install windows 7 to a usb thumb drive

demonfurbie

i got a nice ulta-book from trade (fix the other broken laptop for this one) but the kicker to it is that i think the hard drive controller is bad, being cheap i dont wanna replace the motherboard.

i know i could do linux on it, how ever id like to know if you can install windows 7 to a usb thumb drive

ive looked around and went back to my windows 7 books and all i see if installing from a usb but not installing to

any one try it, i was gonna try ultimate and make it a vhd but dont think that will work either

matt333

I'm not sure if it'll work for ultimate but I cant imagine why it wouldn't work
download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool

Microsoft Store Online

JDMurray

Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) 3.x supports Windows 7 on a USB flash drive.

More info: Windows Preinstallation Environment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

demonfurbie

yea ive tried windows PE but its really stripped down

basically i was gonna give it to the wife and she loves to stream netflix and you cant do that in linux

JDMurray

Give her a Google Nexus 7 to watch Netflix and she'll really love you!

MiikeB

You can use Bart PE to build a flash drive that has XP installed and you can install additional software on it etc. Performance might be an issue though if its USB 2.0.