If you purchased Microsoft Windows from Microsoft Store, and downloaded a collection of compressed files or an ISO file (containing Microsoft Windows setup), you can use that ISO file to install Microsoft Windows. An ISO file combines all the Windows installation files into a single uncompressed file. ISO file can not be used directly. You have to burn that ISO file to DVD or USB disk. After burning the ISO file to disk, that disk becomes a bootable setup of Microsoft Windows that can be used to install Microsoft Windows on computer. Following tools can create Microsoft Windows bootable USB drive.
Tip: You need a USB flash drive with a minimum of 4 GB of free space to copy Microsoft Windows setup files on it.
Official Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
Officially, Microsoft has provided Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool that can create bootable Windows setup disks by using Microsoft Windows 7. For Microsoft Windows 7, this tool is the best. You can download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from official source and install it. However, this tool does not support dual-layer DVD discs.
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool looks like below:
It will ask for ISO file based on Microsoft Windows setup. In the second step, it will ask to choose USB drive to burn Microsoft Windows setup to.
It will burn the Microsoft Windows setup to provided USB drive and create a bootable Windows setup disk. You can also choose DVD to create bootable Windows setup disk. Sometimes it gives an error about unsupported ISO file but that unsupported ISO error has a solution.
If this tool requires to install the .NET framework or Image Mastering API, you can download .NET framework and download Image Mastering API for this tool to work on older versions of Microsoft Windows as well.
We have reviewed few ISO to Bootable USB Creator Tools before. If your requirement is to burn Microsoft Windows ISO to USB or DVD disk to create a bootable Windows setup disk, those tools can achieve this goal as well. Allow us to share few more tools.
WinToFlash
WinToFlash can be used to create bootable disk drive. Advanced mode presents a lot of useful options and all versions of Microsoft Windows are supported. To create Windows 7 or 8 bootable drive from ISO, you can go to ‘Advanced mode’ and select ‘Transfer Windows Vista/2008/7/8 setup to USB drive’. In the next step, you have to give the ISO file path and select the USB drive and hit ‘Run’ button. See screenshots below.
Following video tutorial shows how to create a bootable USB drive by using WinToFlash.
WiNToBootic
WiNToBootic is another tool to create ‘Windows USB boot disk’.
Windows 8 USB Installer Maker
Windows 8 USB Installer Maker is a clean utility that can create Microsoft Windows 8 bootable USB drive by using Microsoft Windows 8 ISO. This tool comes with a PDF manual and is easy to use.
It formats USB drive (NTFS), extracts all files to USB drive (takes some time) and then writes the USB Boot MBR. You have to select the USB drive and ISO file and hit ‘create’ button.
Win USB Maker
Win USB Maker is a small utility that can be used to create bootable Microsoft Windows based USB drive from Microsoft Windows ISO image or from Microsoft Windows DVD source. Interface uses drag and drop and you have to drag and drop your USB drive in it from ‘My Computer’ and then ISO file. It can work with setup DVD, setup folder and setup ISO image. It requires .NET Framework v4.0 in PC.
There are more tools for the same task such as UNetbootin, YUMI, Windows 7 SBB Tool.
