Trouble installing Windows 7 via USB

Question

I've spent the better part of two days trying to solve this problem, and still I'm coming up empty.

I'm currently running Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit on an ASUS laptop. I don't have an optical drive, so I'm doing this install via USB.

The laptop originally came with Windows 8, but I wiped the whole thing and installed Ubuntu. In my moment of genius, I didn't create a Windows recovery disk, nor did I leave a Windows partition. Certainly not my finest hour.

Anyways, fast-forward to today, and I need to return to Windows for work reasons. I got a Windows 7 iso, a clean USB, and set to work creating a bootable USB. I first tried Startup Disk Creator, but that crashed upon opening.

Next I went with UNetbootin and Gparted. I followed multiple instructions online on how to setup the USB. Each instruction was the exact same. I had my bootable USB, so I shutdown and restarted my computer.

The first time I did this, BIOS didn't even recognize that I had a USB plugged in. I took it out and tried a few different times. No go.

I shredded the USB using sudo shred -v /dev/sdb1, reformatted as FAT32, and then started again. Same result.

Then I decided to skip Gparted and just try UNetbootin on its own. This time, BIOS recognized the USB, but still won't boot from it. Even when I set it as priority and disable the other HDD, nothing happens.

I have an iMac, so I tried creating a bootable USB that way, but again, nothing happens in BIOS. The USB is recognized, but nothing happens beyond that. I've formatted it as NTFS, FAT32, etc, but nothing happens.

I got another USB and put a fresh copy of Ubuntu 14.04 on it, figuring I'd boot from the USB, select 'Try Ubuntu', use Gparted to partition away a significant amount of Ubuntu, shut down, and then load my Windows USB.

Unfortunately, my computer doesn't even recognize that USB. Previously, I'd had to wipe Ubuntu and fresh install it (twice, actually) on this very laptop. I had zero problems doing that. For some reason, I can't fresh install Ubuntu anymore.

F2, F8, F10, F12, and DEL are the keys I know of for bootloading. F2, F12, and Del all bring me to BIOS, but the others do nothing. Previously, F8 worked perfectly as my "boot from disk" key, but it doesn't work anymore.

I'm nearing my wits end. I've done everything I can think of to get this working. I've tried multiple Windows ISOs, multiple Ubuntu ISOs, etc. Nothing works.

I know that the ISO isn't corrupted, because VirtualBox loads it just fine. However, my computer is too slow for that to be a permanent solution.

I'd like to wipe the whole HDD and install Windows, but I'm afraid that if I wipe Ubuntu, I may not be able to fresh install, since it doesn't appear to be letting me now.

Any suggestions would be great. Again, Startup Disk Creator (both versions) don't work. UNetbootin and UNetbootin 494 don't work. Gparted makes it so my computer can't even detect a USB. I'd love to get this working by this weekend if possible.

---

This is what I get when I use winusb:

grub-install: error: /media/winusb_target_1407472596_7189 doesn't look like an EFI partition. 
Error occurred! 
Syncing... 
/usr/bin/winusb: line 78: 11389 Terminated              while true; do
    sleep 0.05; echo 'pulse';
done
Cleaning... 
/usr/bin/winusb: line 78: 11577 Terminated              while true; do
    sleep 0.05; echo 'pulse';
done
Umounting and removing '/media/winusb_iso_1407472596_7189'... 
Umounting and removing '/media/winusb_target_1407472596_7189'...

---

Edit: I tried using WinUSB again after formatting the USB as FAT32. Here's the second message I received:

Installation failed !
Exit code: 512
Log:
Formating device...
Mounting...
mount: block device /home/zachary/Windows7Ultimate/Windows7Ultimate.iso is write-    protected, mounting read-only
Copying...
Installing grub...
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: /media/winusb_target_1407516090_3201 doesn't look like an EFI  partition.
Error occurred! 
Syncing... 
/usr/bin/winusb: line 78: 11389 Terminated              while true; do
    sleep 0.05; echo 'pulse';
done
Cleaning... 
/usr/bin/winusb: line 78: 11577 Terminated              while true; do
    sleep 0.05; echo 'pulse';
done
Umounting and removing '/media/winusb_iso_1407472596_7189'... 
Umounting and removing '/media/winusb_target_1407472596_7189'...

Solution

If you want to fix that error and make a MBR bootable USB follow this (not recommended if your disk is GPT schemed).

If you want to make a USB to install Windows in UEFI mode:

1. Apply a GPT partition table to the USB drive and format it as FAT32 using GParted.
2. Copy Windows files from DVD/ISO to USB using the file manager.
3. On USB drive, copy the boot folder from efi/microsoft up one level to efi folder (applies only to Windows 7).
4. Look for a bootx64.efi file in efi/boot folder in USB drive. If it doesn't exist extract it from the Windows ISO, sources/install.wim file by opening it with 7z unarchiver. You can find a bootmgfw.efi file in ./1/Windows/Boot/EFI. Extract it, rename it to bootx64.efi and place it on USB in efi/boot folder.

That's it. Now the USB drive is UEFI bootable (but not BIOS) and can be used to install Windows in EFI mode. The complete guide is available on my website.

Comments

[amanthethy]

A quick search on this site gives this solution: askubuntu.com/questions/289559/…

[Hearthing]

I tried installing winusb, but my computer can't find the package. I did exactly as the forum instructions stated, but when it gets down to sudo apt-get install winusb, the terminal can't find it. I tried installing the PPA twice, making sure I did it right. Still no go.

[No Time]

When you use UNETBootin you need to also place the iso on the USB, not sure if you did that

[Hearthing]

@NoTime Yep, I put the iso on the USB. I don't think that was the problem though, as the computer didn't even detect the USB anymore until after I shredded and reformatted.

[amanthethy]

If you can get the USB to be recognized, go through the UNETBootin process but when you're done do this: sudo apt-get install mbr And then fdisk -l to find out which device is your flash drive. And then install-mbr /dev/sdx (replacing x with your flash device). En reboot and see if the USB is picked up as a boot device.

[Hearthing]

@karel So I discovered that changing grubx64.efi to fallback.efi gets rid of the EFI error message. However, when I select Try Ubuntu, I get a black screen and am taken right back to the grub screen. The same things happens when I select Install Ubuntu.

[karel]

There are a lot of answers about how to fix this particular black screen problem in My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it?. Follow the first link in the question, the link is called: If you are trying to install Ubuntu.

[Hearthing]

@karel I've looked at that thread before. The problem is, my computer takes me to a black screen, and then returns me to the grub. On that thread, it stays on the blackscreen. IIRC, that issue was about brightness levels, or something like that. Nothing about black screens and grub.

[Csabi Vidó]

@amanthethy This is a Windows 8 computer! Installing an MBR either fails or destroys data. Mind what solutions you are suggesting!

[amanthethy]

@LiveWireBT Read the OP. It says he HAD Windows 8.1 installed and is attemping to make a Win7 iso. Win7 isos use MBR to boot from disc/usb. I'm not suggesting he installs it to his HDD. I'm suggesting he installs it to the USB he's trying to boot off of.

[Csabi Vidó]

@amanthethy You can also boot Windows 7 media via UEFI. (Creating UEFI-bootable media is simple.) While he may have removed Windows 8, the partition table may still be GPT, which can cause trouble during Windows installation. But the Windows install process itself is off-topic here.

[Eliah Kagan]

Maybe related (very similar error): How to fix "doesn't look like an EFI partition" with WinUSB?

[Guillaume Papin]

The link you provided suggests to look for bootx64.efi in efi/boot, not in boot/efi. Thanks to your instructions the USB Install finally worked for me after going into so much troubles, thank you very much!