Problems installing Windows 7 from a USB stick

I have got a brand new W510 that i am doing a clean install of Windows 7.
However i have faced major problems with installing from a USB stick attached to the W510.
Please notice that there isn't any problem installing Windows 7 to my other PC from this USB stick, this problem is only present with W510.
I have the BIOS from Lenovo v 1.35, Bios settting are reset to default to isolate any faulty settings.
In the readme file the say they have fixed some USB detection problems by Windows. bug still present??
Version 1.35 (BIOS ID: 6LET74WW) [for BIOS ID 6Lxxxxxx-based computer]
[Problem fixes]
- Fix an issue that a USB device is not recognized by Windows connecting
to USB 3.0 port.
Below is picture of the problem.
First i choose to boot from my USB Stick Sandisk Cruzer which Windows 7 files are placed, i know these files and the USB stick works with my other computer.
Picture 1
Next step when it boots
Picture 2
I press Install Now
Picture 3
This warning message comes up, can't find driver device
Picture 4
I click browse and try to find my USB stick, none of my USB sticks are listed, is this a Lenovo BIOS bug or Windows 7 Installation detection problem??
Picture 5

I think you need to fix your links, you seem to have maybe copied the post from another board / forum, the link style you have inserted doesn't work here.
Andy ______________________________________
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Similar Messages

How is it possible to install Windows 7 via USB-Stick on a 2009 iMac with a broken DVD-Drive?

Hello,
i have a 2009 iMac and Windows 7 64bit in my Boot Camp.
Windows is now slow and needs to be reinstalled.
The problem is the DVD-Drive in my iMac is broken, so i can't use my Windows-install-DVD.
How can i reinstall Windows 7 via USB-Stick on a 2009 iMac with a broken DVD-Drive?

F3Spirit wrote:
Thank you,
I try this.
Also check this one out
But i think you would be far better served by installing Windows in a virtual machine.

Cannot install windows 8 using usb stick on G400s FreeDOS version

I'm having some difficulties to get windows 8 installed on this laptop. is there any secrets or tricks on BIOS that I'm not aware of?? I have installed windows 8 on many laptops using same pendrive without having trouble previously.
I have tried legacy mode and UEFI mode/boot without any luck

hi wayne07,
Thanks for using Lenovo Community Forums!
Inside BIOS
    Under Boot Tab
          Change Boot mode to Legacy
           USB Boot should be enabled
    Under Security
          Secure Boot Has to Be disabled
In case the options above are grayed out in your BIOS, Got to Exit Tab and Change OS Optimized Default to Other OS
and check the options again.
Once All are Set Make sure to save all changed by hitting F10 and enter for Yes
    After Hitting enter It will Restart and You have to keep on tapping F12
       this should pull up the Boot Menu letting you select where to boot. You should have now your USB Stick as an Option.
Let me know your findings
Best Regards
Solid Cruver
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Trying to Install Lion from a USB stick.

I purchase Lion from the App store & set up Lion on my Macbook, on a partition on my Exterior Hard Drive. Also wanted to install Lion on my early 2009 Macmini. I want to install it, on a partition on the Macmini. A clean install of 10.6.8. is on that partition.
Instead of downloading it again, I put the "InstallESD.dmg" on a 16 gig USB stick. I boot into the Mac OSX USB Stick Install, then near the end of the installation, a error message said ''Cant Download the Additional Components Needed to Install Mac OSX''
Has any one got any answers to the problem?

Are you connected to the Internet throughout the process?
Pete

Problems installing OSX from bootable USB drive

I'm trying to downgrade from 10.8.3 to 10.7.5, mainly because of the reduced battery life in Mountain Lion.
I have created a bootbale USB thumbdrive with 10.7.5 on it.
I restart the machine holding down the Option key, but the USB drive does not appear in the available drives. All that appears is the Macintosh HD and the 10.8.3 recovery.
Why is the USB not appearing.
I have a retina MacBook Pro 15 from mid 2012. It was shipped with Lion.
Nigel

Download on the iMac OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0 and create a USB recovery disk.
Use that USB disk to boot your MBP retina.
Use the Terminal, that you find inside the recovery environment, to perform these commands
Verifiy that the main internal disk is labelled /dev/disk0
diskutil list
this command will completely erase the internal disk. Please change /dev/disk0 if your is different, (it should not).
diskutil eraseDisk jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" GPT /dev/disk0
Verify that you just have 3 partition, no more Recovery HD partition
diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2
Quit Terminal and proceed with Reinstall Mac OS X
It'll take a lot of time, depending on the speed of your internet connection.
Please, do not hesitate to ask if you are in doubt

Problem installing Windows (7, 8.0, 8.1) on BOOTCAMP - Mavericks

Hallo guys,
First I want to say thanks a lot to Christopher Murphy, because one and a half years ago I was having problems the same like the 1st post on that topic and with the instructions from Christopher I was able to get back my BOOTCAMP with Windows 7. Now I think that the commands from the 1st post changed something that is making my current problem appear. All was working like a charm till few days ago when I was get a decision to update to Mavericks.
Previously I was with Mountain Lion 10.8 and with Windows 7 on Bootcamp. The hardware is iMac Late 2010 27'' with 1Tb SATA HDD.
Few days ago I have deleted the BOOTCAMP partition and resized the disk to only 1 partition (with Bootcamp wizzard). Then I made a boot usb stick with Mavericks and then started the installation of Mavericks from my USB Stick. I have deleted all partitions and created a new one when the installation asked me to choose a partition. So everything was fine and Mavericks is ok and working great. Now the problematic part.
I have created a Bootable USB Stick with Windows 8.1 first. I used some windows program to made it which I was using before and never had a problems on normal Computers (PC, not Apple) to boot and installing that windows from the same USB Flash Stick and the same Windows 8.1 and so on. I started Bootcamp Wizzard on my new Mavericks and than I notice that I have only 2 options there:
1. Download drivers
2. Install windows 7 or later version
I have already the bootcamp software support drivers downloaded before and I have leave only the second tick checked.
I tried to press Continue, but the Wizzard told me that it doesn't recognize a Windows DVD and cannot continue. Asked me to insert a Windows DVD and to continue.
Now it's time to say that my DVD device is not working and I cannot use it.
So I was thinking that the problem is coming from my USB Stick and tried few other programs to make a bootable usb stick with windows. That doesn't help.
I started to read and googling the internet. I tried few options from some guys with a close problems. Reset with Options+CMD+P+R, to format USB Stick fully etc. Then I found that if I install daemon tools and mount a Windows 8.1 ISO the Bootcamp Assistant will continue on the next step and will build the BOOTCAMP partition. I made that and restarted the computer with the USB Stick plugged in. I got a message that there're no system disk and to insert one and to press any key to continue (or something like this). Then I made a hard restart and tried to hold the ALT (Option) key after the startup chime. I got the list of bootable devices, but the usb stick wasn't there Only Mavericks partition and HD Recovery one. Tried few more things with no luck.
Then I found a topic where a few guys explaining how to get the 1st option on Bootcamp Wizzard (Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk). I changed the plist file in Bootcamp Assistant, then signed the app with xcode tools and yahoo, I got that option enabled.
I made again a bootable usb stick with windows 8.1 from ISO with the Bootcamp Assistant 1st option. Then when I restarted the Mac keeping the ALT pressed it was a surprise that the USB stick with windows 8.1 showed up. I started Windows 8.1 setup, entered the serial number and then I selected the BOOTCAMP partition and the Next button wasn't active and error message was written that:
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."
I tried format, delete partition, create new etc with no luck. Then I tried to recreate the bootcamp partition with Disk Utility, but with ExtFAT format and again no luck. I found another topic on internet where some guys are talking that only Windows 7 can be installed in that way on Mavericks BOOTCAMP. I don't know that this is true or not, but I tried with Windows 8.1, Windows 8.0 and now I'm going to get a Windows 7 from a friend these days, but I don't think that it will work.
Is there someone who can help me out somehow or to tell me some tips or opinions what to do next?
Here are few infos:
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used Avail Capacity iused     ifree %iused Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2   558Gi   53Gi 505Gi    10% 13861731 132462763    9%   /
devfs          191Ki 191Ki    0Bi   100%      661         0 100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0         0 100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0         0 100%   /home
/dev/disk0s4   372Gi 2.7Mi 372Gi     1%        0         0 100%   /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS iMac                    599.3 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                400.0 GB   disk0s4
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ diskutil cs list
No CoreStorage logical volume groups found
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167
       start        size index contents
           0           1         MBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640 1170595968      2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
1171005608     1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
1172275144          56
1172275200   781248512      4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
1953523712        1423
1953525135          32         Sec GPT table
1953525167           1         Sec GPT header
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [    409640 - 1170595968] HFS+
3: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1171005608 -    1269536] Darwin Boot
4: 0B 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1172275200 - 781248512] Win95 FAT-32
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C
00000000 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c 8e c0 8e d8 be 00 7c bf 00 |3.....|......|..|
00000010 06 b9 00 02 fc f3 a4 50 68 1c 06 cb fb b9 04 00 |.......Ph.......|
00000020 bd be 07 80 7e 00 00 7c 0b 0f 85 0e 01 83 c5 10 |....~..|........|
00000030 e2 f1 cd 18 88 56 00 55 c6 46 11 05 c6 46 10 00 |.....V.U.F...F..|
00000040 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 5d 72 0f 81 fb 55 aa 75 09 |.A..U..]r...U.u.|
00000050 f7 c1 01 00 74 03 fe 46 10 66 60 80 7e 10 00 74 |....t..F.f`.~..t|
00000060 26 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 ff 76 08 68 00 00 68 00 |&fh....f.v.h..h.|
00000070 7c 68 01 00 68 10 00 b4 42 8a 56 00 8b f4 cd 13 ||h..h...B.V.....|
00000080 9f 83 c4 10 9e eb 14 b8 01 02 bb 00 7c 8a 56 00 |............|.V.|
00000090 8a 76 01 8a 4e 02 8a 6e 03 cd 13 66 61 73 1c fe |.v..N..n...fas..|
000000a0 4e 11 75 0c 80 7e 00 80 0f 84 8a 00 b2 80 eb 84 |N.u..~..........|
000000b0 55 32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 5d eb 9e 81 3e fe 7d 55 |U2..V...]...>.}U|
000000c0 aa 75 6e ff 76 00 e8 8d 00 75 17 fa b0 d1 e6 64 |.un.v....u.....d|
000000d0 e8 83 00 b0 df e6 60 e8 7c 00 b0 ff e6 64 e8 75 |......`.|....d.u|
000000e0 00 fb b8 00 bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 3b 66 81 fb 54 |.......f#.u;f..T|
000000f0 43 50 41 75 32 81 f9 02 01 72 2c 66 68 07 bb 00 |CPAu2....r,fh...|
00000100 00 66 68 00 02 00 00 66 68 08 00 00 00 66 53 66 |.fh....fh....fSf|
00000110 53 66 55 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 68 00 7c 00 00 66 |SfUfh....fh.|..f|
00000120 61 68 00 00 07 cd 1a 5a 32 f6 ea 00 7c 00 00 cd |ah.....Z2...|...|
00000130 18 a0 b7 07 eb 08 a0 b6 07 eb 03 a0 b5 07 32 e4 |..............2.|
00000140 05 00 07 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09 bb 07 00 b4 0e cd |......<.t.......|
00000150 10 eb f2 f4 eb fd 2b c9 e4 64 eb 00 24 02 e0 f8 |......+..d..$...|
00000160 24 02 c3 49 6e 76 61 6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 |$..Invalid parti|
00000170 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61 62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f 72 |tion table.Error|
00000180 20 6c 6f 61 64 69 6e 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74 69 | loading operati|
00000190 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6d 00 4d 69 73 73 69 6e |ng system.Missin|
000001a0 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 |g operating syst|
000001b0 65 6d 00 00 00 63 7b 9a af 3c b0 3c 00 00 00 fe |em...c{..<.<....|
000001c0 ff ff ee fe ff ff 01 00 00 00 27 40 06 00 00 fe |..........'@....|
000001d0 ff ff af fe ff ff 28 40 06 00 80 e0 c5 45 00 fe |......(@.....E..|
000001e0 ff ff ab fe ff ff a8 20 cc 45 20 5f 13 00 00 fe |....... .E _....|
000001f0 ff ff 0b fe ff ff 00 80 df 45 00 e8 90 2e 55 aa |.........E....U.|
00000200
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Thanks in advance!
Julian

Looks perfect with the Free Space. You can verify this by running sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0.
If you try the EFI boot, please pick this Free Space slot, and it will get split into a 128MB MSR and the remainder as NTFS, if the installer finishes successfully. You may be able to install, but a preUEFI model cannot use the MSR to boot the main Windows partition, but a UEFI compliant machine can.
On a Late 2013 15" rMBP (which is UEFI compliant), this is what Bootcamp on GPT looks like. (Notice GPT#4 - MSR and GPT#5 - NTFS).
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500277790720; sectorsize=512; blocks=977105060
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 977105059
      start       size index contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640 487712920      2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
488122560    1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
489392096         32
489392128     262144      4 GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE
489654272 487450624      5 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
977104896        131
977105027         32         Sec GPT table
977105059          1         Sec GPT header
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60821/255/63 [977105060 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 - 977105059] <Unknown ID>
2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

How to install windows 7 using usb as the bootcamp doesnot have the option of creating a bootable usb. please help

I have an intel based mac with 10.6.8 mac os x. How to install windows 7 using usb as the bootcamp doesnot have the option of creating a bootable usb. please help

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can install Windows from a USB drive in one of these computers:
- MacBook Pro with Retina display.
- Mac mini (Mid 2010 and newer).
- MacBook Air.
- iMac (Late 2012).
If you don't have any of these Macs, you can't install Windows through a USB drive. Instead, buy Windows on a DVD. Follow Apple's steps > http://support.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1519/en_US/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup_10.6. pdf

How can I install Windows 7 by USB? MacBook late 2008 10.6.8 Boot Camp 3.0.4

Someone please help...
I have tried software update and no luck. I think my Boot Camp on Mac 3.0.4 is not showing me the right option on creating a USB installation. It asks me to load Windows 7 CD when I don't have it, I bought it online... Every download I tried from Apple is .exe and I am losing hope on this one...

You can only install Windows from a USB with one of these Macs:
- MacBook Pro with Retina display.
- Mac mini (Mid 2010 and later).
- iMac (Late 2012).
- MacBook Air.
If you bought Windows in Internet and you got it in a ISO image, you can burn it into a DVD. Simply double-click the ISO image, open Disk Utility, right-click the ISO image in the sidebar and burn it

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1 ?
My Superdrive is far from super anymore, So I managed to make an extern drive with both Snow Leopard Partition, Lion Partition (Since I thought Boot Camp 4,1 would bypass my problem), and Time Machine partition, Since I got 1. USB drive that works.
- My general issue is that Boot camp Refuse to see the USB drive - (Many "how to"´s though show how they install windows perfectly through the USB port, but they use airbooks!, and somehow the Macbook will not ?)
I fix that issue with >> rEFIt <<, that suddenly makes it possible for the Mac to see the USB drive, and partitions.
Which was very strange since I could use an extern HD with the whole installation to start up wipe the whole disk, and then use my extern drive with partitions to install Snow Leopard and get everything as before with timemachine. Very smart with timemachine, but very lucky that I have a extern drive that runs the whole system and that I made the partitionsdrive before. DVD-drives are the past!
Point: So the original system could see the Snow Leopard installation USB disk, but boot camp cannot find the USB drive ?????????
After rEFIt I booted and then I got this error:
Starting bootmgr.efi
Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi
I read it could be a problem with the Windows software, so I purchased an extern DVD drive, Used Disk Utility to make an image (.DMG), then used another program to convert the .dmg to .ISO.
Then downloaded a trialversion of vmWare fusion, and installed windows from the iso. Everything worked brilliant, except and that is why I want to use boot camp, Running windows in another program while running the mac system is a little hacky and slow.
Point: Nothing is wrong with the windows software, and windows runs fine.
I then downloaded the Windows DVD / USB Tool, reformatted a USB drive as Master Boot Partition, MS-Dos Fat partition, then after lots of struggling got Vmware, windows to recognise the USB drive. And installed the windows software on the USB drive, as all the walkthroughs recommend.
Then I tried for "fun"! to just install windows form the extern USB drive, and with rEFIt it will see the drive and start to do something, but then when it starts to boot, the screen just turns into black and nothing happens, and you can see the drive does NOTHING. (I think it is because I only have 1 USB drive and the Extern DVD drive does not get enough power, but again the mac refuse to see the USB drive unless it is a Snow Leopard installation USB-drive!
Well trying to install Windows Ultimate 64 Bit, which worked great in vmware, because that program installed from the .ISO file that I had on the desktop, but trying with Boot Camp did not get anywhere, what kind of **** program is this boot camp anyway!?, but then I try the new USB disk with windows made from windows, thorugh rEFIt, it sees the disk and then starts and then I get this ERROR:
rEFIt - Booting Legacy OS
Starting legacy loader
Using load option ´USB´
Error: Not found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not found from LocateDevicePath
(x 9 times)
Error: Load Error while (re)opening our installation volume
The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple´s firmware for legacy OS booting
(Hey Apple please send out a updated firmware that fix this issue?!)
So how do I do it ? - or is the only option to fix the partition running the system from the extern disk. Format the whole drive in 2 from the "bottom" and install windows and then afterwards install Mac on the other partition ? Or just run windows on the mac and forget about mac software ? What a stupid solution...

There are strings in the pliist file to add other Macs so that you can use some USB-DVD drives.
This is 5 page thread, so a little more 'meat' to it:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3410900?start=60&tstart=0
And on PC booting Windows from a USB DVD to do the install is usually a piece of cake, sometimes you just need to specify that USB in the BIOS boot order and sometimes select via F12 (or another Fkey) and that is it.
What you have here seems to be everything and everyone is excluded unless there is a mac-model device ID string that specifies yes. An unnecessary hurdle.

Installing Snow Leopard Server From a USB Sticki

In my job, I install Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server three or four times a day.
With Snow Leopard, I've found it easiest to install from a USB stick. So, I did a restore from a DVD to a USB in Disk Utility and it's worked great.
With Snow Leopard Server, it is not so simple. When trying to install from a USB stick, I get "Mac OS X 10.6 Server Cannot Be Installed To This Machine." Though strangely, installing from the DVD is no problem.
I've tried to restore straight from the DVD to the USB. I've also tried to install from the DVD to a disk image to the USB. Both times, the USB will mount fine, but I get that error message.
Am I missing a trick here?

Oddly enough it is working for me. I had some issues initially so I went out and bought ONE 16GB thumb-drive (major vendor) and partitioned into two partitions.
I restored one of the partitions with 10.6 and restored the other with 10.6 server. Works flawlessly for me though I do like netinstall. It is a bit slower than the FW800 drive though I do not have to carry around a power brick.
I hope this helps!

Installing windows from USB MBP3,1

Hey Everyone,
I have a MacBook Pro 3,1 running 10.8. Optical drive broke so I decided to put a second HDD in its place. I can see it fine but when I go into Boot Camp Assistant the second HDD is not there for me to select where to install Windows.
Also I've tried so many ways to install Windows on an USB so I can install if from there on my MBP but for some reason i can't boot to it or boot Camp Assitant can't recognize it.
I've tried Refit version and setting my MBP as a Target so I can install windows from my MacPro at work, but that didn't work either!! I'm going crazy!! Please some one help...
I'm thinking of taking the second HDD out and putting into my MacPro at work and installing windows that way.
Thanks
Steve

Hi Chaaker,
I can't comment on installing Windows 7 to the Boot Camp partition (or on a USB stick) but I can comment on the last part of your question.
EFI-based Mac computers can definitely boot to a USB volume, assuming the volume it's booting to is configured as a start up volume. I was at a Genius Bar several months ago and saw two MacBook Air computers getting support and both of them were running off USB-based external HDs.
The only potential point of failure I see in the equation is the EFI startup sequence being unable to read the USB drive that has Windows 7 on it.

HT1846 gtp error while installing windows from usb! how to solve it.

gtp error while installing windows from usb! how to solve it.

Hello mmarti,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Please ensure you are following the Boot Camp installation guide, as you should be selecting the partition named "BOOTCAMP" when you are at the Windows installer screen. See page 6 of the following PDF:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1636/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_ 10.8.pdf
Take care,
Alex H.

Making a Windows 7 Installation USB Stick

This is a discussion of making a bootable Windows 7 Installation USB-stick Media. It might apply to making other USB connected "Disks" like Smartcards bootable too.
I recently had to do this (a Laptop with no build-in DVD drive and no USB DVD drive around). And it turned out to be surprisingly simple, using nothing but build in Windows tools from the Disk. I only found
this german langauge guide and nothing in english (but I might just have searched after the wrong terms, google has been wierd regarding langauge lately), so I thought I write it up (along with some problems I ran into).
Making a USB-Stick into a bootable Windows 7 (and propably Vista) Media is a 3 step process:
1. Create a Active, Primary, FAT32 Partition of 4+ GB on the stick
2. use bootsect.exe from Windows Disk to create the MBR and Partition Boot Record for that Partition
3. Copy all files from the Disk to said Partition
4. Test if it boots
Detail analysis:
Step 1 is so simple I doubt it needs explanations. Create enough free space on the USB disk (at worst delete all previous Partitions). Make a Priamry Partition of 4+ GiB. Mark it as Active. Format it in FAT32. The Guide used Diskpart,
but this step can be done with any Partition Tool under any Windows, Linux, UNIX or DOS.
While the choice of FAT32 seems a bit outdated, theye propably did not gave the relevant bootlaoder the ability to read NTFS. Or maybe they just though FAT32 is enough for a media that is mostly read. I have not tried what happens if I format it in NTFS, but
it might be possible.
Step 2 was the only tricky part. You need the programm "boot\bootsect.exe" from the Installation Media. It also must be run on a non-UEFI booted OS (otherwise it cancels out).
I had a Windows 8 on a new Laptop so I had a UEFI booted system. Luckily I also had a VMWare Windows 7 lying around. I just assigned the Windows 7 ISO image to the Windows 7 VM, then connected the USB drive to the host.
Once you have the USB stick in a a proper Windows mount the Parttion you created under 1 under any driveletter (should happen automatically under Windows), and open a console as Administrator (asumes DVD is drivletter is D: and the USB stick's partition
ins Driveletter E:):
//Go into the boot directory on the Install DVD
D:
cd boot
//You should see a command promt like "D:\BOOT>"
//Run bootsect.exe
bootsect.exe /nt60 d:
Step 3 is to either copy the contents of the DVD media (copy and paste) or the Image (Mount into Virtual DVD Drive and copy/paste, unpack ISO images contents) into the partition.
How does this compare to other Distribution ways?
To DVD:
There is no need for a DVD drive. Even if a bootable USB-DVD drive is avalible, the Stick or Card will only need only USB port (most USB drives need 2 Ports due the 1 Ampere energy need of the drives).
Flash Media has no seek times and much better throughput (the old weakpoint of any Disk and DVD/CD in particular)
A FAT32 partition is inherently writeable. So modifications to the "Installation media" like Implementing Service Packs and other Windwos Updates, Modifying ei.cfg/preactivation/setup answer files, implementing special Disk/RAID drivers into the Windows
PE or adding stuff that should be installed with Windows is easy (and do not requrie reburning a 4 GiB Image file).
Since it only needs a 4 GiB partition, on a big USB stick there would still be place for other Data Partitions
Since it relies on old techniques (Generic Bootloader + Active Primary Partition + partition boot loader), multiple Installation media on a big enough stick might be feasible (with a more advanced bootloader like GRUB). Have to test that part.
However, the cost/media is a lot higher then a DVD. So if you need multiple Medias it will propably be cheaper to use the old DVD approach.
Due to the needs of bootsec.exe, first creating the media can be more difficulty then just burning an image. But once it is bootable this programm is no longer needed.
To PXE/network Distrubution:
If you have the nessesary setup already (DHCP/PXE Server, powerfull network), the USB stick is likely inferior. The USB stick should beat a 100 MBIT Network easily, but will propably be beaten by a 1 GBIT Network. Network isntallation uses existing infrastructure
(that you need for other reasons anyway) so the cost per media is even lower then the DVD.
The PXE way also has even better modifyability - sending out different answer files or even automatically booting different images based on the Compuers MAC adress are tried techniques.
If you lack the nessesary setup, the USB stick is a lot easier to implement and a lot easier to transport.
Advanced things:
Need to check if the partition could be formated as NTFS. I prefer a Journalling Filesystem for my USB-sticks.
Need to check if using a advanced boot manager techniques (like Grub or modifciations to the BCD of the Windows PE) allows me to put multiple install media on one Stick (with one primary partition per "media"). Especially combining the x32/x86 and
x64 Windows Installation Media would be worthwhile. As would be inlcuding a Window 8 or Vista installation media.
Current Step 3 and 2 can propably be switched. I see no reason bootsect could not run from the USB stick as it runs from the DVD (it only accesses the MBR and
VBR of the Disk, areas not in use by Windows)
Steps 1 through 3 might be possible from the Windows PE environment. If so, only a computer with legacy BIOS boot would be nessesary (no actuall installation).
Windows 7 can be installed on a (U)EFI system, but I have not checked if I can use the boot from teh stick on such a Computer. Latest for Windows 8 Media UEFI compatibilty is nessesary.
Let's talk about MVVM: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpf/thread/b1a8bf14-4acd-4d77-9df8-bdb95b02dbe2 Please mark post as helpfull and answers respectively.

Advanced things:
Need to check if the partition could be formated as NTFS. I prefer a Journalling Filesystem for my USB-sticks.
Windows 7 can be installed on a (U)EFI system, but I have not checked if I can use the boot from teh stick on such a Computer. Latest for Windows 8 Media UEFI compatibilty is nessesary.
I converted the stick to NTFS using the convert.exe and it continued booting. So chances are high they only choose FAT32 in the example because no feature of NTFS was per nessesary in a "almost only reading" scenario like installation media.
The second part depends on the BIOS. I have a more advanced one where I can choose legacy boot options (like USB stick) in the boot option menu even when the default setting is UEFI, as long as I don't need Secure boot (wich I do not).
Another question arose: Windows 7 has the Kernel/BCD level ability to boot from .VHD Files. The only thing preventing version below corporate from using this feature is a license check that is run just before the login (so way after the booting has been
completed).
Starting with 3.0 Windows PE is based on the kernel of Windows 7. So the instlaltion system might have the ability to boot from .VHD too and might have no such check in place. If so, I could put both versions of the Windows 7 installer into .VHD, reducing the
need to have physical primary partitions for those.
Windows bootprocess vs. Linux boot process under BIOS:
The BIOS goes over all the boot media. If it finds one with a MBR, that one is executed and the BIOS part of the boot process is officially over.
-> Under Windows the MBR contains the "generic boot loader". A simple piece of code as old as BIOS (25 Years) that looks for the primary partition with "Active" Flag on "it's" disk. If it finds one, the Partition Boot Record of that parition is executed.
The MBR has done it's part
    -> NTLDR (NT too 2000), this one reads the boot.ini file and gives/executeds apropirate options
    -> BOOTMGR (Vista, 7), this one reads the BCD files
      -> Since Windows 7 BOOTMGR can also chainload the Partition Boot Record that is inside a .VHD File
    -> Wicher was used in Windows 3.X/95/98/ME
Higher versions can chainload lower versions, but must be designed for this and (re)installed in the proper "order".
The sometimes odd behavior that Windows 7 tries to keep 100 MiB in a seperate primary partition is there to have proper places for later additions to the BOOTMGR settings. Specifically it allows multiple BOOTMGR OS to use/edit the same BOOTMGR instace without
running into problems with "whose partition is active?" (since it is always the System Reserved one). It's not disimilar to having an extra /boot partition in Linux or how a GRUB's stage 2 works.
-> Under a typical Grub Legacy the MBR contains the Stage 1. It directly reads the Stage 2 from the proper partition/file system with a hardcoded path, but due to size limit of the MBR cannot do more. In some cases it starts a stage 1.5 wich has more
space to do work (63 sectors between MBR and first partition), but I never used this Setup
    -> Stage 2 loads the Grub Configuration from the disk. From here it depends on what OS you want to boot.
        -> For Linux or Unix the kernel is started directly.
        -> Any Windows OS up to 7 can be booted using the chainloader command. For the OS this is identical to having the partition choosen by the Generic Bootloader.
While it can be chainloaded by the Generic Bootloader from the active primary partition, GRUB and thus Linux has no
requirement for any Primary Partitions. Stage 1 is designed to directly access the specific File System containng the Stage 2. In fact it does not even need to reside on the same disk (as the Generic Bootloader has to).
If one does not need the Active Flag to control the Generic Bootloader (because a proper Stage 1 is installed in MBR) it is adviseable to mark wichever Windows Partition is chainloaded as active (up to Vista at least I had very odd behavior if the Windows boot
partition was not marked active, down to randomly shredded Partition boot managers).
After running a Windows Setup usually the Stage 1 has to be restored, as Windwos Setup will always write it's Generic Bootloader in the MBR. In order to get "rid" of a Grub all one has to do is overwrite the MBR with the Generic Bootloader and set the active
flag properly.
Let's talk about MVVM: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpf/thread/b1a8bf14-4acd-4d77-9df8-bdb95b02dbe2 Please mark post as helpfull and answers respectively.

Problem installing windows 8.1 on Bootcamp-yosemite

Hello,
I use iMac(21.5-inch,Mid 2011) and was with OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
I want to install window 8.1 on my iMac by using bootcamp and i have a problem.
First, I have created a bootable USB stick with window 8.1. I started bootcamp assistant and i notice that i have only 2 options: don't have create a window 7 or later version install disk.
So I googling the internet a lot then I found it on youtube. I change the plist file in boot camp assistant by deleting pre and add code on terminal. Then i got a first option(create a window 7 or later version install disk).
I made again a bootable usb stick with window 8.1 from ISO with the bootcamp assistant first option. Then when i restarted the Mac keeping the ALT-Option pressed it was only Macintosh HD , recovery-10.10 and EFI Boot.
Why i don't have window partition? I'm so confused. What i've miss?
Please help,
Thanks.

pungpoui wrote:
I use iMac(21.5-inch,Mid 2011) and was with OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
I want to install window 8.1 on my iMac by using bootcamp and i have a problem.
First, I have created a bootable USB stick with window 8.1. I started bootcamp assistant and i notice that i have only 2 options: don't have create a window 7 or later version install disk.
From iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) - Technical Specifications, you have a iMac with a built-in Optical drive.
Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer burning (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
From Boot Camp 5.1: Frequently asked questions - Apple Support
Can I install Windows from an ISO image?
To find out if your Mac supports that feature, open Boot Camp Assistant, then click the Continue button. If you see a checkbox labeled “Create a Windows 7 or later install disk,” your Mac can install Windows from an ISO image.
Is your iMac Optical drive not working?
So I googling the internet a lot then I found it on youtube. I change the plist file in boot camp assistant by deleting pre and add code on terminal. Then i got a first option(create a window 7 or later version install disk).
I made again a bootable usb stick with window 8.1 from ISO with the bootcamp assistant first option.
This creates a new set of problems and on older Macs does not work very well. Bootcamp Assistant sets the Mac NVRAM to boot from the Optical drive.
Then when i restarted the Mac keeping the ALT-Option pressed it was only Macintosh HD , recovery-10.10 and EFI Boot.
Why i don't have window partition? I'm so confused. What i've miss?
EFI Boot is the Windows installer.
On your Mac, you need to use both a USB and a Physical DVD to install Windows.

Problem installing Windows 8.1 on MBP

Ok so I was having bluetooth issue in Windows 7, which is a different issue, so I decided to try Windows 8.1 Pro X64
Using boot camp I get to the part where Windows is asking where to install.
I choose Drive 0 Partition 4: Boot Camp and format it.
Once that is done I click next and I get a message at the bottom saying:
"Setup was unable to use the existing partition because the system volume does not contain the required free space."
Is this talking about the EFI partition? The EFI partition is showing 1mb of free space
There is also another partition: Drive 0 Partition 3 that has 619MB and 0 free.
Also this is an ISO from a Microsoft MSDN account not the regular one.
I think I may try Windows 8 instead and see if that works. Any idea?
2014 MBP 15" 2.8GHz i7 16GB RAM 512GB SSD

pungpoui wrote:
I use iMac(21.5-inch,Mid 2011) and was with OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
I want to install window 8.1 on my iMac by using bootcamp and i have a problem.
First, I have created a bootable USB stick with window 8.1. I started bootcamp assistant and i notice that i have only 2 options: don't have create a window 7 or later version install disk.
From iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) - Technical Specifications, you have a iMac with a built-in Optical drive.
Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer burning (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
From Boot Camp 5.1: Frequently asked questions - Apple Support
Can I install Windows from an ISO image?
To find out if your Mac supports that feature, open Boot Camp Assistant, then click the Continue button. If you see a checkbox labeled “Create a Windows 7 or later install disk,” your Mac can install Windows from an ISO image.
Is your iMac Optical drive not working?
So I googling the internet a lot then I found it on youtube. I change the plist file in boot camp assistant by deleting pre and add code on terminal. Then i got a first option(create a window 7 or later version install disk).
I made again a bootable usb stick with window 8.1 from ISO with the bootcamp assistant first option.
This creates a new set of problems and on older Macs does not work very well. Bootcamp Assistant sets the Mac NVRAM to boot from the Optical drive.
Then when i restarted the Mac keeping the ALT-Option pressed it was only Macintosh HD , recovery-10.10 and EFI Boot.
Why i don't have window partition? I'm so confused. What i've miss?
EFI Boot is the Windows installer.
On your Mac, you need to use both a USB and a Physical DVD to install Windows.

Problems installing Windows 7 from a USB stick

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