Good idea but I would imagin MS would charge you a bit more for it. You can catch some deals for 4gig drives for around 9$ so I would expect to see a 10$ extra fee for it. You can make your own anytime you wish using a key now.
If they use fast flash drives on USB 3.0, I can imagine pendrive based programs working out. However this could also possibly be to help combat piracy...
Yeah...just think of all the drivers and **** you could pack onto the USB drive if it's large enough.
HOWTO INSTALL WINDOWS 7 ON USB Requirements -- Windows 7 ISO/FILES -- USB Stick, 4gb or Higher -- MBR Wizard (xp users) Notes -- You cannot Make a 64 bit Windows Boot USB While Running 32 Bit -- 64 Bit installs Must be Running 64 bit -- 32 Bit installs Must be Running 32 bit -- This will work for Vista Aswell -- This should work for 8 gb and above USB sticks cause its ntfs -- For People With Windows XP You must use MBR Wizard 1. Plug-in your USB flash drive, Note, The Following Will Remove EVERYTHING from your Flash Drive!! 2. Open Command Prompt with admin Priv. 3. -------Type: DISKPART -------Press Enter -------Next type: LIST DISK -------Remember Which is Your USB Disk. 4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Example Using "Disk 1" SELECT DISK 1 CLEAN CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SELECT PARTITION 1 ACTIVE FORMAT FS=NTFS (This is not a quick format, if anyone knows the paramater to make it quick format tell me ) ASSIGN EXIT Don’t close the command prompt Just minimize it. 5. Insert your Windows7 dvd and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. Assuming that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H”, do the following. D:CD BOOT CD BOOT 6. This Next Command will update the bootmanager so it can be bootable. BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H: 7. After You have done all those commands Copy your Windows 7 DVD contents to the USB flash drive. 8. You can now Boot From the USB stick, Make sure Its selected in the bios. Other Info -- You can use this method, But i have not tested it and it may not work for sticks over 4gb. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd535816.aspx
but dvd's are alot cheaper...alot. if games ...etc came on usb, you can bet the price would be added on. w7 might not cause well...ms can afford the difference.
a 4gb USB stick costs 4-10 dollars here in australia.... That is NOT Expensive...its nothing...pocket lint....
8gb USB drive is about $20 here....4gb is about $10-$15....I'd pay that little extra to avoid a disc...
I will definately give it a try if the package cost doesn't includes the usb stick cost. Anyways a cost is a cost so i try to save max when it comes to purchasing computer related peripherals.
I've tried both ways for installing, and Flash is obviously way faster. This is an awesome move. Cheers to MS.
Great info! I'm so trying this with my 8GB flash drive. I downloaded win7 64 bit yesterday, burned it to a dvd and proceeded to find out the laptop I was planning to install it on was 32 bit only (Core Duo). Almost done getting the 32 bit version now so anything to speed up the process of getting windows 7 on my laptop is welcome.
Cool idea, but if the masses of software distribution turns to flash well have a hell of a time distinguishing drives apart and storing all of our flash drives. Sure, Operating systems would be wicked awesome on one, but all (or even a small minority) software... i just dont think so.
Actually, what scares me is that although the USB stick is a good idea they seem to be missing in the big picture. Imagine this if you would.... If Microsoft where to work with the Motherboard designers they could create a CPU/Bios like chip pre-installed with the Current Windows on it and locked to read only. Then the MB designers could create a slot to plug it into along side the actual CPU and then once the boot post is reached enable it to read the user hardware and configurations. Lets face it, most of us buy a new CPU every 3-5 years anyway and this is roughly the Windows upgrade cycle as well so it would not hurt our pockets any further anyway. Imagine, you just buy your Widows Install CPU/Bios, take it home, plug it in and its all done, and any personal hardware you have installed is auto identified at Post and installed. Then all you need to do is update your drivers. All installs and updates can then be written to the hard Drive, but the actual System is write protected and unlockable so it is kept pristine from the day the chip is created and you wont even need a key for registration to use it and no need for re-authorizing it as well. I reckon this would also really bugger up the pirates a lot too. AusROM
not only that, but it will drive up costs considerably. imagine a $50 pc dvd game turned to being sold on flash, now its $60, perhaps higher depending on whatever other factors..and likely have a higher defective ratio. they'll also be easier to lose. but for OS's...it'd be sweet idea, they could literally do away with discs right now actually, everyone has USB..almost. offtopically, i once had the idea that if games were sold on USB sticks, they could implement hardware DRM encryption chip of somekind where software is linked to chip to decrypt to help curb piracy a bit rather than the crappy software drms. would be more expensive per game though assuming it would work.
