Installing windows 8 from usb

As a result of a failure or when purchasing a new computer, the user may urgently need to independently install Windows 8. The installation process of the operating system is quite simple. The main thing is to follow the system prompts and carefully read its instructions.

However, before starting the operation, you should carefully prepare and stock up on the necessary tools, since during the installation process it will no longer be possible to download the necessary files. In addition, before starting the installation, it is important to know how to respond to system messages and what to consider during the operation.

What you need for installation

First of all, for installation you will need a distribution kit with installation files. If you are going to run the installation from a flash drive, you must first make it bootable and write the corresponding disk image file to it.

It is worth considering that an image with the Windows 8 operating system can take up at least 4Gb, which means that you will need a flash drive of the appropriate size to record it. In addition, it is important to consider that after reinstallation, device drivers may be needed, especially if the installation is performed on a laptop or netbook.

An ISO file with a recording distribution can be pre-downloaded from the official Microsoft website or you can create an image yourself if you have a disk with a copy of the required operating system. If the DVD is licensed, the license activation files may not install properly, and additional activation with keys will be required.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive

To make a flash drive bootable without using utilities, you need to use the command line. Having chosen this method, you will simply need to unpack the image onto a USB drive, having previously formatted the device and transferred to it the files necessary to be able to run from it.

Video: Installing Windows 8

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

This utility was created by Microsoft and is intended for burning an ISO image to a disk or flash drive. The program is quite easy to use and completely Russified.

To start creating a boot disk, you need to connect it to your computer and, by launching the Download Tool, perform the following steps:

Photo: Completing the recording of the Windows 8 distribution to a USB flash drive

Don't pay attention to the name of the utility. It can easily record any images, both earlier versions of the operating system and other applications in general.

WinToFlash utility

This application is multitasking and has a lot of features. In addition to creating a bootable USB flash drive, the utility has an advanced mode with additional functions. Many options will allow you to prepare a USB device for any purpose, making it bootable and able to work with any system and bit depth.

To record an image of a bootable distribution, the standard program interface is sufficient. To start the operation, you only need to select the drive letter on which the installation will be written and specify the location where the image will be stored.

Photo: selecting a file to record in WinToFlash

A special feature of the application is that it works with all possible formats, including archives. Well, if an error occurs during installation, or the system is blocked by a Winlocker virus, then using a drive with this utility you can perform many additional actions with the computer and system.

UltraISO utility

This utility is perhaps the most famous among users. It allows you not only to write absolutely any image format to any device, including USB drive partitions, but also makes it possible to edit and replace files inside archive containers.

By changing or adding content, you can always have an up-to-date distribution with the latest updates and fresh drivers. You will also have the opportunity to remove programs or versions of operating systems that you do not need in order for the image to fit on the flash drive.

The application interface is very simple and convenient, but slightly different from previous programs, since UltraISO has more purposes. In addition, this utility allows you to create a disk image yourself, then edit it and write it to a flash drive. If necessary, you can convert the file format for further work with it.

To write the finished image to a drive and install Windows 8 from a flash drive on a PC, you must follow these steps:

Command line

If you have problems starting OS Windows and there is no way to restore it, and you do not have a ready-made flash drive with the distribution to start the reinstallation, but you have an image file on your computer, then you can use the command line to create a boot partition on the drive.

Also, this feature will be useful if there is no Internet on the computer at a time when the installation files of the above programs are missing and there is nowhere to get them.

In order to make the flash drive bootable, you need to run the following commands sequentially, after first launching a prompt window as an administrator:

1. DISKPART(launch the application for working with disks and partitions);
2. list disk(call up the list of available drives);
3. select disk 1(select the device, the picture indicates that the flash drive is number one);
4. clean(clearing information from the drive);
5. create partition primary(create a new main partition on the flash drive);
6. select partition 1(we choose it for work);
7. active(make the selected section active);
8. format fs=NTFS(format the flash drive, changing the file system to NTFS);
9. assign letter=Q(we assign a letter to the device that is definitely not occupied);
10. exit(we finish working with the program).

Photo: Creating a boot device on the command line

The bootable USB flash drive has been created and is ready to use. All that remains is to unpack the distribution package with the ISO file there. It is important to note that unpacking directly to the drive will take a lot of time and may be interrupted when processing large files. Therefore, it is better to unzip the image onto the hard drive, and then start copying to the flash drive.

How to install Windows 8 from a USB flash drive via BIOS

Now that the equipment is prepared and the installation distribution is ready, you need to correctly configure the bios so that the initial boot starts from the USB drive, and not from the hard drive, as is set by default.

Boot selection in BIOS

To select boot priority in Bios, the easiest way is to use the quick launch key. Most often this is “F12”, but another button can be used. It depends on the PC or laptop manufacturer.

You can also change boot priorities from the device in the Bios firmware itself. To do this, you need to go there using the “Del” button and go to the launch options in the “Boot” section.

It is necessary that the USB device be selected as the main one, that is, first in the list, for loading by priority. After making changes, it is necessary for the system to remember the parameters. Typically, exit + apply settings is done using the “F10” key.

Installation

After restarting the computer, when selecting the flash drive as the main device to launch, a system message should appear indicating that the installation process has begun. You must wait until the distribution determines the settings and characteristics of the computer, after which a window will appear asking you to select the version of the operating system if there are several of them in the installation image.

The installation process of OS Windows 8 is very simple. The only thing you need to do is select the language, as well as the partition on which the system will be installed. If necessary, you need to create a logical disk or edit its parameters by clicking the “Disk Configuration” button.

System Setup

After the installation process of OS Windows 8 is completed, a window for user settings and selection of system colors that are more convenient for perception and selection of the PC name should appear.

Photo: Initial user installations of Windows 8

In the next window, if necessary, you can configure the security of the operating system, where you can immediately set firewall parameters, change the built-in characteristics of Windows Defender or the criteria for displaying and launching files.

Photo: Change settings or use default

If you are using a Microsoft account connection, you must enter an email address for identification. However, it is worth considering that if you are not a regular customer of the corporation, it is better to leave this step by clicking the “Sign in without a Microsoft account” button.

Photo: Selecting a local account and entering a name for it

Required drivers and programs

The necessary drivers and utilities may be included on the disk along with your device. However, if this is not the case, then they are located in a special system partition. In addition, OS Windows 8 installs the main drivers automatically, and those that are missing can be downloaded from the official resource of the computer manufacturer.

The site will require you to enter computer data, including the serial number, model and subcategory of the equipment. As a rule, all this data can be found in the accompanying documentation or on the back of the laptop/netbook.

The programs required for operation are already installed in OS Windows 8. Therefore, you can easily view a video file, listen to music or edit a document. However, if you need third-party software, download it from official sites after installing an antivirus program.

The system to protect against installation of third-party software will constantly request permission to install unless you specify other parameters in the OS Windows security settings. Be careful when choosing software versions. You must use software designed specifically for Windows 8, otherwise its functionality is not guaranteed.

The process of installing OS Windows 8 from a flash drive is not difficult. Using the instructions above, everyone can quickly install and configure the operating system.

Installing Windows 8 from a flash drive to a laptop is a fairly simple procedure. However, here you need to know a few specific rules. So, how to install an operating system from a flash drive to a laptop? Let's take a closer look at the entire process.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive in UltraISO: Video

Preparing for installation

It is worth noting that flash drives are most widespread due to their undeniable advantages. They are easy to use, and you can rewrite information an unlimited number of times. At the same time, laptop manufacturers are increasingly abandoning CD/DVD drives, increasing the number of USB ports.

So let's get started. Firstly, you will need . Secondly, you need to prepare your computer.

Typically, a laptop hard drive is divided into two partitions:

• Systemic.
• Basic.

The first is necessary just for installing Windows on it, and the second is for storing files. If you are using any operating system and want to update it to G8 or simply reinstall it, then first save all important data to the main partition. If you do not have a disk with drivers for your laptop, then you must first download the necessary software from the manufacturer’s official website. If you have all of the above, then you can proceed to installation. Also write down your product key so that you have access to it during the installation process.

How to install Windows 8 from a flash drive: Video

Installing OS Windows 8 from a USB flash drive

So, insert your flash drive into the USB port. After this we need to restart the computer. In order for the download to start from our memory drive, at the moment when the computer starts downloading (the manufacturer’s logo appears), you need to press the “Esc” key. After this, a table will appear with the choice of download location. Here we indicate USB Flash and press “Enter”.

Now the computer will start from the bootable USB flash drive. In other words, the installation process begins loading. Here you need to wait a little. Next, the first thing the system will ask us to specify is the language, formats and input method. Here you indicate the languages ​​you need.

After this, a window will appear offering two options:

• Install Windows 8.

Recovery is a function that allows you to restore an existing OS. You should select this function if you have problems loading. We are interested in the second option. There will be a large “Install” button in the center of the screen. Click it and move on to the next stage.

Now we will need to enter the product key. Enter it and click “Next”. Now you are presented with a license agreement, which we recommend that you read. After reading, check the box “I accept the license terms” and click “Next”.

The next step is to select an installation option:

• Update.
• Selection.

The first option is to update an existing OS to G8. The second is a complete installation of Windows 8 from a flash drive to a laptop. We are interested in the second option.

Next, the system prompts you to select a partition on the hard drive on which the installation will take place. As mentioned above, in most cases there are two sections. It is worth noting that for Windows 8 it is recommended to select a partition with a volume of at least 60 GB. The OS itself does not take up that much memory, but you need to remember that while using it you will install additional applications and drivers on the hardware, so the hard drive must have a certain reserve.

When you select a volume to install, you can configure the hard drive. There are a number of possibilities here:

• Formatting.
• Removing partitions.
• Creation of volumes.

If you have everything already marked up, then simply select the desired section and click “Next”. After this, file copying will begin. The computer will restart several times during the file transfer process. You don't need to do anything here.

After installation, all that remains is to configure the system: select a color scheme, enter the name of the PC, select the required parameters and specify the user name. There is nothing complicated about this, just carefully read the prompts on the screen. It is worth noting that all these parameters can be edited later. This is just a preliminary setup.

Good afternoon. In today’s article we’ll talk about how you can install Windows 8 from a flash drive, what questions arise, and how best to solve them. If before this procedure you have not yet saved important files from your hard drive, I recommend that you do so.

And so, let's go...

1. Create a bootable USB flash drive/disk for Windows 8

To do this we need a simple utility: Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool. Despite the name, it can also record images from Win 8 OS. After installation and launch, you will see something like the following.

The first step is to select the Windows 8 iso image to burn.

The second step is to choose where you will record, either to a flash drive or to a DVD.

Select the drive on which the recording will be made. In this case, a bootable USB flash drive will be created. By the way, you need a flash drive of at least 4GB!

The program warns us that all data from the flash drive will be deleted when written.

After you agree and click OK, the creation of a bootable flash drive begins. The process takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

A message indicating the successful completion of the process. Otherwise, it is not recommended to start installing Windows!

I personally really like the UltraISO program for burning bootable discs. There was already information about how to burn a disc in it. I recommend you check it out.

2. Setting up Bios to boot from a flash drive

Most often, by default, booting from a flash drive is disabled in Bios. But turning it on is not difficult, although it scares novice users.

In general, after you turn on your PC, the first thing that loads is Bios, which performs initial testing of the hardware, then the OS loads, and only then all other programs. So, if after turning on the computer you press the Delete key several times (sometimes F2, depending on the PC model), you will be taken to the Bios settings.

You won't see Russian text here!

But everything is intuitive. To enable booting from a flash drive, you need to do only 2 things:

1) Check if the USB ports are enabled.

You need to find the USB configuration tab, or something very similar to this. There may be slight differences in names between bios versions. You need to make sure everything is Enabled!

2) Change the loading order. Usually, the first step is to check for the presence of a boot CD/DVD, then check the hard drive (HDD). You need to add a check for the presence of a bootable flash drive to this queue, before booting from the HDD.

The screenshot shows the boot order: first USB, then CD/DVD, then from hard drive. If this is not the case for you, change it so that the first thing you do is boot from USB (if you install the OS from a flash drive).

Yes, by the way, after you make all the settings, you need to save them in Bios (most often the F10 key). Look for the “Save and exit” item.

3. How to install Windows 8 from a flash drive: step-by-step guide

Installing this OS is not much different from . The only thing is brighter colors and, as it seemed to me, a faster process. It may depend on different OS versions.

After restarting the PC, if you did everything correctly, booting from the flash drive should begin. You will see the first greeting of the eight:

Before starting installation, you must agree. Nothing super original...

Then a rather important point will follow: disk partitions, formatting, creation and deletion. In general, a hard drive partition is like a separate hard drive, at least that’s how the OS will perceive it.

If you have one physical HDD, it is advisable to split it into 2 parts: 1 partition for Windows 8 (it is recommended about 50-60 GB), give the rest of the space to the second partition (drive D) - which will be used for user files.

You don’t have to create partitions C and D, but if the OS crashes, it will be more difficult to recover your data...

After the logical structure of the HDD has been configured, the installation begins. Now it’s better not to touch anything and calmly wait for the invitation to enter the PC name...

At this time, the computer may reboot several times, greet you, and show the Windows 8 logo.

After unpacking all files and installing packages, the OS will begin setting up programs. To get started, you'll choose a color, give your PC a name, and you'll be able to set many other settings.

At the installation stage, it is best to choose standard parameters. Then in the control panel you can change everything to what you want.

To install Windows 8 from a flash drive, you will need an ISO image of this OS, which can be downloaded from a torrent tracker that you trust (or perhaps someone you know who has already installed Windows 8 will kindly provide it to you). Next, you need to prepare the USB drive and PC.

Preparing a flash drive

So, we need a USB drive with a memory capacity of at least 4 GB. First of all, transfer the data from it (if any) to the “D” drive on your computer, to “cloud storage” or to another drive.
Next, you need to format (since this procedure erases all information, we prudently transferred the files we needed). Click on the removable disk, select “Format” and FAT32.

Upon completion of the procedure, we proceed to saving the ISO image with the Windows 8 distribution kit to a flash drive. Simply copying and pasting won't work. To make a virtual drive from a Flash drive and an ISO disk, we will use a special Windows USB / DVD Download Tool (WinToFlash is also suitable).

This means we install and launch Windows USB/DVD Tool. In the menu, click the Browse button and find the place where the ISO image is located. Select the object and indicate “USB Device”.

After that, click the “Begin copying” button. The Windows 8 bootable USB flash drive is ready.

Preparing your computer

The computer can be “clean” (that is, without any operating system at all) or with Windows 7 or XP installed. Most likely, you have a “seven”. This is the most common option today. Many users of the seventh version want to try out the new creation of Microsoft developers. After all, they say that in the eighth the system loads faster, navigation is more convenient and the design is cooler. We will build on this. Moreover, we have already worked with this system and prepared a flash drive with its help. Make sure your laptop or desktop PC meets Windows 8 requirements.

• processor with a frequency of 1 GHz or more;
• 2 GB RAM;
• 20 GB of free hard disk space;
• screen resolution from 1024x768.

Transfer all the necessary files, folders, programs and generally everything that is important and necessary from drive “C”. For example, to disk “D”, to “cloud storage” or to separate media. If you used a utility (for example, Softobase Updater), which remembers all the software on the PC and after reinstallation will be able to load the same programs that you had, you don’t have to transfer the programs. As for the drivers, you will have standard ones (they come with the OS), but the rest will have to be installed again.

Directly installing Windows 8 from a flash drive

We insert the flash drive into the USB port and restart the computer. As soon as the system starts to start, press the Delete key (alternatively this could be F2, F11, F12). Thus, we will get into the BIOS shell (you will have to control the keyboard, since the mouse will be inaccessible - use the arrows and the Enter button).
Here we need to find the Boot System Configuration section (it can also be called Boot Order or Bootable Device Priority). In it we find the item where the term USB-HDD, Removable or USB-Flash appears and put it in first place (topmost line).

If you want to install Windows 8 from a flash drive, then you need to make it bootable. This is exactly what we will talk about today. Previously, I have already written lessons on the topic of installing Windows and creating a bootable USB flash drive. Although not at a professional level, despite this, my articles on installing Windows 8, 7, XP and creating bootable media have become very popular, both on the site and on the Russian Internet in general. Most users respond well, and most often everything works out for them.

New video on installing Windows 8 from a flash drive!

And this is the reason!

This is the reason why I decided it was time to write a lesson about how to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 and tell you in a nutshell how to install it, since I described the detailed process of installing the “Eight” in the corresponding lesson: “”. I recommend checking it out. But despite this, we will look at the brief process of installing Windows 8 from a flash drive.

And now directly to the topic of this lesson: How to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 and install it!

In order to solve this issue, we need at least two things: an image with Windows 8 and a program for burning images. Oh, yes, we also need a flash drive, of course. You must “get” a USB flash drive and an image of Windows 8 yourself, but of course I will give you a link to the official website of the program that we will use in this lesson.

We will work in the multifunctional UltraISO program. It is paid, but despite this, we can use it absolutely free for a month. Therefore, we will have a lot of time to create a bootable USB flash drive.

Select the Russian version to download.

Installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive

In general, I described the installation of Windows 8 in another lesson, the link to which was given at the beginning of this article. And the process of normal G8 installation is no different from installing Windows 8 from a USB flash drive. But despite this, we’ll look at it briefly, and then we can do it without instructions.

So, the first thing you need to do is make sure that the flash drive is inserted into the computer. Then reboot it and go into BIOS. By pressing the Del, F2 or F8 key, depending on the motherboard, we will get to the BIOS.

Go to the Boot tab, select Boot Device Priority or Hard Disk Drives, it depends on the BIOS.

First you need to put your flash drive. Usually you can determine it by the keyword USB.

Now our PC will boot from the flash drive and we can start installing Windows 8: select the Russian language, click install, accept the terms of the license agreement, indicate the disk on which the system will be installed, and now we wait.

We will not go into details, since our goal was to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8, and the detailed installation, as I have already said several times, I described in my other article.

Well, I'm waiting for your comments. Have you figured out how to install Windows 8 from a flash drive, and will you even make it bootable? Or do you traditionally use disks? And that’s all for me, I hope my instructions were useful to you. Good luck.