# Installing Windows 7 from a USB drive This guide explains how to manually copy Windows 7 onto a USB flash drive and make it bootable. This method is likely to work for other Versions of Windows too. **This will erase all contents on your USB drive. Be sure to backup what you need from it.** ## Requirements - A computer running Windows - Windows 7 installation ISO image - USB flash drive big enough to hold the ISO image contents ## Automated Creation You can get and use the [Windows USB/DVD Download Tool](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=56485) from Microsoft. In most cases this is the easier way ## Partitioning the Disk [Run](#run) diskpart and type the commands below: list disk select disk # <-- Instead of #, type the number that matches your USB drive clean create partition primary select partition 1 active format quick fs=fat32 assign exit ### Disk Number If you have trouble finding your USB drive in the list when typing `list disk` you can type it twice, execute it the first time without the stick plugged in and the second time with the stick plugged in, and the drive that appears will be the USB drive. ## Copying files Use a tool like [7-zip](https://7-zip.org) to extract the contents of the disc image to your USB drive ## Bootsector Write a boot sector to the USB drive. To do this, copy the "boot" folder from the disc image a second time, but to your desktop instead. open an administrative command prompt, navigate to the "boot" directory and execute `bootsect.exe /nt60 x:`. Replace `x:` with the drive letter of your USB drive. If the utility fails to lock the volume, add the `/force` parameter. ### EFI Hosts If you get the message This tool can only be run on systems booted using a PC/AT BIOS. This system was booted using EFI or some other firmware type. You can either try to run that command on an older computer, or you can try an alternative method using [Rufus](https://rufus.akeo.ie/). Be aware though that the installation is likely to fail unless the compatibility mode is activated on your device BIOS.