Creating your own Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 USB install device - Init

<body> <h1>Creating your own Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 USB install device</h1> <p><a href="http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/Win8USB256_012EC72D.gif"><img style="border:0px currentColor;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;float:right;display:inline;background-image:none;" title="Win8USB256" border="0" alt="Win8USB256" align="right" src="http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/Win8USB256_thumb_40F8ADB2.gif" width="169" height="102" /></a>A lot of servers and clients, nowadays, are no longer equipped with an optical drive. While this leaves room for extra drives and allows for smaller form factors, it can be a hurdle when you try and install the Operating Systems of your dreams (in this case: Windows 8) to the device of your dreams.  </p> <blockquote> <p><strong><u><font color="#0080ff">Tip!</font></u></strong> <br />This procedure can be used to create a USB install device for:</p> <ul> <li>Windows 8 </li> <li>Windows Server 2012</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p>Microsoft offers a tool to convert the *.iso file of a Windows installation disk to a bootable USB drive. The <a href="http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool">Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool</a> is available for free from the Microsoft Store. In four simple steps, this tools allows you to create a bootable DVD or USB drive from a downloaded *.iso file. No fuzzy ISO tools or command prompt nerding needed. Perfect!</p> <p>I recommend using this tool to create your bootable Windows 8 USB install device. </p> <p>Unfortunately, in my case, this tool couldn’t be used to create a bootable USB drive with Windows Server “8” Beta. I received the following error:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>We were unable to copy your files. Please check your USB device and the selected ISO file and try again.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Not a big problem, since I have a procedure to make a USB drive bootable. It’s a simple five step procedure, that gives you great control over the final USB Flash Drive you come to rely on for the deployment of Windows Servers and Windows clients:</p> <h3>Step 1: Download the ISO</h3> <p>The first step is to get hold of the ISO of your favorite Windows Operating System. </p> <p>You can download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview in 32bit and 64bit <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/iso">here</a>. <br />(scroll down for the table with direct links. Scroll down more for localized downloads)</p> <p>You can download the Windows Server “8” Beta (64bit-only) <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538">here</a>. <br />(scroll down, click on the green <strong>Get Started Now</strong> button below <strong>Download the 64bit ISO</strong>)</p> <h3>Step 2: Prepare the USB device</h3> <p>To create a USB install device for Windows 8, you will need a USB device with a capacity of at least 4GB. Be sure to pull any files you need later on from the device and then open an elevated command prompt to enter the following commands:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><font color="#666666">diskpart.exe</font></strong> </p> <p><font color="#666666">DISKPART> <strong>list disk</strong></font> </p> <p><em>Select the USB device from the list and substitute the disk number below <br />when necessary</em> </p> <p><font color="#666666">DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>select disk 1 <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>clean <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>create partition primary <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>select partition 1 <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>active <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>format fs=fat32 <br /></strong>DISKPART> </font><font color="#666666"><strong>assign </strong></font></p> <font color="#666666"><strong></strong></font></blockquote> <blockquote><font color="#666666"> </font></blockquote></body>