Can you install windows 7 from a flash drive?

[patio]

The only issue is he used the keyword "Microsoft", Dun dun daaa ... everyone sooo wants to pirate that because who would want to pay for that monoploy forced on ya? So even if he has a legal copy thousands of others would google away. Should of said MacOS or linux then he would of been helped, lol! 

MSDN subscription also uses ISOs, like Salmon said most will know how to use them.

Your argument here is that it was an MS product...otherwise he would have been helped ? ?

I see no validity in that at all...and you have alot to learn.

We have rules and guidelines for a reason here...anyone who doesn't agree with them is welcome to hit the google button

[Azzaboi]

I was using a bit of humor - I mearly suggested it's stupid to assume it's an illegal copy just because he said it's an ISO of a Microsoft OS. Microsoft lovers are very over protective and assume too much. Even MSDN, Developers and Microsoft stores offer ISOs and instructions on how to install from a flash drive. I didn't put the answer because others might get into a fuss - anyway if you got it from there, then there would already be instructions written by Microsoft itself.

... at least Salmon Trout got it

You can buy ISOs from the Microsoft Store and put them on a pen drive. They tell you how to do it. And supply the tool you need.

BINGO, right on the money! 

[patio]

So why then would someone with a legit .iso need info on how to do it if it's at the site they obtained it from ? ?

[Azzaboi]

True! 

I was thinking the same thing...

[Salmon Trout]

So why then would someone with a legit .iso need info on how to do it if it's at the site they obtained it from ? ?

This was my (implied) point.

[michaewlewis]

So why then would someone with a legit .iso need info on how to do it if it's at the site they obtained it from ? ?

There's no such info (as far as I have looked) on the volume licensing website where I have downloaded all of my isos. If I wanted to put an iso on a flash drive, CH would probably be the second or third place I would look for help (first being yahoo).

[Salmon Trout]

There's no such info (as far as I have looked) on the volume licensing website where I have downloaded all of my isos.

http://store.microsoft.com/help/iso-tool

[killerb255]

Years ago, it would have been 100% safe to assume ISO = piracy.

That's not the case, now.

MSDN, Technet, etc. are all distributed by Internet now with an extra charge for getting CDs and DVDs shipped. 

For example, I won a 1 year technet subscription at a Microsoft TS2 event in the St. Louis area around April 2008.  ALL of the available items through that subscription are through ISO.  That thing's proven so useful that I paid the $260 to renew it the following year.  Typically, I use it for virtualization scenarios and trying out new products (which is the way a Technet subscription should be used, not "OMG, I gotz me lotz of M$ stuff...dude...u want sum free serva?")

Anyway, an example of a perfectly legal way to install Windows 7 from a flash drive: unattended installation from a network source.  The flash drive can be made bootable with Windows PE 3.0 on it and an unattended installation can be launched from it.  Alternatively, the Windows 7 source files can be on the flash drive itself and the drive can be made bootable to PE.

Perhaps questions like this should be re-evaluated before automatically assuming piracy:

"Dude, I downloaded this Windows...can you help me burn it?" -- 99% likely pirated (in the 1% chance that it's Technet/MSDN, this person probably has the resources to find out the answer to this question on his/her own--i.e.: work supervisor, Microsoft KB articles, etc.). 

"I need to slipstream some updates to a new installation source and boot from a new CD, DVD, or flash" -- 50/50 on that one.  There is no indication that the original source is not genuine, nor is it against the Microsoft TOS to slipstream updates (and in fact, there are commands documented on Microsoft site for doing just that!).  Should the person be questioned as to whether or not their source is legit?  Not sure on that one.  "Guilty until proven innocent" almost never goes well in the end...

"Do you have a working serial number for this?"  100% pirated.  If it were legitimate, the person would have gotten a serial number or at least some recourse for obtaining a legitimate key through the developer. 

Overall, the TC's original question, originally, seemed okay.  However, between not having the original DVD (or genuine certificate of authenticity...or Technet/MSDN subscription for eval purposes) and his overall attitude toward being questioned indicates that he probably didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt...

[Salmon Trout]

This isn't really the sort of forum where Technet & MSDN people ask questions, I don't think. Nor is it the kind of place where corporate IT people go to to ask deployment questions (unless the corporation is a Turkish pizza factory run by the questioner's uncle)

[michaewlewis]

http://store.microsoft.com/help/iso-tool

That's not the volume licensing site. Try https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/home.aspx

This isn't really the sort of forum where Technet & MSDN people ask questions, I don't think. Nor is it the kind of place where corporate IT people go to to ask deployment questions (unless the corporation is a Turkish pizza factory run by the questioner's uncle)

Most probably steer clear because of receiving that kind of attitude. Maybe we should have a banner on the home page saying, "IT folks not welcome." The only reason I stick around here is because I have such a long history here.

[Salmon Trout]

That's not the volume licensing site. Try https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/home.aspx

Not sure what point you're trying to make here.

Microsoft has released its USB/DVD download tool – open source, of course.

As the name suggests, the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool creates a bootable USB stick from a Windows 7 install DVD for use with systems that do not contain an optical drive.

"As we previously explained, the testing and localization took longer than we expected, but the project is now hosted on CodePlex.com, Microsoft's Open Source software project hosting repository, and the code can be found here," explained Peter Galli, Open Source Community Manager for Microsoft.

The tool can also now be downloaded from the Microsoft Store

Most probably steer clear because of receiving that kind of attitude.

This forum just is not at that level.

[killerb255]

This isn't really the sort of forum where Technet & MSDN people ask questions, I don't think. Nor is it the kind of place where corporate IT people go to to ask deployment questions (unless the corporation is a Turkish pizza factory run by the questioner's uncle)

Tell that to the "Windows Server" section of this site...

[Salmon Trout]

Tell that to the "Windows Server" section of this site...

I am aware of the level of questions and answers in that section.

[Allan]

Support forums such as Computer Hope are not intended to provide support to corporate IT departments. Having said that, if an IT professional chooses to ask a question on our forum there is no reason we shouldn't do our best to help. Just because someone is an IT professional does not mean he or she is a techie. In fact, these days it's quite the contrary.

[BC_Programmer]

Support forums such as Computer Hope are not intended to provide support to corporate IT departments.

It pretty much says that in the rules. It doesn't <forbid> it, of course.

Tell that to the "Windows Server" section of this site...

Really? Having windows server automatically means it's a business? Who's making assumptions now? I run an SVN server in my house, do I count as a business?

Having said that, if an IT professional chooses to ask a question on our forum there is no reason we shouldn't do our best to help.

That's exactly what happened here! When asked where they ISO came from, if it WAS legitimate they would have said where they got it- IE: the MS site/technet, etc. but instead they fly off the handle about being interrogated. If that doesn't set off any red flags for people then I don't know what would. If they had actually said where they got it <instead> of flying off the handle- I doubt it would progressed in the manner it did. And making assumptions that <they> got the attitude (What attitude? How is "Where did you get the ISO" Attitude? It's a bloody question! And a legit one at that.


I don't buy the whole "I'm able to get an ISO off the VLK site but my first stop when trying to put it on a flash drive is a forum I've never posted at before" That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Most IT folks (techie or not) would probably google first something like Windows 7 Volume licensing +USB installation

and would you look at that! the first link is what they need. They might not include the "Volume licensing" bit, of course, so they would end up with the first link as this MS link http://store.microsoft.com/help/iso-tool that pretty well addresses the same thing.

People who know what they are doing generally are able to do some searching on their own, they would post on a forum after not having any luck, or in an attempt to clarify what they've already discovered.

It's really quite the same as a lot of people who post in the programming forum with semi-advanced questions; they seldom get a response, and if they do it's usually nonsense or not completely what they were after- thing is, this isn't really a programming forum, some of the members already know how to program and can offer help, but that's purely coincidence.

Because of this, if I ever get to the point where my attempts to implement ISerializable in my "BASeBlocks" game for level saving/loading are fruitless, I'd be much more likely to post a question on one of the other, specifically programming forums I am a member of. This is not because the question is particularly "advanced" but because it simply doesn't meet what I think would get a useful response here (if any at all). This isn't a negative reflection on the site itself insomuch as it reflects on what the site is for- it's for "free computer help" in the tune of "I can't get my webcam working", not something like this:

I've got 2 projects, in the same Eclipse (3.2 if it matters) workspace (set up by someone else, so I'm stuck with it). One is under Clearcase and the other under Subversion. The Clearcase plugin was installed first, then the Subversion plugin.

Now I am unable to access any of the Clearcase actions via Eclipse's team menu (it keeps trying to do it via Subversion, even for the Clearcase project.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to make these two work for the resepective projects? Or can you only use one source control plugin at a time with Eclipse?

Thanks.

While I don't doubt that there are at least a few people who use Eclipse here, I highly doubt more then about 5 percent even know what "clearcase" is, and chances are any prospective helper would need to google it. It's highly unlikely they would even have access to a working installation. The site where this question was posted, on the other hand, is filled with people who actually have development jobs and work in a "team" setting and deal with source control, so the chance that somebody is familiar with Clearcase and eclipse is about a million times higher then it is here.

The above doesn't mean we shouldn't have a programming forum, just like the site not being particularly aimed at IT professionals doesn't mean there shouldn't be any "server" type forums. But like I said- if I had a serious programming problem I probably wouldn't post it here, simply because the number of people who would be able to respond to it would be much lower then on one of the other forums I am a member of.

One can extend this to "IT professionals" wether they are techie or not they almost always are a member of some other site; such as, for example, Serverfault (which for those types of questions often comes up in a google). So the question then becomes "why post the question here?" It's not meant as a knock of this forum insomuch as it is merely stating that there is a specific set of questions where the help acquired will be extremely optimal; unbootable windows installations, virus problems, driver issues, and pretty much any end-user issue. But when you start asking about corporate IT deployments and Network installations and Big O() notation problems in Scheme you're going to start hearing crickets pretty quickly.