Multiple Windows Installs via USB

a03dugga

a03dugga

a03dugga

Associate
Joined
2 Aug 2010
Posts
694
Location
London
Hey guys, i do a lot of windows installations, win7 (Variations) XP etc etc.
Does anyone use a USB drive utility, for choosing installations, removal of passwords etc???
 
You can buy something called an "iso drive", basically a hard disk which you place multiple iso files on it. You then choose which iso to install, can't remember the real name of the item though. I;m sure someone will pop along and confirm!
 
you can make a multiple install disk of win 7 by using a tool called eicfg-removal. This makes an iso file that let's you choose the version you want in whatever flavour (32-bit or x64) of the iso you first downloaded...
XP you can get multiple version on one dvd but of course this is dodgy.
Once you have the iso modified, if you transfer it to usb key(s) then you're good to go
 
Okey Doke, what about some boot environment which allows me to have multi-choice installations, and various tools etc.
It would be handy to have something like that.
I have a 16gb Flash Drive that i can use.
 
I wrote a guide on how to do this a few years ago (available here) which explains how to set up pretty much what you're aiming for. I've not updated it since then, so WinSetupFromUSB may no longer be the easiest tool to use to get the XP part working. Using a 16GB flash drive may be tricky as you'll need to partition it to get Vista/2008 and 7/2008 R2 to co-exist.
 
a03dugga said:
I get a few password removal jobs and it would be nice to not have to dig out a non-scratched cd of winternals.
Click to expand...

Ultimate Boot CD contains 'Offline NT Password & Registry Editor' which basically lets you blank the password for an account. I've used it countless times and it hasnt failed yet (from Windows XP to 7).

You can get it on its own if you look on the net though.
 
Deception said:
Ultimate Boot CD contains 'Offline NT Password & Registry Editor' which basically lets you blank the password for an account. I've used it countless times and it hasnt failed yet (from Windows XP to 7).

You can get it on its own if you look on the net though.
Click to expand...
Indeed, UBCD is excellent, and if you use Grub as the bootloader on your USB drive, you can have it load the UBCD iso without having to modify it - so you no longer have to worry about scratched CDs ;)
 
You could make several installations with pre configured applications and then sysprep each installation type and then use clonezilla or other cloning software to save an image on to a portable hard drive. Then all you do is boot clonezilla from a usb stick and then select which image from the portable harddrive you want to use.

This is what i do at work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom