Create a bootable USB to install Windows 8 Server or Hyper-V Server 8

Ivo Beerens
Date : October 21, 2010
Categories : hyper-v ,usb ,windows-8
Tags : boot ,hyper-v-2 ,hyper-v-r2 ,usb ,windows-8

Not all servers nowadays have DVD player installed. Sometimes it is handy to boot from USB and install for example Windows Server 8. Here’s a example how to make the USB stick bootable for the following OS versions:

Windows Server 8
Hyper-V Server 8
Server 2008 R2
Hyper-V Server R2

Preparation:

Need a 4 GB USB memory stick or more
Download the desired ISO and save it

Stick the USB stick on a free USB port on your computer equipped with a Windows OS. For this example I used Windows7 as Operating System. Clear the USB stick and create a partition on it by using the following command’s:

Open the command prompt ((make sure you run the cmd prompt as administrator)

Commands:

diskpart 
list disk "list the disk in your system including the USB"
select disk "USB number"
clean
create partition primary
active
format fs=fat32 quick
assign
exit

Mount the ISO and copy all the content of the desired ISO to USB stick. For mounting the ISO I used “Deamon Tools Lite”.

Now the bootable stick is ready for use. Boot your server with the stick and your able to install Windows 8, Windows 8 Server, 2008 R2 or Hyper-V server 8.