootable flash drive, but not all. Below in the list are individual instructions on this topic, but I recommend that you first read the article itself below the list - in it you will find new, simple and interesting ways to make a bootable USB flash drive, sometimes even unique ones.
This review will look at free utilities that allow you to create a bootable USB drive for installing Windows or Linux, as well as programs for burning a multiboot flash drive. Also presented are options for creating a USB drive to run Windows 10 and 8 without installing and using Linux in Live mode without rebooting the computer. All “download” links in the article lead to the official websites of the programs.
Update 2016. Since writing this review of programs for creating a bootable flash drive, several new options have appeared for preparing a USB drive for installing Windows, which I consider necessary to add here. The next two sections are these new methods, and then the “old” methods that have not lost their relevance are described (first about multiboot drives, then specifically about creating bootable Windows flash drives of various versions, as well as a description of several auxiliary useful programs).
Bootable USB flash drive Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 without programs
Those who have a modern computer equipped with a motherboard with UEFI software (a novice user can determine UEFI by the graphical interface when entering the “BIOS”), and who need to make a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 on this particular computer, can generally Do not use any third-party programs to create a bootable USB flash drive.
All you need to use this method: support for EFI boot, a USB drive formatted in FAT32 and preferably an original ISO image or a disk with the specified versions of Windows OS (for non-original ones it is more reliable to use the creation of a UEFI flash drive using the command line, which is described later in this material).
Microsoft Windows Installation Media Creation Tool
For a long time, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool was the only official Microsoft utility for creating a bootable USB flash drive (originally intended for Windows 7, described below in this same article).
More than a year after the release of Windows 8, the next official program was released - Windows Installation Media Creation Tool for burning an installation USB drive with the Windows 8.1 distribution of the version you need. And now a similar Microsoft utility has been released for burning a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10.
With this free program, you can easily make a bootable USB or ISO image by choosing a professional, single-language or basic version of Windows 8.1, as well as the installation language, including Russian. In this case, the official distribution kit is downloaded from the Microsoft website, which may be important for those who require the original Windows.
Multiboot flash drives
First of all, I’ll tell you about two tools designed to create a multiboot flash drive - an indispensable tool for any computer repairman and, if you have the skills, an excellent thing for the average computer user. As the name suggests, a multiboot flash drive allows you to boot in different modes and for different purposes, for example, on one flash drive you can have:
- Installing Windows 8
- Kaspersky Rescue Disk
- Hiren's Boot CD
- Installing Ubuntu Linux
This is just an example; in fact, the set can be completely different, depending on the goals and preferences of the owner of such a flash drive.
WinSetupFromUSB
Main window WinsetupFromUSB 1.6
In my personal opinion, one of the most convenient utilities for creating a bootable USB flash drive. The functions of the program are wide - in the program you can prepare a USB drive for subsequent conversion into a bootable one, format it in a variety of ways and create the necessary boot record, check the bootable flash drive in QEMU.
The main function, which is also implemented quite simply and clearly, is to record a bootable USB flash drive from Linux installation images, disks with utilities, as well as installations of Windows 10, 8, Windows 7 and XP (Server versions are also supported). The use is not as simple as some of the other programs in this review, but, nevertheless, if you more or less understand how this kind of media is made, it will not be difficult for you to figure it out.
Free SARDU program for creating a multiboot flash drive
SARDU is one of the most functional and simple, despite the lack of a Russian-language interface, programs that make it easy to burn a multiboot flash drive with:
- Images of Windows 10, 8, Windows 7 and XP
- Win PE images
- Linux distributions
- Anti-virus boot disks and bootable drives with utilities for resuscitating the system, setting up partitions on disks, etc.
Moreover, for many images the program has a built-in downloader from the Internet. If all the methods of creating a multi-boot flash drive that have been tried so far have not yet worked for you, I strongly recommend trying: Multi-boot flash drive in SARDU.
Easy2Boot and Butler (Boutler)
The programs for creating bootable and multiboot flash drives Easy2Boot and Butler are very similar in operating principle. In general terms, this principle looks like this:
- You prepare the USB drive in a special way
- Copy bootable ISO images to the created folder structure on the flash drive
As a result, you get a bootable drive with images of Windows distributions (8.1, 8, 7 or XP), Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, utilities for computer recovery or virus treatment. Essentially, the number of ISOs you can use is limited only by the size of the drive, which is very convenient, especially for professionals who really need it.
The disadvantages of both programs for novice users include the need to understand what you are doing and be able to manually make changes to the disk if necessary (everything does not always work as desired by default). At the same time, Easy2Boot, given the availability of help only in English and the lack of a graphical interface, is somewhat more complicated than Boutler.
XBoot
XBoot is a free utility for creating a multiboot flash drive or ISO disk image with several versions of Linux, utilities, antivirus kits (for example, Kaspersky Rescue), Live CD (Hiren’s Boot CD). Windows is not supported. However, if we need a very functional multiboot flash drive, we can first create an ISO in XBoot, and then use the resulting image in the WinSetupFromUSB utility. Thus, by combining these two programs, we can get a multi-boot flash drive for Windows 8 (or 7), Windows XP, and everything that we recorded in XBoot. You can download on the official website https://sites.google.com/site/shamurxboot/
Creating bootable media in this program is done by simply dragging and dropping the desired ISO files into the main window. Then all you have to do is click “Create ISO” or “Create USB”.
Another opportunity provided in the program is to download the necessary disk images by selecting them from a fairly extensive list.
Bootable Windows flash drives
This part presents programs whose purpose is to transfer installation files of the Windows operating system to a flash drive for easy installation on netbooks or other computers that are not equipped with optical CD drives (does anyone say that?).
Microsoft Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is an official free program from Microsoft designed to burn a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 or Windows 8. Despite the fact that the program was released for the previous version of the operating system, it also works great with Windows 8 and Windows 10 . You can download it from the official Microsoft website
Selecting a Windows ISO image in a utility from Microsoft
Use does not present any difficulties - after installation, you will need to specify the path to the Windows disk image file (.iso), indicate which USB drive to write to (all data will be deleted) and wait for the operation to complete. That's all, the bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 is ready.
Bootable USB flash drive in Windows command line
If you need a flash drive to install Windows 8, 8.1 or Windows 7, then it is not necessary to use any third-party programs to create it. Moreover, some of these programs simply provide a graphical interface, doing everything that you can do yourself using the command line.
The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive in the Windows command line (including with UEFI support) looks like this:
- You prepare the flash drive using diskpart on the command line.
- Copy all operating system installation files to the drive.
- Make some changes as needed (for example, if you require UEFI support when installing Windows 7).
There is nothing complicated in this procedure, and even a novice user can handle it if you follow the instructions.
Flash drive with Windows 10 and 8 in WinToUSB Free
The WinToUSB Free program allows you to make a bootable USB flash drive not for installing Windows 10 and 8, but for directly launching them from a USB drive without installation. At the same time, in my experience, it copes with this task better than its analogues.
An ISO image, a CD with Windows, or even an OS already installed on the computer can be used as a source for a system written to USB (however, the latter option, if I'm not mistaken, is not available in the free version).
WiNToBootic
Another free and perfectly working utility for creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8 or Windows 7. Quite little known, but, in my opinion, a program worth attention.
Advantages of WiNTBootic compared to Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool:
- Supports ISO images from Windows, unzipped OS folder or DVD
- No need to install on your computer
- High speed
Using the program is as simple as the previous utility - we indicate the location of the files for installing Windows and which flash drive to write them to, and then wait for the program to finish.
WinToFlash utility
This free portable program allows you to create a bootable USB flash drive from the installation CD of Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows Vista, as well as Windows Server 2003 and 2008. And not only that: if you needed a bootable USB flash drive for MS DOS or Win PE, you can also make one using WinToFlash. Another feature of the program is the creation of a flash drive for removing a banner from the desktop.
Rufus
Rufus is a free utility that allows you to create a bootable Windows or Linux USB flash drive. The program works on all current versions of Windows OS and, among its other functions, can check a flash drive for bad sectors and bad blocks. It is also possible to place various utilities on a flash drive, such as Hiren’s Boot CD, Win PE and others. Another important advantage of this program in its latest versions is the simple creation of a bootable UEFI GPT or MBR flash drive.
The program itself is very easy to use, and, in the latest versions, among other things, it can make a Windows To Go drive to run Windows from a flash drive without installation.
Considering the fact that many users in Russia do not really pay for programs, using UltraISO to create bootable flash drives is quite common. Unlike all the other programs described here, UltraISO costs money, and allows, among other functions available in the program, to create a bootable Windows USB flash drive. The creation process is not entirely obvious, so I will describe it here.
- With a flash drive connected to the computer, run UltraISO.
- Select the menu item (top) Bootstrapping.
- Specify the path to the bootable image of the distribution that you want to burn to the flash drive.
- If necessary, format the flash drive (this is done in the same window), then click “write”.
That's all, a bootable Windows or Linux flash drive created using the UltraISO program is ready.
Other utilities related to bootable flash drives
Below are additional programs that can help you create a bootable flash drive (including with Linux), and also offer some features that are missing in the utilities already mentioned.
Linux Live USB Creator
Distinctive features of the program for creating bootable USB flash drives Linux Live USB Creator are:
- The ability to download the required Linux image using the program itself from a fairly good list of distributions, including all the popular Ubuntu and Linux Mint variants.
- The ability to run Linux from a created USB drive in Live mode in a Windows environment using VirtualBox Portable, which is also automatically installed by Linux Live USB Creator on the drive.
Of course, the ability to simply boot a computer or laptop from a Linux Live USB Creator flash drive and install the system is also present.
Windows Bootable Image Creator - creating a bootable ISO
WBI Creator is somewhat different from the general range of programs. It does not create a bootable USB flash drive, but a bootable ISO disk image from the folder with files for installing Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows XP. All you need to do is select the folder in which the installation files are located, select the version of the operating system (for Windows 8, select Windows 7), indicate the desired DVD label (the disc label is present in the ISO file) and click the “Go” button. After this, you can create a bootable USB flash drive using other utilities from this list.
Universal USB Installer window
This program allows you to select one of several available Linux distributions (as well as download it) and create a flash drive with it on board. The process is very simple: select the distribution version, specify the path to the location of the file with this distribution, specify the path to a flash drive pre-formatted in FAT or NTFS and click Create. That's it, all you have to do is wait.
These are not all programs designed for these purposes; there are many others for various platforms and purposes. For most common and not so common tasks, the utilities listed should be sufficient. Let me remind you that it’s quite easy to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 without using any additional utilities - just using the command line, which I wrote about in detail in the relevant articles.
If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive or burn a distribution kit of some utility/program onto it, you need the appropriate software. This article will present several of the most convenient and easy-to-use programs and utilities. All that remains is to choose the most suitable one for yourself.
The first solution is the official program from Microsoft, called Media Creation Tool. Its functionality is small, and all it can do is update the current version of Windows to the latest 10 and/or write its image to a flash drive.
The advantage is that it will save you from searching for a clean and working image, thanks to the fact that it will record the official distribution kit on a USB drive.
Rufus
This is a more serious program that has all the necessary functions to create a full-fledged bootable USB drive. Firstly, Rufus suggests formatting before burning the distribution. Secondly, it carefully scans the flash drive for damaged sectors so that you can replace the media if necessary. Thirdly, it offers two types of formatting: quick and full. Of course, the second will delete information more efficiently.
Rufus supports all types of file systems and is portable. By the way, thanks to the Windows To Go feature, you can burn Windows 8, 8.1, 10 to a flash drive and run this system on any PC.
WinSetupFromUSB
The next solution is Win Setup From USB. Unlike the previous program, this utility is capable of recording several images at once, creating multiboot media.
Before you start using it, it suggests making a backup copy of all information on the media, as well as setting up the boot menu. However, the utility is not Russified, and the menu through which control takes place is quite complex.
SARDU
This program will save you from having to search for the necessary distributions on the Internet, since you can select the ones you need directly in its interface. She will download everything she needs from official websites and record it on the required media. The created image can be easily tested for functionality through the built-in QEMU emulator, which was also not the case in previous software solutions.
There were some downsides too. The fact is that most images can be downloaded via the SARDU interface for subsequent recording on media only after purchasing the PRO version, otherwise the choice is limited.
XBoot
This program is easy to use. All that is required to get started is using the mouse to drag the required distribution kits into the main program window. There you can distribute them into categories and create a description for convenience. In the main window you can see the total size of all distributions loaded into the program in order to select the media of the required size.
As in the previous solution, you can download some images from the Internet directly through the XBut interface. The choice, of course, is small, but everything is free, unlike SARDU. The only negative of the program is the lack of Russian language.
Butler
This is a utility created by a Russian developer, which is not very different from previous solutions. With it, you can record multiple images and create unique names for them so as not to get confused.
The only thing that distinguishes it from other similar programs is the ability to choose the design of the menu of your future bootable media, but you can also select a regular text mode. One bad thing is that Butler does not provide the ability to format a flash drive before recording.
UltraISO is a multifunctional program for burning images not only to a flash drive, but also to CDs. Unlike some previous programs and utilities, this one can create an image from an existing disk with a Windows distribution for subsequent recording on another medium.
Another good feature is creating an image from an operating system already installed on the hard drive. If you need to run a distribution, but don't have time to burn it, there is a mount function that allows you to do this. In addition to all this, you can compress and convert images to other formats. The program has only one drawback: it is paid, but there is a trial version for testing.
UNetBootin
This is a simple and portable utility for burning images to a flash drive. As in some previous programs and utilities, the functionality of YunetButin is limited to recording an existing image on media and the ability to download what you need from the Internet through its interface.
The main disadvantage of this solution is the inability to simultaneously record several images on one drive.
PeToUSB
Another free, portable utility for creating bootable media. Among its capabilities, it is worth noting the formatting of a USB drive before recording, which is clearly lacking in the same UNetBooting. However, the manufacturer has long stopped supporting its brainchild.
It supports writing OS images to a flash drive with a capacity of no more than 4 GB, which will not be sufficient for all versions. In addition, the utility is not yet Russified.
WinToFlash
The selection is completed by a functional program for recording images – WinToFlash. Using it, you can burn several distributions at once and create multi-boot media, unlike Rufus. As with UltraISO, through this program you can create and burn an image of an existing disk with a Windows distribution. It is also worth noting the function of preparing the media for recording - formatting and checking for bad sectors.
Among the features there is also the function of creating a bootable USB flash drive with MS-DOS. VinTuFlash provides a separate item that allows you to create a LiveCD, which may be necessary, for example, to restore Windows. There are also paid versions of this program, but the functionality of the free version is quite enough to easily create a bootable flash drive or disk. In fact, WinToFlash combines all the useful features of the previous software solutions we discussed above.
All the programs and utilities listed in this article allow you to create a bootable USB flash drive, and some even a CD. Some of them are modest in terms of functionality, while others offer a range of features. You just need to choose the most suitable solution and download it.
