CMD: How to create a Windows install USB without 3rd party software from an .ISO

[dotchetter]

Hello world! So Im a newb here on the forum. Initially, all of this was written as a response to a thread that I bumped on just now. As i was typing away, I was automatically logged out... leaving we with a grey window upon submitting. 

Now being a bit used to web based forums... I always do regular copies of the novels they always tend to become as I go, so no harm done. I couldn't find the thread though... so I thought that I'd post a thread with it instead. Not sure if I picked the right forum for it though, if not... rip.

 

Some of you may find this a bit excessively clear if you're used to dealing with the commandline and OS servicing in general. But this is for the beginners. I feel that it's a good cause to give them the power of their operatingsystems instead of using third party software to do something that they can do on their own, and at the same time maybe learning something.

 

Step 1: Mount the ISO.

Just double click the ISO file to mount it. It will be given a letter (i.e. "E:" or "D:") Take note to this letter, you'll need it later. Most likely though, it will be "E:".

 

Step 2: Open a command prompt.

(Hold Windows key and press X, then click "Command prompt (Administrator).) Then click Yes.

 

Step 3: Insert a USB drive, with at least 8gb of storage, THIS DATA WILL BE ERASED ON THE USB DRIVE SO SAVE EVERYTHING ON IT BEFORE PROCEEDING. Preferrably not larger than 32g as the command for that would be different. Make sure you disconnect every other USB harddrive and/or USB drive for the time being.

 

Step 4: Type command: diskpart and hit enter.
             Type command: list disk and hit enter. 

 

Step 5: Now, you will see the harddrives connected to your machine. They all have a number, with your system drive identified as "Disk 0". This is NOT the disk to select in this case. The USB drive will likely be put last or close to last in the list. I mounted a 64gb USB drive to my system, you can view this example image. It is clear by determining the size of this drive being 57gb, as the external drive. This time it was given the identifier disk2 in my system. Yours could be different depending on how many drives are in the machine. Take note of what number your external drive is given.

 

Step 6: Just to make sure that the drive you think is the external one really is what it is, execute the following commands:

             sel disk 2   << This is where you put your number for your external USB drive. Could be 1, 2, 3 or whatever. Look at the size and guess.

            detail disk  << This command will output the details of your disk. Up top, you will see information as to how it is connected. It should say "USB" in "Type".                                    You know it is the right disk. See my attached picture for that too.

 

Step 7: Now, assuming you know which disk is your USB drive, we will proceed. I will refer to the USB as "Disk x" here for the examples. Replace "X" with your number for the USB. Type the following commands, hitting Enter after each one.

 

        sel disk x   (This being the USB drive Disk number)

      clean

      create par primary

      format quick fs=fat32 label=wininstall

      active

      assign letter=m

      exit

 

 Step 8: Now your USB drive is primed to become a windows install media. It might have popped up in a window after the assign letter command, giving it a mountpoint. Just close that window. The "exit" command in Step 7 is rather important. Now, you need to know the letter of your mounted Windows installer ISO that you did in Step 1. Mine was given the letter E: so I will use that for my example below. you can copy and paste the following command. To paste in CMD, right click and click "paste" or hold shift while doing ctrl+v.

      xcopy /s /e /h e:* m:

 

Step 9: Now enjoy the power of xcopy, as the files from the ISO copy from the image over to your USB. XCOPY with those switches copies everything from hidden system files, to empty directories. A simple drag-n-drop here will not do, hence XCOPY.

 When it tells you that its done copying, you can close the command prompt and eject the drive. Turn the machine off and boot from the USB. 

 

Please let me know if anything is unclear! The most important thing here is not to select the wrong letters and the wrong disk, especially when running "clean". That command completely erases all data off of the drive.

 

If you want to do this on a Mac, a combination of diskutil and the dd command can perform these steps too. Let me know if you need that info too.

 

 

 

[rip]

I would not consider Windows a 3rd party app though lo. Good guide nevertheless

[SCHISCHKA]

8 minutes ago, dotchetter said:

Just double click the ISO file to mount it. It will be given a letter (i.e. "E:" or "D:") Take note to this letter, you'll need it later. Most likely though, it will be "E:".

windows has come a long way

 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

3 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

windows has come a long way

 

 

Yes. I have a few windows that are stuck and they don't move at all.

[dotchetter]

@rip

Are you referring to the media creation tool? The local cmd method is superior in my mind, but I guess it's a sacrifice of a gui. They require a network connection too if im not mistaken.

[SCHISCHKA]

3 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Yes. I have a few windows that are stuck and they don't move at all.

aluminum or wood?

[TheNuzziNuzz]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

aluminum or wood?

Plastic.

[rip]

5 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

But.... Rufus....

The naked mole rat?

[dotchetter]

An advantage with this method is to, for an example create multiple partitions on an external harddrive, carry multiple installers and just change the active' attribute for which one to boot from at any given time.

[Guest]

@dotchetterMe isn't sure, but me had to install 3rd party tools to open/create/unpack/mount any kind of .ISO file, from windows 7... (might be wrong here, but at least, I needed software to mount for sure) Sooo... Me failed at step one? Or did you fail with your tutorial on how to make an USB stick boot with windows installer, WITHOUT 3rd party tools...

[dotchetter]

@Dutch-stoner

 

Yes, Windows 7 still requires third party apps to mount the .ISO file. However since it's a very old operating system I felt the likelyhood of anyone reading this guide without an operating system to support it would be slim. But if you think the guide is flawed due to the limitation of Windows 7, then that is your call.

 

I'm sure there are ways..Windows 7 supports burning the contents of an ISO to a disc. There is the possibility to copy the files off of that drive, but thats just pointless. More work but doable indeed.

[Guest]

A reason for wanting an USB-stick with an OS like 8, 8.1 or 10, would be because you were still using windows 7... So your logic is flawed in my opinion, but hey... It's just me, and it's just an opinion...

[dotchetter]

@Dutch-stoner

I get your point. Unfortunatley it's up to the devs to provide us with the tools. This time Windows 7 didn't pack the toosl to mount .ISO files.

In my reality, reinstalling computers and deploying windows is a daily phenomenon. People working with test benches and so on might gladly pack a drive full of installers with individual mountpoints and partitions of desired size. And some people even do these operations from core installations of windows without a GUI where methods like these can be helpful. It is not intended to replace software like rufus or imageUSB, they are fast and efficient. It's just a method I'm used to which I thought I'd share. It's a good intro to the CLI, if nothing else. I myself will soon be upgrading my personal rig from 8.1 to 10 and I'll be using this method then. 

 

I do appreciate your input! Let's consider this a 8.1 and forward- kind of guide.

 

 

[keskparane]

Just thought I'd add an update as to why this is a good method.

1. You can customize the size of your recovery partition. Otherwise Windows will try to create up to a 32GB partition which is probably going to be a waste of about 28GB.
2. You can reuse the ISO to create another recovery disk. If you use Windows Media Creation Tool to create the USB it will download the files every time.

Another method is to use the built in Recovery Drive tool in Windows Administrative Tools however this method will also create a 32GB drive if space is available.