What's the best way to make a bootable Windows USB in Linux?

Ryanms3030 · 10-18-2016, 02:25 PM

I have a laptop that is running the latest Ubuntu but I need to set it up dual boot with Windows 7 or 10 (I have license and ISO file for both). But I don't have access to a Windows machine currently where I can make a bootable USB so I need to do it on either Ubuntu or Fedora. I have tried using Unetbootin on both and it doesn't seem to create a bootable USB. I tried using Gparted and making a ntfs disk with Bootable flag and copying the ISO to it but that doesn't work either. I tried dd comand and not luck either.

I can make a bootable linux USB with Unetbootin and the laptop will boot from that so it doesn't seem to be a BIOS/Laptop issue. The laptop supports UEFI and legacy USB

AwesomeMachine · 10-18-2016, 07:49 PM

If you have the ISO for Windows, write it to the USB drive using dd.

Code:

$ dd if=/home/sam/widows.iso of=/dev/sdc

or whatever device file corresponds to the usb drive. You don't need to format or anything. It will boot off usb just as if it was a CD.

But the better way is to install VirtualBox and install Windows as a guest. Then you'll have a Windows virtual machine you can run when you feel like it.

yancek · 10-18-2016, 09:54 PM

Unetbootin doesn't create a bootable windows usb as stated on their home page.

Quote:

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

Another more complex method explained at the link below:

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

Ryanms3030 · 10-18-2016, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwesomeMachine

If you have the ISO for Windows, write it to the USB drive using dd.

Code:

$ dd if=/home/sam/widows.iso of=/dev/sdc

or whatever device file corresponds to the usb drive. You don't need to format or anything. It will boot off usb just as if it was a CD.

But the better way is to install VirtualBox and install Windows as a guest. Then you'll have a Windows virtual machine you can run when you feel like it.

I tried virtualbox but I'm running some video editing and audio production software and it felt laggy in vm like there is latency

AwesomeMachine · 10-18-2016, 10:35 PM

OK, try dd and see if the usb image will boot. But at the end of the command put, conv=sync. That will pad the last sector with zeroes to make it a whole sector. One of the ways Windows "knows" is that copying programs don't copy the entire last sector, because part of the last sector contains no data.

BW-userx · 10-19-2016, 06:35 AM

Code:

Use Microsoft's own Windows USB/DVD download tool to create a bootable drive you can install Windows from. You'll need a Windows installer ISO file to run this tool. If you don't have one, you can download Windows 10, 8, or 7 installation media for free — you'll need a legitimate product key to use them, though

linux

some say this will work