Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Creating A Bootable USB Flash Drive To Install Windows 8 Developer Preview


A USB flash drive is a data storage device that is removable and rewritable. These are used for purposes such as storage, backup and transfer of computer files. Some USB flash drives are also used as a digital audio player. Nowadays, most desktop and laptop computers are supplied with USB ports. The user can easily create a bootable USB flash drive by downloading the Windows 7 download tool from the Microsoft store in Microsoft’s official website. However, you can also manually install the Windows 8 Developer Preview from a USB flash drive.

You can follow the below-mentioned instructions to create a bootable USB flash drive for the preview of the Windows 8 installation.


  • The first step is to mount the ISO image on your computer. Windows 7 does not possess the capability to mount an ISO image. Hence, you have to mount the ISO image on the computer.
  • For this, download the Windows Developer Preview ISO image from Microsoft’s website. Now, you can use your favorite ISO image software, and mount the ISO image successfully on your computer.
  • You can also check if the ISO image was mounted successfully. as you would be able to browse the Windows 8 files once you mount the ISO image.
  • The next step involves formatting a USB flash drive. After formatting the USB drive, make this flash drive bootable.
  • Always make sure that you have the USB flash drive as bootable before copying the files. To do this, you can use the Boot Sector Registration Tool bootsect.exe, which is located in the boot folder of the Windows 8 ISO image.
  • Now, start a Command Prompt as an Administrator and CHDIR into the boot folder of the Windows 8 ISO image. You can also contact Windows help to get more information on the Windows 8 installation.
  • After finishing the booting process, copy the Windows 8 files onto the USB flash drive and install Windows 8 from the bootable flash drive.
  • Now, remove your USB flash drive from your source computer and insert it into the target computer where you want to install Windows 8.
  • In the final step, during boot up, select the USB flash drive to boot from. Check if it is detected by your system.

Therefore, you can follow these simple steps to successfully create a bootable USB flash drive and install the Windows 8 developer preview.

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