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OS on a flash drive

xdeathshot20
By xdeathshot20
in Windows
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so i have a pc running a licensed copy of windows 7 home.  if i wanted to make an iso file of the OS and put it onto a flash drive, would it affect that pc in any way?  and if it does not affect it how would i go about making this?

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What do you mean "iso file of the OS"? What are you trying to accomplish?

 

You can download Windows 7 ISO and put that on the USB drive if you want to install the OS.

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4 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

What do you mean "iso file of the OS"? What are you trying to accomplish?

 

You can download Windows 7 ISO and put that on the USB drive if you want to install the OS.

This here.. your license is tied to your motherboard/CPU combo via vodoo so you won't loose the licence unless you change motherboards or CPU. On the other hand you can't use the licence in any other PC either or flash drive in your situation?

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Officially, "Windows to Go" can be installed onto a USB key, but only if you have the ENTERPRISE version. There are toold (RUFUS comes to mind) that apparently allow you to set up a USB key for windows to go even without enterprise (haven't tested this out though)

 

Straight up cloning your HDD to a flash drive likely wouldn't work, but you've got nothing to lose.

When in doubt, re-format.

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4 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

Officially, "Windows to Go" can be installed onto a USB key, but only if you have the ENTERPRISE version. There are toold (RUFUS comes to mind) that apparently allow you to set up a USB key for windows to go even without enterprise (haven't tested this out though)

 

Straight up cloning your HDD to a flash drive likely wouldn't work, but you've got nothing to lose.

Sadly every time I try Rufus I end up failing... I have to run through CMD diskpart to do it :(

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  1. You can't backup whole OS as .ISO to USB drive. You can make "image" but that only means you can use built-in recovery function and restore with that.
  2. You CAN make .iso from original install DVD. Or you could just download it from MS support site.
  3. Running OS from flash drive is slower than running even from HDD. You can do it, as said above, but why would you?

 

1 hour ago, RS2007GOD said:

This here.. your license is tied to your motherboard/CPU combo via vodoo so you won't loose the licence unless you change motherboards or CPU. On the other hand you can't use the licence in any other PC either or flash drive in your situation?

 

Only with OEM copies. Retails can be installed on any single mobo at the time. Plus changing CPU doesn't matter. Windows doesn't care about that.

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