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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: fohat.digs on Wed, 23 July 2014, 08:29:07
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I feel that the time is coming that I need to refresh my Windows OS install. Perhaps on my kids' computers as well, so I am going to be proactive and get it set up in advance, while everything is working properly.
The clear consensus is that a USB procedure is preferable, but it has never worked successfully for me. As I remember, I usually get partially through the process, maybe even 99.9% there, and receive an error message like: "Something is screwed up and I am giving up. Buh-bye"
Can someone point me to the cleanest and most reliable procedure, preferably one that you have personally used successfully?
Google search produces a hodge-podge of results that do not give me confidence.
I have a couple of good, large, empty USB drives and valid Windows 7 discs.
Theoretically, I would also like to know how to do Windows XP, 98, 3.1, etc, in case I get around to building my retro rig.
I also have DOS 6.22 and a couple of external USB 3.5" floppy drives, if I ever get that far!
[WTB][WTT] Does anybody have a working beige 5.25" floppy drive that they don't want any more?
Lastly, I have had similar troubles with Ubuntu Linux. In the past, I have had successful, long-term dual-boot Windows/Ubuntu setups which I enjoyed and appreciated, but after my last upgrade from XP to 7, I have not had an installation last more than a few days/weeks before becoming corrupted except on my laptop. I have a clean, tested, dedicated hard drive (albeit an older, smaller one that I removed from regular service) on which to install the OS.
Thanks for your help, and pointing me in the right direction.
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I've used Rufus from http://rufus.akeo.ie with some success for setting the USB drive up, its pretty simple and self-explanatory, but here's a tutorial if you get stuck:
http://www.pallareviews.com/1063/create-a-bootable-usb-drive-for-windows-7-xp/
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There is a utility program that lets you create Windows install USB drives. The Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool. It may only work for Windows 7 though, I have never tried it with another ISO file before.
Link: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html
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Thanks for the responses.
Let me ask this: these utilities ask for an .ISO file.
I have the physical DVD and I have wondered whether the problem arose from trying to rip the .ISO from the DVD.
Not sure whether I have a commercial CD/DVD burning program, these days I use CDBurnerXP and/or ImgBurn. Are they up to the task of creating an .ISO?
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Thanks for the responses.
Let me ask this: these utilities ask for an .ISO file.
I have the physical DVD and I have wondered whether the problem arose from trying to rip the .ISO from the DVD.
Not sure whether I have a commercial CD/DVD burning program, these days I use CDBurnerXP and/or ImgBurn. Are they up to the task?
ImgBurn should work just fine.
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There is a utility program that lets you create Windows install USB drives. The Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool. It may only work for Windows 7 though, I have never tried it with another ISO file before.
Link: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html
Thanks for the responses.
Let me ask this: these utilities ask for an .ISO file.
I have the physical DVD and I have wondered whether the problem arose from trying to rip the .ISO from the DVD.
Not sure whether I have a commercial CD/DVD burning program, these days I use CDBurnerXP and/or ImgBurn. Are they up to the task?
ImgBurn should work just fine.
I just re-installed Windows 7 onto my laptop last week (ssd upgrade ;D) and did exactly this. Made an image of the DVD using ImgBurn, then loaded that ISO onto a flash drive using the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool then went through the installation like normal.
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Fyi, there are iso's of the install disks online. Just got to google. I'm pretty sure that is completely fine and legal, all you need is a valid key.
Ex: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/page-2#post-124821
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what is this... the summer of reformating?
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I use rufus and download the .iso file from some convenient place. rufus handles XP and up quite well. For older versions of windows it gets very complicated.
What I have been doing is I make a bootable usb dos and copy over the Windows 9x files to it, and you must make sure the usb drivers are integrated or you will have problems. Alternately you can clone the dos and setup files partition from the usb over to what will be your target hdd with gparted, reboot and start it from the hdd which can be easier. If you will be using flash disk like cf card, dom or old ssd you really should use clone method so you can ensure the disk is aligned partition correctly since 9x will **** it up and cause disk problems otherwise.
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Thanks for asking this f.d, and thank you everyone who has responded.
I've tried several methods over the years, and nothing has worked.
Now I have a new procedure to try :)
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tl;dr - tried other USB sticks? In brand, capacity, revision 2.0/3.0
A gotcha to look out for--I have a sandisk extreme USB 3.0. The drive is great and the throughput is more than adequate for me but you have to get a little fancy with diskpart to jump start the install process.
Otherwise setup will deem your visually perfect partition layout unworthy.
The rage runs deep......
--edit-- Good suggestions for ISO -> USB tools already mentioned. Another is YUMI-- available at pendrivelinux.com. Very straight forward
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I've been installing from USB for years. I haven't had an optical drive since I think something like 2007. It's certainly gotten easier to do since then. The only real problems I've ever had is with this one PC that refused to recognize usb as bootable unless it was formatted in NTFS... so basically impossible to use any DOS tools, live linux or anything else really on that one. Makes it a real pain in the ass since I use those things a lot for troubleshooting and fixing problems still. I can't recall coming across any usb drives that I couldn't use. Lately I've mostly been using my mushkin atom or Patriot Tab since they are both nice and fast even in 2.0 mode.
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Manufacturers aren't generally doing us any favors here. Rolling your own BIOS <interface> seems to be picking up steam. More bloat and graphics cludging up the view. Toss in secure boot and UEFI to make things interesting for the pro and novice alike.
Most pre-windows 8 era machines need not worry. Ready to set the net ablaze on the 333mhz?? Windows 98?? SE??? The world is yours
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I'm not sure who said it was the preferred method. You need program to make the ISO, good luck finding a free one that work's. Gotta hope it doesn't somehow corrupt itself. I tried it the install worked but the computer didn't run right, took forever to boot, crashed multiple drivers. I say if you have a disc use it.
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I created a dual-boot windows 7 & Windows 8 AIO (all in one) using YUMI.
Now I recommend using the windows tool (http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool), or just running the bootsect utility, as described in this guide (http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_to_install_windows_7_beta_a_usb_key). which I have frequently used with much success. Note that I used linux to format the flashdrive instead of the windows command line tools.
I have also used imgburn to make disk images, it seems to work well, but I would just download the proper windows 7 iso from digitalriver (microsoft's official)
http://www.mytechguide.org/10042/windows-7-sp1-iso-download-official-digitalriver-links/
I have a windows 98 installer on a flashdrive currently. I think it might be a pirated copy of W98, since as far as I can tell, it's impossible to get a legit one. As I recall, it wasn't too hard to get on there, I followed a guide online. not sure about MSDOS, but freedos is easy to put on a drive.
If you want to do multiple OS loads with one drive, you may want to get a multiboot installer like YUMI. I never used it much, but the other techs seemed to like having it (I would instead have one drive with the OS and drivers both on it, they would have one drive for the OS and another for drivers. to each their own.)
I've been installing from USB for years. I haven't had an optical drive since I think something like 2007. It's certainly gotten easier to do since then.
So true, I remember loading linux in various ways from USB in 2007. It was fraught with difficulty. First you usually had to run a hybridiso utility, then grab syslinux, then it'd often still fail. Often you had to stop the installation halfway through, drop into console, remount the USB device as the optical drive (usually /dev/sr0) then hope. Things are so much easier now.