Windows 7 Installations From USB Drives

Pay Careful Attention To The Requirements!

The process of loading Windows 7 from a bootable USB stick can be timesaving if you’re properly prepared. Proper preparation includes having a USB stick that’s large enough to accommodate the Windows installation media. Do not attempt to prepare a USB stick that’s smaller than 4GB. Sticks smaller than this are simply not large enough to hold all of the required information. You’re also better off using a “devoted” USB drive. If you have other material stored on your candidate, remove it or store it elsewhere for the time being.

You’ll need to make the USB drive bootable, if it isn’t already. There is a utility on PCs called DISKPART that will enable you to make a clean, bootable partition on your USB drive. You can’t skip this step because you need to install the OS from a bootable drive. I will cover the process of making a bootable USB drive in my next post. The process isn’t hard or even time-consuming, but there are several steps that you’ll need to take to ensure you get the proper result!

You’ll need all of the Windows 7 installation files. You can get these from licensed Windows 7 media. Be sure you’re not using some form of the release candidate, or using media that’s already licensed to someone else. If you use the release candidate as the source of your Windows 7 files, you’ll soon find that your computer will start rebooting itself periodically, which frankly, can ruin your day. You’ll also need to ensure that the media is properly licensed because unlicensed software or software that’s registered to someone else won’t work.

You may want to verify that Windows has the proper drivers for your target upgrade device before you load the Windows media on your USB stick. If Windows doesn’t have the correct drivers for your setup, you can manually download the drivers you need after you’ve completed the basic installation. You may also want to use a program like Driver Detective, to ensure that you have the most up-to-date drivers for your computer. Driver Dectective is ideal for netbooks because it can be downloaded and installed from the Web, and will work to ensure that you always have the proper driver setup.

Photo Credit: Balazs Gal, via Flickr