Please help! - Windows 7 USB

I'm having trouble making a bootable Windows 7 USB. (In fairness, I'm having all sorts of problems installing Windows 7, but that's a different story.)

I want to do a clean install of 64-bit Windows 7 Pro, and since I'm having problems getting it done using the disc drive, I would like to attempt an install off the USB drive. Here is what I am running into:

I downloaded the x64 .iso image from digital river and the Microsoft's Windows 7 USB download tool. The tool tried to mount it on the flash drive, but it wasn't able to make it bootable and told me to download and use bootsect.exe. Now I'm looking up bootsect.exe and everything I see says that bootsect.exe is only needed when you try to make a 64-bit bootable drive when using a 32-bit system. I'm using 64-bit Windows 8.1, so this doesn't make sense to me.

Can someone please clear this up? Are there any other recommendations on how to make a bootable Win 7 USB? Thanks in advance!

Mount the iso and it will show up on a virtual drive, where you can see the files like setup.exe and "boot" folder. follow the instructions here http://www.intowindows.com/bootable-usb/ be careful when formatting drives be sure it's the right one. treat the iso/ virtual drive (letter) as your dvd/optical drive which the guide pertains.

 

Yes using the diskpart from the command prompt is the best way to go! That windows 7 to usb tool, is a piece of junk.

Grtz Angel ☺

Thanks for the replies. I tried what you suggested, but I got an error saying the final command (bootsect.exe/nt60) only works on systems using a BIOS, while mine uses an EFI. Not sure what to do next...

I have a screenshot to show the exact error I'm receiving, but I'm not sure how I should go about posting it. Any recommendations there?

 

Forget the picture. Here is the command line text. There were no errors in the diskpart utility portion.

C:\Users\Gray>e: cd boot

E:\>cd boot

E:\boot>bootsect.exe /nt60 f:

This tool can only be run on systems booted using a PC/AT BIOS.  This system
was booted using EFI or some other firmware type.

E:\boot>

dude I think you put a space in it, it must be "bootsect.exe/nt60 f: "

not "bootsect.exe /nt60 f:" no space between the exe and /

typo aren't recognized in command prompt :)

Thanks for the input everyone! I was able to get the install to work off the disc, even though I didn't change anything in the BIOS or in the install process.

micstio: If you look at the picture in the link, the author used spaces. I know there are certain syntax in command prompt that it doesn't matter if there is a space or not. I'll try it again as a purely academic exercise and let you know.

Pop: Handy little program. It appeared to work with absolutely no fuss. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my computer to even recognize a USB device, let alone boot off it. The computer is older and, despite appearing to be properly configured in the BIOS, it doesn't even natively support USB, even the USB keyboard. I had to dig out a PS/2 keyboard :/

Yea maybe there are some syntax that space doesn't matter, I just thought you did a typo so I pointed it out. anyways glad to know you've did it. :D