Installing Windows 7 From a USB Drive

Netbooks are slowly gaining popularity among users who need an ultra portable computer, purely for Internet browsing and basic data processing. While the absence of an optical drive is one of the major contributing factors to the high battery life of netbooks, it also creates a problem when it comes to installing a new operating system like Windows 7. Conventional installation of an operating system via installation DVD or CD is not possible in this case. The only alternative is to go for installing Windows 7 from a USB drive. It is possible to convert a USB flash drive into a bootable drive for loading the operating system.

Realizing that installation of any computer operating system on netbooks would be impossible with no optical drive, a facility for loading an operating system through a USB flash drive was made available. This comes in handy, even when you are installing an operating system like Windows 7 on desktop computer with no optical drive.

Windows 7 Installation From Bootable USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives are truly versatile devices, providing a lot of functions which go much beyond their basic functions as external data storage devices. They can be used to boost up system speed (using Readyboost technology) and as a USB bootable device to load Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

So what are the things you will need? The primary requisite for this installation is of course the ISO image file of Windows 7. Copy it on the hard drive of your computer if possible. Other than that, you will need a working USB flash drive with at least 4 GB of storage capacity. If you don't have one, it's essential that you buy or borrow one. In addition to these two things, you will need to download the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool from Microsoft's official website. Here's the procedure:

Step 1: Install USB/DVD Tool
Get the ISO image copied on hard drive or accessible through an optical drive (if there is one). Firstly, get the USB/DVD tool installed on your computer. Install and run it on your system. You will see a window asking for ISO file location.

Step 2: Copy Files
To copy the Windows 7 installation files, first choose the ISO file location. Once you select the location, you will be asked to provide the destination for copying the files from ISO image. You can choose between a DVD or a USB drive. Select the USB flash drive and insert it into the USB port (Make sure it is formatted). Specify the location of the USB drive and hit the 'Begin Copying' button.

Step 3: Create Bootable USB
Once you hit that button, actual copying of files will begin. Depending on the RAM capacity of your computer, the copying and installation will take some time. Once you get the indication that copying is done, your bootable USB drive is ready.

Step 4: Insert USB Drive and Reboot
Unplug the USB drive and insert it into the USB port of the netbook or any other computer. Change the booting order of the computer by changing BIOS settings and reboot the computer, with USB drive plugged in. The computer will boot through the USB drive and installation will begin.

As you can see, installing an operating system from a USB flash drive is extremely simple using the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool, made available as a free download by Microsoft. Just follow the above instructions to boot up and install Windows 7 on your netbook.