A bootable Windows flash drive is created based on existing files and does not require an iso image. The USB flash drive is made bootable regardless of whether you download the window 7 iso image or unpack the files into a separate folder on your hard drive.

There are many tools and programs that can make a bootable USB flash drive somewhat faster, but only for old computer hardware. It is much faster to do everything manually, if, of course, the computer hardware meets the new UEFI standards.

The easiest way to create a bootable USB drive

There are two simplest ways that allow you to turn an ordinary USB flash drive into a bootable one without any external software and with minimal time spent on this task.

The first method is to simply copy Window 7 files to a USB flash drive, then settings are made in the UEFI BIOS where you need to select or move the boot partition higher. How this is done will be described at the end of the article.

The second method is no different from the first, the contents of the operating system are copied, the necessary settings are made in the old BIOS familiar to us. The only thing is that you must first make the USB flash drive active and use the bootselect utility to create an MBR on the USB drive with the BOOTMGR bootloader code, otherwise the old computer will not be able to boot from it.

Method 1 (for new computers with UEFI support):

It remains only to restart the computer and wait for the “Press any key to boot from usb” message to appear. You have a few seconds until the inscription disappears. At this time, you need to press once (several times) on any of the keys (or press and hold).

Copying the contents of Windows 7 files to a USB flash drive formatted in fat32.

Method 2 (for older computers using BIOS):

If you repeat the first method where the usual BIOS is sewn, most likely you will receive an error “Disk error. Press any key to restart ”, but the Windows installation will not start. This means that you have an older version of the motherboard without UEFI support.

To make everything work well on your old computer, follow the first method, which is described just above. Next, you need to run the command line as administrator:

Start- All Programs- Accessories- Command Line

Attention!!! Make sure the flash drive is connected to the USB controller. Run the following commands in sequence at the command line:

• diskpart
• list volume

Find your USB stick and remember the volume number. It is easy to distinguish a USB flash drive from a hard drive, in the Type section it should be marked as Removable. You can also pay attention to the size of the drive and its name (Label).

Remember the volume number for the next select volume command:

TOSHIBA flash drive volume number "6".

• select volume 6
• active

Next, find the folder with Windows 7, (8 / 8.1 / 10 / mac os) that can be stored: on a computer, CD-DVD, or anywhere else. Copy the full path to the distribution with the folder \\ boot \\ bootsect... Then remember system drive letter... Without closing the command line, run the following command:

• F: \\ iso \\ U_7_x64 \\ boot \\ bootsect / nt60 J: / mbr

Letter F - this is the section where the distribution kit with Windows is stored. Next comes the full path to the desired folder in the Windows distribution.

Letter J Is a removable drive or USB flash drive.

After executing this command, the bootselect utility is called to create an MBR on the USB drive with the BOOTMGR bootloader code.

If you are making a boot drive on the Windows XP platform, then this distribution does not have such a folder with a call to bootselect. In this case, the last command should not be executed, the command slightly higher (active) is quite enough, provided that the flash drive already has an MBR structure.

If the flash drive has a different structure, then try to pick up the seven folder in the command line, and write Windows XP on the flash drive itself.

Rufus - a program for creating bootable flash drives

Rufus is the simplest freeware designed exclusively for creating bootable flash drives.

From the Boot menu list, select Boot from USB and press Enter.

Done. In this case, it's a Transcend flash drive.

Instructions for UEFI:

There is no difference between UEFI and BIOS for entering the Boot menu. We do the same as in the previous instruction. We also look at what message pops up on the monitor screen, immediately press the required key to enter the Boot menu.

But pay attention to the fact that for the ASUS motherboard an incomplete message pops up on the screen, we are offered only the entrance to UEFI. But nothing, let's try to go to UEFI, and a little below we will try to disassemble how you can go directly to Boot.

Now in the UEFI BIOS, go to the Boot menu and scroll through all the settings to the very bottom. We are looking for the "Boot Option # 1" setting, namely the first number. De shown with an arrow, select your USB flash drive from the list.

Thus, the first in a row will be booting from a USB flash drive, and in second place is the Windows operating system. To complete the settings, you need to press the F10 key and confirm the save, after which the computer will automatically restart.

If the screen does not contain instructions for entering Boot directly:

It's okay, just read the instructions for your motherboard or search the Internet for which buttons are responsible for this action.

For ASUS models, this is usually the F8 key:

BIOS setup for Windows XP installation

Before installing Windows XP from a USB flash drive, you should pay attention to a very important parameter of the operating mode of the hard disk controllers. The hard disk controller can operate in several modes.

Go to the menu item Main-Storage Configuration:

We select the required controller. For XP, this is the IDE; for newer versions of the installation, be sure to install AHCI.

If the computer does not boot from the flash drive

Sometimes, in rare cases, on some computers, it is required to change the compatibility of abbreviations while booting from a flash drive. To do this, you need to switch from UEFI Boot to CSM Boot or Legacy BIOS compatibility mode.

But to do this, you should see if the choice of other abbreviations is blocked. To do this, go to the "Security-Secure Boot" menu item, press Enter and select the switch in the Disabled position.

For other systems, it can be found directly in the menu item:

Boot- UEFI / BIOS Boot Mode

You need to change UEFI Boot to any other compatible boot mode: CSM Boot, Legacy BIOS, etc. You can also look at the descriptions of the items in the right column, search for similar words there to find the desired setting, without resorting to knowledge of English.

After disabling UEFI mode in favor of CSM Boot compatibility mode, all bootable flash drives boot without problems.

After working with the flash drive, be sure to return the UEFI settings to their original state so that everything works correctly as before and the operating system boots again.

Conclusion

In this article, there were many examples of various options for creating bootable flash drives and then configuring the UEFI BIOS for correct operation during installation, as well as to protect yourself from unforeseen accidents, which are due to some of the points that we have considered.

All the described options for creating a bootable flash drive work with any version of the Window 7, 8, 8.1, 10, XP operating system.

If you still have any questions on this topic, ask them in the comments. The topic is disclosed in detail, it remains only to take and put into practice the examples described here.

Remove the insides, and that's it! " - the standard answer of couch monks to a frequent question from an inexperienced user: "How to make a regular one from a bootable USB flash drive?" Not everything is so simple, friends, not every USB-flash drive can be considered bootable and not every can be "brought back to life" by simple formatting. Let's figure it out!

The method of restoring a USB flash drive from a bootable one requires a Mac OS.

IMPORTANT. All manipulations with the proposed program will work for others. For the second method, it is not necessary to have Mac OS installed, you can use a virtual machine.

Fixing with the program

We will use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool application, Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Direct are suitable for the same purposes. The principle of operation is the same, we reformat the flash drive into the desired format: FAT, FAT32 or NTFS, for example. There is nothing intricate, we find and download the program, run it and this window appears in front of us.

• In the first field "Device" we select our USB flash drive.
• In the "File system" field, select the file system that you need. If you do not fully understand what you need, then choose NTFS. If your computer or laptop is not very new, then it may not be able to read NTFS, try FAT or FAT in this case
• Volume label - change the name of the drive.
• Be sure to check the Quick Format box, otherwise formatting will take a long time. Depending on the power of the computer, full formatting may take half an hour, a little more or less.
• We press the "Start" button, confirm the start of processing, wait a couple of minutes and be content with the result.

We use Mac OS

For this method, we need the Mac OS operating system, we do not need to install it on one of our devices, a virtual machine with the system installed on it is enough. Do not forget to connect the USB flash drive to the virtual machine.

We open the search bar and enter the word "disk", in the drop-down menu with the results we are interested in the line "Disk utility". Most likely, this result will be in the first place marked "Best match".

A new window opens with the disk utility, do the following:

• On the left in the column we find our device, select it.
• In the "Partition Scheme" area, select "Partition 1" from the drop-down menu.
• We go down a little lower to the "Options" button and in the window that appears, put the radio switch in the "Master boot record" state.
• We set the format "MS-DOS (FAT)".
• We set any name.
• We press the button "Apply".
• In the window that appears, click on the "Partition disk" button.
• After completing the operation, you can close the window and disconnect the drive from the virtual machine.
• We open the explorer on our native Windows and rejoice at the revived device.

Conclusion

So, we figured out how to make the usual, main nuance of this problem from an installation flash drive - it can very rarely be solved by ordinary formatting in Windows Explorer, but in other systems, such as Mac OS, or specialized programs, this is quite realistic. If the proposed methods did not suit you for any reason, then use other programs that were suggested above.

Do not forget that not all devices can be cured, it may turn out that the microcircuit is damaged on the device, and then no manipulations will help you return the working state of your drive.

If you have any questions or wishes - write in the comments!

USB flash drive is not recognized as a disk when connected to a computer or laptop? Can't you put anything on it? And you can't even format the USB flash drive? In principle, all is not yet lost. Most likely, the problem lies in the controller. But this is fixable. And everything will take a maximum of 5-10 minutes.

The only caveat is that the recovery of the flash drive is possible only if it does not have any mechanical damage (+ it displayed in device manager). That is, if you disabled it not through Safe Removal (or something like that), then this can be fixed. At the very least, you should at least try to restore a non-working USB flash drive.

How to restore the performance of a flash drive

Even if it seems like the USB stick has come to an end, you shouldn't carry it to repair. And even more so to throw it away. First, you can try to restore a damaged USB flash drive.

The instruction works for all USB flash drives: Silicon Power, Kingston, Transcend, Data Traveler, A-Data, etc. With its help you can restore the file system and fix any problems (except mechanical damage).

So, the first thing you need to do is determine the parameters of the USB stick. Or rather, its VID and PID. Based on this information, you can determine the brand of the controller, and then select a utility that will help restore the damaged USB flash drive.

To find out these parameters, do the following:

1. Connect the USB flash drive to a PC or laptop and go to Start - Control Panel - Device Manager.
2. Find the section "USB Controllers".
3. Double click on it and look for the item "USB Mass Storage Device". This is your USB flash drive (remember, it must be connected to your computer).
4. Right-click on it and select "Properties".
5. In the new window go to the "Details" tab.
6. In the "Property" field, select the item "Equipment ID" (or "Instance Code").

   

7. See the VID and PID values \u200b\u200band remember them.
   
8. Then go to the site http://flashboot.ru/iflash/, enter your values \u200b\u200bat the top of the site and click the "Search" button.
   
9. Looking for the model of your USB stick (by manufacturer and memory size). In the right column "Utils" there will be the name of the program with which you can try to restore a non-working USB flash drive.
   

After that, it remains to find this utility by name or follow the link (if any) and download it.

Recovering Kingstone, Silicon Power, Transcend and other models is easy: just run the program and follow the instructions.

What if you haven't found a suitable utility for your model? To do this, go to Google or Yandex and write something like this: "Silicon Power 4 GB VID 090C PID 1000" (of course, here you should specify the parameters of your flash drive). And then see what the search engine found.

Never use programs that are not suitable for the VID and PID parameters of your controller! Otherwise, you will "kill" the USB flash drive completely, and you will not be able to restore it.

In most cases, recovering a damaged flash drive is successful. And after that, it will be detected when connected to a PC or laptop.

This is how you repair a USB flash drive with your own hands using a free utility.

And most importantly: in this way it is possible to restore a damaged USB flash drive in 80% of cases. While most specialized programs may not cope with this task.

To create a bootable USB flash drive, we will use programs from both a third-party manufacturer and the built-in Windows command interpreter. Each method is different and has its own specifics, but I think that a simple end user will be able to cope with creating a bootable USB flash drive using any of the proposed methods:

• how to make a bootable USB flash drive using the command line
• how to make a bootable USB flash drive using UltraISO
• how to make a bootable USB flash drive using Windows7 USB / DVD Download Tool

If you are interested in information on creating a bootable USB flash drive for a family of Linux operating systems, then you can familiarize yourself with the information on this link "bootable USB flash drive for Linux".

So, I propose to start creating a bootable USB flash drive in order, as defined in the above list, respectively, go to the first method.

BOOTING USB stick using the command line (I method)

Next, we will use only those commands that we need to create a bootable USB flash drive. Therefore, the figure below shows the sequential input of commands to create a bootable USB flash drive. And please pay attention to the fact that the commands entered are indicated by a red underline!

Graphical representation of command input at the command line

Now let's describe the previously entered commands:

DISKPART - launch the program, a text-mode command interpreter, which allows you to manage objects (disks, partitions or volumes) using scripts or direct command input from the command line.

list disk - we display a list of disk drives connected to the personal computer.

select disk 1 - select the disk number "1", since in our case it is a removable flash drive.

clean - clears all data from removable media - flash drive.

create partition primary- we create a primary section.

select partition 1 - select the created section.

active - make the section active.

format fs \u003d NTFS - we format the flash drive in the NTFS file system.

assign letter \u003d T - if necessary, in this way you can assign a letter to the flash drive.

Exit - exit from the DISKPART program.

LOADING FLASH CREATED!

NOTE: After you have created a bootable USB stick, you need to transfer the operating system files to this removable media. Files must be transferred in unpacked form, in no case do not just add an image of the operating system, for example, one * .ISO file, so it WILL NOT WORK !!!

You can see the complete list of Diskpart commands in the following table:

Table of commands of the program "DISKPART"

LOADING USB stick using UltraISO program (II method)

UltraISO is designed to create and edit disk images. When creating a bootable USB drive, we will use the built-in functions of this program.

Open the program with administrator rights, as shown in the figure:

We select the required operating system image to create a bootable USB flash drive, for example, the Windows Vista disk image is selected here:

A pop-up window appears, where you need to make sure that the removable media, the file of the recorded image and the recording method are correctly specified (it must be installed in the USB-HDD + mode) and click the "burn" button

After clicking the "Write" button, the "Hint" window will appear, which will prompt you to erase all information on the USB flash drive. Agree!

Then the data will be written to the USB flash drive ...

And finally, after a certain time, the operating system image will be written to the newly created bootable USB flash drive for future installation.

THE LOADING FLASH DRIVE IS DONE!

NOTE: Do not forget to set the primary device boot in the BIOS I / O system, that is, make the computer boot from removable media - the bootable USB flash drive you created.

DOWNLOAD DRIVE using Windows7 USB / DVD Download Tool (Method III)

Windows7 USB / DVD Download Tool created by Microsoft for writing operating system disk images to optical and removable media. When creating a bootable USB drive, we will consistently follow all the instructions of the program.

First, you need to download this program from the official Microsoft website. Then you need to install the program following the instructions of the installer. After installing the program, a shortcut will appear on the desktop, as shown in the figure:

Run it with "Administrator rights", right-click on the shortcut and click on the line "Run as administrator". The program will start, click the "Browse" button and select the operating system image * .ISO

After you have selected the image of the recorded system, click "Next", another window will appear where you will be offered to select the type of media - optical or removable. Since we have a removable medium - a flash drive, select "USB device"

We select our removable media from the proposed list, i.e. USB flash drive and press the "Begin copying" button

After pressing the above button, the process of formatting the flash drive will begin ...

After a while, the process of writing the disk image data to the USB flash drive will continue.

We wait for some time until the image is recorded, and in the end we will get 100%, and now the bootable USB drive is formed!

NOTE: Do not forget to set the primary device boot in the BIOS I / O system, that is, make the computer boot from removable media - the bootable USB flash drive you created.

How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see them, does not read or write data? Flash drive problems are rarely caused by normal wear and tear. Most often, the reasons for problems with them are users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experimenting with various software in which these flash drives participate, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we will consider a list of possible actions carried out in the Windows environment that can solve the problem, unless, of course, the reason lies in mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

Recover SD cards and USB flash drives in Windows environment

• Note: below we will only talk about restoring the performance of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and on this account there is on the site, you can still use this program for. Most of the following methods for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

1. Hardware lock

SD cards, microSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or even blocked for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must accordingly be set to the "Unlocked" position.

2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

Problems with SD cards and flash drives can be caused by the Windows security policy. It is necessary to find out if access to removable drives is blocked (completely or in terms of writing data to them) by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or USB ports on your computer. If everything is in order with the latter, the card reader reads other SD-cards, but there are still problems with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to other USB ports, go ahead.

3. Windows Explorer

Standard formatting using Windows Explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing data to a USB flash drive. Or when a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation for SD cards for some reason. In any of the current versions of Windows, in the explorer window on the drive, call the context menu, click "Format".

We leave the original file system and first try a quick format.

If it fails, we repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast one).

4. Windows Disk Management

You can try to format the procedure in Disk Management. To run this tool in the system search field, enter:

diskmgmt.msc

In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we are looking for it among the drives connected to the computer. And in the context menu called on it, start formatting.

Full formatting can be selected immediately.

If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard disk, you must delete each of these partitions. This is done using the option in the context menu "Delete volume".

And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single section. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, start the operation "Create a new volume" and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

5. Programs for low-level formatting

Standard formatting tools may not help in difficult cases, for example, when flash drives appear (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with the RAW file system. The latter means that either the Windows environment does not understand the file system of the drive, or the file system does not exist as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In such cases, third-party Windows programs designed for the so-called low-level formatting will help you restore the USB flash drive.

In fact, low-level formatting is a procedure that is carried out either in the production environment of manufacturers of flash devices, or in serious narrow-profile services. All sorts of Windows software claiming this kind of operation actually does the usual full formatting, but with a different mechanism than the operating system uses. Such programs do a good job of dealing with flash drive problems if these problems occur at the file system level. Consider two of these programs.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

The shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format various types of storage media, in particular, SD cards and USB flash drives. After unpacking the archive with the program, launch it, agree to the license terms.

Choosing free use.

Directly in the program window, indicate the problem drive and click "Continue".

We confirm the decision.

We are waiting for the completion of the operation and check the operation of the media.

SDFormatter

http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

Completely free small program SDFormatter is another tool for the so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB sticks. Install SDFormatter into the system, run it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the "Drive" column. Click "Format".

The program wants to be convinced of the seriousness of our intentions, we press “Ok.

Asks not to touch the drive while the operation is in progress.

Upon completion, we test the USB flash drive or SD card. If it does not help, we repeat the operation with the full sector rewriting settings (nothing more than full formatting). Click "Option", choose "Full (OverWrite)". And also click "Format" at the bottom.

If using the above methods failed to reanimate the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you must stop at this stage. And do not take any more action, except to contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All actions that are described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to both USB sticks, SD and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the probability of recovery is extremely small.

6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

D-Soft Flash Doctor conducts so-called low-level formatting, and along the way also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulties reading individual files that have fallen on damaged sectors. The program is free, portable. I did not find an official site, but it can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first step is to run an error scan.

In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different, and bad sectors are found, we start the recovery process.

The window for carrying out this operation promises that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a volume of more than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to start the recovery operation at night.

7. Re-flashing the memory controller

Programs for the so-called low-level formatting or their analogs, which in any other form claim to resuscitate all types of SD-cards and / or USB-flash drives, are powerless in the event of a controller software failure, when it needs to be flashed. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not see the drive completely, or it sees, it can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection, despite the fact that the hard drive is not locked.