Have 16 GB USB stick, need all sort of systems to boot from it. One of them is Windows 7 installation with WIM larger than 6 GB hence i need NTFS to put it on (or simply because I cann). First partition of USB is not an option for number of reasons (I do not want it to be).

Troubleshooting for USB drives This page is available in German language too No Drive Letter in the Windows Explorer Drive.

Not using ISO because there is probably not enough RAM on host machine to extract it. I've made it work after some exploration. Used software: Windows 7 ultimate 64bit desktop computer with WAIK and VmWare 7.1 Workstation installed (to boot virtual machine from USB) Virtual machine with Windows Xp 32 bit (for partitioning USB, can be done in many other ways) driver to see partitions on USB under XP Software to partition USB, I've used Paragon Partition Manager™ 10.0 Server Virtual machine with Ubuntu installed GRUB, I've used for i wanted NTFS partition. Any other version works, but with FAT32. Windows 7 installation disk (32 or 64 bit or both if you like it does not matter for this method, it can be AIO with all versions, what ever you want, works wit vista too) soviet_direct_hooking_src.zip from (read the article too!) Setup TEST virtual machine with Plop Boot Manager plpbt.iso used as CD/DVD connected at power on. When booted this will display selection screen for booting from USB. 1) In Windows XP virtual machine: Install Paragon Partition Manager™ 10.0 Server.

Install xpfildrvr1224_320 driver. 1) Extract the contents of “ xpfildrvr1224_320.zip” to a temp folder 2) Insert you USB pen drive that you want to turn into USB hard drive. 3) Right click on “my computer” ->properties ->hardware ->and click –>device manger; Expand 'Disk drives', right click your USB drive, select Properties.

On the tab 'Details' under XP the item 'Device instance ID' is already selected. Click on the ID in the list and press Ctrl+C, this copies the ID into the Windows Clipboard, now open notepad and paste the ID using Ctrl+V. 4) Now, go to the temp folder, and open the included INF file with notepad, and search for [cfadisk_device] a. Now go to the notepad, where you’ve copied your USB ID, and copy the first part as shown under (see bold part) Sample ID: USBSTOR DISK&VEN_LEXAR&PROD_JUMPDRIVE&REV_1.30 K40&0 b. Replace the bold part in following line with your USB ID that you’ve just copied in above step, and add under [cfadisk_device] heading:%Microdrive_devdesc% = cfadisk_install,USBSTOR DISK&VEN_LEXAR&PROD_JUMPDRIVE&REV_1.30 c. Save the file. 5) Open the device manager again right-click the USB drive, 'Update driver.'

, then 'No, not this time' ->Next ->'Install from a list or.' ->Next ->Lucky Di Unlucky Story Download Kickass. 'Don't search.' ->Next ->'Have Disk' ->browse to the INF file here. Now 'RemovableToFixed' should be in the list ->Next ->Confirm the two warnings ->Finish.

Now the drive is redetected, as USB hard drive. 2) In Windows XP virtual machine: Use Paragon Partition Manager (or whatever) to partition USB disk. 1)GRUB is on first partition so it is labeled GRUB in FAT32 format. 135 MB is more than enough for GRUB2. You can use more space if you want (for files you need to be accessible on all machines) (Partition label is important for Ubuntu commands.) 2)In this case Windows will be Windows 7 32 bit so my second partition label is Win7_32 in NTFS format.

Make partition on the rest of the free space, you will re size it latter in Paragon Partition Manager. 3) mark first, GRUB partition, as active 4)Start CMD and go to root of Windows install DVD (D: boot) D: (enter) cd boot (enter) Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code. BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 E: Where “E” is your USB Win7_32 partition drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see a success message. 5)Copy all the files from Windows install disk to Win7_32 partition (do not re size yet) 3 THIS is most important step!

Without it you will get ERROR installing Windows saying: 'A DVD/CD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver CD/Floppy please insert it now.' This is because Windows installation is OS for it self and it does not have driver that can use USB as hard drive (just like we had to install one in XP machine) OS that installs Windows 7 is placed in sources folder on installation DVD called boot.wim ('DVD: sources boot.wim). We have to install the driver there. 1)Go to home OS (Windows 7 64bit with WAIK in my case) and copy D: sources boot.wim to a folder on your computer. (E: Live_Usb MOD_WIMS boot.wim in my case) Go to start>>programs>>Microsoft Windows AIK and start 'Deployment Tools Command Prompt' and execute: md C: mount imagex /mountrw E: Live_Usb MOD_WIMS boot.wim 2 C: mount This will mount the image to C: mount folder on the computer.