Installing windows 8 on usb.

If anyone doesn’t know how to boot a computer from a flash drive, you can read our detailed articles on this topic:.

Important Note:
Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 32-bit must occur in Windows 7 32-bit
Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit must occur in Windows 7 64-bit

Those users who want to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system and install Windows 8 64-bit from it and do not know how to do this can read the information at the end of the article.

Question. Hello, tell me why I can’t install Windows 8 from a flash drive using means command line. I do everything according to the instructions published on one of the Internet sites. I enter all the commands of the DISKPART interpreter sequentially - list disk, select disk, clean and so on, as soon as I reach the last command

bootsect /nt60 E: where E is the letter of my flash drive, I get an error.

In the comments I asked the author of the article a question. What am I doing wrong? They told me that most likely I made a mistake in the DISKPART commands. I double-checked it ten times, I entered all the commands correctly, I tried two different flash drives, the result was the same. Okay, I think I won’t suffer and made a bootable USB flash drive using a simple Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Then I set the priority for booting the computer in the BIOS from a flash drive, then I reboot and it starts Windows installation 8, that is, everything worked out. I would be happy, but I keep wondering why I didn’t succeed with the command line. Leonid.

Question No. 2. Tell me, how to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system and install Windows 8 64-bit from it? When I create a bootable USB flash drive, I get an error - The version of "BOOTSECT.EXE is not compatible with the version of Windows running on this computer. Check your system information to find out which ×86 (32-bit) or ×64 (64-bit) version of the program you need and obtain it from the supplier software . It seems that I wrote everything correctly, I hope for advice. Best regards, Artem.

Question No. 3 Please explain why I get the following error when creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool:
.
I am attaching a screenshot of the error and hope for your help. I spent the whole day on the Internet looking for an answer and found nothing. Marina.

Installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive

1. Creating a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using command Windows strings 7. This method works in almost all cases. In addition, you can use it to make a bootable Windows 8 64-bit USB flash drive from a running operating system. Windows systems 7 32-bit (all details at the end of the article).
2. Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 using proprietary utility from Microsoft - Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Using this program you can also make a bootable Windows 8 64-bit USB flash drive from a working operating system Windows 7 32-bit
3. Creating a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using the UltraISO utility
4. Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system.

So, first of all, let's create a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using the Windows 7 command line (by the way, it's VERY easy, now see for yourself), then we'll make installing Windows 8 from a flash drive to our computer, laptop or netbook. Let’s also figure out why, when creating a bootable flash drive, if you enter bootsect /nt60 E: on the command line, where E: is the letter of your flash drive, you get the error - "bootsect" is not an internal or external command, executable program or batch file.

In general, friends, everything is simple here, the bootsect program is needed so that on the one you are preparing bootable USB flash drive, created boot sector. But in order for this same boot sector to be suitable for bootloader files of the Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems, it must be set with the nt60 parameter. The nt60 option writes program code to the boot sectors to boot the bootmgr file, which is the manager Windows boot Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

The bootsect program is NOT a built-in utility in the Windows operating system and cannot be launched from anywhere, as you actually wanted. The bootsect.exe utility needs to be launched from a specific folder where it is actually located, with something like this command

D:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 G: where D:\ is the letter of your DVD RW drive in which the Windows 8 distribution is located, it contains the Boot\ folder, and in it the bootsect.exe utility itself, the nt60 command like me already said, uses the main boot code compatible with BOOTMGR. Letter G: Represents the letter of your flash drive.

Instead of drive D:, you can use a virtual drive and an image of the Windows 8 installation disk mounted in it. For example, look at the screenshot. The Windows 8 image is mounted in the virtual drive K: of the DAEMON Tools Lite program. The command will look like this:

K:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 G:

As a result, we will receive a message that the code compatible with BOOTMGR was successfully written.

Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode
Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode. Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted

So, in principle, we figured out a little with the “bootsect” command. Well, now let's go through all the stages of creating a bootable USB flash drive and further installing Windows 8.

Installing Windows 8 from a flash drive prepared using the Windows 7 command line

I personally always use this method and it has never let me down.
We insert our flash drive into the USB port of our computer, all data on it will be deleted, so copy it to a safe place.
Launch the command line as administrator Start -> Run -> cmd

A command prompt window appears. To create our bootable flash drive, we will use the DISKPART command line interpreter, with the help of which we can manage the disks and partitions of our hard drive.
Enter DISKPART

First of all, we must see all the disks of our computer, among which will be our flash drive, to do this, enter the command in the command line window
list disk

Our 14 GB USB flash drive was identified as Disk 2
Enter the select disk command and the number of our USB flash drive, everything together will look like select disk 2

Enter the clean command, it will delete all data from the flash drive and partitions, if any.

Now we create a new main partition on our flash drive, enter the command create partition primary

Select the previously created partition with the command select partition 1

We enter the active command and our section becomes active.

We format our USB flash drive into the NTFS file system, enter format command fs = NTFS

I have autorun enabled from external media and a window with action options appears, confirming this.

With the assign command, we assign a partition letter to our flash drive.

Finish working with the diskpart utility and enter the exit command.

And now comes the final stage, in which our reader made a mistake; now to create a boot sector on our flash drive, we need to use the bootsect.exe utility.
As I already noted just above, the bootsect.exe utility needs to be launched from the place where it is located, for example, from the Boot folder of the Windows 8 installation disk. Take the installation Windows disk 8 and insert it into our DVD-ROM, as you can see the drive is assigned the letter (D:).

Launch the command line and enter the command D:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 G:

Where D: our DVD-ROM, and G: our flash drive. With this command we created a boot sector on our USB flash drive (letter G:).

You may ask me, what should I do if, instead of an installation disk, I only have Windows image 8.
Well, for example, you have a netbook and naturally there is no DVD-ROM on it, which means you will use a pre-created image of Windows 8 to create a bootable flash drive. The DAEMON Tools Lite program can help here; it will create a virtual drive to which you can connect your image Windows 8. Please note that I also have the DAEMON Tools program installed and also have an image of Windows 8, I connected it to the virtual drive under the letter (K:).

The command in this case will be K:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 G:

Where K: our virtual DVD-ROM, and G: our flash drive
We receive a message that code compatible with BOOTMGR has been written.
Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode
Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode. Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted
Thus, we also wrote the boot sector to our G flash drive:

And the last thing we need is to copy all the files from the Windows 8 installation disk or image to our flash drive. Copying files to a flash drive itself can be done in several ways, for example, you can use Total program Commander or just go to the Windows 8 disk or image, select all existing files, click copy, then go to the root of the flash drive, right-click and select Paste, all files will be copied to the flash drive.

We started working with the command line, so I suggest you copy Windows 8 files to a flash drive using this command. For the last time today, open the command line and enter xcopy K: G: /s /e /h /k

That is, we are copying all Windows 8 files from the image mounted on the virtual drive K: to the flash drive G:
xcopy – utility for copying files and directory structures;
D: G: – disks;
Key /s – copying non-empty directories with subdirectories;
Key /e – copying directories with subdirectories, including empty ones;
Key /h – copying system hidden files;
Key /k – copies attributes, automatically resets attributes “ Only for reading»
The Windows 8 bootable USB flash drive is ready, now we can restart the computer, then set the BIOS priority for booting from the flash drive and start installing Windows 8. The process of installing Windows 8 is described in great detail in our article Installing Windows 8. Installing Windows 8 from a flash drive prepared using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Friends, if you create a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, you get the following error:
"Files copied successfully. However, we were unable to run bootsect to make the USB device bootable. If you need assistance with bootsect.

This means you are trying to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit from the Windows 7 32-bit operating system. How to win in this situation, read at the end of the article.
In the meantime, we will create a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using the utility Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.
Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from the Microsoft website and install it.

Let's launch it, I want to say that working with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool utility is very simple, it is suitable for creating a bootable USB flash drive for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
In the initial window of the utility, click the Browse button and indicate the location of our iso image with Windows 8, located in a specific folder.

Open

Now click the Next button

A window will appear where you and I will indicate our flash drive, click USB device

In my case, select a flash drive under the letter G:/, capacity 14.7 GB and press the button Begin copying

Need to clean the flash drive – Erase USB Devise

And the process of copying files to the flash drive begins:

That's all, bootable flash drive with Windows 8 ready, next we’ll look at another way to create a bootable flash drive.

Creating a bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive using the UltraISO utility

The UltraISO program supports the Russian language and is paid, but has quite a functional trial period, so before you buy it, you can test it to the fullest. Website

http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso

Select Russian language and download our program.

Very easy installation.

Launch the program as administrator and select a trial period.

In the main program window, select File and Open:

We indicate the location of the Windows 8 installation disk or ISO image. Let's select the Windows 8 ISO image: which is located.

Disk drive, select our Corsair Voyager 16 GB (G:) flash drive and click on Burn

And the process of recording the Windows 8 distribution onto a USB flash drive begins:

We close the window, a bootable Windows 8 flash drive has been created.

Well, friends, now you can safely move on to our article Installing Windows 8.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit or Windows 7 64-bit in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system. There are two methods, friends, and both of them are suitable for a clean installation of Windows 8, that is, we will be able to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit from the Windows 7 32-bit operating system, but in order to install Windows 8 64-bit, we will have to boot from this flash drives on our computer and perform a clean installation of Windows 8 on our hard drive. It will not be possible to run the installation of Windows 8 64-bit from a running Windows 7 32-bit operating system under any circumstances.
The first option will be to use the utility Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. But we will need Windows 8 32-bit image. By the way, this option has let me down several times, I’m telling it like it is. What is this connected with? It just seems to me that the operating systems from which I wanted to pull off this trick were in terrible condition.

We will NOT need the second method using the command line and a Windows 8 32-bit image. It almost always works.

The first method is to use Windows utility 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. We do everything in the same way as written above in our article, only immediately after installing the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool program, that is, before creating the bootable Windows 8 64-bit flash drive itself, go to the folder of the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool program, which is usually located at
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool
And put the file in it bootsect.exe taken from the Windows 8 32-bit image

Next we launch Windows program 7 USB/DVD Download Tool and create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit directly in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system.

By the way, this solution is posted on the website

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 64-bit from Windows 7 32-bit using the command line.
We do almost everything in the same way as in the section of our article Installing Windows 8 from a flash drive prepared using the Windows 7 command line.
But there is still a slight difference
After entering the commands
DISKPART
list disk
select disk 2, where 2 is the number of the USB flash drive we defined in the previous command
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs = NTFS
assign
exit

K:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 G: where K: the letter of the virtual drive, and G: the letter of our flash drive.

So there is no need to enter this command.

After leaving the exit command line, we immediately copy all Windows 8 64-bit files from our image, for example K:

To the root of our flash drive and that’s it, the Windows 8 64-bit bootable flash drive is ready and we made it in the Windows 7 32-bit operating system.

Installing Windows 8 from a flash drive to a laptop is a fairly simple procedure. However, here you need to know a few specific rules. So, how to install an operating system from a flash drive to a laptop? Let's take a closer look at the entire process.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive in UltraISO: Video

Preparing for installation

It is worth noting that flash drives are most widespread due to their undeniable advantages. They are easy to use, and you can rewrite information an unlimited number of times. At the same time, laptop manufacturers are increasingly abandoning CD/DVD drives, increasing the number of USB ports.

So let's get started. Firstly, you will need . Secondly, you need to prepare your computer.

Usually, HDD The laptop is divided into two sections:

• Systemic.
• Basic.

The first one is necessary just for installing Windows on it, and the second one is for storing files. If you are using any operating system and want to update it to G8 or simply reinstall it, then first save all important data to the main partition. If you do not have a disk with drivers for your laptop, then you must first download the necessary software from the manufacturer’s official website. If you have all of the above, then you can proceed to installation. Also write down your product key so that you have access to it during the installation process.

How to install Windows 8 from a flash drive: Video

Installing OS Windows 8 from a USB flash drive

So, insert your flash drive into the USB port. After this, we need to restart the computer. In order for the download to start from our memory drive, at the moment when the computer starts downloading (the manufacturer’s logo appears), you need to press the “Esc” key. After this, a table will appear with the choice of download location. Here we indicate USB Flash and press “Enter”.

Now the computer will start from the bootable USB flash drive. In other words, the installation process begins loading. Here you need to wait a little. Next, the first thing the system will ask us to specify is the language, formats and input method. Here you indicate the languages ​​you need.

After this, a window will appear offering two options:

• Install Windows 8.

Recovery is a function that allows you to restore an existing OS. You should select this function if you have problems loading. We are interested in the second option. There will be a large “Install” button in the center of the screen. Click it and move on to the next stage.

Now we will need to enter the product key. Enter it and click “Next”. Now we present to your attention license agreement, which we recommend you read. After reading, check the box “I accept the license terms” and click “Next”.

The next step is to select an installation option:

• Update.
• Selection.

The first option is to update an existing OS to G8. The second is a complete installation of Windows 8 from a flash drive to a laptop. We are interested in the second option.

Next, the system prompts you to select a partition on the hard drive on which the installation will take place. As mentioned above, in most cases there are two sections. It is worth noting that for Windows 8 it is recommended to select a partition with a volume of at least 60 GB. The OS itself does not take up that much memory, but you need to remember that while using it you will install additional applications and drivers on the hardware, so the hard drive must have a certain reserve.

When you select a volume to install, you can configure the hard drive. There are a number of possibilities here:

• Formatting.
• Removing partitions.
• Creation of volumes.

If you have everything already marked up, then simply select the desired section and click “Next”. After this, file copying will begin. The computer will restart several times during the file transfer process. You don't need to do anything here.

After installation, all that remains is to configure the system: select a color scheme, enter the name of the PC, as well as select the required parameters and specify the user name. There is nothing complicated about this, just carefully read the prompts on the screen. It is worth noting that all these parameters can be edited later. This is just a preliminary setup.

Over the past decade, the decline in popularity of optical drives has led many manufacturers and retailers to simply not install these devices in computers and laptops. Users actively use flash drives to perform any task. At the moment, many owners of computers and laptops are interested in the question of how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive. After all, as you know, the operating system is intended only for installation with

Backing up data on your computer

Many users are so busy thinking about how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive without a disk that they sometimes forget about backing up personal data. After all, reinstalling the system will definitely delete all the information that was on the computer before, unless there are several disks installed in the system.

1. Files on the "Desktop". They definitely need to be saved, because many users store all their important information here.
2. "My Documents". Many applications save files to this folder by default.
3. Other. Don't forget about browser settings and saving your favorite games. All this can be extracted from the working directories yourself, using the recommendations that can be found in the media.

IT specialists do not recommend backing up music and video files, because all multimedia content takes up a lot of storage space. It’s easier, after installing “Windows 8” from a flash drive, download the necessary files from the Internet.

Preparing a Windows Image

Before installing Windows 8 from a flash drive, you need to thoroughly prepare. First of all, you need an image of the operating system installation disk. You can get it in several ways:

1. Create it yourself if you have licensed optical media at hand. To do this you will have to use special application, which can create images. Professionals recommend using the free ImgBurn software or Daemon Tools who can easily cope with the task.
2. Download finished image from the Internet. It is recommended to download the file from a trusted source, otherwise you can receive as a “gift” from the author, at best, a non-working image or, at worst, a system that will steal and transfer to the author all the user’s personal data.

From a flash drive it also assumes the presence of media. Everything is simple here - you need to start from the file with the operating system image. The flash drive must have a capacity of at least 4 GB if the image was created independently. If the user downloaded a ready-made image from the Internet, the volume is selected based on the size of the downloaded file.

Creating a bootable flash drive

One of the instructions on the topic “How to install Windows 8 from a flash drive to a computer” requires the creation of a boot loader on the media. Its task is to create a virtual optical drive that should be visible to the system during the boot process. Naturally, this cannot be done without special software. The programs presented below are very easy to use, have a Russian interface and full instructions and transferring the image to the drive.

1. Windows USB/DVD Download Tool. After launching the application, there are only 3 steps: you are asked to select required media, image and record. Before starting to work with the program, it is recommended to format the flash drive in NTFS format.
2. Ultra ISO. The most popular program for working with images has also acquired the function of creating a bootable flash drive, which will please all fans of this application.
3. MultiBoot USB and Windows To Go. They also offer users step by step work with the selection of certain parameters during the creation of the emulator.

System Control Center - BIOS

How to install Windows 8 from a flash drive if the system does not see the drive at all? This is a question many users ask when trying to update their operating system from a flash drive. Before installation, you need to go to the BIOS settings (basic input/output system) and set the appropriate settings for your computer or laptop. Before starting all actions, you need to insert the USB flash drive into the computer and make sure that it is visible to the system.

When turning on the system or rebooting it, the user needs to force the system to go to the service menu; in many cases, to do this, simply press the F1 or Del key. Some laptop manufacturers use their own version of calling up the menu; in any case, you cannot do without an instruction manual.

Before using a flash drive, you need to configure the computer hardware. Once in the service menu, you need to find the Boot tab and go to the Boot Devices Priority item. Make sure that the flash drive comes first in the list of devices displayed. The instructions that can be found on the right side of the screen will help here. Save changes and exit with a system reboot.

Games with disk partitioning

Having figured out how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive via BIOS, the user will have to get acquainted with another important system setting called “disk partitioning”. Essentially, its task is to break hard drive to logical partitions within one drive. There are a lot of reviews in the media on this issue, but many IT professionals recommend providing the installer with all the resources to manage partitions and then install Windows 8. And if a beginner can’t wait to keep the installation process under control, then it’s imperative to do a quick format the desired section before carrying out the plan. This needs to be done only using the installer itself and nothing else. Set the file system format to NTFS.

Multiple operating systems on one computer

An important factor for many users is the ability to install several operating systems on one computer. Before installing Windows 8 via a USB flash drive, you need to decide which ones will be used. Initially, it is recommended to install systems with open source code(Linux, Unix and the like), as well as OS Mac.

Windows is installed last. And if you need to have several OS data in the system different versions, then their installation must be done as they enter the market. At first old version, then a new one. The whole problem lies in the operating system loader, which is constantly updated and does not want to give control of the system to its old predecessor.

Standard procedure

Having studied all the recommendations on how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive, the user can begin implementation. The installation process itself, unlike installation from optical media, will take several minutes. Therefore, there is no need to move far from the computer; it will periodically ask questions to the user, who must select the parameters he needs.

After the first reboot of the computer, under no circumstances should you remove the flash drive from the connector, since the system still requires time and resources to create user profiles and transfer the necessary files. If a failure occurs during the installation process (reading error, power outage) or some other problem that causes the installation to stop, it is recommended to interrupt the procedure and start all over again (by formatting the partitions).

Installation problems due to interfaces

A standard problem that many users face when trying to install Windows 8 from a flash drive to a laptop is the incompatibility of the media with the device, or rather the system’s refusal to see the flash drive. The problem is that when the system boots, the BIOS at the hardware level only sees ports of the USB 2.0 standard. Therefore, by inserting a flash drive into a faster USB 3.0 port, the user may encounter the problem of the portable device not being detected. Naturally, the problem is solved by connecting a flash drive to the desired port. The instructions for your laptop or computer will help you find out which of the existing ports uses the old technology.

Defective image for installation

Making a non-working image from the original optical media on your own is not so easy, because most programs for this check with the original after creating the file. But it’s very easy to download a obviously defective image from the Internet. And it’s not the author’s fault, but global network, which can easily lose a couple of bytes of information in its vastness in the process of transmitting it to the end user.

The problem with a high-quality image is solved quite easily: most authors accompany the transferred file with information on checksums(a value calculated by a special algorithm that takes into account the contents of the file, the size of the IGO and the name). Before installing Windows 8.1 from a flash drive, the user must verify these amounts. You can run the algorithm for a downloaded file in any program that can create images.

Problems with BIOS

When wondering how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive, many users will discover that the problem is hidden not in the system installation process itself, but in preparing the computer to work with a portable drive. The computer BIOS causes some trouble. It would not hurt the user to gain additional skills with the operation of the input/output system.

1. Finding out which button calls up the BIOS menu is not enough; you still need to have time to press the key before loading the operating system. You can simplify the procedure with a trick: immediately after turning on the computer, you need to press the treasured button with a frequency of 3-5 clicks per second - the chances increase sharply.
2. In older computers, you need to specify booting the system from a flash drive in several menus. One is responsible for the boot sequence, and the second allows portable devices to operate in built-in device mode. Without the instructions that came with the computer, it will be quite difficult to figure it out.

About the drives themselves and their problems

Many recommendations on how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive are silent about the features of the drives themselves. The first problem may be hidden for the user in the hardware of the drive. After all, flash drives differ in price not only because appearance. In most cases, it is the quality of the installed chip, which affects the speed of operation, that determines the price of the device. If the process of writing an image to a flash drive takes a long time, you need to be prepared for the fact that installing the system itself from the drive will be just as long.

Instead of a flash drive, you can use a memory card (from a phone, camera, and similar devices). To do this you will need an external card reader that can work with USB port 2.0. This solution is very often used by IT specialists, because memory cards with multiple operating systems are much more convenient to carry with you than kilograms of flash drives.

Finally

Having asked the question of how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive, anyone can, using the recommendations of professionals, independently cope with the task. However, it is worth remembering that a computer is a very complex and incomprehensible mechanism, which can spoil the nerves of even IT professionals. Respectively, to the average user you need to always be prepared for the unexpected and always have patience to deal with problems that arise during the installation of the Windows 8 operating system from a flash drive.

In this article we will look at two methods for installing the eighth version of the Microsoft OS on a USB drive. For this operation we will need a distribution kit on a CD, or an image with Windows 8 and the flash drive itself. Please note that the capacity of the USB drive must be at least 8 gigabytes, and if you are installing a 64-bit OS, you will need even more capacity. It would be better if it was a 16 GB flash drive.

First option

In both methods additional software will be used; in the first option we will create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8 using free utility called PWBoot (Works only on Windows 7 and 8).
Download the program from the link - (1.19 MB)

The utility works in portable mode, so we immediately launch the exe file and in the first window put a marker next to the item “ Install Windows", which means a fresh installation of the OS on a blank disk:

Next you need to prepare installation disk with Win 8, or iso image. Proceed to the next step by clicking the " Next" In the second window you will see a field to select a file “ install.wim", as a rule, it is located in the "sources" directory of the installation disk. If you only have an iso image, you need to unpack it using and also go to the sources folder.

Having specified the path to the file, in the next field select Windows edition 8:

Let's move on, here you need to select the USB drive where you want to install the OS:

Now select the OS bootloader section and decide on the name of the boot menu line. Press the button " Install" (Please note that when new installation The flash drive will be formatted and all data from it will be deleted.):

The next step will begin installing the operating system on the flash drive. I note that this is a very lengthy process and will require quite a lot of time.

When the utility completes the installation, the flash drive will be ready for use. Now for Windows startup 8 on the computer you need to select USB as the boot device.

Second option

Another program for running Windows 8 on a computer using a flash drive is called Windows 8 USB Installer Maker (works on any Windows versions). When using it, the operating system will be installed not on the flash drive itself, but on the computer’s hard drive, and the USB device will be used as an installation distribution.

The sequence of actions is very simple - download the iso image with the operating system, prepare a flash drive with a capacity of at least 4 GB, download the program from the link - (1.58 MB)

Then we run it with administrator rights:

First, select the drive letter (flash drive), then use the button Search ISO find the downloaded image, put a check mark on Format drive(format disk) and press the button Create. The installation process will begin.

During this time, the program will format the disk in file system NTFS, will write all the necessary files and create an MBR master boot record on the flash drive. All these actions can take a lot of time - up to an hour or two, depending on the configuration of your computer.

As a result, the flash drive will contain the following content:

Next you need to go to BIOS installation and select USB as boot device. After saving the settings and rebooting, Windows 8 installation should begin automatically as usual.

Probably most netbook users are wondering: ? But the issue of installing Windows 8 from a flash drive is relevant not only for them. The fact is that disk drives are slowly becoming a thing of the past and sooner or later the question will arise: how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive? In this article we will show you how to properly install Windows 8 from a USB flash drive.

note: in this article we will use the term “netbook” to describe the process installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive. The tips in this article apply not only to netbooks, but also to laptops and computers whose technical capabilities support booting from USB.

And now our plan for installing Windows 8 from a flash drive:

Now everything is in order. Let's start from point 1.

1. Create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 8 from it

It's logical that install Windows 8 from a flash drive, you need to burn a Windows 8 image onto it. This process is called: creating a bootable USB flash drive. What and how to do is described in detail in the guide: How to make a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8. There is also another way to create a bootable USB flash drive, it is described in the article: Create a bootable USB flash drive using Novicorp WinToFlash. Although the case with Windows 7 is considered there, the same tips apply in the case of Windows 8. After the flash drive has been made bootable, we move on to the second point of our action plan for installing Windows 8 from a flash drive.

note: It is possible that you have an installation disk with Windows 8, but you need to install the same Windows 8, but not from the disk, but from a flash drive. In this case, you need to create a disk image in ISO format. Read how to do this in the article: How to create an ISO.

The task is to boot the netbook from a flash drive. To do this, you need to make some settings in the BIOS. “How to enter the BIOS?” - you probably ask. There are keys for this, such as Del, F2, Esc. These keys are the most commonly used. To find out exactly which keys are used to enter the BIOS, read the instructions for your netbook. You can enter the BIOS in two cases: when we turn on the netbook and in the first seconds press the BIOS entry key; or, if the netbook is already turned on, then reboot it and at the beginning of its boot press the BIOS entry key.

Let's look at how to configure the BIOS to boot from a flash drive using the example of a Samsung R523 laptop. Before entering the BIOS, we connect the bootable USB flash drive we made (see point 1) to the USB port and to enter the BIOS press and hold down the key for several seconds F2. A window will open:

We now have a tab open Exit, we need to go to the tab Boot located to the left of the tab Exit. You can only control the BIOS using the keyboard (some recent BIOS version already support the mouse), at the bottom of the screenshot you can see hints, that is, which keys are intended for which action. White indicates the names of the keys, black indicates their actions. We are interested in Select Menu, that is, menu selection. Keys are used for control Left And Right.

So, we went to the Boot tab, here you need to enter the menu Boot Device Priority(device boot priority). Press the key Enter, look at the screenshot:

We see the boot order of devices in the laptop. The first is HDD SAMSUNG HM321HI, this is a hard drive or laptop hard drive. In third place is our bootable flash drive, with which you need install Windows 8. It needs to be put first on this list, only then will the laptop boot from the flash drive. Using the keyboard, select the third position where the flash drive is located:

Then we'll move it to the first position. As the BIOS suggests, there is a key for this action F6(this key is located on the top row of the keyboard). Clicking three times F6, you get the following result:

Our flash drive is in first place in the boot order of devices. This is what we wanted. Now you need to save the settings. We look again at the bottom of the screenshot and see that the key F10 intended for Save and Exit, which translated means: “save and exit.” Click on F10, confirm saving the settings and exit the BIOS. The computer starts booting from the flash drive.

Now the second point of the action plan is that how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive completed successfully. Let's go straight to the description installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive.

After waiting a few seconds, you will see a window where you need to select the Windows 8 installation language and keyboard layout. You select the appropriate language and click Further:

Click IInstallation. There is also a line here System Restore, this is a system restore function. But now we are not interested in it.

The process of installing Windows 8 from a flash drive has begun:

We accept the license, check the box next to “ I accept the license terms"and click Next:

We are asked to indicate the installation type, we select the second one, it is called: “ Custom: Windows installation only (for experienced users) " Let's look at the screenshot:

And at this stage we set on which disk to install Windows 8. The screenshot shows three local disks, but in your case the situation will most likely be different. If you just bought a netbook and are installing Windows for the first time, then there will only be one disk. It would be good to divide it into at least two: one for Windows, and the other for other purposes (for example, for storing music, movies, games, etc.)

It is advisable to format the disk on which we install Windows 8. To do this, click on the line Drive options (advanced). Screenshot:

A window with advanced settings opens. To create an additional section, click on New. In the screenshot, this function is not available, because we have three partitions created on one physical disk, and more than three are not allowed. I think this is all clear.

We wanted to format the partition on which we install Windows 8, to do this, click Format

We are honestly warned that all information on the disk will be destroyed as a result of formatting. Click OK

Click to continue Next

Copying in progress Windows files 8...

At this point, the netbook will reboot (there will be a warning).

note: after rebooting, the netbook should boot from the disk on which we install Windows 8. If it boots from the flash drive again, then reboot it, go into the BIOS and change the settings to boot from the hard drive (see point 2 of our plan).

After rebooting, a window will appear in a few minutes Personalization(English Personalize). In it, enter the computer name and click Further.

In the window Options(Settings) click on the button located on the left with the inscription Use express settings(use standard parameters). Screenshot:

Enter a name account and press Ready.

Let's wait a little more installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive ends

And here is the result of the work done: we installed Windows 8 and now we see the tiled interface of the Windows 8 operating system.

Would you like to watch a video course about how it goes? reinstalling Windows 8.1? If yes, download the course: link (234.7 MB)

Switching to work Windows table 8 You will see that it does not have the familiar Start button. The fact is that the developers abandoned the use of the classic Start button. Now its previous functionality is implemented in a completely different way. Since many users do not like this innovation, it is possible to return the Start button along with its menu. There is a Classic Shell utility for this purpose. You can download it at the end of this article. Then you need to install. Installation is intuitive. Once Classic Shell is installed, the Start button will appear. Screenshot:

Click on the button Start, a window with settings will open. Let's look at the screenshot:

In this window, select the Start menu view. We can select Windows Classic, Windows XP or Windows Vista/Windows 7. Then a window will appear:

Click OK.

In this window we also click OK and press the button Start. We will have a Start menu that looks something like this (depending on the Start menu style that we selected in the settings of this utility):

As you can see, we have successfully returned the Start button to Windows 8

Let's wrap this up. Please write reviews and questions in the comments.