Introduction

I recently had to install Windows 7 on a laptop where it would refuse to boot the installer from my external USB DVD drive.

The solution was to make a USB boot capable Windows 7 installation drive.

Material

• 4 GB or higher USB Flash Drive
• Windows 7 DVD

Easy Microsoft Tool

Microsoft now provides a tool (also I have kept a copy on this wiki) to automate the steps for you provided you make or already have an ISO of the Windows 7 DVD and meet the following criteria.

Requirements

• Windows XP SP2 (see additional instructions), Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
• Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
• 50MB of free space on your hard drive
• An empty (it will be formatted) USB Flash Drive 4 GB or higher

After that it's point and click.which are quite straightforward.

Just in case the site goes down, I have put a copy of the tool downloaded Nov 9, 2010.

Manual Method

Not really necessary anymore but there are various articles at,

Into Windows which I have followed succesfully and Kevin's Blog.