Bootable Windows on high capacity USB (32 gb and up)
January 29th, 2020
So I made a bootable Windows 7 on a 4 gb USB and then copied everything to a 32 gb USB stick, but it doesn’t boot anymore.
Why?
I also tried a bootable Win XP, and this one has the same issues.
Any suggestions?
maybe a stupid question , but anyways …. which filesystem ? FAT or NTFS on the stick ? did you format the 32 gig stick with a bootable partition as described here :
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Bootable-Windows-7-or-Vista-USB-Drive
Why?
Because you only copied the files/folders, And this DOES NOT include the boot sector!
You would have to make it bootable with whatever app you previously used.
maybe a stupid question , but anyways .... which filesystem ? FAT or NTFS on the stick ?
The USB is NTFS format.
did you format the 32 gig stick with a bootable partition as described here :
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Bootable-Windows-7-or-Vista-USB-Drive
Why?
Because you only copied the files/folders, And this DOES NOT include the boot sector!
You would have to make it bootable with whatever app you previously used.
Well, I previously made a bootable Win 7 USB stick (4 GB) and then made a back-up and made another 4 GB Win XP. So when I need the Win 7 I just copy paste to the USB stick. And it works fine like that.
So I thought what if I used my 32 GB USB stick and put both of them in different folders and just shift the files when I need them… It seems that it doesn’t work like that?
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/devices/windowstogo.aspx
Try Windows To Go
Hi guys,
Wel I use “Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool” to make my USB bootable. This works fine even when I add multiple extra files and folders to the USB stick. What I want to do after that, is to backup all the files onto the USB stick so I can switch back and forth between Win 7 and Win XP bootable files. However this does not work.
I found another tool to achieve this goal by making a multi-boot out of my USB stick, but haven’t tried it yet.
I’m not sure what this “Windows To Go” is as I’m not interested in Win 8. Thanks!
So, just a quick update of how I’m working atm:
1/
I made the stick bootable with XP (version 1)
back up the stick…
2/
Made the stick again bootable with XP (version 2)
3/
Then copy the back-up to the stick in another folder (for example D:/backup/XP ver 1)
4/
So in that way I can switch from both back ups inside the stick and this works fine.
5/ I don’t need to format the disk when I make a bootable win 7 disk, I only need to do that with XP. I don’t know why…
This is why…
Because you only copied the files/folders, And this DOES NOT include the boot sector! You would have to make it bootable with whatever app you previously used.
Larger flash drives don’t really work, you are best sticking to 4GB for a single OS.
Have you considered Sardu to make multi OS install flash drives’s, I think it’s pretty good.
http://mytechencounters.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/create-a-multi-bootable-usb-drive-with-linux-and-windows/
@:
Yes, I like the windows to go app. But it only supports single boot if I’m correct.
Have you considered Sardu to make multi OS install flash drives's, I think it's pretty good.
http://mytechencounters.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/create-a-multi-bootable-usb-drive-with-linux-and-windows/
I downloaded Sardu and installed the program. I then put the ISO files in the ISO folder and renamed them ‘InstallWin7’ and ‘linuxmint’, I could not figure out what the ‘asterisk’ is meant for. maybe to add some kind of sub type? I also want to select the 32bit linuxmint version, how can I choose 2 linux mint versions? Rename them to linuxmint32bit.iso perhaps?
Anyway, I went ahead and I hit the USB button on the right, and it tells me to ‘update’ the Sardu program. And it asks me again… and again… and again… Somehow it looks like it’s installing now and showing some progress.
PS: Also could not find the Sardu_x64.exe file after unzipping as the tutorial is explaining. Just used the default exe.
EDIT: the program seems to have ended and closed without even showing me the report? Any solution or alternative programs? Not really impressed with Sardu atm.
EDIT2: Got an error at the boot
http://sarducd.it/download/SARDU_3_beta5.zip
You just extract and run sardu_3.exe; no updating etc goes on
If you want to try alternative, there is easyboot
http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/
You need two downloads: the RMPrepUSB and DPMS E2B+XP MassStorage drivers 30MB version
Follow the instructions from the first link.
Multiboot is another alternative..
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/
Multiboot is another alternative..
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/
If I understand this correct, yumi is only for linux right?
http://sarducd.it/download/SARDU_3_beta5.zip
You just extract and run sardu_3.exe; no updating etc goes on
I previously tried the 2.x version (the latest non-beta version). I did try the beta version above, however the list only shows linux mint 16 (we’re at 17 atm). I also read that only XP can have multiple versions.
If you want to try alternative, there is easyboot
http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/
You need two downloads: the RMPrepUSB and DPMS E2B+XP MassStorage drivers 30MB version
Follow the instructions from the first link.
Thanks, will give it a try.
On a sidenote, I tried the Ei.cfg removal utility on a W7 pro version without success. Is it possible to “unlock” a “pro” version? I need the “home premium”.