Decided to install or reinstall Windows 7, but you don’t have a blank DVD or a disc with Windows distribution 7? Don't despair installing windows 7 from a flash drive not such a difficult task! Not one, but two choices at once! You can install Windows 7 using a regular flash drive or a mobile flash drive. It's very simple, just follow the instructions below and everything will go without any problems.

Before installing Windows

Still need to download suitable drivers for your computer and save them to a flash drive or DVD. This is because Windows may not initially have drivers for your computer's network card or adapter. If you do not do this, then after installing Windows 7 you will not be able to access the Internet.

Windows 7 installation instructions

1. Preparing a flash drive with Windows 7

We need to burn the “.iso” image with the Windows 7 distribution onto a flash drive. An excellent program will help us. After installing the program, if you are not going to buy a license, you can use the “trial period”.

Now you need to open iso image with the distribution. To do this, click on the menu “File -> Open...”:

In the window that opens, indicate where the iso image is located:

It's time to insert the flash drive into the computer.

Attention : The contents of the flash drive will be permanently deleted during the recording process. Therefore, it is premature to copy all important data either to a hard drive or to another computer.

Click the “Format” button:

Assign the file system type and click the “Start” button:

A notification will appear, click OK.

Formatting completed successfully.

Now click on “Record”:

Waiting for the recording to complete:

That's it, now you have a flash drive with the Windows 7 distribution.

2. Setting in BIOS to boot from a flash drive

Turn off the computer, insert the USB flash drive and only then turn on the computer. This is done because sometimes computers do not recognize flash drives inserted in the BIOS after the computer is turned on. You can also configure booting into the “BIOS” from the phone’s memory card (I’ve heard many people do this), but please note that this is possible in all laptops.

Our computer (I’ll show you using a laptop as an example). To do this, you must press a certain button when your computer starts booting. You can recognize this specific button when loading at the bottom of your screen. As a rule, this is “F2” or “Delete”, but it may be different.

After entering the BIOS, go to the "BOOT" tab to change the boot order. To change the order, as a rule, use the F5 and F6 buttons or using the menu that opens. We change the boot order so that your flash drive comes first. And it looks something like this.

Do you have a laptop? personal computer or a tablet - in a word, a device on which you want to install Windows via a USB flash drive? Do you have to frequently reinstall the OS and don't want to use fragile and bulky disks?

If yes, then this guide is for you. Read the instructions below carefully and you will definitely succeed!

We can also say that a disk image is the same CD/DVD disk that does not have its own material shell.

Step 1. If you have an official copy of Windows, you can create a bootable USB drive from the Windows installer that came with your computer. DVD disc or use the official ISO file, which can be downloaded from the company’s website. You can also purchase an ISO distribution from other sources (download from any torrent tracker). In the last two cases, skip the following paragraphs in this section.

Step 2.. There are many available on the Internet free solutions, one of which is the ImgBurn program - one of the most popular utilities.

Step 3. Insert the operating system disc into the DVD drive. Open the program and click on the “Copy to Image” or “Create Image” tab (the label may differ in different versions of the program). When prompted, select the DVD drive as the source.

Step 4. Save the ISO file. Choose an easy-to-remember file name and location. Make sure you have enough free space to save the file. An ISO file is essentially an exact copy of the boot DVD.

Part 2: Creating a bootable USB flash drive

Step 1. Insert your flash drive into the appropriate slot on your computer. To successfully copy a disk image (ISO) file, the media size must be at least 4 GB.

Pay attention! When created, all original data will be erased - create backup copy if there is important information.

Step 2. Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from the official Windows website. Despite the name, the utility also works with other versions of the OS.

Step 3. Specify the path to ISO file- the location where you saved it at the last stage of creation.

Step 4. Click on the "USB Device" button. The program can also create a boot disk; to do this, click on the “Disc” button.

Step 5. Wait until the download completes. The program will prepare the drive, then download the ISO file to it. Depending on the speed of your device, the copying process takes up to 15 minutes.

Part 3. Preparing the system

1. Insert the USB drive into your computer. Press the power button or restart your computer. During the reboot, click on the so-called “Setup key” - a key combination that is shown on the first screens of the system boot. Typically, this combination is located on the same screen on which the manufacturer’s logo is displayed. The key varies from computer to computer, but in any case it will be on the screen. Once clicked, you will be taken to the BIOS menu.

   

   Table of dependence of hot keys on the PC model at the time of booting

   

2. Click on the " Boot Menu" Each BIOS is different, but they all have this tab. You will see the order in which the computer searches for a bootable operating system. Typically, computers do this from the hard drive first, so the OS boots automatically.

   

3. Once you go to the "Boot Menu", you will need to switch the order so that your USB drive is at the very top of the list. Again, exactly what this list looks like will vary depending on the make and model of the device. You may see the name of your drive, or perhaps just the words “Removable Device” or “USB”. To change the order, use the “+” and “-” keys - up and down, respectively.

   

4. Afterwards, save the changes and exit the BIOS. The key to this action is usually the F10 key. The computer will reboot from the USB drive.

   

Part 4: Installing Windows

Step 1. To begin initializing the installer, press any key. If you do nothing, the computer will automatically start loading the already installed operating system and you will have to reboot the system again.

Step 2. After pressing the key, the system will begin downloading installation data operating system. On slow devices, this process may take up to several minutes.

Step 3. Follow the installer's instructions. Once the installation is complete, the system will reboot.

Congratulations! You have installed Windows! Now you have a flash drive with which you can . Most new computers support installation from flash drives, use the special option BIOS boot as shown above.

Video - How to reinstall Windows from a flash drive via BIOS

In this article we will look at how to do it correctly Windows installation 7 from a flash drive.

Windows 7 remains the most popular operating system from Redmond developers. We know how to install it from a bootable CD.

What to do when the OS needs to be reinstalled on new laptop without a disk drive, few know. A bootable flash drive with the S7 distribution will help here.

Preparatory stage

Before installing a new operating system, you need to prepare. First of all, you should take care of the digital information located on the system partition. This is the “Desktop” and other user directories.

They need to be copied to another logical volume or removable drive (not the one you plan to use as a bootable flash drive for installing the OS).

If you are working with a new computer/laptop, you can safely skip this step (nothing important is stored on the hard drive yet).

The second serious point is the presence of a driver for the network card. Drivers for not every network card are included in the Windows 7 distribution. Without system software, you will not be able to access the global network to download the missing components and software.

Before reinstalling the OS, be sure to download the driver for the network adapter that is suitable for the “seven” of the corresponding bit depth. If it is not possible to obtain the latest version of the software, use the outdated one included in the package motherboard or laptop CD.

Correct installation of Windows 7 from a flash drive

Having finished the preparations, you can begin to create a bootable flash drive with the installation files of the “seven”.

We will need:

• removable storage with a capacity of 4 gigabytes or more;
• installation image Windows disk 7 (the same bit size as the central processor) in ISO format;
• an application for deploying an image to a removable drive (let's look at the process using the example of a simple portable program called Rufus).

After downloading the portable edition of the program to burn the distribution onto a USB flash drive, follow the instructions below.

1. Launch the application and connect the portable drive to the USB port.

Be sure to make a copy of the data stored on the memory card (they will be deleted during the formatting of the device, then overwritten when copying the distribution files).

For the “seven”, the scheme will be an outdated MBR; BIOS or its updated UEFI analogue can be used as an interface.

How to boot from a USB drive

You can start the reinstallation only by starting the computer from the previously created flash drive. This drive was created in the previous step. Now you need to reboot and tell the BIOS/UEFI to boot from a USB drive, not from a hard drive or SSD.

This is done in two ways:

• change the priority of boot devices;
• Select the USB flash drive once as a boot device.

Let's focus on the second, simpler option.

When starting the computer after self-testing, you need to look at the screen, where an inscription with data will appear, which key opens the window for selecting the PC boot device (F2, Del, F9 and F11).

Additionally, this data is provided in the operating instructions.

Proper installation of Windows 7 from a flash drive

If the previous instructions were followed correctly, after selecting the USB device as the device to which privileges will be transferred to further boot the PC, a black background will appear with the inscription: “Press any key...”.

We click on any keyboard key and wait until the installer prepares to deploy the operating system.

Suddenly, to copy the distribution kit to a removable device, a non-original image of the “seven” (some kind of assembly) was used, the black background with the inscription above may not appear, the launch will take place automatically.

Most likely, such a partition will have several versions of the operating system and additional utilities. Then we select the option of deploying the “seven” of the required capacity.

For 64-bit processors and OS should be set to the same bit depth. The 32-bit version of the operating system does not have enough address space to address more than ~3.25 GB RAM. If there are 4 or more GB, Windows x32 will only see 3.25 GB.

Specify the interface language, keyboard layout and click on the “Next” icon.

Click on the “Install” button.

We indicate the edition of Windows for which there is a key. It will need to be entered at the final stage of OS installation or within 30 days from the moment of its deployment.

Read the terms of the license agreement and click “Next” if you agree with the requirements and operating conditions of the software.

We indicate the second type of installation “Full installation” with additional parameters.

Click on the section that will be used as the system one.

Click on the “Disk Configuration” button to open the configuration interface for the selected volume.

When working with a new device, its hard drive/SSD will have to be divided into several logical partitions.

Often on laptops there are small partitions. They store files critical for Windows 7, which are necessary for a quick rollback and restoration of the functioning of Windows.

It is better not to touch these hidden logical drives at all. There will also definitely be an area of ​​about 100 MB with the “Hidden” attribute created by the program itself by the installer.

The data necessary to implement BitLocker is stored here - a routine for encrypting the system partition and decrypting it at the initial stage of booting the computer.

If the volume should be divided into several, select it and click “Create”, after which we indicate the volume of the first partition and create it. We repeat the same for the remaining sections.

Format them (it is better to select file system NTFS, due to fewer disadvantages compared to FAT32, and having one huge advantage - support for storing documents larger than 4 GB), can be done both through this disk configuration utility and after the deployment of the "seven" is completed.

The size of the active volume should not be less than 20 GB for the OS itself to work; for user applications and files, we add space ourselves.

Select the section and click “Format”.

The program will display a warning that the information on the partition will be deleted and partially overwritten, minimizing the possibility of restoring it if necessary.

If there are no important files on the selected drive, press “Enter” or “OK”.

Select the formatted logical partition and click “Next”.

While the files are copied to the future system volume, unpacked and updates for Windows 7 are installed, we just wait for the following dialog box to appear.

We set the name of the account and computer, taking into account that the latter must be entered without using special characters and Cyrillic alphabet.

Set a password, if needed, and a hint.

Enter 25-digit license key, if available, and click “Next”.

Set security parameters or postpone this decision.

Select the current time zone.

Click on the appropriate network connection, if the distribution contains drivers for the network card.

On this installing Windows 7 with boot flash drives completed. All that remains is to update the installed and download the missing drivers, install the necessary software and you can work on the new system.

The instructions from this article should be used if the user has already burned a Windows 7 image to a flash drive using specialized programs. There is more than one way to write an operating system image to optical or flash media:

Now we will look in detail at how installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive. Let's change several parameters in the BIOS or Boot Menu, boot from the media and begin the installation.

Installing Windows 7 from a flash drive is quick and easy, the main steps

Before installing any system, be it Linux, Android or various Windows edition It’s worth remembering that this process is not complicated and anyone can handle it, the main thing is to follow the instructions that have already been made for you, beginners, and use it correctly.

Steps to be followed below:

• setting up the computer BIOS (setting the drive boot priority);
• installation of the system with setting the necessary parameters;
• installing drivers and setting up the system for the user.

BIOS Settings

Each computer has a chip built into its memory that stores a basic input/output system that has a set of firmware that allows you to customize the hardware. Eat old version system called Legacy BIOS and the one used in modern computers- BIOS UEFI. The settings may differ in both cases.

Now you need to find out the model of your motherboard or laptop, and then the keys that you need to press to enter the BIOS. I advise you to read the article about where many models of motherboards and laptops are described. Typically these are the DEL, F8, F12, F2, F9, F11, and others keys. In some cases, you need to go to a special menu using the ESC key, and then press F10 or F9.

After getting into the BIOS, you need to find the boot options, which are in different types The basic I/O system is different. After which you need to boot from the media and the installation of Windows 7 from the flash drive will begin.

AMI

In the AMI BIOS, use the arrows to switch to the “Boot” tab and find the “Boot Device Priority” option there. Here we will set the loading priority. In some cases, the device name will appear first, e.g. hard drive. To move these devices in places, you need to press the F5-F6 keys. In another case, the user will see the lines “1st Boot Device”, “2nd Boot Device” and so on. Here, first of all, you need to select a bootable USB flash drive.

Phoenix Award

In this type, the necessary boot priority options are found in the Advanced BIOS Features section. The first device is First Boot Device. Here we display the flash drive. The second device is designated as Second Boot Device, and the third is designated as Third Boot Device.

To save the parameters, as in the previous case, press the F10 key.

BIOS UEFI()

The parameters of this type of BIOS are not particularly different from previous options. It’s just that there is a beautiful and convenient graphical interface, and in some cases all parameters are translated into Russian, which increases the ease of use.

On the main screen below there is a “Boot Priority” section. All media are marked there. In order to put the flash drive in first place, just left-click and drag the icon to the first place. Don't forget to save your changes before exiting.

Boot Menu

Using (read), you can immediately boot from a flash drive, bypassing the BIOS. Typically, entry is carried out using the ESC key or another. You need to find out about this in your passport system board or on the Internet by laptop/motherboard model.

Installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive

After booting from the bootable USB flash drive, copying system files will begin. An installation window will appear asking you to select the system language, time and currency format, and keyboard layout. Usually the parameters are already set by default, so click “Next”.

The next window brings us directly to the installation. There is a button for this "Install". In addition, there is another option that will come in handy more than once when using the OS - System Restore (located at the bottom left). If the system suddenly refuses to boot, you can use this option during recovery. And there is also background information– “What you should know before installing Windows.”

Here we come to the beginning of the installation. The next step is to accept the terms of the license agreement. Check the box and click “Next”.

The next step brings us closer to choosing a partition for installing the OS. You can select the “Update” option, which only updates system files without affecting other data. It is possible to use it to restore and update to a newer version.

IN in this case running clean install, so the Full Installation option is selected.

A window appears, which involves selecting a partition where Windows 7 will be installed from a flash drive. If the partition has unallocated space (unallocated), then select this partition with the mouse and click the button below "Disk Setup".

Select the volume required for the system. For Windows 7 Maximum you will need at least 20 GB, and if you install on the system drive various programs, then you will need 100 GB or more. After entering the value in MB, click "Apply".

A notification will appear that they will be created additional sections for system files. These are usually recovery partitions. Click OK.

After creating the partition, it will be called, for example, “Disk 0 Partition 2” or something else. To install Windows 7 on it, select this volume and click “Next”.

So the process of installing Windows 7 from a flash drive has begun. In this case, the system files are copied to disk, then unpacked, installed components and completed. You need to wait a while. It all depends on the configuration of the computer and how powerful its components are.

Setting parameters

After installation, a window will appear where you must enter your username. An example has already been provided. You can enter any PC name you like. Click “Next”.

The next step is to enter your password. Although this is not necessary, it is recommended for safety reasons. We enter the password and hint twice, in case the user forgets it.

We are approaching the finish line. You must enter the product key located on the box with the disc, or received via the Internet. In some cases, you do not need to enter a key (if you are installing an OEM assembly for one language, and the key is embedded in the BIOS). If there is a key, enter it, and if not, click “Skip”.

Now, if you select the “Use recommended settings” option, the system will connect to the Internet and begin installing updates. You can choose the second point, or you can postpone the decision for a while, which is what is recommended. If necessary, the user will install them himself.

We set the correct time and date, although this is usually done automatically. If the time zone is incorrect, select the correct one.

We set the network parameters. For example, for a network located at your home, select “ Home network" A description for each option has already been given.

Installing Windows 7 drivers and setting up the system

Once you have installed the system, the main drivers will already be built into the system. Others will be installed automatically, for example, when devices are connected. You can make working with the system easier by downloading and installing the necessary software.

So, first of all, if you don’t want to manually search for drivers for your PC, download the utility. I won’t say that it is so effective, since the database does not contain drivers for all devices. There have been cases when a driver was installed from another hardware, a failure occurred and I had to reinstall the system again. Use of such programs is entirely at your own risk.

After downloading and launching this tool, it will begin to check the computer configuration and set the order in which drivers will be loaded. It is recommended to select "Expert Mode", to independently choose what needs to be installed and what not.

What programs to choose? I think you need a browser, one of the popular ones Google Chrome,Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Yandex Browser and others. You will definitely need an archiver, video codecs and a player K-Lite Codec Pack (you can choose something else), for listening to music, a player like AIMP or whichever you like best, antivirus. What happens next depends on your preferences.

Watch the video below on installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.

Results

Now you know how to install Windows 7 from a flash drive on any computer. As you can see, it's very simple and fast. Quite a lot of words are written, but this is done in almost a couple of mouse clicks. Let's summarize what we did today and what we need to do next:

• First, create a bootable USB flash drive of an image of Windows OS or any other system. For this, programs such as UltraISO, Rufus, WinSetupFromUSB, WinToHDD, Windows USB/DVD Download Tool and many others are usually used.
• Install Windows and configure settings.
• We install drivers, programs and use the system.

There is nothing complicated here. Problems may arise if the system image files are damaged, then recording or installing the system will not work and errors will appear, for example, incorrect partition style (), insufficient disk space and many other problems that are mostly solved quickly. Now you know what it is to install Windows 7 from a flash drive. For questions in the comments.

Whatever prompted the transition to Windows 7, installing Windows 7 and drivers for your computer peripherals is a hassle, but it’s worth it. If you reinstall it again, all this can be done in about an hour and a half. This step by step guide will help you install the operating system from a flash drive.

Preparing your computer for installing the operating system

Before changing the OS version, it is useful - and sometimes necessary for further work - to copy data, programs and drivers to reliable media, and also make sure that your PC is fully compatible with Windows 7.

Transfer, copying of personal data

Before installation, you must copy all your valuable files from drive C: to separate media: other flash drives, external hard drives, transfer to local network to another computer, laptop or tablet, or upload it to cloud services. Choose any one or more options.

Checking for drivers

Check to see if there are hardware drivers for your laptop or PC on which you are reinstalling Windows. You can do this by visiting the website of the manufacturer of your PC or laptop - the drivers are updated by the developer over the course of several years. For example, a video card driver or a LAN network adapter are often compatible - if your PC model is no longer in the list, you can use drivers from a related PC model of the same line, or search on third-party resources for similar (or similar) drivers from your devices. Yes, to the laptop Acer Aspire The 1650Z may be suitable for all or part of the main drivers from the Acer Aspire 1680, available at www.asus.com.

The main drivers that are vital for a PC include the following drivers.

1. The chipset driver is the work of the processor, buses, bridges and other electronic components of the main (motherboard), without which the computer would not work at all. Despite the fact that the processor is a removable module, its drivers and library files are located not only in the system folder C:\Windows\, but can also be installed separately, from the distribution kit on disk or from installation files obtained from the Internet.
2. Video card driver. Without it, video and other moving effects will be slow, and hardware and software graphics video acceleration will not work fully. You will not be able to select the desired resolution and image format if you connect an external monitor or TV, and you will not be able to configure additional special effects when watching movies and videos.
3. Driver sound card. In modern PCs, the sound module is part of the motherboard or, like the LAN/Wi-Fi module, a standard replaceable module.
4. LAN driver. LAN network adapter (Ethernet-10/100/Gigabit), without which you would not have a PC home internet from MTS or Rostelecom, for a number of years it has been built into all laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks and system units home PCs.
5. Driver wireless networks. All mobile PCs, with the possible exception of some desktop PC models, have network card Wi-Fi. Not to mention tablets.
6. Bluetooth driver. The Bluetooth module is an optional extra that is not available on every PC. This is mainly the prerogative of tablets. And although the Bluetooth connection speed reaches 75 Mbit/s, there are much more popular technologies (USB, Wi-Fi), the speed of which reaches 300 or more megabits per second. Practical Application Bluetooth - wireless speakers and headset; smartphones, communicators, mobile phones and tablets with Symbian and Android; keyboards, mice and printers.

If all these drivers are compatible with Windows 7, feel free to take decisive action.

Burning a Windows 7 installation flash drive

So, you are prepared to (re)install Windows 7, now you need to download and burn the ISO image of the operating system.

Finding and downloading a Windows installation copy

Previously, in the 2000s, a copy of the OS or any software package (for example, a hacked Microsoft Office, Photoshop, etc.) was “cut” into 100 MB fragments and downloaded from the file sharing server in parts (remember the then popular “rocking apps” RapidShare and DepositFiles?). If one of the parts was missing due to a delay due to inactivity (2–3 months without downloads), it was deleted, and the “uploader” was asked to “upload” it again.

In the days of night mobile Internet with slow GPRS/EDGE speeds - when there was no 3G yet - downloading a copy of Windows was a real hassle: if it broke, you had to go back to the download page this file, wait until the server wait counter counts down its 60 seconds, wait for the “Download file (free)” button to appear. Next, the user opened the page in an HTML editor and found a link to the file in its code (the longest link with a “kilometer” code), replaced his old link with a new one in the download manager (for example, in FlashGet or Download Master) and clicked on “ Continue downloading." Particularly cunning ones set a long melody or some song to the download error and left the PC sound at maximum volume in order to easily wake up and repeat the above steps to restore the interrupted download. Half-sleepless nights and one thought: “I wish I could finish it soon!” - very familiar to users of those years...

Today everything is decided by torrent trackers. The easiest way is to find a Windows ISO image as a torrent. Each tracker organizes a forum (with subforums by content category), where each download has its own topic - finding the right download has become very easy.

Any program source code and image files obtained from fraudulent resources are known to be “viral.” In fact, these services are not well-known “soft portals” or file hosting services, but their fakes with a clumsy web address like “depozzitfiles.com.ru”, extorting money from beginners and simply narrow-minded people who do not know their way around the Internet. In order not to run into a virus, “spy” and/or “advertiser” instead of the expected copy of “cured” Windows, use well-known torrent trackers, for example, rutracker.org, rutor.org, nnm-club.me or a similar one of several others - they are trusted by tens of millions of users. If your cellular provider has denied you access to your favorite tracker, enable VPN encryption, set up a free Tor service, or use an anonymizer or some free proxy servers, preferably operating outside of Russia.

Burning an image

There are two ways to copy Windows to a flash drive or disk:

• by using command line;
• through special utilities.

Via command line

The most advanced way to burn an image of Windows (or any other OS) is to use the command line.

The instructions are the same for Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 - both in terms of recording the flash drive itself, and in the process itself under an already running version of Windows. All steps are exactly the same.

If you want to change the drive letter to the desired one, for example, X, enter the command “assign letter=X” before closing the DiskPart tool.

Now you need to copy the contents of any Windows 7 installation disk to a USB flash drive. You can do this in two ways:

• use a ready-made installation DVD, simply copying files and folders from it in the form in which they were on the source drive;
• download and unpack any archive file (RAR, ZIP or ISO, which can also be viewed and copied) in any archiver (for example, WinRAR) or a utility such as UltraISO, which is discussed below.

Once the copying is complete, you will see the files and folders of the Windows copy on the flash drive. If you install Windows by logging in from another working copy/ Windows versions, then it will be enough to run the installer setup.exe. But in order to reliably get rid of all the problems and install Windows on a pre-formatted C: drive, you still need to boot the PC from a flash drive, which is activated from the BIOS/UEFI firmware “hardwired” into the PC’s motherboard.

Using the UltraISO utility

The UltraISO application will make it easier for you to burn a Windows installation flash drive - before you start copying the contents of the ISO image, it will itself designate the flash drive as bootable.

1. Launch UltraISO and give the command “File - Open”, select your Windows image file.
2. If the flash drive has not been formatted, click the “Format” button in the window that opens.
3. Finally, select the recording method “USB-HDD+” and click on “Burn”.

Video: alternative recording of a Windows 7 flash drive with Daemon Tools

Other ISO burning apps

UltraISO is not the only utility. There are others:

• WinSetupFromUSB is a favorite utility for many users. Windows entries to flash drives and external drives;
• Win2Bootice;
• Rufus (supports burning Windows installation disks, well managed from UEFI - the BIOS successor program);
• Universal USB Installer;
• Media Creation Tool is a proprietary installer from Microsoft that has become more popular than ever with the advent of Windows 10;
• UNetBootin.

The application and utilities can also be used to record an image of Windows 10. In our article you can read the instructions:

Features of recording Windows to USB drives and other external media

Quickly formatting a flash drive before starting recording will take up to 10 seconds, regardless of its wear and tear. It is provided by default - unlike the full format, which can take up to half an hour, quick formatting speeds up the procedure for creating an installation flash drive without affecting the quality of subsequent recording.

Recording, depending on the speed of the USB interface (USB 2.0 and 3.0 versions differ), the read/write speed of the flash drive (they have some variation in speeds, when buying, try to get the “fastest” flash drive, and do not take the first one you come across), can take from 20 minutes to several hours. The time it takes to write a Windows image also depends on the wear and tear of the flash drive (weak flash memory sectors, frequent erasing of data in dozens of passes using special utilities like DiskShredder, “hot” shutdowns when reading data, etc.). On old computers with Windows XP, when using flash drives from 5-10 years ago, there were cases when the Windows 7/8/10 image took 10 or more hours to record.

If the flash drive has at least one “dead” sector (this is checked by Victoria and HDD-Scan/Regenerator utilities), it should be thrown away; it is not suitable for serious tasks. Even after software repair (reassignment of Bad sectors), it is used only as an auxiliary drive, and not as a disk with Windows - sudden errors that occur when installing Windows from such a flash drive will lead to frequent “brakes” and “freezes” of the PC at the most unexpected moments, Frequent error messages about SYS and DLL libraries stored in the C:\Windows\ folder after installation.

The result of a successful write is the structure of files and folders created by the utility or Windows command line on the flash drive.

Setting up the BIOS to boot your computer from a flash drive

So, the installation media has been created and tested. Your computer, laptop or tablet is ready to install Windows. But first, you need to make sure that USB drives are set to the highest priority when booting your PC from any type of drive.

Home PCs, laptops, netbooks and ultrabooks can use different BIOS version: Award BIOS, AMI Bios and Phoenix BIOS. The BIOS Setup utility is entered in the first seconds after turning on (restarting) the PC, when the logo of the manufacturer of the PC or laptop motherboard is displayed on the screen, by pressing the Del or F2/F4/F7 key.

Setting up in Award BIOS

Do the following.

1. From the main BIOS menu, select “Integrated Peripherals”.
2. Select “USB Controller” and make sure it is turned on (“Enabled”). A similar setting should be in the “USB 2.0 Controller” item - if it is disabled, then writing and reading flash drives will work at the speed of USB 1.2, and this is several times slower than USB 2.0. Menu items are selected using the “up” and “down” keys on the keyboard, and the setting is changed using the Enter key and the same arrows. To leave this submenu, press the Esc key.
3. Return to the main BIOS menu and give the command: “Advanced BIOS Features” - “Hard Disk Boot Priority”.
4. Select your external drive (in this case the name of the flash drive) using the “up” or “down” key and move it to the first position of the boot list using the “+” or Page Up/Down key.” Exit this menu by pressing the Esc key.
5. In the previous submenu, move to the “First Boot Device” item and press the Enter key. Use the arrows to select “USB-HDD” (the flash drive is seen by the BIOS as external hard drive), pressing Enter to confirm.
6. Return to the main menu using the Esc key and press F10 to save the new settings (or select “Save & Exit Setup” - “Save settings and exit Setup”). A prompt will appear - press the Y key (“Yes”) and Enter. The PC will restart with the new BIOS setting.

Setting the startup method in AMI BIOS

The controls in all BIOS versions, including this one, are the same.

1. Enter the BIOS and give the command “Advanced - USB Configuration”.
2. Check that the “USB Function” and “USB 2.0 Controller” settings are enabled (“Enabled”). USB 2.0 Controller Mode function ( USB mode 2.0) must be active (“High Speed”).
3. Return to the main menu of the AMI BIOS and give the command “Boot - Hard Disk Drives”.
4. Select the first device (“First Drive”) and assign your flash drive as it.
5. Return to the previous submenu and select “Boot Device Priority”. Check that the flash drive is first in the list of disks.
6. Return to the main menu, press F10 and save the settings.

Setting up startup with Phoenix BIOS

Phoenix BIOS is a variation of Award BIOS - but there are still differences. The settings here are much simpler and more modest than in the Award/AMI BIOS.

1. In the Phoenix Award BIOS main menu, go to the “Peripherals” submenu and check if the USB interface is enabled.
2. Go to the “Advanced” submenu and set boot from a flash drive as the first boot disk.
3. Press F10 and save the settings by pressing, as in Award BIOS, the Y and Enter keys.

After this, the PC will poll the ports for the presence of a flash drive - if the latter has a bootloader with a working copy of Windows, the Windows installation program will start.

Table: instructions for entering different BIOS firmware

The most popular BIOS versions are Award/Phoenix or AMI. If your laptop, tablet or PC is so new and advanced compared to computers of the past, it will most likely run the next generation of “BIOS” - UEFI.

In the BIOS you can find out the characteristics and parameters of the computer, information about the operating system:

Configuring UEFI to boot the computer from a USB drive

Unlike the BIOS program, in which all commands are delimited strictly by keys and their combinations, UEFI has a nice feature - mouse control. You can also use it to access the Internet. When the UEFI firmware starts, it loads the driver for the mouse, and even wireless mice with Nano Receiver technology can work.

But for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth mice you need a full-fledged operating system, and not UEFI firmware - Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers have not yet “learned” to work with the program.

Externally, UEFI is somewhat reminiscent of the Linux/Android OS - the advanced settings are many times richer and more varied than in the BIOS. The BIOS emulation mode has also been preserved - just as the Windows Command Line emulates the MS-DOS system, but the commands may not necessarily be “DOS”.

As an example, use the Asus UEFI program.

1. To enter UEFI at the beginning of PC startup, press the F2/F4/F7/F10 or Del key - the UEFI interface will open.
2. Press F7 to enter advanced mode.
3. Give the command “Boot - USB Support” and select “Full Initialization”.
4. Go to the “Boot order from hard drives” item, select “Option No. 1” and assign it the value of a flash drive.
5. To save the setting, press F10 and confirm the request.

How to Install Windows 7 - Step by Step Process

So, having dealt with the settings that go beyond the OS itself, you can start installing Windows. The flash drive must be connected to any USB port.

In versions of Windows 95/98/Me/Se, disk configuration was reduced to actions performed from a floppy disk or CD, on which, in addition to Windows, disk pre-configuration was carried out through MS-DOS OS commands, without any emulators or command commands. Windows strings. The Windows installation itself was controlled by the "Windows Setup Wizard", launched from the winnt.exe startup file from the I386 folder on the Windows CD. However, you can transfer this entire installation package to external drives and flash drives - and run from them - in no time.

The Windows 2000/XP version used a self-starting configurer to configure the disk, which looked like the BIOS interface. First, the PC driver files were loaded; selection of functions and menus was carried out by pressing keys and their combinations, and not by entering commands, as in MS-DOS. This greatly simplified the Windows installation process - it went according to a pre-planned plan, without the need to manually load drivers and connect external media (CD/DVD drive, USB controllers). From an already working version of Windows, you could also perform an “over-the-top” installation by running the setup.exe file from the CD.

Starting with Windows Vista, disk configuration has moved entirely to a graphical interface. Only the Grub4DOS (or similar) preloader is launched from the flash drive, in which you have a choice between booting the PC from the disk and installing Windows Vist/7/8/8.1/10. Next, control passes to the Windows installer, which immediately downloads the files, and the whole process repeats according to the already familiar pattern. If there is no Grub4DOS bootloader on the flash drive, then after the inscription “Boot from CD/DVD, press any key” (“Boot the computer from a CD/DVD media, press any key” - this inscription may not be there), the Windows bootloader itself starts.

Today's Windows installer is a self-loading “installer” that has the minimum necessary functionality for updating/reinstalling Windows from a copy recorded on a flash drive, as well as for servicing the built-in drive, from which Windows itself will work.

1. Wait for the message “Windows is downloading files” with a progress bar for loading Windows 7 installation files into the PC’s RAM. Loading progress indicator Windows files 7 Installer must reach the end.
2. After the inscription “Starting installation” on a blue background resembling a picture, an invitation to begin the process will appear.
3. Accept the terms of the license agreement with Microsoft.
4. The Windows 7 setup application may ask you how to reinstall. To bury past Windows glitches on your PC, choose the permanent Windows installation option.
5. You will be prompted to redistribute disk space and re-format drives C: and D:, which you will re-create. After selecting any of them, click the “Disk Setup” link. The “Create”, “Delete” and “Format” links are self-explanatory. The “Expand” function is actually moving the conditional boundary of the section logical drives C:, D: (and the following, if any) - not supported in all versions of Windows; It is better to expand a volume (logical drive) on an already installed and fully working Windows system.
6. Once you've finished setting up your disk structure, click Next. The installation of Windows 7 will begin.

Errors during installation may include the following:

• freezing of the percentage indicator at any stage of the installations, for example, at 99%;
• unnecessary reboots, which should not normally occur;
• freezing, freezing of the mouse pointer at regular intervals.

This indicates the following problems:

• wear of the flash drive, sudden appearance of “broken” or weakened sectors during operation;
• the same damage to the hard drive or SSD drive of the PC;
• unstable operation of the USB port chip (for example, the flash drive does not have enough power), broken contacts of the USB connector;
• unstable operation of the USB bus on the motherboard;
• unstable operation of RAM modules, causing them to spontaneously shut down;
• viruses that got onto the flash drive the day before and damaged the Windows installation program (which caused, for example, overloading the processor and RAM).

If everything works smoothly, the result will be a completely completed installation, and Windows system will start from the internal disk, as it should be.

Normally, the installation process takes from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the performance of the PC or gadget.

Video: How to install Windows 7 and key device drivers

Installing drivers

So, you have found the drivers and checked whether they are compatible with Windows 7. For example, the Samsung R60Y+ laptop, the peak of sales of which was in 2008, when Windows Vista was popular, allows installation of the drivers included on a separate DVD media , on Windows 7.

The driver, which did not work when trying to start the installation from the main “setup.exe” file on the CD, is installed as follows.

1. Via dispatcher Windows devices. When manually searching for system SYS or INI files in the Add Hardware Wizard, you can specify the path on the disk. Devices previously listed as unknown will be installed, and Windows will prompt you to restart your PC.
2. By running the auxiliary files setup/install.exe located in the “x32” (or “x64” subfolder, the folder name depends on the bitness of the PC and the version of Windows) from the folder with the files of this driver. If none of the downloaded drivers work through setup.exe, then by going through the contents of all downloaded folders and archives, and even the system folder C:\Windows\, you can still achieve success.

The Windows 8/8.1/10 system, which successfully works on laptops that are less than 10 years old due to their good performance, already contains all the main drivers - for example, LAN and Wi-Fi network devices will work the first time Windows startup. In exceptional cases, only video and sound card drivers may be required - without a sound card driver, the microphone and sound input of the PC will not work, and without a video driver, connecting external monitors via HDMI will not be possible.

Manual method

For example, you need to install a Bluetooth driver. You manually searched through the contents of the disk, downloaded a lot different versions drivers and, break, and their folders, you can already guess where there may be versions of files that you could not register manually.

1. Reconnect bluetooth module, the driver for which has not yet been installed.
2. In the dialog box that appears, select driver installation.
3. Choose to install without searching the Internet.
4. The wizard will prompt you to insert a disc - refuse to install from the disc.
5. Select the option to search for a driver on this PC.
6. Using the Browse button, select the folder where you think the driver files you are looking for may be located.
7. If the found driver files are fully compatible with your device, the latter will be installed immediately.
8. The Windows 7 system will report successful installed device, restart your PC.

Video: how to install a driver on an unknown device

After installing Windows 7 and drivers, the best step would be to create your own ISO image (assembly) of the operating system - everything that you have been looking for for so long and with such difficulty found and installed would be recorded in it. Great job!