How To Install Windows 7 On USB Flash Drive

Microsoft has been doing only right things with the much anticipated Windows 7 and the release candidate (RC) is available to download for free.



As you all know creating a bootable USB, or installing Windows 7 or Vista using USB is a piece of cake. It doesn’t take much time and effort to have a bootable USB. Now, after replaying to several e-mails about installing Windows 7 or Vista on a USB drive, I have decided to write this detailed guide.

Requirements to install Windows 7 on USB:

# An USB flash drive with a minimum of 6 GB disk space to install Windows 7 or Vista. You can use a 4 GB drive to install XP.

# Bootable Windows 7 USB or DVD.

# Free time

So let’s begin with the installing Windows 7 on USB procedure:

1. First of all, connect your USB to the machine and backup all the data from the USB drive.

2. Download VirtualBox portable, double-click on the executable file and extract the contents to your USB.



3. Now, go to the VirtualBox portable folder in USB, and execute the Portable-VirtualBox (.exe) file.

4. From here onwards, you need to follow the onscreen procedure to create a virtual disk and install Windows 7 on USB. Follow the install Windows 7 on VirtualBox guide to complete the process.

5. Once you finish the installation process, you can safely close VirtualBox and remove your USB drive.

6. You can now use this Windows 7 USB drive on any Windows machine that you want. To use Windows 7 on other machine, connect the Windows 7 USB, open USB drive, and run portable-VirtualBox file.