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I wanted to install windows 7 on my laptop, so I used Microsoft 's tool to burn the iso but it seems it couldnt set the bootable flag for some reason. I can't retry the process atm, but I have the usb with the flashed ISO. All I need is how to set the bootable flag from a Windows system on the USB. I have no Linux atm. Thanks

Federico Ponzi
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  • What's the make and model of the computer you plug the USB into for it to boot to the USB? – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jul 10 '16 at 15:48
  • Is suspect that you mean "the bootable flag of a MBR formatted harddisk". It is not needed for USB as a sort of floppy booting (just need the bootsector) nor when doing an EFI installation. – Hennes Jul 10 '16 at 15:52
  • @PIMP_JUICE_IT Asus k52f I'm not sure how this information could help – Federico Ponzi Jul 10 '16 at 16:44
  • @Hennes I cannot boot from the USB, as It dosen't appears in the boot menu. – Federico Ponzi Jul 10 '16 at 16:45
  • Assuming you used the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool to burn the ISO, (usually) another thing to do afterwards is running `bootsect /nt60 X:`, where X is your flash drive's letter. `bootsect` is found in \boot folder of the ISO, though _do not_ run it from the flash drive itself. (If anyone wants to make an answer out of this, go for it.) – rykien Jul 10 '16 at 19:58
  • Why would you need Linux? Anyway, I don't know of a way to do this without formatting the USB (stick). Also, it may be that the bootable flag *was* set on the stick. Some BIOSes (usually older) still will not let you boot from USB sticks. You can use RMPrepUSB to often get around that when you do the formatting, making the BIOS think that the USB stick is a USB hdd, although some few BIOSes will still not let you boot from it. Still, that requires a reformat. You might ask the folks at [Reboot.pro](http://reboot.pro/) for an authoritative answer. They will know. – benJephunneh Jul 11 '16 at 03:53
  • @FedericoPonzi Did you ever get this resolved? Was the issue with whatever you burned with the ISO not being bootable or was it you needed to tell the actual **Asus k52f** to be allowed to boot to a bootable USB inserted media? I know I answered this long ago but I reread over everything and I'm assuming the issue has/had to be one of those two things? Curious if you ever fully 100% resolved and if so what was that solution? Bad bootable/formatted USB media that's not actually bootable or machine level config to tell hardware to allow booting to USB inserted media assuming it's bootable? – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 08 '18 at 23:45
  • Honestly, I can't remember well so I might be wrong. I think the problem was with the bad formatted USB media, or a corrupted ISO. One of the two, but your answer might be good for other people (and this is why I've just accepted it). Have a nice day and sorry for the delay in this answer :) – Federico Ponzi Jan 21 '18 at 09:17

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I don't think that Windows has a native way of doing this. DISKPART doesn't support it.

I have had plenty of problems with Microsoft's "Windows USB/DVD Tool", so I just grab the ISO file and use Rufus instead. Never had any problems with Rufus, and it's 4x as fast as Microsoft's tool.

Yousha Aleayoub
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Daniel
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In addition to the below quoted text part of this answer, you may need to disable Fast Boot or Secure Boot options from the BIOS/UEFI screens, save once disabled it, have the USB device plugged in, and then reboot before the USB option will show in the boot menu options.

You may need to press the DEL key at boot up to get to the BIOS/UEFI setup screens to configure and set the options accordingly.

Check out How to Boot Your Computer from a USB Flash Drive and see the list beneath the area label USB Flash Drive Boot Reference List there for the Asus k52f model details.

How to Boot From a CD or USB Drive on Any PC

To boot from a CD or USB drive:

  1. Restart your computer and wait for that first screen to pop up. Often, it'll say something like "Press F12 to Choose Boot Device" somewhere on the screen. Press that key now.
  2. Give it a moment to continue booting, and you should see a menu pop up with a list of choices on it. Highlight your CD or USB drive and press Enter.

Alternatively, you can set your computer to always check for a bootable CD or USB drive. That way, when you have one inserted, it'll boot from it automatically, and when you don't, it'll head into your regular operating system. To set this up, follow these instructions:

  1. Restart your computer and watch for the first screen that shows up when you boot. You should see something that says "Press DEL to enter setup," or something similar. Press the noted key on your keyboard and wait for setup to start.

  2. You should see a new screen pop up, called your BIOS. This is where you set a lot of low-level settings for your computer. Look through the options (being careful not to change anything) for a setting called "Boot Device," "Boot Order," or something similar. Select that option.

    enter image description here

  3. From the menu that pops up, choose your computer's disc drive and press Enter. If you're trying to boot from a USB drive, choose USB-HDD instead and press Enter. Depending on your BIOS, you may need to use the Page Up and Page Down keys to move your selection to the top of a list, instead.

  4. Exit out of your BIOS, saving your changes. Usually, this option is under "Exit" on the main menu, or available via a keyboard shortcut listed somewhere on your screen.
  5. Your computer should reboot. Make sure your CD or USB drive is in your computer. If you're prompted to "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD," do so. Your computer should boot into the CD or USB drive instead of your normal operating system.

From there, you can follow the instructions on-screen to install Windows, troubleshoot issues, or do whatever else it is you need to do

source

Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style
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    Hi, and thanks for the answer. I know how to boot from a device, but my usb will not show up in the boot menu if I don't set the boot flag on the usb (as stated in the question). – Federico Ponzi Jul 10 '16 at 16:39
  • Not sure what 'a windows PC' has to do with this.It happens pre-OS load, so same in you run a different OS. And if it is an old desktop or laptop USB booting might not be supported at all. And on some the pen drive has to be inserted before power up. – Hennes Jul 10 '16 at 17:06
  • @FedericoPonzi Did you check the BIOS options and see if there's something to ensure it supports USB booting on this device such as "Allow Legacy USB"? Now that I have the make and model I'll look up with more detail on the topic. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jul 10 '16 at 18:53
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    @FedericoPonzi Additonally, it does appear that you may need to **disable Secure Boot or Fast Boot** from BIOS before the USB boot option will be available. So once you make those changes, SAVE, and then go to the boot menu and see if the USB option is there if the USB is plugged in before you go to the boot menu. You may need to press DEL at the boot up rather than F12 to get to the BIOS/UEFI screen to set the options accordingly. If that works, I'll update my answer with this detail but this make and model should support USB booting from what I could tell with a little research. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jul 10 '16 at 19:11
  • @PIMP_JUICE_IT What I mean it that booting from the USB will succeed or fail **before** any OS gets loaded. So it instead of 'a windows PC' you might as well write 'PC under a desk' or 'a red-white-green coloured PC' or .... – Hennes Jul 10 '16 at 19:22
  • @FedericoPonzi I went ahead and added further detail to the top of my answer which you may find helpful potentially. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jul 11 '16 at 03:34
  • This answer does not answer the question at all. The OP wants to know how to set the boot flag on a USB drive to allow it to boot in UEFI mode, not how to enable booting from usb drives in the BIOS. – DrCord Sep 04 '16 at 15:12
  • @DrCord Do you know how to set a boot flag on a USB drive from Windows so that when you stick it in the device and boot to it that is knows to boot to the USB drive and not anything else in the machine such as a fixed disk? I will gladly +1 an answer you add if you can explain how to complete this option with thorough detail and it's tested and confirmed to work. The simple solution is to tell the BIOS to allow USB device boot and do that explicitly I would think as a USB boot is typically optional whereas the fixed disks have active boot partitions otherwise. I'm glad to look over your answer – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Sep 04 '16 at 15:21
  • @DrCord Additionally, word-for-word as the OP explained, his ultimate goal is to have the machine boot to the USB with the ISO he burned to it so I do not get your point all that this answer does not answer his question at all.... feel free to elaborate with further detail on your scrutiny on my answer but word-for-word and my interpretation, this gives him the answer he needs for what he explains... Again, if you have a better more solid solution, add the answer, tag me back, I'm I'll be happy to look it over, test, and give you +1 for a confirmed working solution. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Sep 04 '16 at 15:25
  • I have been unable to find a way to set the boot flag on Windows on a usb drive and resorted to using a linux live cd and gparted to set the flag. – DrCord Sep 04 '16 at 20:49
  • @DrCord The gparted BOOT and the diskpart ACTIVE should be the same thing... here's a post https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200124(v=ws.11).aspx that explains how to do this but this is not how I interpreted the question for the best answer I wanted to write. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Sep 04 '16 at 21:13
  • ok, thanks for your detailed answer. :D have a great day! – DrCord Sep 05 '16 at 14:31
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I had a similar issue with a drive and I could not make it work with BIOS setting changes. I was starting to think it might have been an issue with my USB drive. Every time I tried the Windows Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB drive, I was greeted with an error...
Then I tried the WMCT to download the Windows 10 iso file instead and try Rufus to make the bootable USB drive. At first try, it was formatted and all the data was written, but I could not make it boot from BIOS either. Then I tried again with the additional options "Add fixes for old BIOSes (extra partition, align, etc)" as well as "Use Rufus MBR with BIOS ID". This fixed the issue for me. You can download the Windows ISO from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 using the Windows Media Creation Tool. Rufus can be downloaded from https://rufus.ie both as installation or stand-alone tools. You won't need to "burn" the iso onto a DVD. Rufus makes a bootable USB drive straight from the iso file which is freely available.

Akeo
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Jakke
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