Corsair Blog

Microsoft has provided a simple tool that enables users to make a USB flash drive bootable and to place an image of Windows 7 onto this drive. This is an excellent convenience and a leap ahead of using DVDs when you have the option. Users can now install Windows 7 from a USB drive quickly and easily and the media fits into your pocket!

Corsair Flash Voyager Mini

In our example, we’ll be using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. This method works with any version of Windows 7. You can find this Microsoft tool and buy your ISO copy of Windows 7 from the Microsoft online store. An ISO file is a type of image that includes both the data in a file and the boot code with which to create bootable media such as CDs or DVDs. With this tool, you can now quickly and easily make a USB flash drive bootable. Microsoft Store: http://store.microsoft.com/home.aspx

One of the advantages to installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive is that when using a fast drive, you should be able to install much faster than when using an optical drive. A fast drive such as a GT series drive from Corsair will provide great results. Also, your USB flash drive will still be fully usable as a normal flash drive. 

Corsair Flash Voyager GT

Due to the size of the Windows installation files, you will need a USB flash drive exceeding 3.25GB of storage space. Download, extract, and then install the tool. Once installation is complete, run the tool. The first step is to select your ISO file.

Browse to the location where you have stored your ISO file and select the file. In this example I have saved the ISO file to a file on my Desktop named Windows 7.

The Windows tool can be used to either create a bootable USB drive or burn the ISO to a DVD thus creating a Windows 7 installation disk. In this case, select USB device.

The next step is to select the USB drive you want the tool to use. All data on the USB drive will be lost so be sure that you have backed up anything you do not wish to lose.

The next step requires no action on the users part and is simply a progress window. The amount of time here will be determined by the speed of your computer system and also the write speed of the USB drive.

Once your is completed you get a status message showing that the process is complete and your drive is now a bootable device from which you can install Windows 7. Typically this installation method will be faster than using an optical drive.

We hope this short guide is useful to you. This has proven to be a very beneficial tool for us. Once this drive is created, it's a much more efficient way to deploy Windows 7.