Windows 7 / Getting Started

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

You will need a 4GB USB flash drive to have enough space to fit the entire Windows 7 installation code on the drive. I found that the 4GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro works well for booting the Windows 7 installation code and seems to be compatible with a wide range of computers. Before you can copy the code to the drive it is important to prepare the USB drive.

Insert the drive into a Windows computer and follow these steps:

  1. After the drive has been recognized and installed on the computer, click the Start button and then click Computer.
  2. Locate the USB flash drive on the Windows Explorer Computer window. Right-click the icon and select Format.
  3. Make sure the File system is set to FAT32 (Default) and the Allocation unit size is 4096 bytes. Label the drive, uncheck Quick Format, and click Start.
  4. Click Yes on any confirmation screens, if shown.
  5. Click OK on the format complete message box.
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In this tutorial:

  1. Installing Windows 7
  2. Before You Start Install Windows 7
  3. Hardware requirements for Windows 7
  4. Getting Start Installing Windows 7
  5. Install Media
  6. Preparing the USB Flash Drive
  7. Copying the Installation Software
  8. Full Install
  9. Dual-Boot Windows XP
  10. Configuring HDD and Installing XP