How to install Windows 7 from USB (any version too!! in 4 easy steps)

oh hi!  nice to see you again :3 (revisited december 27 2011 small detail)

Have you ever had the need to install  windows 7 onto your computer only to find the dvd drive is dead, or your system is question has no dvd drive at all?, like all those new Net books for sale at around  100$ that only come with linux or some other kind of web browser interface ?

Well i am here to save the day! because i have been on the computer business for a long while, and i have been installing windows systems daily, and having to swap discs from system to system is a real hassle, the dvd's get scratched and customers often loose them, and i cant afford to buy every single windows DVD version  for every single customer.


-START LESSON-



All right, i have seen many guides to do this , and they often get intricate or too technical, needing you to type in obscure linux commands, download many packages and files and often getting you lost in the process, causing frustration and getting into a fit of rage, wrecking your computer as you stand on top of the ruble,  howling  madly in anger..... O-o

Where was i?, Oh yes Here is what you will need  :D



 - 4GB or greater USB thumb drive
 - Your copy of windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)
 - A copy of  "WinSetupFromUsb" , you can it grab from here  which is the forum for this lovely tool <3
    (scroll down to  where it says beta versions, i will be using latest  1.0 beta 7 for this guide)

Its important to note, that the contents of your USB thumdrive will be wiped so save up whatever u got in there!


Unzip the winsetup-1-0-beta7.7z into anywhere on your computer, and inside you will find the program, Winsetupfromusb_1-0-beta7.exe double click on it you big boy!

STEP ONE

Plug In your USB thumb drive, it should be recognized up there in the first line, click on RMPrepUSB, we are about to PREPARE the drive!

 

oooh  buttons o.o!

STEP TWO
 Leave parameters as they are, make sure that XP/BartPE (NTLDR) is selected, as well as NTFS in file system and Overrides, it is generally faster when installing from the thumb drive with it, Do not linger and press  PREPARE DRIVE already!

more buttons, make sure to check NTFS for faster read speeds!

CLICK OK TO BRING DEATH AND REBIRTH TO YOUR USB THUMB DRIVE D:

(it might take a few mins)

IMPORTANT: IF IT DOESNT BOOT  COME BACK AND CLICK ALSO ON INSTALL "GRUB4DOS" and click YES, THIS Will ENSURE PROPER BOOT USING LINUX GRUB LOADER (I had reports of people not getting it to work with out this)


STEP THREE
Back into the main program you have to select "Vista / 7 / server 2008" option and click on the dotted button, this is where you indicate where your windows 7 Install files are, either from the DVD drive directly, or from a folder in your hard disk where you previously stored it. click "GO" TO BECOME A MAN!

clicking "go" will increase the awesomeness factor in your life, think about it!

(this might take up to 15 minutes to complete)

WONDER FULL
Your thumb drive is now a boot able thumb drive , from which you can setup windows from, THINK about the possibilities!

All you have to do now, is choose your system to start up from the thumb drive, most newer system require you to press F12  F8 or ESC , right where you see the company logo, HP compaq, DELL or American megatrend Bios screen to select the BOOT menu, choose your thumb drive from the list and YOU are awesome!

PRO TIP  (able to choose windows version at setup)
let me give you a pro tip, essentially all windows Dvd's carry the same files, and due to windows anytime upgrade license scheme, you can technically install all versions from Basic to Ultimate (or home to ultimate in 64bit)  with this nifty little trick.

Browse into your thumb drive, and inside you will find a folder name  "Sources" get in there !
There is a file named  "ei.cfg", this basically holds the configuration of what version it automatically installs, GET RID OF THE OFFENSIVE file,  and now windows will ask if you want Home, premium, Professional or Ultimate during installation, an universal installer to rule them all :O

PRO TIP #2

Some antiviruses might detect the winsetupfromusb program to be malicious and or suspicious, i have used this software for 2 years now and it does not contain any kind of virus, what the antiviruses are nagging about, is that the program is trying to access the USB drive and its partition in an awesome an radical way, to make sure the magic happens!  BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE THUMB DRIVE AND NOT YOUR OWN HARD DISK!

L E S S O N   O V E R !

(microsoft windows, Dell, Compaq, America megatrends and other brands mentioned in this blog  belong to their respective owners and are mentioned as reference for educational purposes, use your own legal copy of operating system and use the corresponding product keys, do not ask me about activation methods, because they are bad mmkay?)