How to Create Windows 8 Bootable USB Drive

If you want to install Windows 8 and don’t have a  DVD drive then don’t despair. Windows 8 can be installed from a USB drive. You just have to create a Windows 8 bootable USB drive. There are many ways to do it. You can even do it from command line without any software. But here I’m going to tell the easiest method that requires only a few clicks of mouse.

Note: This method works for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Step 1:
Download Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool and install it. This tool is designed for windows 7 but works well for Windows 8. For some reasons they have chosen a weird name for this tool. I always  forget the name of this tool.

Step 2:
Click Browse and select the Windows 8 ISO file.

Step 3:
Click Next.

Step 4:
Click USB device and select your USB drive from the list. You will need at least 4GB or larger drive.

Step 5:
Finally click Begin copying and files will begin to copy. Now wait and relax till the files are copied. When it’s finished boot the computer from USB and start installation.

Note:

If you are running a 32-bit OS you can only make 32-bit bootable Windows 8 USB drive. 64-bit users can make both 32-bit and 64-bit bootable windows 8 USB drive.

Install Windows 8 without product key

Unlike windows 7, Windows 8 does not offer a 30 day trial and you have to enter product key at the time of installation. This can be problematic if you do not have key ready. You can bypass this while installation. But you have to enter the key later.
Step 1:
Create a file in notepad with the following content:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

Step 2:
Save it as “ei.cfg” in sources folder of the USB drive created above. Make sure file name is inside double quotes while saving.

Additional tip:
If you wan’t the choice of version( Professional or Core) during setup use following “ei.cfg”

[EditionID]
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

What Next ?

After you have installed windows 8 you have to install a lot of essential softwares. Installing each software on by one is a very tedious task. Would you like to automatically download and install all the softwares just with a single click of mouse ? If yes then read this article: