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This guide explains how to create a Windows bootable USB drive for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
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Creating a bootable USB drive will allow you to install Windows from the USB drive directly.
When it's done, copy the Windows XP setup files to the USB drive. Please note that you'll only need the i386 folder. If no errors occurred in the above process, you should now be all set to setup Windows XP from USB drive! Step 2: Configuring the BIOS. You should now reboot and go into the BIOS configuration to boot from USB.
To be able to install Windows from a USB, you need have one of the following:
Contents
Prerequisites
Before you start creating a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10), you need to make sure that:
USB Drive
The USB drive you want to make bootable should have at least 4 GB in available size.
BIOS/UEFI configuration
To make sure that your BIOS/UEFI is configured to boot from a USB drive, follow our Boot from USB drive guide. You need to make sure that:
If a Boot Device menu doesnât appear on your screen where the USB drive is plugged-in, check the BIOS/UEFI settings. A Boot Device menu can look like this, depending on your computer model and Windows version:
If you are using a new computer with UEFI/EFI, make sure that the Boot Legacy option is enabled:
If youâre using a computer with Fast Boot option, make sure that Fast Boot is disabled.
If your BIOS menu doesnât list a USB item in the BIOS settings, it may mean that it canât boot from a USB drive. You can try with the USB drive plugged-in and then boot into BIOS directly.
If the item doesnât appear, you need to use the original Windows installation CD or DVD to install Windows or access the repair tools.
If you need to use the repair tools of an original Windows installation CD/DVD, you can also use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Automated Repair to automatically find and fix boot errors.
ISO image
If you donât have the ISO image to create the bootable USB drive, you can download an official image from Microsoftâs website.
You need to have the product (or license) key.
Create a Windows XP bootable USB
You can create a bootable USB drive with Windows XP by following these instructions.
Using Easy USB Creator 2.0
Easy USB Creator can quickly convert the ISO images into bootable USB drives, with just a single click:
To burn Windows XP to a USB drive using Easy USB Creator 2.0, simply follow these steps:
Easy USB Creator 2.0 supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Itâs compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 plus the Windows Server editions (2003, 2008, 2012). You must have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher in order to use Easy USB Creator 2.0
If you have the installation disc (CD)
If you have the original Microsoft Windows XP Professional installation CD, you can use the CD to create a bootable USB using PE Builder.
Itâs important to have the following before you start:
To create the bootable drive with Windows XP, follow these steps:
Inside the PEBuilder folder, create a new folder named
SRSP1 . This folderâs path should be C:PEBuilderSRSP1 .
If your computer doesnât boot into the USB drive directly, go to Prerequisites > BIOS/UEFI configuration or read the Boot from USB drive guide to configure your BIOS menu to boot from a USB device first.
Create a Windows Vista bootable USB
Depending if you have the ISO image of Windows Vista or the original DVD, you can use Easy USB Creator 2.0 or the diskpart utility to create the bootable USB.
If you have the ISO imageUsing Easy USB Creator 2.0
Easy USB Creator can quickly convert the ISO images into bootable USB drives, with just a single click:
To burn Windows Vista to a USB drive using Easy USB Creator 2.0, simply follow these steps:
Easy USB Creator 2.0 supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Itâs compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 plus the Windows Server editions (2003, 2008, 2012). You must have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher in order to use Easy USB Creator 2.0
Using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
To create the bootable drive with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, follow the steps from Using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from Windows 8/8.1.
While the name is âWindows 7â, you can use the tool for Windows Vista systems too.
If you have the installation disc (DVD)
To create a bootable USB with Windows Vista and install the operating system from that USB drive, follow the steps.
Youâll be using the diskpart utility, available in Windows Vista, to make the USB drive bootable. Youâll copy the files from the installation disc (DVD) to the USB drive after the diskpart utility process is finished.
The instructions are:
If you followed the above instructions correctly, the USB flash drive should now be bootable with Windows Vista.
You can check this by plugging the USB and rebooting the system. To make sure that your computer boots from a USB drive first, and not from the hard disk, go to BIOS/UEFI configuration.
Create a Windows 7 bootable USB
You can create the bootable USB drive with Windows 7, if:
If you have the ISO imageUsing Easy USB Creator 2.0
Easy USB Creator can quickly convert the ISO images into bootable USB drives, with just a single click:
To burn Windows 7 to a USB drive using Easy USB Creator 2.0, simply follow these steps:
Easy USB Creator 2.0 supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Itâs compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 plus the Windows Server editions (2003, 2008, 2012). You must have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher in order to use Easy USB Creator 2.0
Using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is available to download and you can use it to create a bootable ISO image from the ISO image you purchased and downloaded from Microsoft.
Before you continue with these instructions, please make sure that:
The instructions are:
If you have the installation disc (DVD)
You can use a USB flash drive (see Prerequisites for more information) to install Windows 7 from.
To do so, you need to make the USB flash drive bootable first and then use the original Windows 7 installation disc (DVD) to copy the contents of the DVD to the USB drive.
The diskpart utility, part of Windows 7, will be used.
Follow these steps (similar to Create a Windows Vista bootable USB > If you have an installation disc):
You can use the quick parameter to format the drive more quickly:
format fs=ntfs quick
Create a Windows 8 / 8.1 bootable USB
Depending if you have the ISO image of Windows Vista or the original DVD, you can use Easy USB Creator 2.0 to create the USB if you have the ISO image or the diskpart utility to create the bootable USB, if you have the DVD.
If you have the ISO imageUsing Easy USB Creator 2.0
Easy USB Creator can quickly convert the ISO images into bootable USB drives, with just a single click:
To burn Windows 8 or 8.1 to a USB drive using Easy USB Creator 2.0, simply follow these steps:
Easy USB Creator 2.0 supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Itâs compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 plus the Windows Server editions (2003, 2008, 2012). You must have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher in order to use Easy USB Creator 2.0
Using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is available to download and you can use it to create a bootable ISO image from the ISO image you purchased and downloaded from Microsoft.
While the name is âWindows 7â, you can use this tool on a Windows 8 or 8.1 system too.
Before you continue with these instructions, please make sure that:
The instructions are:
If you have the installation disc (DVD)
If you have the original installation disc (DVD) of Microsoft Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 you can create a bootable USB drive.
To do so, follow the steps below:
Create a Windows 10 bootable USBIf you have the ISO imageUsing Easy USB Creator 2.0
Easy USB Creator can quickly convert the ISO images into bootable USB drives, with just a single click:
To burn Windows 10 to a USB drive using Easy USB Creator 2.0, simply follow these steps:
Easy USB Creator 2.0 supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Itâs compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 plus the Windows Server editions (2003, 2008, 2012). You must have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher in order to use Easy USB Creator 2.0
Using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is available to download and you can use it to create a bootable ISO image from the ISO image you purchased and downloaded from Microsoft.
While the name is âWindows 7â, you can use this tool on a Windows 10 system too.
Before you continue with these instructions, please make sure that:
The instructions are:
If you have the installation disc (DVD)
If you have the original installation disc (DVD) of Microsoft Windows 10 you can create a bootable USB drive.
To do so, follow the steps below:
TroubleshootingSetup cannot find the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA)
You may receive this error when trying to write a Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1) ISO Image to a USB drive and make it bootable:
If so, the ISO image might be corrupted. In this case, you can try:
Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
To download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, go to http://wudt.codeplex.com/.
Bootable USB will not boot
To make sure that the USB drive will boot when starting your computer, make sure that:
If you created the bootable USB drive using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, new computers with UEFI might not boot from the USB as itâs been formatted using NTFS and not FAT32.
To get around this, follow these steps:
More InformationSupport Links
Applicable Systems
This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:
Thanks to USB sticks itâs now possible to put ISO images onto them and then boot the computer straight from the stick instead of burning them out to CD or DVD. This is a real plus if you donât have an optical drive in your machine. Depending on the speed of your pen stick USB could be much faster than using even the fastest ROM drives. There are several tools available for all kinds of disc images to be written to USB, but each image could use a different loader to boot from which means there isnât one single foolproof way of putting any image onto USB stick.
For example, a useful tool to put Windows 7 onto USB called WiNToBootic might be good for Windows 7, but is of no use for other ISO images. As most of us know, one of the best all round recovery and repair CDâs is Hirenâs BootCD and has long been one of the most valuable discs you could have in your repair toolkit. But getting Hiren from itâs default distribution format of ISO onto USB isnât completely straightforward and you canât just grab any ISO to USB tool and expect it to be successful.
The âofficialâ method to achieve Hiren to USB direct from the Hiren website is getting a little old now and involves manually formatting the stick, installing the boot loader and then copying the files over from the ISO yourself. Thankfully there are much easier ways to get the job done with little more than a few mouse clicks.
Hereâs 5 easy ways to install Hirenâs BootCD onto USB stick with the minimum of fuss, all you need is a copy of the Hirenâs BootCD ISO. The good news is that none of these tools need to be installed on your machine to be able to do it because theyâre all portable.
1. Rufus
Rufus is a great little tool that can write a number of different ISO images onto USB. In addition to Hiren it can also write a number of Linux and Windows based images, and also install a version MS-DOS or FreeDOS which is useful for such tasks as BIOS flashing. Thereâs also the option to run a multiple pass scan to check the USB stick or a memory card for bad block errors.
Using Rufus to write Hiren onto USB could barely get any easier, simply run the program and make sure your correct USB stick is selected (it will format all devices it writes to beforehand). Then click the browse for ISO button (arrowed) and locate the Hiren ISO image file. Click Start to write. You donât need to change any other options unless you know what youâre doing. Thereâs also a useful log file button which can give you more detail if thereâs a failure in the process.
Rufus works with Windows XP and newer operation systems and is proven to be one of the fastest tools around at doing this type of task.
Download Rufus
2. SARDU
SARDU is certainly a powerful tool for creating bootable USB sticks including multiple boot options. In this program a lot of the effort is taken out of the process of you finding the ISO images you want to include yourself. Most of the antivirus, utility, Linux and Windows images supported from within the program can be downloaded directly from within the SARDU program itself, or you will be pointed to the relevant website to get the ISO. Simply click the button on the image youâre interested in to find out more or download.
Ironically Hiren isnât one of those images that can be downloaded from SARDU so you will already need to have it, but creating a USB Hiren is very easy in spite of the wealth of options and functions available. After you download and extract the SARDU zip you will need to copy the Hiren ISO into the ISO folder so it gets picked up by the program. After that run the sardu.exe or the sardu_64.exe.
Go to the Utility tab and make sure the Hirenâs BootCD entry has a tick by it, if not, check you have put the ISO file in the correct folder, it also needs the word âHirenâ somewhere in the file name. Then click âSearch USBâ for your pen stick to get picked up, and finally click the blue âMake a USBâ button underneath.
Download SARDU
3. UNetbootin
This tool also has the ability to directly download a number of Linux, antivirus and utility ISO images from the original developer websites in addition to images you already have. There is also an interesting feature that will install the ISO onto your hard drive partition without destroying your data if you donât have a USB stick. A function best left to experienced users.
Although UNetbootin can create a Hiren distribution on USB stick, there is a problem with the initial Hiren boot menu, but that can be easily rectified. When you run the program, select the Diskimage radio button and then use the button to browse for the Hiren ISO. Make sure Type is set to the default âUSB Driveâ and choose your pen stickâs drive letter from the Drive drop down. OK starts the process.
If you run the USB stick now the main menu will not function correctly and Mini XP will be missing for one thing. To correct this, open the pen stick in Explorer, go into the hbcd folder and rename the isolinux.cfg file to syslinux.cfg. Then copy it and go back in to the root of the pen stick, and paste the file overwriting the original syslinux.cfg file. This will put the original menu back.
UNetbootin is cross platform with support for Windows 200, XP, Vista, 7, Linux or Mac OS X. The resulting bootable USBâs will only be Windows compatible though.
Download UNetbootin
4. Universal USB Installer
Universal USB Installer is another really easy program to use and requires very little effort from the user to get the Hiren ISO onto USB. Like SARDU and UNetbootin it too has the facility to download a vast array of Linux and other distributions by directly sending the link to your browser for download. A tick box will appear in step 1 if a download is available. Hirenâs BootCD is not downloadable using this method though.
Start the program and select Hirenâs BootCD from the drop down (itâs near the bottom), and then click to browse for the ISO on you computer. Step 3 will then become visible where you can select the USB stickâs drive letter and choose whether to format the device before writing the data. When you click Create there will be a confirmation dialog of the following actions to be performed.
Download Universal USB Installer
5. YUMI
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) is by the same developer as Universal USB Installer above (pendrivelinux.com) and is quite similar, but offers the added ability of making your USB stick multi boot complete with its own boot menu.
Usage is almost the same as Universal USB Installer apart from the interface is laid out in a slightly different order. Select your USB stick and whether you want to format it first, then find and select Hirenâs BootCD from the list of distributions. Browse for the ISO you already have and finally click the Create button.
When the process completes a window will pop up asking if you want to add another distribution to the USB stick thus creating a multi boot device. If you choose to do this, it will take you back to the main window above where you can select another ISO image to be written to the stick.
Download YUMI
You might also like:6 Ways to Create a Kon Boot USB Flash DriveHirenâs BootCD â The Best Computer Bootable Repair Disc3 Ways to Install and Run Kaspersky Rescue Disk from USB Flash DriveXBoot Easily Creates a Multi Boot USB Drive or ISO ImageInstalling Windows 7 System Recovery Disc onto USB Flash Drive
My issue is to reset my admin password. The hiren usb tool needs admin permissions to run; not going to help. Please list those tools that need admin or not to execute. thnx
Reply
BF4 months ago
I wanted to create a bootable USB disk from Hirenâs Boot CD 10.6 ISO image.
I tried several other tools (including Rufus) and was not able to create a workable USB disk, until I found yours â it worked like a charm!
Thanks for the great job.
BF
Reply
Hirens 2018 New Generation Support GPT & UEFI READY! this is my project 2018 check this >> IT Tools Pack Solution 2018 Rescue
tx
Reply
Steve3 years ago
Pretty much 100% working solution is burning damn iso to media and run from it in old fashion way ! No fuss, no problems, no headache simply working almost every time. In compare to creation of USB Bootable media still faster and booting it is assured ! Not so with USB ! Way to much problems in process ! It would be better if developers are posting workable usb sticks images and user simply re-flash their own sticks ! I give up on USB Live Bootable Media ! If this isnât working first time its likely that it would not work second time and further ⦠To much negative experience !
Reply
Burning Hiren to CD is the fallback solution but a lot of PCs and laptops these days donât have ROM drives. Writing Hiren to USB and loading it will be much faster IF you use a reasonable speed USB flash drive. And by using one of these methods it works every time, thatâs why this article existsâ¦!
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joe blow4 years ago
way better than even hirenâs very own instructions.
yumi is my choice as i already have a few distros on it.
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That Universal USB Installer tool is an amazing tool with out any doubt. Its best for those people who need tons of tools for Installing different OS on different machines and troublshooting systems using Hirenâs boot USB pen drive.
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Dhirendra4 years ago
Hi Buddy Reply
Great Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for this! I had downloaded hirens on a mac and was not sure if unetbootin would work. Fortunately, I still have a ten year old Windows laptop which I used to edit the .cfg files. I wish I had thought about it before as I would have just downloaded hirens to that pc. One more caveat was that I had to change the sata setting in the bios to ide. That way hirens recognized my drive and I was finally able to get back on my win8 device. Many thanks to raymond.cc!
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mohamad5 years ago
âHirenâs CD to Bootable USBâ is a free to use tool to make bootable USB disk from Hirenâs CD iso.
Features:
Create #Bootable_USB from Hirenâs #iso file. Easy to use. Free Tool. Just 1 2 3 and get your bootable USB.
Download Link: sourceforge.net/projects/hirenscd2bootableusb/
Download, Test & give your feedback.
Reply
Finally i have hbcd on my fdd.. N its work.! :) thanks..
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henry c. magday6 years ago
youâre a genius and it works like a charm, thank you so muchâ¦
Reply
Thanks Buddy
Reply
Socratis7 years ago
Hello everybody Reply
I just wanna say thanks to all. This solution solve my problem and i make my usb flash memory bootable on first ball, Hirenâs work almost like from CD. I am very satisfied. Leave a Reply![]() Comments are closed.
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December 2022
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