We launch Windows from a flash drive. How can you run any version of Windows from a flash drive? Running Windows from a memory card without installation

Sometimes you need to boot a computer with a damaged operating system in order to get files from the system disk and reinstall Windows. Most of the flash drives offered, unfortunately, do not work very adequately, for example they fall into a blue screen, etc. This flash drive does not pretend to be a full-fledged operating system, but as practice has shown, Windows XP boots from it on almost any hardware that supports booting from USB devices.

In order for the disk to be visible, it must work in IDE mode; if you have AHCI mode in your BIOS, then you need to at least temporarily change it to IDE.

(42MB) - A simple bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP. Allows you to extract files if your main system does not boot. It has a built-in GHost that allows you to make disk backups or cloning. There are problems with launching other programs and antiviruses... But it is simple and very unpretentious to hardware, and also has a microscopic size.

Due to the enormous popularity of this article, I offer another flash drive.

or download in parts - There are many differences. This flash drive contains a lot of utilities for restoring your computer. You can run your own programs, for example, the latest antiviruses. It is also possible to install drivers for your equipment, set up network connections, edit the registry, restore information from a hard drive, utilities for cloning and backing up data, etc. Tested on computers from the Pentium 4 generation and higher, as well as on a couple of netbooks. To run you need 512MB of RAM and a flash drive of at least 1GB. Unpacking to a flash drive is completely similar to that described below, only the image name has changed to mega_flash.gho. If possible, write in the comments about the results of use. If this flash drive does not boot, then the treatment recipe is described at the very end of the article(Missing MBR Helper error)!

Actually, the archive contains an image of a flash drive and a Windows version of the GHost program.

So, from the flash drive (512MB in size or more) we remove everything useful, because... it will be formatted into the NTFS file system when the image is deployed to it and we run the ghost32.exe file and click OK.

The interface is very ascetic, select Local -> Disk -> From Image. That is, we will expand the disk from the image.

By default, the same folder in which you unpacked the downloaded archive should open, you need to select the file flash.gho - this is the image of the flash drive.

Now the most important moment! We choose where to unpack this image. There are no drive letters here, there is only the size, so be guided by it so as not to accidentally ruin another drive!

Here in the New Size field you need to select the maximum size of the flash drive, if suddenly the number does not correspond to the size of the flash drive, then write the size larger than your flash drive, then the number will automatically adjust to the size of your flash drive.

That’s it, now when you click “Yes” the unpacking will begin.

If such an error suddenly appears, it means that the flash drive is in use. Either you have some program open from it, or it can, for example, be used by a player like Winamp. Click “Yes” and then the process will forcibly close everything that was connected to the flash drive.

The image is unpacked, click "Continue"

And click "Quit"

All that remains is to boot from the created flash drive. The space on the flash drive takes up about 150MB, so you can leave it like that just in case. In addition, Norton GHost can be used to back up data, as well as Acronis True Image. For example, to backup the system partition, select Local -> Partition -> To Image, and to unpack the image back to disk, respectively, Local -> Partition -> From Image.

If when you try to load a mega flash drive (the big one) an error occurs, then . After unpacking the archive, run the file “grubinst_gui.exe” where it says DISK, select a disk that matches the size of your flash drive and click on the Install button. The bootloader will write this to it. Thanks to Deimos for looking into this issue. I’ve already tried unpacking on many flash drives, but no errors arose anywhere to fix anything. Good luck everyone!

Using a flash drive for this purpose is convenient. Let's look at how to start a computer or laptop from a flash drive.

You need to start by choosing one of the alternative actions:

Changing the order of boot devices in the BIOS;
Selecting a boot device in the Boot Menu.

You must first get into the BIOS Utility settings. They get into them using the Delete (most often) or F2 (the most common cases) keys.

The BIOS call must be made before the OS boots - at the first black screen or reflection of the manufacturer's logo.

Sometimes what you need to click can be seen in the picture of the initial screen:

Changing Boot to UEFI

The UEFI software is graphical and changing boot devices is intuitive:

Most options usually involve changing the boot order by simply dragging and dropping the disk images with the mouse.

Actions in AMI BIOS

Before entering the Bios, the flash drive is connected to the PC in advance.

To start a computer or laptop from a flash drive, the following operational procedure is performed:

At the top of the menu, use the “right” button to select “Boot”;
By clicking “Hard Disk Drives”, press “Enter” under the “1st Drive” item in the menu that opens;
The list contains the name of the flash drive - the cursor is placed on it;
Press Enter and Esc alternately;
Then in “Boot device priority” you press “Enter” on “First boot device”;
The flash drive is indicated again:

We work in BIOS AWARD

Selecting a boot device in Award BIOS is done in the menu settings. You need to select “First Boot Device” with the cursor in “Advanced BIOS Features” and hit “Enter”:

In the list that appears, in order to boot a computer or laptop from a flash drive, install “USB-HDD” (“USB-Flash”).

After this, use the Esc button to move up a level and select the “Save/Exit” option:

Setting up in H2O BIOS

You can boot a USB flash drive into the InsydeH20 BIOS like this:

Use the right key to open “Boot” in the main menu;
"External Device Boot" must be "Enabled";
Use the control keys F5 and F6 to put “External Device” in the first position in the “Boot Priority” section;
Exit (“Exit”) from the menu when saving the settings.

The computer will restart from the desired drive.

Without visiting BIOS (for Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 with UEFI)

For such devices, you need to open the “Update and Recovery” tab through the panel on the right and select “Restart”. And in the “Special Options” panel on the “Select Action” screen, select “Use a USB device.” There will also be a choice of network connection and DVD.

The next screen will provide a list of devices from which the flash drive is selected.

If it is not in the list, click “View others”.

The choice you make will force the computer to reboot from the selected drive.

Booting through the Boot Menu

The Boot Menu is called up when the vast majority of laptop/computer models are turned on. Being one of the BIOS or UEFI tools, it allows you to select a drive to start the computer in this particular case.

This method is convenient to use for selecting a boot device once before starting the OS from a Live CD, using a flash drive to install Windows OS, and more.

After all, it’s not often that a computer starts from a flash drive - why change the BIOS settings?

IMPORTANT. Through the Boot menu in some laptops it is possible to restore the system.

Path to Boot Menu

Just like BIOS (or UEFI), the Boot Menu is called up by certain keys. Most often it is F12, F11 or Esc. Other options are possible. Sometimes (not always) this can be seen from the information that appears on the monitor screen when you turn on the computer.

Once in this section, you can see a list of connected devices from which you can start downloading (hard drive, flash drive, disks, etc.). You can choose to boot your computer over a network or start an OS recovery using a backup partition.

Features of logging into Windows 8, 8.1 and 10

Shutting down a PC running Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 is not a “shutdown” in the strict sense (hibernation). Therefore, you may not be able to enter the boot menu using the above keys.

In this case, you need to do one of the following:

If you hold “Shift” while selecting the “Shutdown” option, the PC will turn off “completely” and the next time you turn it on, the keys will work;
Use the necessary keys when rebooting (and not during a preliminary shutdown);
In “Control Panel” (view - icons) / “Power Options” / “Actions of the power buttons” - disable enabling fast startup (sometimes you need to “change currently unavailable settings”):

One of the methods will definitely work.

Login to Asus

Desktop computers with Asus motherboards allow you to enter the boot menu by pressing the F8 key (the same time you press Del or F9 to enter the BIOS).

With laptops there is complete confusion:

Most modern ones use Esc;

You need to try all the options!

Login to Lenovo

With the Lenovo brand - almost the easiest way of all - we enter the treasured menu using the F12 key for almost all models of laptops / all-in-one computers.

There is also an arrow button next to power - other boot options are available on it:

We get to Acer

For Acer laptops/monoblocks, the F12 key works. But for some, in order to enter the menu to work, it needs to be turned on.

To do this, first enter the BIOS using the F2 key, and then switch the “F12 Boot Menu” parameter so that it takes the value “Enabled” (the default is “Disabled”).

Then the settings are saved before exiting the BIOS.

Other models

List of keys to enter the Boot Menu for other branded models:

HP - F9 or Esc key, and then F9;
Dell - F12;
Samsung - Esc;
Toshiba - F12.

For motherboards:

Gigabyte - F12;
Intel - Esc;
Asus - F8;
MSI - F11;
AsRock - F11.

After reading this publication, you are guaranteed to be able to launch your computer or laptop system from a flash drive.

Leave your comments, share your experience.

It’s good when the computer works stably and without errors, but sometimes unpleasant situations occur that threaten valuable data.

The first method does not require searching for additional programs, since it allows you to do everything with the tools already available in the utilities, but it is also the most complex.

This is creating bootable media via the command line. It is worth noting that in addition to the complexity of the method, there is a possibility that launching Windows 10 from a flash drive recorded in this way may not work due to the nature of the USB device itself.

Before you start creating a bootable USB flash drive, open the .iso image of the operating system using an archive program (such as WinRar) and extract the install.wim file.

Perhaps the extension will not be .wim, but .esd. In official images, the first option is usually present, so by convention it is the install.wim file that is meant and all further manipulations are carried out with it.

The step-by-step process is as follows:

Open Start and type cmd in the search bar.
Launch the command line as an administrator by selecting the appropriate menu item by right-clicking.
To start disk management (including flash drives), enter the diskpart command and click Etner.
Similarly, run the list disk command to see what number the system assigned to the flash drive.
Knowing this number, enter select disk *, where instead of an asterisk the number of the USB drive on which you want to burn Windows 10 will be indicated.
Execute the clean command to clean the flash drive (all data will be deleted!).

To start it , the boot device must have the correct file system.

Create it with two commands:

create partition primary
fs=ntfs quick

To complete all these operations, first execute active and then exit. This will exit the diskpart program. You can start recording Windows itself.

Run dism /Apply-Image /imagefile:***install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:*:\, where three asterisks are the full path to the install.wim file, and the last asterisk is the drive letter, which can be seen in "On my computer." The recording process will begin. It may take a long time and seem to freeze, but don’t worry - everything is as it should be.

Last step - how to run Windows 10 from a flash drive without bootloader? Install it with the command bcdboot.exe E:\Windows /s *: /f all, where again replace the asterisk with the letter of the flash drive.

That's all, you can try to boot. To do this (and for any other methods given below), while restarting the computer, hold down the F12 key.

A boot menu will open in which you need to select your flash drive. If everything is fine, Windows will boot from it. If this doesn’t work, look into the BIOS and find the tab responsible for boot options (usually called Boot).

Try changing the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy. This is the first thing to do, since it is in this BIOS setting that you should boot from a flash drive created by the WinToUSB program, which will be discussed below.

One of the common mistakes when launching Windows 10 from a flash drive, recorded via the command line, freezes, it becomes such a point that the computer identifies the boot device as a removable drive, and ideally it should be a fixed disk, that is, a local hard drive.

It is possible to “replace” information about a flash drive, but this is a very labor-intensive operation that does not fit into the scope of this article.

Method number 2: third-party programs

If you are looking for the simplest solution to the issue, how to run Windows 10 from a flash drive, then a small utility called Rufus is the best choice. Perhaps this is one of the simplest and most convenient free programs for creating bootable USBs.

The utility doesn't even require installation - download it and run it. Interface in Russian.

You just need to specify all the necessary parameters:

device - a flash drive on which Windows will be recorded;
partition scheme - usually MBR for BIOS or UEFI;
file system - for “ten” choose NTFS;
cluster size - leave the default value;
volume label - the name of the flash drive, it can be anything.

It is not necessary to check the device for bad blocks; there is no need to check the box. Select the items for quick formatting and creating a boot disk, and opposite the “ISO image” button, specify the path to the .iso file with Windows.

The most important thing is to highlight the “Windows To Go” option so that it is eventually available launching Windows 10 from a USB flash drive without installation, and not just an installation. Feel free to press the “Start” button, and simply confirm possible error messages. Creating a bootable USB flash drive should be successful.

This program works in a similar way, only the selection of the necessary options occurs in stages, and not in one start window.

First, select the source - the OS disk image (top icon).
Now click on the browse button and specify the location of the ISO file.
By clicking on the “Next” button you will be taken to the next step, where you need to select the USB drive on which to record.
In the “Installation mode” field, it is recommended to select VHDX, and the “Virtual hard disk size” value is responsible for the size of the virtual partition on the flash drive. Windows writes to this file. In case of error, it can be increased.
Click “Next” and wait for the bootable media to be created.

Unfortunately, this program is paid, but it has a trial version that allows you to create bootable flash drives that will only work for 30 days. If you decide to use this program, then on the initial screen you must select the CD to†’ USB item.

It allows you to create bootable media directly from a disk or from a system image. In the next window, select an image or disk with the operating system, then be sure to select the “Install fully-functional Windows to USB Thumbdrive” item so that a full-fledged one is available launching Windows 10 from a flash drive.

Otherwise, get regular bootable media to install the system on your hard drive. Here you can also specify the option for UEFI boot. Afterwards the system is written to the device. Ready!

Important: do not forget to save all the necessary data from the flash drive, since in the process of writing Windows 10 to it using any of the methods given in this article, they will be destroyed!

We are talking about the Standard version. This is a free multifunctional program for managing hard drive partitions. Among the main options there is also such an interesting one as “Windows To Go Creator”.

With its help, you can do the same thing as described above, just specify the desired flash drive and the path to the .iso image or .wim installation file.

About installing the OS from a flash drive

If you are not interested in downloading a full-fledged working system, but only launching Windows 10 installation from a USB flash drive, then there is nothing simpler - this is the main way to install the OS today, since many modern laptops and PCs do not have disk drives.

Use Rufus to do this in the same way as in the example above, but instead of Windows To Go, select “Standard Windows Installation”.
Finally

Now you know, how to install Windows 10 from a USB flash drive or a fully working operating system. In addition to the described methods for creating such a flash drive, there is one that has not been mentioned and is the simplest if you have Windows 10 Enterprise edition.

It has a ready-made function for creating bootable media. This feature lies right in the Control Panel and is called Windows To Go. If you don’t have Enterprise, you can install the Virtualbox program, download the necessary Windows image, create a virtual machine from it, insert your computer’s USB devices into it, and use the system’s built-in tools to create a bootable flash drive.

In the event of a serious malfunction in the OS, it is not always possible to turn it on even using safe mode. In such cases, running Windows 7 from a flash drive without installation will help.

A beginner may find this advice strange, but experienced administrators always have such a drive with them. The bottom line is that Windows 7 will boot from a USB flash drive on which the OS image was previously recorded, and not from a hard drive, as usual. Such a system has default settings so that unwanted changes will not be reflected when it starts.

Preparing for launch

How can a regular user run Windows 7 from a flash drive? To do this, you need to have a bootable USB flash drive, at least one free USB port on your device, and a basic knowledge of English or an online translator at hand. To create a LiveUSB, it is advisable to select a flash drive that has already been used on this PC, otherwise you may need to install a driver.

The following procedure is suggested:

1. Insert the drive into the device that is turned off; in this case, the LED of the flash drive should light up only when the computer starts.

2. You need to go to the BIOS menu or a separate Boot Menu, if available. To do this, when the logo appears, you need to press, depending on the motherboard manufacturer, F2, Delete, Esc or another key. Often, a hint will appear at the bottom or top of the screen.

3. Most older BIOS versions do not support the mouse; control is done using arrows. Next, you need to go to the Boot Menu, Boot Settings or simply Boot tab, it is responsible for the boot order. To run Windows 7 from a flash drive without installation, you need to set Flash Device first.

4. To save you need to use F10, then Enter. It is worth noting that changes in the launch order can be either permanent, in which case you need to repeat the previous two points and return everything to its place, or act within the limits of only the current start.

5. After this, the Windows welcome screen should appear. You may need to enter an activation key; if Windows was preinstalled when you purchased the PC, it is in the documentation for the device. You should not try to log in there using your login, because the OS does not know it.

Possible mistakes

The steps described above will be enough to launch Windows 7 from a flash drive in almost all cases. When everything went well, you can start diagnosing and then troubleshooting. If the result is still negative, then write down the error code displayed on the screen.

When nothing is displayed on the monitor, the reason is most likely due to incorrect launch settings (steps 2-4) or an incorrectly recorded image.

If, after setting the boot order, the OS is still read from the hard drive, then perhaps the changes were not saved or the computer does not see the flash drive, then you need to remove and reinsert the device, rebooting the computer, or repeat everything with a new drive.

WinToUSB: a tool to install and run windows 7 from a USB drive

Installing and running Windows 8/8.1 from a USB drive is relatively easy, which cannot be said about Windows 7. Unlike Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7 does not include the Windows To Go function, which allows you to install and run corporate versions of Windows without much effort 8/8.1 from USB flash drives.

On the Internet you can find many step-by-step instructions on how to install Windows 7 on USB drives using various third-party utilities. Today I want to introduce you to another excellent and, perhaps, the best tool for installing Windows 7 on USB.

We'll talk about WinToUSB. It is a free and easy to use program that allows you to easily install Vista, windows 7, windows 8 and windows Server 2008 R2 on a USB drive. You only need to make a few mouse clicks. Moreover, WinToUSB can be used by users of professional editions of Windows 8/8.1, which, as in the case of Windows 7, do not have the Windows To Go function mentioned above.

WinToUSB supports both USB flash drives and external hard drives. Another benefit of WinToUSB is that you won't have to download and install the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) to use this tool. In addition, it is fully compatible with MBR and GPT disks.

To install an operating system on USB, you must have a windows ISO image or installation DVD and, of course, a USB disk. It is recommended to use a drive with a capacity of at least 16 GB.

Please note: Since Microsoft did not provide an option for installing Windows 7 on a USB, you may not be able to run Windows 7 from a USB flash drive on all computers.

How to use WinToUSB

Download the WinToUSB installation file (link at the end of the post), install and run the program. Next, click on the button located to the right of the “ISO File” field, go to the Windows ISO file and select it. If you want to use the installation DVD rather than a disc image, insert it into your computer's DVD drive, then in WinToUSB, click on the large optical drive icon and select your installation disc in the "CD/DVD" field.

Now click “Next”, select your USB drive in the “Please select the destination disk” field and click “Next” to start installing windows. And make sure that there is no important information on the USB, because... the program will offer to format it.

During my test, the program took about an hour to install Windows 7 Ultimate. Perhaps in your case this process will complete faster, but it all depends on the capabilities of your computer and the speed of the USB drive.

The tool is compatible with all the latest versions of windows including windows 7, windows 8, windows 8 and windows 8.1. I tested it on Windows 8.1 Update 1 and can confirm that the program works flawlessly.

Download WinToUSB

How to run windows from a flash drive without installation

For almost any modern OS, you can create a so-called live image on a flash drive - that is, the entire system in an almost installed form will be stored on a flash drive, and when such a flash drive is connected to a PC, this system can be launched and worked with it in the same way as with installed on your hard drive. The downside is that the first launch is quite long, and for comfortable operation you need a USB 3.0 flash drive with a capacity of at least 16 GB and read/write speeds of at least 20-30 MB/s. Why is this necessary? For example, to quickly deploy a workplace, instead of carrying a laptop with you, you can limit yourself to a flash drive. This flash drive can also help if Windows installed on the device does not start.

In order to create a live image, we will need any Windows 10 image (read how to get it here) and the Rufus program (you can download it for free on the official website). Now we connect the USB flash drive to the computer, open Rufus, select the NTFS file system, select the ISO image in the “Create boot disk” menu, and select windows To Go just below:

That's it, now click Start and wait for the image to be copied to the flash drive. You can also transfer the necessary portable versions of programs to it.

How to run windows from a flash drive?

Admin 10/9/2013 — 11:10 Workshop

Microsoft Corporation has been developing and improving operating systems for a long time, but so far not a single distribution has officially appeared that could fully work from an external device on any computer. No matter how hard you try to protect your computer from breakdowns or virus infection, sometimes critical situations occur when the installed operating system can no longer function normally and stably, and you need your files and information that remained in the working folders along with the OS. This is why emergency boot disks, or windows PE, were created.

Good to know! In order to load such an operating system from an external storage medium, you must first complete the following steps:

It should be remembered that the speed of the operating system, which is loaded from an external device, is much slower. This is due to the fact that the performance depends on the operating speed of the device itself, as well as the operating frequency of the bus through which the signal travels from/to the device. If you run the OS from USB devices, the speed drops by about ten times (The average speed of loading information from a flash drive is 10 MB/s, the average speed of HDD SATA is 100-120 MB/s).

How does the process of loading and starting OS PE occur?

After pressing the computer's power button, the devices are polled, after which their readiness is checked, and an attempt to boot begins according to the priority list, which is stored in the BIOS settings. The first step is to read the boot sectors, which store the addresses where the boot loader is located to run Windows PE. After this, the preinstalled system image begins to load into the computer’s RAM. It is worth noting that all files and settings that occur while working with the OS will be lost the next time you start it.

How to configure the process of loading Windows PE from a flash drive?

There are currently two types of BIOS. The old one is typical and simple, which is similar to MSDOS and contains only menu items that can only be navigated using the keyboard. The new one is UEFI, it is significantly different in both appearance and functionality. In UEFI, you can control and select all settings using your mouse and keyboard.

Organization of booting in UEFI

If possible, you can simply drag the desired device to the first place with the mouse pointer, thus changing the boot order. The classic download method also works:

Boot organization in a typical BIOS

Alternative download method

This method is used if you can go separately to the bootloader menu, explicitly specifying the boot devices to it.