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How to install Windows 7 or 8 from USB using UEFI

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In order to benefit from the new UEFI features (including faster system startup), you will have to prepare your USB device slightly different.

Main take-away here: UEFI accepts boot loaders in files placed a the FAT formatted boot volume

To prepare your USB stick (4GB minimum) manually follow these steps:

  1. Open an elevated command

  2. Start diskpart

  3. Enter list disk

    Locate your USB stick, no room for mistakes here or you might destroy the wrong thing.
    image

  4. Enter select disk # (where # is the number of your USB drive, in the example above it’s number 3)

  5. Enter the following commands, keep in mind that all data on the USB device will be deleted:

    • clean
    • create partition primary
    • select partition 1
    • active
    • format quick fs=fat32
    • assign
    • exit

  6. Mount or extract the Windows 7 or 8 ISO

  7. Copy the contents from the ISO to the USB stick

    • xcopy S:\* D:\ /s /e        (S = the ISO drive or contents, D = the USB device)

  8. Reboot your computer and enter the “BIOS” by pressing one of the F keys, this key varies depending on hardware manufacturer and model.

  9. Enable the option “UEFI only” or similar option.

  10. Save and exit, boot from your USB stick to start the installation.

Do you want to check if Windows is installed in such a way that its actually using UEFI, please consult my other blog post.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Tomas, you are absolutely right. Thanks for commenting, will fix it straight away!

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The USB will boot but in the end you will have a NON-UEFI installation. Please read my other blog post on how to check afterwards.

  • Anonymous
    October 02, 2012
    Hi, are you sure about second "clean" in the sequence? I'd say that this wipes the drive, so your previous steps will be lost.... but maybe I'm wrong:) Tom

  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2012
    I used Win7 USB tool to convert ISO to USB...the tool formatted my usb stick to NTFS..I selected UEFI boot & it boots so its not only FAT is it?

  • Anonymous
    January 28, 2013
    may you can help me how make win 7 & win 8 or the other os in UEFI? please

  • Anonymous
    January 28, 2013
    sorry i mean 2 booting win 7 & win 8 or the other OS

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2013
    how about install.wim files that in the source directory? its size >4gb ?

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2013
    I had trouble with this method as my motherboard (Gigabyte with Hybrid EFI) wasn't booting in EFI mode.  I found the site at forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php helpful as to how to add an efi file to help the USB device boot in EFI mode.

  • Anonymous
    March 27, 2014
    hey www.instalarewindows.ro provides services for instalare windows

  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 02, 2014
    i tryed everything in this tutorial but still my usbs tick didn't pop up in the list

  • Anonymous
    August 21, 2014
    This tutorial is missing the most important diskpart command:
    convert gpt
    This is the whole point of formatting with diskpart - to convert to gpt, because uefi systems only boot from gpt.

    Just issue "convert gpt" command after clean and your uefi install will work.

  • Anonymous
    November 17, 2014
    My role has previously primarily focused on Microsoft Intune, nowadays it’s more towards our whole Enterprise

  • Anonymous
    December 29, 2014
    https://rufus.akeo.ie/

  • Anonymous
    December 29, 2014
    PROGRAMS:
    BootIce
    Winbootic
    Rufus
    dx9setup
    Microsoft.Security.Essentials x86
    Microsoft.Security.Essentials x64

  • Anonymous
    September 21, 2015
    Excellent ISO certification Process and also provide ISO training ,best customer satisifaction Quality Services in singaporehttp://qscert.sg/"/>Qscert

  • Anonymous
    October 17, 2015
    Excellent ISO certification Process and also provide ISO training ,best customer satisifaction Quality Services in singaporehttp://qscert.sg/"/>Qscert

  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2015
    or simply use the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool

    http://finally-found-the-solution.blogspot.com/2015/05/Install-Windows-7-or-8-From-USB-lenovo-dell-asus-acer-hp-samsung-toshiba.html

  • Anonymous
    January 04, 2016
    Worked for me!
    Thanks for sharing~

  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2017
    may you can help mehow make win 8 & win 10 or the other os in UEFI?please

  • Anonymous
    January 04, 2018
    There are two problems with ALL of these various scenarios on how to use Rufus or other method to boot from USB to install Win7. 1. Even if you boot and install from the USB - the new installation is not UEFI mode - the whole purpose of going through this.2. Even though the computer boots from the USB - in many cases there is no video.Does anyone have a step by step method to install win7 in UEFI mode on an HP Pavillion 7212 laptop?Thanks