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Current Lenovo think pad laptop SSD is permanently damaged. I have a new SSD with nothing on it. I have no DVD drive on laptop.

I can put Windows 8.1 ISO on a USB drive and that's all I can do. So, can I simply insert the new SSD to laptop, insert the USB drive to laptop, turn the power on and succeed installing the OS this way?

SamDevx
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2 Answers2

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It's possible.

You will first need to create the installation USB flash media. USB drive must be least 4 GB in size for Windows 8.1’s installer to fit on it.

If you already have a Windows 8.1 ISO file, you’re good to go.

You need to download Microsoft’s free Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Don’t worry about its name – it’ll work with Windows 8.1.

Launch the tool after installing it and browse to the Windows 8 ISO image you created or downloaded from Microsoft.

  • Select the USB device media type to continue.
  • The tool will now format your USB drive, make it bootable, and copy the Windows 8 installer files to it. This will take several minutes. You’ll see the message “Backup completed” when the tool is finished.

Then you’ll need to boot the computer from the USB drive.

Insert the USB drive into your computer, then restart it. It should automatically boot from the USB drive, starting the Windows 8.1 installation process.

If this doesn't happen automatically, you’ll need to change the boot order in your BIOS.

Press the key that appears when you turn your computer on (often Delete or F2), locate the Boot Order section in your BIOS, and increase the priority of your USB drive so that the computer will try to boot from the USB drive.

Save your settings and exit the BIOS after changing this option. For more detailed instructions on accessing your BIOS and changing the boot order, consult your computer’s manual. Different computers use different BIOSes that have different interfaces and require different key presses to open.

After going through this process, you’ll be able to install Windows 8.1 from a USB drive just as you could from a DVD – the USB drive will behave exactly like an installer DVD and offer the usual upgrade and clean install options.

More details here.

Phoenix
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What you want to use is some software such as Yumi Multiboot USB Creator

Obviously you're going to need create the Multiboot USB on a separate computer ... Put the Win8 ISO on that computer, because Yumi will reformat the USB drive.

Then, just use Yumi to load Win8 onto the USB drive

Just Lucky Really
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