can my computer boot from an USB?

Soon i'm going to buy Windows 7 Pro and install it on my computer. I was thinking of burning the ISO to an 4GB USB Flash Drive. Well I don't know if my computer will support it. I took some pictures of the BIOS. The links below will show the pictures. The pictures show my BIOS Boot Priority and Startup. Can someone tell me which one will boot from an USB? I have Award Winning BIOS from Phoenix. The motherboard is Inspiron 530. Version is 1.0.13. If there is any settings I need to tweak, please tell me.

Pictures:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3546/1022149h.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4108/1022151.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4737/1022152.jpg
LOOK AT THIS: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...7&postcount=13

BTW, there is software called Win2Flash that will allow you to burn ISO to USB's.

Note: My DVD drive is dead. I want to do it on an USB b/c of that.

Don't even need to do that, Boot Windows 7 using something like MagicDisc or MagicISO and you can install Windows 7 directly from the desktop. No CD's or USB keys required if you have the online ISO download from Microsoft. So in other words, get the ISO, mount it virtually using something like Deamon Tools or MagicDisc / MagicISO and simply run the setup file and you're good to go.

Additionally using this method is the recommended method as it will automatically backup all of your files to Windows.old which will be in the C Drive.

PS: good luck with the USB idea though, it's a sob to get working on most systems that don't have a Motherboard from within the last year or two.

I don't think that would work. If you was installing a new OS, I don't think open software could immolate an ISO. You would need a DVD or USB.

Please guys tell me if I can boot into USB.
Thanks!

Say something if you get this to work...
Sounds kinda silly but if it works could be interesting...

Actually there is software called Win2Flash that allows you to burn ISO's to USB's.

Youtube it.

If you're just trying to avoid burning a DvD ISO you can use a third party program to create a new partition and then from your current one install Win7 on the alternative. Boot it up, delete your initial setup and reallocate your partition space to the full hard drive amount.

Windows had a page on how to do all this somewhere on their site, I remember because I was out of blank DvDs when I bought an online copy of Win7 and had to do it the long way.

Usually a lot less hassle though to just burn the ISO.

But to be honest we can all only guess, you didn't seem to inform us on your overall plans or the reason you are going this route. Are there issues burning the ISO/Etc? More info would be nice.

If you're buying Windows 7, just use the DVD...?

It's a download-only copy. Also my DVD drive is dead.

Well to prepare the usb to allow windows to be booted of it you probably need to follow some instructions like this:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-in...working-guide/

Once done you need to either change your boot priotity or if you have it bring up the boot menu. When you start your computer it will say something like "Press F2 for setup" and hopefully "Press F12 for Boot Menu". That is the easiest way.

Looking around apparently it is possible to boot off USB on a Dell 530, if you don't have teh option then check the dell support site, maybe you need a Bios update or something...

Microsoft has an utility available for download that can let create a win7 bootable USB drive if that's what you want.
http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool

You can read this here, on how to make the bootable USB drive for windows 7 if you are unsure on how to do it.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...7-on-a-netbook

As for booting from flash drive, simply tap whatever key lets you choose the which drive to boot from. So far i've seen comps that used the F12 or ESC key to choose the boot option, the info should be somewhere in your user's manual.

If you can't use the bootable drive, do as suggested before and use deamon tools to install directly from your hard drive. You could always replace your DVD drive as well

EDIT: From looking at your pictures, i'd say your bios is already configured to search for bootable removable drives before booting from your HDD. I'd make the USB drive and simply restart the PC to see what happens.

First thing to do is to start up the computer with the USB drive connected. Then go to the Boot Menu (as in the 3rd picture) and see if the USB drive shows up on the list. If it does, then it's most likely that you can boot from the USB drive once it's set up to be "bootable".

I've done this with a bootable DOS flash drive to update a BIOS, but I haven't tried booting a Windows install. But, I would guess that, if the drive appears on the boot menu, you could try the method Tijo linked to above (the ISO-Tool)

P.s. Depending on the BIOS, you may need to enable BIOS-level USB support for the drive to show up before the OS boots. If it's there it would be in the same area as where you can enable USB keyboard and mouse support. Most newer BIOSes have it always active, but some older ones need you to enable it, and still older ones have no BIOS-level USB support. Again, though, if the drive shows up in the Boot Menu, you should be good to go.

I'll try that Quaker. Thanks so much!

Hey guys, I referred to my manual for my PC.. and this is what it says on Boot Devices.





Do you think it supports USB?

My guess would be that it does support flash drives. Have you tried accessing the flash drive from the boot menu as quaker suggested. For example: on my asus laptop if i want to boot from the CD/flash drive, i press ESC before windows starts which loads the boot menu. From there, i can choose to boot from a flash drive if one is inserted, the DVD drive and the hard drives without having to set the bios priorities. All you have to do in order to do the same, is look through your owner's manual to find out which key will give you access to the boot menu (probably F12 or ESC).

They said restart your PC with the USB in and press F12. Then click on USB Flash Drive.

There ya go. Let us know how it turns out in the end