Creating a custom bootable USB

Hogweed

New Member
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4
I’ve been very stupid. I got an ASUS X555 laptop with 8.1 pre-installed, recovery partition etc. Like a good boy, I created the massive 32GB USB stick in case anything happened to my recovery partition (like me deliberately deleting it, with malice aforethought).

I played with W8.1 for maybe 3 months, and it’s loathsome and stupid – sorry if that offends those on a W8 forum, but I worked hard to get to know it; I can see how it’d be OK on a phone or maybe a tablet, but not on my non-touch laptop. Anyway, that’s just me.

So I worked through learning how to install W7, and eventually realised I’d have to delete all the partitions – when I started, I’d thought I could maybe keep the W8 Restore one in case I needed to revert to that one later. But it’s on a GPT disk, W7 doesn't install in that, so MBR it is.

I have an old W7-64 DVD with a code written on it, and used that – now it's flagging as non-genuine etc, so either the code is dodgy, or something else, God knows. So I want to go back to W8.1, wait for W10 to stabilise, then try that.

But… I've lost the USB I made. Yes, I’m beating myself over the head with a pick-axe handle as we speak.

Anyone still awake? OK, thanks for providing this excellent forum – I've studied and learned a lot. What I want to do (using your tutorials, naturally) is download W8.1, create another bootable USB, and restore using that. Questions:


  1. What exactly goes on the USB? I mean, if I install W8.1, then manually do the drivers etc, and create the USB, will that image have the drivers etc if I have to use it to install again?
  2. Does that extend to software? I mean if I install Office, Firefox, all the other stuff, will that get included in the image, and automatically reinstall next time?
  3. Is there any way of re-creating the ASUS recovery partition I destroyed?

Thanks again :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X555LA & others...
You could order the Asus recovery disks from the Asus eStore to restore your computer to factory conditions but I doubt it will give you recovery partition back.

You could also download and burn your own Windows 8.1 ISO, have your key ready, from this tutorial. It is like the retail version without the Asus programs and crap they have on their recovery disks.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html

In either case, you will have to reinstall all your 3rd party apps and data.

Once you are up and running you may use Macrium Reflect Free to create an exact image of your hard drive which would include the OS, programs and data. Create one regularly and your set in the event of a disaster without going through all the hassle again.
Macrium Reflect Free
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
Thanks Nuccii – yes I’d already read through that and other tutorials here, and I generally understand what to do, I think.

Of course, I don’t NEED the recovery partition – it’s just kind of an OCD thing with me to be able to do EVERYTHING :confused:

And I realise I’ll have to reinstall all my other software, of course… but what I wondered was if I then made the bootable USB, if things like drivers (and maybe even that software) would then include in its recovery? In other words, I don’t know much about the structure of that USB, whether in fact IT is an image of the kind you recommend with Macrium?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X555LA & others...
Asus recovery disks would have their drivers and Asus programs.

Windows ISO will not have programs but will have generic drivers you would have to update latter.

The Macrium image would be an exact duplicate of your hard drive to restore it exactly. It is not really recommended to do this on a USB stick as they can deteriorate. Because of the size of your hard drive it should ideally be done to an external hard drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
I have three programs you could run and create the files needed to make a windows recovery image (install.wim) that could then be placed on USB or in a recovery partition..

First you would need the install.wim from the setup media. (I have a script program that will do that)

then you would need the windows 8.1 drivers exported from a clean installation of windows 8.1 after the oem drivers where installed ( I have a script program that will do that)

The you would need to prep the recovery image to create the new recovery Install.wim ( I have a script to do that)

then you would copy the new Install.wim to the recovery usb..

and if you wanted a recovery partition - copy recovery USB files to a recovery partition
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
or you could use macruim to create a clean system image (backup)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Thanks guys - am hoping to try some of those things tonight :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X555LA & others...
ADK may not be what you are looking for..


  1. What exactly goes on the USB? I mean, if I install W8.1, then manually do the drivers etc, and create the USB, will that image have the drivers etc if I have to use it to install again? Yes, but you would have to capture the image of the windows partition (install.wim)
  2. Does that extend to software? I mean if I install Office, Firefox, all the other stuff, will that get included in the image, and automatically reinstall next time? These programs would need to be installed via another option (not really an option, because some fail to re-activate upon reset..
  3. Is there any way of re-creating the ASUS recovery partition I destroyed? partition yes, factory image no - unless you contact asus
  4. I usually install windows 8.1 > setup the oem driver packages > update windows > shrink the C partition by 8GB to create a recovery partition > capture the current windows partition as an install.wim located on the 8GB recovery partition
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Thanks again :) found my original W7 DVDs/keys etc so am installing that for now. Once I've got that all sorted, I think I'll try Macrium to produce a backup image of that, then download the W8.1 image etc and play around. Part of why I'm doing all this is to learn - I will **** it up lots of times... pain is unfortunately a good way to learn.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X555LA & others...
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