How To Get Copy Of Windows To Install On Flash Drive And Boot From BIOS
Aug 24, 2011
Ok, I'm up the wall on this, I'm trying to get a copy of Windows to install on a flash drive and boot from BIOS, but there's almost now way of doing so.
I remembered that Windows 8 7850 build had or has a feature called Portable Workspace where Windows will install onto a flash drive so you can take it to any puter you please. That's great and all, but where in the blue hell is it?! :stomp: It's like it's not there. Do I need something special to do something to it or what?
I own an Acer laptop that is runing Windows 7. I love Windows 7 and finally made the move from Windows XP but I really like Windows 8. Yet I'm nowhere near ready to make it my only OS. I know one possible option is a dual boot system. If I need to go that route I may be posting again in the future to find out how I can make a dual boot Windows 7/Windows 8 system. Yet I like trying different OS's and already have two USB sticks that are ChromeOS and Ubuntu Linux. I purchase 4GB flash drives and buy the fast drives.
The question is is it possible to install and then boot from a Windows 8 USB Flash Drive? If so, how would I go about doing this? Also, what is the minimum size USB Flash Drive that could be used? I want at least some room to work with and install apps but it won't be my primary OS. If it's not possible to do this how would I go about making a dual boot system? Already I have a 500GB HD with Windows 7 installed but I believe I'd have to repartition and hope to avoid having to reinstall Windows 7 since I have so many installed apps.
I got this new Asus Transformer which is a Windows 8.1 system.
I made a few images with Macrium Reflect and created an UEFI recovery Flash Drive (with Macrium) for the Macrium recovery program. I can set the BIOS to boot from the stick (in the temporary or permanent BIOS settings). Problem is, when I hit Enter, it ignores the stick and boots directly into 8.1.
Is there another setting in the BIOS that I have to make in order to have it boot from the stick.
I ended up managed to be able to boot into windows after i swapped out my motherboard and CPU to the new ones and everything seems to be working as it should, windows automatically installed the intel drivers and all my old programs and settings are there perfectly.
I can only boot into windows if i select my backup drive as #1 boot device in the BIOS, the SSD isnt even on the list.
The thing I don't understand lies in that, if i select my SSD as priority, where the directory of windows is installed, i get a bootmgr missing error - I've tried the various methods of recovering this using the cmd and a windows installation disc.
This isn't a huge issue but it's really tripping me out as to why this is occurring? I initially had some issues getting windows to boot so i installed a clean windows8 on this backup drive, i didnt change any settings at all. was only making sure that the SSD was being recognized and i hadn't corrupted it somehow. is it possible that the backup drive boot manager is directing it to the SSD.
For some reason, Windows 8.1. downloader package refuses to see my 8GB SanDisk flash drive as a target for creating bootable Windows 8.1 installer USB media. A 16GB Patriot drive is detected and processed properly, but 8GB SanDisk is ignored. The same is true for the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool.
What could be causing this?
When I create the media on the 16GB drive, only 3+GB is used, which means that 8GB drive should be sufficiently large.
UPDATE: It appears that the SanDisk drive is not detected as "removable", so neither Windows 8 downloader nor Windows 7 USB/DVD tool see it as a valid target. There are quite a few reports of that issue on the Net. So, how do I create a bootable Windows 8.1 install media from that SanDisk drive?
These are the steps I've taken-- OS Win 8, pre-installed by Acer.
1) Make recovery USB using the Acer recovery wizard, with the laptop in stock configuration.
2) Install msata as secondary drive
3) Go to Computer management and initialize the msata and format with GPT style. Format the drive, assign a drive letter. (I only see 1 partition). I did this as NTFS/default allocation size. Is this where I went wrong?
4) Remove the factory HDD (listed as HDD0 in BIOS)
5) Boot to BIOS 5a) in BIOS, disable secure boot. 5b) Go to legacy mode 5c) Set msata (HDD1 in BIOS) as #1 in boot order
6) boot to USB recovery drive, follow steps to restore from USB (clean install, make partitions as it wants)
7) remove USB, reboot.
Error message-- no bootable device. I can basically load the USB again or the BIOS.
I am trying to upgrade from windows 8 pro to windows 8.1 on a samsung laptop. The download completes and installation starts.
After a while the following message appears "you cant install windows on a usb flash drive with setup"
I am not actually trying to install to a flash drive. I contacted Microsoft and after 5 hours they said that I should connect to the internet with a cable and not by wireless in order to solve the problem (this didn't work of course and I had told them that it was an install problem and not a download problem).
I just built a desktop with a sabertooth x79 motherboard, and am running Windows 8.1 pro 64-bit. When I click the UEFI BIOS Firmware live tile via the change PC settings>update and recovery>recovery>etc. my computer reboots normally to Windows and will not open BIOS. I have tried accessing it using the delete and f2 keys, but this does nothing either.
I am up to date in terms of my BIOS, and am definitely running UEFI and not legacy.
I just got a refurbished ASUS K75DE laptop, and it came with Windows 8 on it. I am wanting to run a dual boot with Win7, so I disabled fast-boot just fine, and went into the UEFI BIOS and disabled the secure boot.
While I was there, I did like I have always done and set a BIOS boot-up password. I then proceed to boot to my Win7 installer USB Flash drive, but I was running low on battery power so I aborted the install and shut the computer down to try again later.
Now however when I get into BIOS to select boot priority, all options are grayed out except for system time and a few other non-essentials. At the bottom of the first BIOS screen it says "User Level : User" and I can't seem to find a way to reverse this issue. So now I'm stuck, can't boot to anything but the HDD because it is first by default.
I'm in the process of moving to an SSD and need to create a backup drive in order to repair the BIOS after transferring everything. However, when I try to create one - the create a recovery drive program won't recognize the flash drive I have connected as a flash drive.
I first tried with a SanDisk Cruzer which apparently had a quirk in that it shows up as a hard drive instead of removable flash drive. That seems to be well documented on forums all over the place and there is no fix.
So, I purchased a cheap 8 GB stick (no brand) and Windows (I'm running 8.1 x64) recognizes it as a removable disk. However, the create a backup utility still won't recognize it. I've found some random fixes that have worked for some (such as plugging it into a different USB port) but nothing has worked for me so far. I've tried doing it with the "copy the recovery partition" option both checked and unchecked.
If there's no solution to this wonderful "quirk" of Windows, then is there something else I can do to repair BIOS? Seems like there's not a fix to my problem out there...
EDIT So as of right now, I tried using HPs recovery software which seems to do the same thing as copying over your entire recovery partition. That didn't work either. However..when I had both USB sticks plugged in the Windows supplied utility recognized the SanDisk Cruzer when I checked the "copy the partition" thing
.I have an HP Pavilion Slimline PC desktop. It does not allow me to boot from CD/DVD drive or USB connection. Windows 8.1. I wish to be able to use the boot options cd/dvd and all the USB options. I can't use any of the options. I list bios setup options and suggestions given to me from articles but I'm not sure I'm afraid of error. I don't have that much experience in bios setup.
Articles have said in BIOS setup Security is to be disabled. I suppose Legacy remains disabled(?). It is suggested that I shutdown and reboot.
BIOS Setup > Storage > Boot Order has this list: UEFI Boot Sources Windows Boot Manager USB Floppy/CD[code]....
At bottom of this Boot Order Window are the options: F5=disable Enter=drag F10=accept ESC=cancel
Windows Boot Manager at the the top stops all other options.beneath it. How does that 'drag' work. Don'tr I have to move 'Windows Boot Manager' to the bottom?
And move ATAPI CD/DVD drive to the top? of this UEFI boot sources list?
Is it true that if there is an error in the BIOS Boot Setup and Windows 8.1 does not boot, the BIOS Setup will come up instead so one can do a fix?
I have a hp 475 homeserver with new upgrades. i'm trying to install windows home server 2011 on it. I want to put the whole sys on a bootable flash drive and install that way. I have ms dvd tool and software for iso files, now I think I need to combine all in a bootable flash drive for win 8.1
I am running Windows 8.1 and it appears that my hard drive needs to be replaced. When the machine is turned on, frequently there is a slight screech and I feel it's best to replace the hard drive.
How do I make an exact bootable copy of the hard drive on a new hard drive and simply replace the drive with the new drive without having to reinstall Windows 8.1 or other programs and without affecting any of the files currently on the machine? If cloning software is required, are there any free programs I can download?
I've tried everything. Basically it wont boot when using a USB 3.0 flash drive (which is faster than the external usb 3 hard drive am using) It simply stalls on the boot image part (The blue windows icon). And on my laptop it gives a blue screen type error. Yet wont let me boot into safe mode when using flash drive. However when I use external drive it works fine although the performance isn't great.
At first I though it could have been an issue with the boot/350mb partition so I copied that over. Still the same. I have also tried a fresh windows to go install with same results.
USB Stick: Patriot USB 3 45MB Write/160MB Read USB HDD: External Case (USB3) With Toshiba 7200 Laptop Drive (ASMT 2105)
I inserted a SanDisk Cruzer 16 GB flash drive in my Win 8 laptop, and a window opened that had the Sandisk logo and it said installing Sandisk files or something like that, with a progress bar that took about 20 seconds to move across. It was not the pop up bubble you generally see by the tray when a driver is being installed, it was larger and in the middle of the screen. It seemed like some sort of autorunning application, which I thought Windows 8 does not allow. I don't see any Sandisk application in Programs and Features.
I found that my two Windows 8.1 laptops will not copy the entire contents of any folder to my Iomega network drive. Only the folder alone is copied and none of the sub-folders or individual files. I can copy individual files separately, but not the whole folder sub-folder, and files together. I have no problem doing this with my Windows 7 desktop PCs. My network drive is connected directly to my Apple Airport Base Station router.
I have windows 7 already installed.my hard disk have 3 partitions and there are data in them.so,if i want to install windows 8.1 with uefi do I need to format all my partitions or only the windows 7 installed partition?
Yet another lovely problem with 8.1. When I plug in my drive, it shows up in with all of my other drives, and when I double click it to open it, the explorer window freezes, and doesn't unfreeze until I unplug the flash drive. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe it is a driver issue? I am positive that the drive is fine, because it works on my laptop, and even works on this computer in a linux virtual machine.
Got Win8 Pro Retail genuine installed and have a multi partitioned PC.
I am Administrator, and I have UIC set to its lowest possible setting.
I cannot copy any files to the C: Drive (root)... every time I get an error message and it will not let me do anything with the root.
So, I ran gpedit.msc and did these steps..
1. Run gpedit.msc, navigate and browse to Computer Configuration--Windows Settings--Security Settings--Local Policies--Security Options 2. Set policy User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators - Elevate without prompting 3. Set policy User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation - Disabled 4. Set policy User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode - Disabled
OK, now perfect - I have full control of the root drive again... But this sparked another major issue with the 'modern apps' (metro)...
All modern/metro apps will now NOT RUN because they want UIC turned on (as in change those settings back I just tweaked).....
As soon as I turn UIC back on.... metro apps work - and I am blocked from my root drive again.
Will there be issues if I try to create a Windows 8.1 USB Recovery Drive on a USB Flash Drive larger than 32GB? The Create a Recovery Drive actually formats the USB drive in FAT32 and makes it bootable. I plan to purchase a 64GB USB flash drive. Will the Recovery Drive Creator repartition the USB Flash Drive as a 32GB FAT32 partition? I tried the same on an external USB hard drive and it repartitioned the external hard drive as a 32GB FAT32 partition.
Alright I did a back up of my system on flash drive but now i have to use it... How do I have to have the bios set up? So I can load this up right now my computer says operating system not found...
I need to replace a file in windowssystem32en-us and it gives me a deny file to be copied how can I do this so I can copy a file or replace a file. how to gain access.
I have a pretty new computer. Just a few months old. It is supposed to be a good one.
Dell XPS 8500 Quad core i7 processor lots of memory and extras
This computer also has the 64 bit edition of Windows 8 installed on it. Windows 8 is driving me up the wall!!! I have had numerous problems with it since day 1.
As recently as a few days ago, my system was running reasonably okay. Then I downloaded a driver for my network card from the dell.com website. From that point on, I cannot get my computer to boot up properly. I have turned my computer off and on multiple times in hopes that it would correct whatever is wrong.
When I first turn my PC on, it will stay stuck at the Dell logo window for a while.
Sometimes it will make it past that and it will give me an error message that says:
"error sending end of post message to ME, system HALT!"
Also, I sometimes get a message which says:
"the last USB device you connected to the computer malfunctioned, and Windows did not recognize it.
Try reconnecting the device. If windows still does not recognize it, your device may not be working properly."
This is insanity. I have NOT connected any new USB devices to my computer.
I do not know what to do. I figured that the easiest thing might be to try simply reinstalling Windows 8 from scratch. So I inserted my Windows 8 reinstall disk that Dell sent me when I bought this thing. However, my computer will not boot from this disk. So I guess I am stuck.
it's getting boot and install only in EFI mode. after trying to reinstall it won't allow me to select the disk partition, as it gave me the error "
Windows 8 cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks." i tried all the given solutions on GOogle. even i cannot recover or refresh using windows 8 environment. many times it gives me BSOD. cannot vonvert to MBR as it says it cannot be done on virtual HDD.
tried many things nothing works, need to install windows 8 after every 1 or 2weeks, many a times my BCD data gets corrupt, and windows wont start. Also tried many things to repair this, but only thing that works is reinstalling windows 8. That gpt or MBR error was solved by selecting UEFI:CD drive. in boot options by pressing F12 after inserting the disk.
My system configuration: System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2 OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro, 64 bit Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7 Processor Count: 2 RAM: 3029 Mb Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics, -1813 Mb Hard Drives: C: Total - 102399 MB, Free - 33011 MB; D: Total - 374009 MB, Free - 51233 MB; Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., H61M-DS2 Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled
