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I'm having some issue where when I run bootsect with a command line of "bootsect.exe /nt52 : /force /mbr", then Windows 7 (the comp I'm running bootsect on) can no longer view the contents of the usb drive.

Explorer tries to look at it, and then fails, and I can't even correctly eject the drive, when I try, it does nothing until I yank it out, and then I get some errors.

Bootsect reports success on writing the volume and the drive data to make it bootable, but it doesn't boot after copying on the necessary files (files from a created ISO, it works when it is created on XP). But this may be that I'm not following the same instructions as when building it on XP since some of the command don't seem to always work correctly.

The drive is formatted to FAT32 (necessary I think, cause I'm installing a custom version of Win XP embedded).

Any ideas? Or perhaps a good or automated way to load a usb with a custom version of win xp and make it bootable from Win 7? I am having some issues, for instance, "ufdprep.exe" rarely works when I'm running it from Windows 7, I don't know why.

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  • What shows up in the Device Manager? What shows up in Disk Management?
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 7:10

4 Answers 4

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Use WinToFlash to make a bootable USB disk and this tool to format the USB drive itself.

Check this link for a step-by-step process to create a bootable pendrive to install an OS: http://benchmark3d.com/create-a-bootable-usb-disk-using-win2flash

Check the Win2Flash website for detailed information.

I have installed Windows 7 using this process many times when my DVD drive had stopped working. The good thing is that it's free to use.

To make installation faster, adjust the storage device policy for better performance.

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Try WinToFlash. Also format the flash drive using HP USB format tool first. It ensures that partitions are created correctly.

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  • A bit offtopic, I have had USB drives formatted with a Chromium OS installation image on them. The only way they can become usable again is booting into a GParted live CD.
    – Justin Goldberg
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 14:21
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I found that on Windows 7, if you have the required files for an ISO image, all you have to do is format the usb using the normal Windows format (FAT32 or NTFS, both appear to work) and then copy the files over to the drive.

Apparently Windows 7 when creating a primary partition writes in space for an MBR onto a USB device, then all it needs are the files from an ISO image, which is what I started with.

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  • This only works if want to create a bootable Windows 7 drive.
    – Serious
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 5:42
  • Maybe you should update your question?
    – Quidam
    Commented Dec 15, 2016 at 5:11
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Some USB drives appear as Local, some appear as Removable. Some systems will boot Removable drives, some will not. Some systems require the partition to be marked ACTIVE to boot. Use DISKPART or Disk Management to mark a partition as Active (bootable).

In addition to the other suggestions, the open source program Rufus makes a good bootable USB and writes ISOs.

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