[SOLVED] Need help installing win 7 from usb

Aroc8822 · 11-04-2018, 05:09 PM

I am currently runing Bodhi os on my laptop, I like the distro and everything is running well I would just also like to have a copy of windows as well for some specific programs/games. I have a windows .iso but for the life of me cannot seem to be able to get it to boot from USB.

I have tried unetbootin normally, and the 'hack' to format from fat32 to NTFS. Either tells me it's not a bootable image, or continuously loops the automatic boot option. I have tried using the DD method too but get stuck at a blinking cursor upon restart.

I haven't been able to install a program to create bootable usb. Winusb refuses to install, I have tried multiple repository, it refuses to download. Tried from source and was missing dependencies so did -f install and didn't fix anything.

Im not super experienced with Linux yet so I'm not sure the next route to go. And I figured I'd ask here before I frustrate myself any further.

If I was able to I'd use wine to emulate but some things just don't work, I'd rather windows. Please help!

yancek · 11-04-2018, 05:51 PM

You would probably be better off at a windows forum to get information on creating a bootable windows usb. Since you don't have windows installed (??), there are methods you can use to create a usb to boot from Linux. A detailed example is at the link below. You can skip the part about installing Grub to the usb as you already have Grub installed on Bodhi so just put the menuentry in the grub.cfg file on your Bodhi system. Basically, it is a loop mount of the windows iso then copying the folders/files of windows to the ntfs formatted partition on the usb and marking it active/boot and putting the entry in grub.cfg on Bodhi in your case.

http://onetransistor.blogspot.ch/201...om-ubuntu.html

Unetebootin is designed to be used to create a bootable "Linux" usb as stated on their home page, quoted below. If you manage to get a windows bootable usb, post the details of the steps you used as I'm sure many would be interested.

Quote:

Also, ISO files for non-Linux operating systems have a different boot mechanism, so don't expect them to work either.

hydrurga · 11-04-2018, 07:11 PM

Try WoeUSB.

https://www.fossmint.com/woeusb-crea...ks-from-linux/

Aroc8822 · 11-04-2018, 07:20 PM

Thanks alot for the link. I guess I just didn't fish enough! I followed the steps to a tee, had to download furiusiso to loop mount the image because Bodhi doesn't have nautilus. Ran file manager as root to copy all files from the mounted image into the USB. Created the grub.cfg file and it booted up fine. An error flashed before Windows setup started loading but can't catch what it is. **edit** forgot to partition an NTFS file system to install to. Lucky you can do this from command prompt in the windows install

Haven't ran install yet just checked to see if it worked. Will post once more from windows when/if it's up and running with a short and sweet version of that tutorial to try and help others. Thanks again.

Aroc8822 · 11-04-2018, 09:48 PM

Okay so I got it working just fine. Here is the short of what I did.

Plugged in USB > opened Gparted > device > create partition table (msdos) > made new partition (fat32) > added boot flag

Open Furius ISO > loop mount windows ISO > copied all files from IMG to USB drive

Now to make it bootable... Ran

Code:

sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc --boot-directory="/media/<username>/<drive_label>/boot" /dev/sdX

My drive label was "/mnt" and USB was "/dev/sdb"... must label the drive not the partition you created (sdb1)

Installed with no errors > created txt file labeled grub.cfg (again my drive label was /mnt)

Code:

default=1  
timeout=15
color_normal=light-cyan/dark-gray
menu_color_normal=black/light-cyan
menu_color_highlight=white/black
 
menuentry "Start Windows Installation" {
    insmod ntfs
    insmod search_label
    search --no-floppy --set=root --label <USB_drive_label> --hint hd0,msdos1
    ntldr /bootmgr
    boot
}

menuentry "Boot from the first hard drive" {
    insmod ntfs
    insmod chain
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod part_gpt
    set root=(hd1)
    chainloader +1
    boot
}

Saved said file to USB > boot > grub folder > create NTFS partition on HDD to install windows > boot from USB > viola!

Thanks so much again. Saved me alot of frustration.

yancek · 11-05-2018, 07:21 AM

Quote:

had to download furiusiso to loop mount the image because Bodhi doesn't have nautilus.

You could have simply loop mounted the windows iso using your terminal in Bodhi. If you had your windows iso in your Downloads directory, you create a mount point there, change to that directory in a terminal and mount it as root using the commands below. You would need the exact name of the windows iso.

Quote:

mkdir windows
sudo mount -o loop windows.iso windows