7/27/2019 Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7

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VideoDennis Chung, an IT Pro Evang elist at Microsoft,demonstrates how easy it is to prepare a USBthumb drive and use it to install Windows 7.

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Tip:Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7Even on a Netbook

Putting the Windows 7 installation on a USB thumb drive has a fewadvantagesa small USB key is much more convenient for carryingaround than a DVD, the OS will actually install much faster, and you canuse a USB key to install Windows 7 on systems that do not have a DVDdrive, such as a netbook. In fact, you can even install Windows 7 onnetbooks that have fairly modest hardware. Dennis Chung, an IT ProEvangelist at Microsoft recently posted a video demonstrating how easyit is to prepare your thumb drive and use it to install Windows 7. Heres aquick look at the process:

First, youll need the DiskPart utility on the system you will use to prep the thumb drive. This is

a free disk partitioning utility that is likely already installed on your Windows system. If not, youcan download DiskPart here .Launch the DiskPart utility by typing diskpart at the Start Menu.Then run the list disk command to check the status of your drive.Now run select disk 1 wherethe "1" is actually thecorresponding number of yourUSB drive.Run clean .Once the thumb drive is clean,you can run create partitionprimary .Now make the partition activeby entering activeThen you need to set up the filesystem as Fat32 by runningformat fs=fat32 quick (quick,of course, specifies that youwant to perform a quick formatto speed up the process).Entering the assign commandgives the USB drive a driveletter, making it easy to accessfrom Windows Explorer

Then you can copy everythingfrom the Windows 7 installationDVD onto the USB key (a simple drag and drop will do).Now you can insert the thumb drive into the system you want to install Windows 7 onto andboot the system. The installation will now proceed as usualbut faster.

For a demonstration of this, check out the video by Dennis Chung.

Tip by Matthew Graven, a Senior Editor of TechNet Magazine.

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7/27/2019 Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7

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