How to make a windows 7 or Windows Vista USB Recovery Stick (thumb drive)

Click for full tutorial on making a recovery USB stick with pictures and step-by-step directions HERE.

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How to make a windows 7 or Windows Vista USB Recovery Stick (thumb drive)

Download the Windows 7 repair disk.iso file.

Windows 7 recovery disk links to torrent downloads:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs

Windows Vista recovery disk links to torrent downloads:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download

You’ll need a program like FrostWire to download the torrent file which is an ISO file.

FrostWire 4.21.3
http://download.cnet.com/FrostWire/3000-2196_4-10627624.html?tag=mncol;1

Burn the ISO file down to disk with a utility like Active ISO Burner.

Active@ ISO Burner 2.1
http://download.cnet.com/Active-ISO-Burner/3000-2646_4-10602452.html?tag=mncol;1

If you don’t have a DVD/CD burner you can use the following program to extract the files from the ISO image to a folder and then copy them to a USB stick.

Undisker 1.2
http://download.cnet.com/Undisker/3000-2248_4-10060908.html?tag=mncol;1

File, open, navigate to where the ISO image is. Double-click on the image. Use the left mouse button and the control key to highlight all the files and/or folders. Right-click and select extract to. Use the browse button to select the folder you want to extract the information to.

How To Repair Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive (Repair Without Installation DVD Disc)
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-r...sh-drive-repair-without-installation-dvd-disc

Open Command Prompt with administrator privileges. go to All programs, Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and then select Run as administrator.

In the command prompt, you need to execute the following commands.

Type DISKPART and hit enter.

Now, type LIST DISK and press enter to see list of disks attached to your computer. In the next step, you need to select your USB flash drive that you are using to create system recovery drive.

Note that the list disk command is listing available hard discs or USB devices starting with the number zero. It is not listing the number of drive letters or partitions on a drive. So if you have one hard disc and one USB stick the USB stick will be number one.

Assuming that the USB stick is number one type the following commands.

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds or more)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Now, insert the previously created repair disc and copy all the contents (contains three items) to the USB flash drive. You have just created a bootable Windows 7 recovery USB drive.

Good stuff here.

I take a different approach to this. I boot the ISOs directly from a FAT32 flash drive using grub legacy and memdisk. Using the raw ISOs lets me make a multiboot flash drive with both 32 and 64 bit Win 7 recovery "disks" on the same drive along with Ubuntu Linux, Acronis, Memtest, Spinrite, HD Regenerator, and some other stuff. Since it's FAT32 I can easily access it and modify it as necessary from whatever OS is handy.

Very handy for forensics and recovery. It takes a little more work, but for me it's worth it. When I get a chance I'll post a write-up over on http://www.beezmo.com/FloobyDust.htm

Thanks,
Z.

Hey Zoltan, welcome to the forums.

EasyBCD supports automating the entire bootloader + grub legacy + memdisk routine to boot into multiple ISO images on a USB drive.

Hi Mahmoud,

Thanks for the welcome. It's great to have another place to display my ignorance

I blundered my way in here via a certain search engine knowing nothing about EasyBCD, and all proud of my grub skills. A little behind the curve I guess

I'll have a good look at your docs when I get a chance. You seem to have a really excellent set of tools here.

Regards,
Z.

lol, that's quite OK!

EasyBCD is geared more for Windows users, as it is a Windows-only application that can be used to install a portable version of the Windows Vista/7 bootloader on a USB. You can then use EasyBCD to add and remove entries that do all sorts of things.

Computer Guru said:

Hey Zoltan, welcome to the forums.

EasyBCD supports automating the entire bootloader + grub legacy + memdisk routine to boot into multiple ISO images on a USB drive.

Click to expand...

OK, Guru - put your loader where your mouth is!

I've heard you say this numerous times but I'll be damned if I can find it, or how to do it, or whatever. . . .

Documentation on how to accomplish this feat of magic seems to be woefully lacking.

And here I am in front of my computer, with a dual-boot system that might well be borked beyond all recognition - trying to use a mobile EasyBCD thumb-drive to bail my turkey butt out of the hot water I seem to have gotten myself into - counting on the magical properties of EasyBCD to come to the rescue.

I guess I just don't know what magic spell to use, or what species of rodent to sacrifice, so as to make this work.

If you would be kind enough to scatter some of your pearls of wisdom down here amongst us miserable swine, it would be gratefully appreciated. Or something in the FAQ's, or a sticky post in the EasyBCD fora?

What say ye?

Jim

I have been making this claim for years, and truth be told, I never actually tried it out. It's one of those things where I wrote the code, so I know it should be possible; but couldn't actually prove it.

But that's not good enough. So I just went home, got my flash drive out, sat down on my PC, and tried it out for myself.

It's actually incredibly easy and effective.

0) Make sure you're using the latest EasyBCD 2.1 beta build

1) EasyBCD | Install Bootloader | Make Drive Bootable
Pick your USB drive from there, let it install, and press OK when asked to load the newly-installed BCD.

2) Copy over as many ISO images as you want to the flash drive. I copied our Windows Vista x86 and Windows Vista x64 recovery CDs to a folder. Make sure the path contains no spaces (EasyBCD will warn you).

3) EasyBCD | Add New Entry | ISO
Make sure the "from disk" option is ticked.
Browse for the ISO, give the entry a name, and add

Rinse and repeat step 3 as many times as needed.

4) Reboot PC and boot from USB

5) Profit.

USB Recovery Sticks interchangeable between different machines?

Quick question: Can I use a USB recovery stick that I have created on one machine (i.e., my laptop), to boot up another machine (i.e., my desktop), which is currently having startup issues? (i.e., "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media and press a key")

Thanks in advance,
Cecil

Yes, you can.

hi there, i am having a problem with my Toshiba L300 laptop. whenever i try to start it up i get a blue screen of death before windows has even loaded. this would not usually be a problem as i would just stick my recovery discs in and set it back to factory setting, but my dvd drive is not working. is there a way i can convert my recovery disks to usb and boot from that. i have had a look on many forums and tried a few of the methods but to no avail.
my laptop basically does nothing. even trying to load in safe mode or any other mode it just goes to blue screen.
Please help, i need my laptop for my university work and can not afford a new one!

What's the BSoD stop code ?

Computer Guru said:

I have been making this claim for years, and truth be told, I never actually tried it out. It's one of those things where I wrote the code, so I know it should be possible; but couldn't actually prove it.

But that's not good enough. So I just went home, got my flash drive out, sat down on my PC, and tried it out for myself.

It's actually incredibly easy and effective.

0) Make sure you're using the latest EasyBCD 2.1 beta build

1) EasyBCD | Install Bootloader | Make Drive Bootable
Pick your USB drive from there, let it install, and press OK when asked to load the newly-installed BCD.

2) Copy over as many ISO images as you want to the flash drive. I copied our Windows Vista x86 and Windows Vista x64 recovery CDs to a folder. Make sure the path contains no spaces (EasyBCD will warn you).

3) EasyBCD | Add New Entry | ISO
Make sure the "from disk" option is ticked.
Browse for the ISO, give the entry a name, and add

Rinse and repeat step 3 as many times as needed.

4) Reboot PC and boot from USB

5) Profit.

Click to expand...

I tried to do this for like one hundred times with 2.1.2 stable. In 95% of times I get just a black screen on every boot. In other 5% of times I get the boot menu but any selection results in getting fatal inconsistent data read from error and grub4dos loads. EasyBCD 2.2 just crashes on adding new iso.

hello, after the command prompt portion I needed to reverse the change to my jump drive, but it will not allow me to reverse it or format it back to normal and keeps acting as if it is a disk drive and doesn't work with my xbox which i usually use it for, please help.

Hi,

I have 2 cds of system recovery that i got from HP.(Part 1 and Part 2 Disks). So I wanted to know how do make the USB recovery from those to 2 cd? How to I do it?

Thanks
Please please reply!