Creating rescue media on a USB stick on a computer with no DVD burner

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I have a small Acer netbook, running Windows 7 Starter. This is my secondary laptop. It doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive. This means I’ve never been able to create a rescue disk if I’m unable to start the operating system. Can I create rescue media on a USB stick? If so, how do I do this?

Thanks for any help offered.

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First, do you have the ability to go into the Bios and change the boot order?

If so, you should be able to plug the flash drive into a USB slot, then during the Rescue Disk creation you may be able to select the USB flash drive as the location to install the Rescue files. I am not sure of the exact size of Flash Drive you would need for this. I guess I never paid attention when I created Win 7 Rescue Disks since I was using CDs at the time.

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Mike,

Although you can you don’t have to change the boot order as most machines have a boot time hot key to get to the boot menu and allow you to select the boot device. For instance on a Dell it would be F12. You repeatedly tap this key at boot until the boot menu appears. When you create the Windows rescue disk it will give you the option to write it to a USB device. Just make sure you have one that is big enough (Min 512Mb) and be aware that the process will format the device erasing any information already stored there.

Here’s the MS Page on the process.

BTW: Many other programs also give you this option. My favorite Imaging program Macrium Reflect supports this as well as Windows Defender Offline.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I suppose the procedure to create the boot disc will be similar for all the imaging apps, if you a recent version. Acronis True Image, for example, generically calls this “boot media creation”. It starts a wizard that allows several choices and if you have a USB stick inserted, it will allow you to choose it as the boot media creation destination.

I can’t remember the size it needed, tough, but it’s not much. This could be done with a CD, with a maximum capacity of 750 MB, so I guess RetiredGeek’s reference to 512 MB is surely more than enough.

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Rui,

The 500Mb is for the Windows Rescue Media only. This value shows up in one of the screens for creating that disk. HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Rui,

The 500Mb is for the Windows Rescue Media only. This value shows up in one of the screens for creating that disk. HTH :cheers:

Thanks for making that clear, RG :).

I was specifically thinking of an Acronis boot flash. I guess I will have to create one and post the results.

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Thanks, guys, but I’ve had no success. I changed the boot order to my USB stick but when I go to create the system repair disk I get the same message saying that there’s no CD burner, even though the BIOS is set to start with the USB stick.

Maybe an email to Acer might come up with something. Thanks for your help.

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The only article I have found that allows the creation of a Windows recovery USB flash, without the need for extra stuff (e.g., an existing CD or DVD) or to pay something, is this one: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/29462-create-a-system-repair-usb-under-windows-7

The procedure is not simple and the article is missing some characters in the path to the files that need to be copied. For example, when they say to copy

C:WindowsBootDVDPCATboot.sdi

It really means to copy c:WindowsBootDVDPCATboot.sdi

Can’t really understand where the ” have gone.

I haven’t tested this procedure, but if you are willing to give it a go, I can try and fix some issues with the paths there. You will also need to be able to change the permissions for the Recovery folder, needed for the last step.

This is a bit advanced and not the most straightforward path to achieve your goal. Unfortunately I have found no other way to do it, without a CD / DVD or without paying for something – neosmart has an easier procedure, but you need to pay to get some ISO image that’s required for the process to work.

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Rui, my experience.
I have two DVD devices in this Acer. I was following this trend and I wanted to try it. I got an 8 GBs CF card into the proper slot and tried it. It went to completion. I did not need to try any different path to get it done, very straight forward. I then tried to boot from it and it did and gave me the proper screen, but it was slow and time taking. I gave it the chance to load, it was successful.
On another question now, the C&P question was solved. My SUE even if I totally ignore why or how ! Be good. Jean.

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Rui, my experience.
I have two DVD devices in this Acer. I was following this trend and I wanted to try it. I got an 8 GBs CF card into the proper slot and tried it. It went to completion. I did not need to try any different path to get it done, very straight forward. I then tried to boot from it and it did and gave me the proper screen, but it was slow and time taking. I gave it the chance to load, it was successful.
On another question now, the C&P question was solved. My SUE even if I totally ignore why or how ! Be good. Jean.

Hi Jean,

Did you mean you followed this procedure and it worked?

I am glad your other issue is solved.

Regards

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Hello, Rui. You wrote :
Did you mean you followed this procedure and it worked?

A little bit of irony here ??? LOL ! Yes, it worked as per the prompts and it even booted fine from the CF card.

The other issue was back ! I totally deleted Acrobat now. The menu in Word is now without it and the C&P works as desired. For how long ? Time will tell. I had Acrobat 5 installed, an oldie but I can control that one fine. I will try later to re-install it, just to see.

You be good. Jean.

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Just a thought… Buy an external USB optical drive, they’re not expensive, I paid less than $25 if I remember correctly.

David

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Hello, David.
I already have one of these, USB optical drive. I was only trying to have this small CF card to enable a smaller unit to use if ever needed. I also have a floppy USB device, not too many of these around. Be good. Jean.

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Hi Jean,

No irony at all, quite the contrary, I thank you for trying it and confirming it works. I truly appreciate the effort and your time :).
It just wasn’t clear to me whether you had tried the procedure given by the link or had used some other way (your reference to your DVD devices contributed a bit for my confusion).

Regards.

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Hi Jean,

No irony at all, quite the contrary, I thank you for trying it and confirming it works. I truly appreciate the effort and your time :).
It just wasn’t clear to me whether you had tried the procedure given by the link or had used some other way (your reference to your DVD devices contributed a bit for my confusion).

Regards.

I think the confusion arises because this thread was originated by AussieMike who doesn’t have a DVD drive and Jean has interacted with a similar problem.

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Rui, my apologies. I did not really use the procedure as given in the above noted link, see your message #8. Nope, I went to Search and typed in “Recovery” and W-8 presented me with the proper screen to pursue the action. Third from the top is “Create a Recovery disk”. As I had the CF card inserted, I could just, quick as a bunny, click on it and proceed. Try it, I am sure you will like it. The procedure as offered with the a/n link was too much DOS-like for my competence. I hate CLIs, too many to remember.

You be good. Jean.

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You’re playing tricks, Jean, not fair :). Windows 8 includes the possibility to directly create a flash recovery drive, but it is the first Windows client OS to do so. Windows 7 does not include such a feature.

Now I am the one to say – Jean, please be good :).

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Rui, I am trying to be good. Here is how.
I tried to follow the W-7 procedure to make a bootable key. Nogo ! See .jpg.

35826-Rui

I could not find the file, third line in boot directory, nor access the Recovery folder, it is greyed out and resisted all my attempts to open it. Total defeat.

No biggie as I have a clone and would rather resort to it instead of trying this buoy. Quicker and much simpler to clone back. Do not waste any of your time on this. See ? I am trying to be good as Santa is looking for my chimney. Jean.

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Rui, I am trying to be good. Here is how.
I tried to follow the W-7 procedure to make a bootable key. Nogo ! See .jpg.

35826-Rui

I could not find the file, third line in boot directory, nor access the Recovery folder, it is greyed out and resisted all my attempts to open it. Total defeat.

No biggie as I have a clone and would rather resort to it instead of trying this buoy. Quicker and much simpler to clone back. Do not waste any of your time on this. See ? I am trying to be good as Santa is looking for my chimney. Jean.

Hi Jean,

Thanks for trying.

The two problems you mention aren’t hard to solve. Regarding the 3rd file, this was written by someone who had French language configure in his computer. For English US, the full link would be c:windowsbootDVDPCATen-USbootfix.bin.

Regarding the recovery folder, the “secret” lies with adding at least read permissions for you account, on that folder. You could also simple run Windows Explorer as Administrator and that should give you access to the folder.

Anyway, thanks again for trying :).

Regards

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Rui, hello.

And triy again, I did. After your very precise instructions, I was able to get this going, I found all the pertinent files and built the USB card as depicted in that article above.
I then tried to use it on my W-7 machine . . . I could not, that old P4 is not bootable from USB, BIOS knew nothing of the sort when built in those years.

Not wanting to be left behind, I dared slip it into my W-8 machine, it was refused as it is -8 and not -7 where the bootable card, , was constructed. So I am giving myself a gold star for trying, that is all I can do right. Tee ! hee !

Be good, I am. Jean.

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I appreciate you trying, thanks :).

Regards.

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