How to make a Dell Windows 8 USB Boot flash stickdrive?

Does anyone know how to make a Dell Windows 8 USB Boot flash drive?

I've tried the following methods and none of them work?

• UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
• http://www.techanger.com/create-windows-8-bootable-usb/
• How to Make windows 8 bootable USB - YouTube

I have an OEM Dell Windows 8 x64 DVD. I also have a Windows8-Setup.exe file for Windowx 8 x64 Pro that I bought.

I can create a bootable USB just fine from the Microsoft file.

However, every attempt to convert the Dell Windows DVD into a bootable USB flash drive fails and the flash drive won't boot at all.

It is detected as a EFI boot device but it simply won't boot into Windows 8 setup.

 

Does the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool work for you? I use it to make USB installation media from a Windows 8 ISO that I have. In fact, I did it again earlier today to reinstall Windows 8 on a Dell desktop and it worked perfectly for me.

Have you tried to burn the Windows 8 DVD to an ISO and then use the Windows 7 tool to create the USB drive from that ISO? Perhaps that might work.

Is there something special about the OEM Dell DVD that you feel is better than using the file for creating the USB flash drive?

 

The Microsoft tool should work just fine. I recently used it to create a USB with Win 7 HP on it for my "baby pc" in my signature. I didn't have an OEM disc, with it being an Ultrabook, so all I did was punch in the Windows COA on the bottom of the machine and it did the rest. You could try doing that vs. using the disc itself. Do you have a COA for the Dell OS?

This might also help: How To Install Windows 8 From a USB Device
Instructions on Using a USB Flash Drive To Install Windows 8

As mentioned, making an .iso from the DVD and then using the Microsoft tool should work too: How To Create an ISO Image File From a CD, DVD, or BD and then try the MS tool.

 

I believe the COA thing might have died with Windows 7.

 

Bummer. I know when I grabbed Win 8 Pro when it was on offer for 14.99, I got an email from MS with my product key and a link to D/L the OS. I thought that maybe the key would work with the download tool.....if not, creating an .iso from the DVD and then using the tool would seem to be the way to go.

Found this, too....might be of help: CLEAN install Win 8 on OEM system w/ NO COA lable - SOLVED

Seems that MS embed the product key into the bios: BIOS-embedded Windows 8 product keys - reinstall troubles? which might cause problems....

 

Thanks, I tried that.

I used Nero Burning Rom to create an ISO out of the Dell Windows 8 x64 DVD that came with the laptop. It's pretty straightforward to do with the Microsoft tool.

I have to use the Dell Windows 8 DVD for making a USB boot drive because the license on my laptop is not the "Pro" version of Windows 8. We have lots of Dell machines, but only bought "Pro" licenses for the ones that need Remote Desktop. The ISO file I downloaded is a "Pro" ISO.

I looked up how to change the "ei.cfg" file in the USB boot drive to make it a "universal" AIO Windows 8 installer, but that doesn't seem to work. I did this again late last night. Since the ESD ISO from Microsoft makes bootable USBs just fine, I tried changing the "ei.cfg" to make it install standard Windows 8, but it still installed the Pro version. BTW, this ISO ESD is the one people get when they bought the $15 upgrade promo from Microsoft early this year.

I think because the ISO is an ESD (electronic delivery), Microsoft may have made it a Pro only ISO to save on bandwidth.

I noticed that the Microsoft ESD ISO is half the size of the Dell Windows 8 DVD:


So, I'm guessing that the ESD version is not "universal" but the DVD version is and contains multiple versions of Windows 8. I just can't get the dang thing to boot.

Instead of including DVDs with new systems, I wish Dell would make a way to download ESD ISOs so customers can make bootable USBs, like what Microsoft is doing.

I've removed the optical drives from all of our Alienwares (replaced them with HDDs), so I have to get this to work or else buy an external USB case for the ODD.

 

So, you're attempting to create a universal installer? That was an awesome feature of the Windows 7 ISO. I haven't seen an example of that in Windows 8 yet. Hopefully, Microsoft will eventually provide that and stop acting so stupid about Windows 8. It is certainly a lot more convenient if you have different versions of Windows on different machines to not have to fuss with a variety of installation media. The Windows 8 DVDs I purchased from Microsoft do not seem to be a universal AIO media, but in my case it does not matter too much because I installed Windows 8 Pro on everything.

The Dell machine I installed Windows 8 Pro on last night required no product key or activation. I used OEM digital media on USB and it installed without any fuss, apparently due to the SLIC certificate in the firmware. As soon as it was done installing, it was preactivated. It was the same media I used on all my other machines, except I did not need to enter a key or activate this machine as I did with the others.

 

I was finally able to convert the Dell Windows 8 x64 DVD into a USB Flash boot drive.

Just create a text file and name it ei.cfg and copy it to the sources folder, paste this inside it:

Code:

[EditionID]
[Channel]
Volume
[VL]
1

When you install, it asks if you want to install Windows 8 or Pro.

One strange thing is when I install Windows 8 from the USB drive, it is missing a license key. However, if I install Windows 8 from the Dell DVD that was used to make the USB Flash boot drive, the license key is detected from the BIOS just fine?

I wonder if the ei.cfg file had something to do with that? Strange thing is the Dell DVD has no ei.cfg file. It must be using some other method telling the DVD which version to install.

 

I made USB Windows 8 Pro installation media using the ISO created from the Windows 8 downloader when I bought about it the same time you did. I might not be understanding your question, but you can use the Windows 7 tool for creating the media (but not downloading another ISO). I did and it works great... assuming that is what you are wondering. You only need to use the key Microsoft provided if your motherboard is too old to have a Windows 8 Pro license embedded in the BIOS. I've used the same USB installer on newer Dell systems that shipped with Windows 8 Pro and no key entry or activation is required.

That's cool. Good to know. Thanks for sharing that tip.