How to Install Windows 7 using USB Pen Drive – Tutorial

We had written earlier a tutorial on How to Install Windows XP via Pen Drive which was useful for Windows xp based computers, while in this article we will guide you on with a detailed tutorial on how you can easily install the Windows 7 Operating System on your Laptop or Netbook using the USB Drive or Pen Drive. Most of the Latest NetBooks like HP Mini, Dell Mini, Dell Inspiron Mini 10, UbiSurfer Netbook etc come with a Internet HDD, USB Support but no CD / DVD support which makes it hard to transfer files or install software’s using this media.

If you would like to re-install the Windows 7 OS through the next available option to CD / DVD ie through the USB Pen Drive then you will have to first fix a lot of options on the drive in order to make it bootable and run like a normal DVD, allowing you to install the whole Operating System easily.

To get started you will need a Portable Drive with a minimum of 4Gb storage capacity because the OS Installation files itself need around 2-3Gb of space. Next you will have to make sure that you have a Licensed Copy of Windows Vista or Windows 7 in order to complete this installation and make sure that you don’t get any Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications.

Once you are ready you will have to make sue that the Command Prompt is having the Permission to Run as Administrator, which can be done by clicking on the Start > All Programs > Accessories > right click on Command Prompt and select the option ‘Run as administrator’. Once this is done you will be able to make any changes on your computer using the cmd.

The next task would be running the CMD prompt and following the instructions listed below one by one carefully in the right order to make sure no mistakes happen.

First you will have to type DISKPART which will start the utility which allows you to edit and manage Disk Partitions all connected to your computer. Connect the USB Drive to your computers USB Port and move to the next step of finding out the disk number.

Under the CMD Prompt, type LIST DISK which will list down all the connected drivers on your computer with the storage capacity which can give you a easy idea in finding out the USB drive.

As you can find in the following screen capture the Disk 1 has a size of 4Gb space which means that the Disk 1 would be used from now on for this whole tutorial.

The next step would be cleaning the drive which can be accomplished by typing ‘CLEAN‘ in the DiskPart utility which will delete all the contents and make it a blank drive. Following this you will have to type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY‘ which will make the specific partition a primary one. Type ‘SELECT PARTITION‘ followed by ‘ACTIVE‘ to make the current partition as active.

Once the above steps are done, you will have to proceed towards formatting the drive to NTFS partition which can be done by typing ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS’. This would take around 5-10 minutes of time in order to completely format the whole volume.

Next you will have to insert the Original Windows 7 DVD into your DVD Drive and then note the drive letter from ‘My Computer’ section. In our case it was at E: drive and the USB Drive was located at F: following which you will have to access the Command Prompt and then get into the CD Boot process by entering – CD BOOT following which all the boot files would be updated to the target volume ie the USB Pen Drive.

Next you will have to move to the ‘My Computer’ section and then transfer all the files from the Windows 7 DVD to the USB Drive which would take a few minutes because the size is in the range of 2-3Gb.

Once the data is transferred your Bootable Windows 7 Installation drive is ready which you can install right away. Just restart the computer or laptop and then change the boot option from HDD or CD to USB Mode and then proceed with a restart following which the installation would be completed within a few minutes. The whole installation process wont take much time because the data is on the drive which is much faster when compared to a optical drive.