How to add multiple Windows NT6/10 (Vista, 7, 8, 10, Server 2008/2012) sources + Ubuntu to USB disk

Here is how to quickly add multiple Windows NT6/10 (Vista, 7, 8, 10, Server 2008/2012 etc.) sources and Ubuntu with persistence space to a USB disk.

1) If using the program for first time on this USB disk, select the auto-format option. Use FAT32 if you’d need to boot in UEFI mode.

2) Select the first NT6 source, it is expected as in ISO image file, here is an example with Windows 7 x64:

3) (Optional) In advanced options you could change folder and boot menu name, make Q-Dir File Explorer launch before start of Setup and add a folder with custom boot critical drivers to be loaded. The latter could be useful to load custom USB 3.0 drivers or SATA/AHCI/RAID ones.

For non-boot critical drivers, such as Wireless/WLan, LAN, Video or Sound drivers, a good idea is to use SAD (Stand Alone Driverpack utility), a proven and reliable solution from the DriverPacks team. More details about these options can be found in the FAQs.

4) (Optional) Add Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop with its own persistence space:

 

5) Press GO to start the process:

6) If the auto format option was selected, please do read carefully which disk is going to be reformatted, all data is going to be wiped out, the click OK on both dialogue boxes:

 

7) You can watch detailed progress of what is happening by selecting the Show Log option:

In a few minutes you will see Job Done message, the first two source have been transferred:

8) Now lets add another NT6 source, it would be Windows 8 Enterprise Eval x64, in the very same way as the first one. To preserve contents of the USB disk, make sure the auto-format option is not checked. Press GO and wait until process completes.:

 

9) Lets add yet another NT6 source, this time Server 2008 R2 x64, sequence is exactly as before:

 

10) Here is the boot menu once the system was booted from this USB disk:

11) To get persistence in Ubuntu, when the Live CD menu gets displayed hit the key to enter “Other Options”. This will display the arguments that the Live CD passes to the kernel. At the end of this argument list just add a space and add the word “persistent”. This will instruct the Live CD to maintain and use persistence.

162 thoughts on “How to add multiple Windows NT6/10 (Vista, 7, 8, 10, Server 2008/2012) sources + Ubuntu to USB disk

  1. add windows 8.1 and windows server 2012

    Fatal error!
    Could not prepare NT6 boot files!

    Help Me! thx

    • Please test this version.
      Bcdedit output with OS locale set to Chinese seems to add several NULs in the results to be parsed, which hit a bug in AutoIT and output does not get parsed properly.

      Please let me know if this version fixes the issue. Use it as the previous one, just extract the 2 new files in the same folder as before and use the new exe files.

      If there are still issues, please upload the new log files.

        • Good. Will take a look about the restart needed, although in my tests everything worked fine without restarting the program. Could it be an antivirus software or some other external program accessing the temp folder?

  2. please help me .. i want to edit the menu of nt6 (delete manually any windows dones’nt exist on flash memory)

  3. Hi!
    I´ve tried to install multiple images a few times now and I cant seem to get it to work. I´ve tried the Iso´s I have individually to make sure thats not the source of the problem but it seems that as soon as i try to add one after the other I get the same error as mentioned above “Could not prepare NT6 Boot files”

    Here´s the log:

    2014/09/22 20:01:35- WinSetupFromUSB 1.4 started
    2014/09/22 20:01:35- OS: WIN_7 Architecture type: X64 ServicePack: Service Pack 1 OS Language: 041D
    ….
    ….

    2014/09/22 20:01:53- Updating BCD store in G:\boot\bcd
    2014/09/22 20:01:53- Path to bcdedit.exe: C:\Windows\system32
    2014/09/22 20:01:53- Checking for multiple osdevice entries
    2014/09/22 20:01:53-
    Startinläsaren
    ————–
    identifier {default}
    device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
    path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
    description Windows Setup
    locale en-US
    inherit {bootloadersettings}
    osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
    systemroot \windows
    detecthal Yes
    winpe Yes
    ems Yes

    2014/09/22 20:01:53- Creating new entry
    2014/09/22 20:01:53- Posten {8835deb8-4282-11e4-a32a-902b34314938} har skapats.

    2014/09/22 20:01:53- FlushFileBuffers : 1
    2014/09/22 20:01:54- New GUID: {8835deb8-4282-11e4-a32a-902b34314938}
    2014/09/22 20:01:54- Parsing D:\images\WinSetupFromUSB-1-4\TempWST\boot\bcd for GUID {default}
    2014/09/22 20:01:54-
    Startinläsaren
    ————–
    identifier {default}
    device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
    path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
    description Windows Setup
    locale en-US
    inherit {bootloadersettings}
    osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
    systemroot \windows
    detecthal Yes
    winpe Yes
    ems Yes

    2014/09/22 20:01:54- Func _ParseBCD returned an error: 4
    2014/09/22 20:01:54- Func UpdateBCD returned an error: 25
    2014/09/22 20:01:54- Func MakeVistaBoot returned an error: 5
    2014/09/22 20:01:55- Removing TEMP folder
    2014/09/22 20:01:55- ———————————Program quited———————————————–

    • The issue is with the Swedish locale and the different output of bcdedit in this case. I’ll see what I can do in the next version to get it fixed.

      If you happen to post a log file again, please, do not dump raw output in comments, take a look at FAQ #14 for ideas how to post it, thanks.
      Alternatively, you could use a service like pastebin.com and provide a link to the contents.

      Thanks for the report, without such, I won’t be aware of these issues and get them fixed.

      • Alright! Thanks for the quick response. Sorry bout the datadump. Just grabbed it and didnt really think it through. 🙂

  4. how to add hirens boot cd using WinSetupFromUSB-1-4 plz suggest me iam use linuxiso/ other grub4dos opption to create hbcd but on boot screen it says invalid on boot time plz help me

  5. Hi,
    Get a message saying “This does not seem to be a valid source from Win 7 64 Ultimate .iso, yet Win&7 Pro, Win SBS2011 and Win 8, Win 8.1 all work fine ?

  6. Tell me please, how can I delete (edit) an option from the menu?
    For example, I’ve build a multiboot disk with lots of options:
    Memtest
    Victoria
    Parted Magic
    Windows XP installation
    Windows NT6 (Vista, 7, 8, Server 2008/2012 etc.)
    1.Windows 7
    2. Windows 8
    3. Windows 10

    When a new version of Memtest or Windows 10 releases, I have to format the flash drive and build a new one from the beginning…

    • For MemTest you could simply replace the ISO file, using the same name and defragment it afterwards with the included WinDefrag in \files\tools\RMPrepUSB\WinDefrag\ or get the free command line utility from SysInternals “Contig”.

      For the Windows Vista/7 and above in most cases if boot.wim images are similar, you could replace the ISO in the corresponding directory in WINSETUP, no defragging is needed. If boot.wim are different, you’d have to remove the old one and add a new one using the program. How to remove the old one:
      http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/help/comment-page-6/#comment-817

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