Windows 8 is runnable from a USB stick, opens doors for MIDs past
In case you haven't heard, a Windows 8 beta is available to download right now. It's only going to be running on Intel processors, but that is still okay for us: our UMPCs from years past run on Intel processors mostly, anyway. However, one thing that those devices are missing (usually) is a CD/DVD drive. So if you wanted to install Windows 8 on it, and wanted physical media readily available to you, how would you go about doing that?
Well, I have some good news: Windows 8 is runnable and installable via a USB drive! That means that you can download the beta one time, and not have to worry about redownloading it again. There are a few prerequisites, though: a 16GB or larger USB drive, the Windows 8 disc image, and the Windows Automated Installation Kit. (All of the software pieces of the equation will be available to you at the end of this post.) Continue reading to find out how this can work.
First, we need to format your USB drive to NTFS, which is required to make Windows run. Here are the commands to do so:
diskpart
select disk 1
select partition 1
delete partition 1
create partition primary
format fs=netfs quick
active
exit
After you've done that, the next step is to put the necessary files onto the drive. (Note: f:/ is the USB drive here. You need to know what drive your flash drive is, and replace the f with the correct letter.) Here are the commands:
imagex.exe /apply d:sourceinstall.wim 1 f:
bcdboot.exe f:windows /s f: /f ALL
Then, to be able to boot from your USB drive, you'll need to access your BIOS and select your USB stick to boot from. Then, you simply restart into that and you should be golden.
Windows 8 Disc Image | Windows Automated Installation Kit
[Borns IT- und Windows-Blog]
