Installing Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 from USB Drive

One configuration that I’ve recently ran into is installing it into a machine with no CD drive of any means. I know I could carry around a USB-based DVD drive but instead, I wanted to have a USB drive to install it from. After some research, I found that it was relatively easy to create such a tool!

  1. Either mount the ISO or insert the DVD for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 into your computer (assume it is D:)
  2. Format your USB drive to FAT32 (assume it is E:)
  3. Run the following commands at a command prompt:
       
          D:bootbootsect.exe /nt60 E:
          xcopy D:*.* /s /e /f  E:

At this point, you should be able to boot off of your USB stick (pending proper BIOS settings on the machine you’re booting up from) and it will install Windows off of the USB drive.