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Installing Windows 7 System Recovery into USB Flash Drive

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

May
11
2010

Believe it or not, my old desktop computer doesn’t have an internal CD/DVD drive. I found that it is unnecessary because the 5.25″ DVD drive is too big and takes up too much space. Removing it gives more space for air ventilation. Secondly, although DVD drive doesn’t take up much power but I know I am saving some (around 20Watts) from there. I do have an external USB slim DVD writer though if I really need to use it. Everything can be run from USB nowadays such as Hiren’s BootCD, antivirus rescue discs and even installing Windows 7.

I have started using Windows 7 system image backup and restore, so I will need create a Windows 7 Rescue Disc in case if the bootloader gets wiped off. However seeing that I already removed the internal DVD drive and try to avoid plugging and unplugging the USB slim DVD writer, I need to install the Windows 7 system recovery into a USB flash drive. There is no easy supported method to do that from Windows itself but here’s a trick on how to do that.


There are 2 methods on how to create a USB Windows 7 System Recovery.

First Method: From an existing Windows 7 system recovery disc

1. Copy everything from the Windows 7 Repair Disc to USB flash drive. There is a boot folder, sources folder and a bootmgr file.
2. Press WIN+R, type diskpart and click OK.
3. Type list disk and hit enter.
4. Type select disk x, where x is the number of the flash drive listed by “list disk” and hit enter.
5. Type list partition and hit enter.
6. Type select partition x, where x is the number of the partition listed in “list partition” and hit enter.
7. Restart your computer and boot it up with the USB flash drive

Second Method: From a Windows 7 computer. Assuming Windows is installed in C drive and your USB flash drive is F drive.

1. Press WIN+R, type cmd and click OK.
2. Type mkdir F:\boot F:\sources and hit enter
3. Type cd C:\recovery and hit enter
4. Type cd and press the Tab key once which will display your GUID with a string of random numbers with letters, and hit the enter key.
5. Type xcopy /H boot.sdi F:\boot and hit enter.
6. Type xcopy /H Winre.wim F:\sources\boot.wim , press F and hit enter.
7. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\dvd\pcat\bcd F:\boot and hit enter.
8. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\dvd\pcat\en-US\bootfix.bin F:\boot and hit enter.
9. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\pcat\bootmgr F:\ and hit enter.
10. Type attrib -r -s -h /s F:\* and hit enter.
11. Type diskpart and hit enter.
12. Type list disk and hit enter.
13. Type select disk x, where x is the number of the flash drive listed by “list disk”
14. Type list partition
15. Type select partition x, where x is the number of the partition listed in “list partition”
16. Restart your computer and boot it up with the USB flash drive


Related posts:
  • How To Install Windows 7 Faster Using USB Flash Drive
  • How To Make a USB Flash Drive Bootable
  • Burn ISO Image to USB Flash Pen Drive (Kon-Boot to USB)
  • Download Windows 7 System Recovery Discs ISO 32bit and 64bit
  • How To Check and Test USB Flash Drive
    • Unknown Ninja

      Looks like someone needs to have a look at Diskpart usage. “list” and “select” don’t actually do anything to anything.

    • martin

      I am certain this has been covered by you before, Raymond, but is there a “Installing Windows XP System Recovery into USB Flash Drive” article as well?

      Thanks,

      Martin

    • derek

      A good tip,especially if you have a netbook.

    • aBg_rOnGak

      Wow…nice and very useful as always…thanks

    • INDRANIL

      Nice info. Keep it up PAUL.

    • drtank

      this one is much better than the cd.
      thanks for the tutorial.

    • INDRANIL

      Thanks Raymond. Nice info ;).

    • ww2

      It doesn’t work with Win7 x64 recovery image :( it says that ‘operating system not found’

    • Tim

      Nice One Ray, good clear instructions :) although you might want to specify you need to be in a administrator command prompt.

    • kietbull

      Thanks buddy!

    • Bob

      Hey Raymond,
      What size usb drive you recommend to use?

    • jack

      thanks buddy…
      every time i use software for creating pendrive bootable.
      this information is helpful.
      thanks again

    • Hogge

      There is also a great tool for making a windows 7 usb stick from a cd.This toll is called WinToFlash its awesome,and does all the job for you.But to make this you need a second computer with a cdrom.

      http://wintoflash.com/home/en/

      WinToFlash starts a wizard that will help pull over the contents of a windows installation CD or DVD and prep the USB drive to become a bootable replacement for the optical drive. It can also do this with your LiveCD.

    • Hogge

      And also Ray,thanks for the greatest blog ever.
      Sorry for double posting.

    • Chanty Sothy

      Hey Reymond, You missed one important step for both methods. You need to make USB partition “Active” in order to boot from that USB.

      for Method 1:
      6. Type select partition x, where x is the number of the partition listed in “list partition” and hit enter.
      6a. Type: ACTIVE and hit enter
      7. Restart your computer and boot it up with the USB flash drive

      for Method 2
      15. Type select partition x, where x is the number of the partition listed in “list partition”
      15a. Type: ACTIVE and hit enter
      16. Restart your computer and boot it up with the USB flash drive

    • RT

      Thanks for the tip! The flash drive seems to boot up. However, I was wondering if it still needs the Windows 7 DVD when I select “Repair Windows installation” or would it repair the bootloader as such? I’m trying to dual boot the already installed 7 with XP.

    • babolat

      Windows 7: cd C:\recovery access is denied.

      Anyone encountered this? Thanks.

    • max

      run command prompt as administrator should solve the problem babolat

    • Bunty Singh

      thankyou very much, Raymond.
      you are a great help

      From a Windows 7 computer. Assuming Windows is installed in C drive and your USB flash drive is F drive.

      1. Full Format (FAT) your USB flash drive
      2. Start command prompt as administrator
      2. Type mkdir F:\boot F:\sources and hit enter
      3. Type cd C:\recovery and hit enter
      4. Type cd and press the Space key then press the Tab key once which will display your GUID with a string of random numbers with letters, and hit the enter key.
      5. Type xcopy /H boot.sdi F:\boot and hit enter.
      6. Type xcopy /H Winre.wim F:\sources\boot.wim, and hit enter then press F and hit enter again.
      7. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\dvd\pcat\bcd F:\boot and hit enter.
      8. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\dvd\pcat\en-US\bootfix.bin F:\boot and hit enter.
      9. Type xcopy /H c:\windows\boot\pcat\bootmgr F:\ and hit enter.
      10. Type attrib -r -s -h /s F:\* and hit enter.
      11. Type exit and hit enter

      Done

      Now, you can use/select USB flash drive as a boot option.

      thanks

    • x9x

      This is good!!! How about Windows XP?

    • http://GOODJOB Tman

      Thanks for the info. You saved the day. But you do have to activate the partition.

    • shz

      Thanks for the instructions. However, it doesn’t work with my acer laptop with 64-bit windows 7 home. When reboot from usb, it does nothing, but simply shows flashing bar.

    • eboy

      i had done this already but still it doesnt work..
      whenever i boot my laptop, it says “REMOVE MEDIA OR DISK. PRESS ANY KEY”.. help me pls??

    • pertev dural

      copy everything from the windows 7 repair disk to USB flash drive…

      what is W7 repair disk? do you mean W7 installation DVD?

      how many GB USB flash drive sufficient ? 4GB, 8GB, 16GB ?

      thankyou
      15/1/2011

    • eee

      Thanks!
      I wonder if I could follow the same procedure with my Eee netbook recovery disk instead of Windows recovery disk

    • andrew robbo

      You make a Win recovery/repair disk by
      Click Start > Control Panel > Backup and Restore – Click “Create a System Repair Disc” – You will need an external CD/DVD burner for this.
      Mine was approx 250MB
      Follow above & copy the contents of the CD onto the usb stick.
      I also had the disk io error, so just reformatted the usb drive in windows & worked fine.
      Above did not work for me until i made the partition active as per Chanty’s post.
      This was all done on a Netbook, so eee netbook would be fine if you have access to an external burner.
      Obviously I had access to a working netbook to be able to do this, so borrow someone elses, or do above before it’s needed :)

    • Markus

      Hi.

      Great article, but I think you forget to activate the partition in diskpart. After select partition x you must type Active and hit ENTER to set the partition active for boot.

      Just a suggestion, I do this and it worked fine.

    • Andy

      great article.. it helped me a lot..
      thank u very much

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