How to Create a Bootable USB Hard Drive
- 1). Plug the drive into a free USB port on your computer. From your computer desktop, click the "Start" button, then "All Programs," "Accessories" and "Windows Explorer" to open a window. In the left-most field, there is a menu called "Folders." Within this menu, your USB drive is listed (usually as drive E:). Write down the drive name and letter for later use.
- 2). Right-click on the drive to open a pop-up menu. From the menu select "Format" and another pop-up box will appear. Make sure that the listed name matches your USB drive name and letter. Click "Start" and wait a few moments for your USB drive to be formatted. Once this process is complete, your drive is ready to be activated and made bootable.
- 3). Click the "Start" button, then "All Programs" and "Accessories." From the "Accessories" menu, click "Command Prompt" to open a command line window. You will see a line beginning with "C: (unless you've named your main hard drive something different)" followed by a list of directories and a right-pointing arrow. At this arrow, enter "Diskpart" then press the "Enter" key. You are now in the Diskpart directory.
- 4). Type "List Volume" then press the "Enter" key. You are given a list showing you the drives on your computer, including the USB drive. Recall the name and drive letter of your USB drive and locate it on the list. Next, look at the left of the list to determine the volume number of the drive.
- 5). Type "Select Volume (insert your USB drive volume number here)" then press "Enter." Next, type "Active," then press "Enter" to receive confirmation that the drive is now active. Your drive is now ready to be made bootable.
- 6). Insert the Windows installation disc into your optical drive then, from the command prompt command line, type your optical drive's drive letter (usually D:) and press "Enter." Once the installation disc has been recognized by your computer, type "CD\boot" then press "Enter." Type "Bootsect /nt60 (insert USB drive letter here)" then press "Enter." Note that there is a space after "Bootsect" and after "/nt60." Your USB drive is now bootable.
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