Want to create an USB installer for Microsoft Windows, but only has a Linux PC (or server)? Here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, and their based systems, e.g., Linux Mint, Manjaro.
WoeUSB-ng
Today when I was installing Windows 7 on my 10 years old laptop, the first I tried is booting the ISO image via Ventoy USB stick. Sadly, it just didn’t boot!
So, I turned to WoeUSB-ng. It’s a free open-source tool to create a Windows USB stick installer from a real Windows DVD or iso image.
It’s a rewrite of WoeUSB in Python programming language with graphical interface support! With it, you can burn Windows Vista, Windows 7, Window 8.x, Windows 10 and Windows PE into USB with following boot mode:
- Legacy/MBR-style/IBM PC compatible bootmode
- Native UEFI boot for Windows 7 and later (FAT file-system only).
Step 1: Install WoeUSB-ng
Arch Linux users just need to run yay -S woeusb-ng command in terminal to install the app.
1.) Install Dependency
Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to install the dependencies:
sudo apt install git p7zip-full python3-pip python3-wxgtk4.0 grub2-common grub-pc-bin
Type user password for sudo authentication, though there’s no asterisk feedback
For Fedora, run the command below instead:
sudo dnf install git p7zip p7zip-plugins python3-pip python3-wxpython4
2.) Install WoeUSB-ng
As a Python application, it’s easy to install via the pip package manager. To do so, just run command:
sudo pip3 install WoeUSB-ng
Due to policy change, the command above does no longer work in Ubuntu 24.04, see this post for workarounds, or just run the command below instead:
sudo pip3 install WoeUSB-ng --break-system-package
Once installed, click the top-left “Activities” button, then search for and open the tool:
Step 2: Create Windows USB Installer via WoeUSB-ng
Firstly, you need to download the Windows ISO image or insert the CD/DVD drive, plug in your USB stick (8GB+ is recommended).
Then, launch WoeUSB-ng from start menu, select your ISO image or CD/DVD drive and highlight the USB stick (click “Refresh”) if not in list.
Before clicking the “Install” button, backup your data in the USB stick. It by default formats the drive into FAT, though you can select “NTFS” in options.
After clicking “Install” and confirm in pop-up dialog, it will open a new small dialog indicates the installing process.
If everything goes OK, it should prompt “Installation Succeed” when done. Plug the USB stick in target machine and select boot it in BIOS or UEFI, and enjoy!
Create USB Windows Installer from command line
Running Linux without a desktop session? The tool also has command line options to do the job.
Firstly, find out the USB stick device name (usually /dev/sdb) via command:
sudo fdisk -l
Then, run the command to create installer from iso image (run woeusb -h to get more options):
sudo woeusb --device /PATH/TO/ISO /dev/sdb
And for BIOS boot, it’s better to add ‘–workaround-bios-boot-flag’ to workaround BIOS bug that won’t include the device in boot menu.
Uninstall WoeUSB-ng
To remove the application, open terminal and run the command:
sudo pip3 uninstall WoeUSB-ng
Then clear the shortcut icon via command:
sudo rm /usr/share/applications/WoeUSB-ng.desktop
WoeUSB-ng
A Linux program to create a Windows USB stick installer from a real Windows DVD or image.
This package contains two programs:
- woeusb: A command-line utility that enables you to create your own bootable Windows installation USB storage device from an existing Windows Installation disc or disk image
- woeusbgui: Graphic version of woeusb
Supported images:
Windows Vista, Windows 7, Window 8.x, Windows 10. All languages and any version (home, pro…) and Windows PE are supported.
Supported bootmodes:
- Legacy/MBR-style/IBM PC compatible bootmode
- Native UEFI booting is supported for Windows 7 and later images (limited to the FAT filesystem as the target)
This project rewrite of original WoeUSB
Installation
Arch
For other distributions
1. Install WoeUSB-ng’s Dependencies
Ubuntu
sudo apt install git p7zip-full python3-pip python3-wxgtk4.0 grub2-common grub-pc-bin parted dosfstools ntfs-3g
Fedora (tested on: Fedora Workstation 33)
sudo dnf install git p7zip p7zip-plugins python3-pip python3-wxpython4
2. Install WoeUSB-ng
sudo pip3 install WoeUSB-ng
Installation from source code
1. Install WoeUSB-ng’s Build Dependencies
Ubuntu
sudo apt install git p7zip-full python3-pip python3-wxgtk4.0 grub2-common grub-pc-bin parted dosfstools ntfs-3g
Arch
sudo pacman -Suy p7zip python-pip python-wxpython
Fedora (tested on: Fedora Workstation 33)
sudo dnf install git p7zip p7zip-plugins python3-pip python3-wxpython4
2. Install WoeUSB-ng
git clone https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng.git cd WoeUSB-ng sudo pip3 install .
Installation from source code locally or in virtual environment
git clone https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng.git cd WoeUSB-ng git apply development.patch sudo pip3 install -e .
Please note that this will not create menu shortcut and you may need to run gui twice as it may want to adjust policy.
Uninstalling
To remove WoeUSB-ng completely run (needed only when using installation from source code):
sudo pip3 uninstall WoeUSB-ng
sudo rm /usr/share/icons/WoeUSB-ng/icon.ico \
/usr/share/applications/WoeUSB-ng.desktop \
/usr/local/bin/woeusbgui
sudo rmdir /usr/share/icons/WoeUSB-ng/
License
WoeUSB-ng is distributed under the GPL license.
WoeUSB-ng is a free and open source Windows USB installer creator for Linux. Using WoeUSB-ng you can create your own USB pendrive Windows installer from DVD or an ISO image file. Using this Windows USB installer you can easily install Windows OS in your computer. Currently it supports Windows Vista, Windows 7, Window 8.x, Windows 10 and Legacy/MBR-style/IBM PC and Native UEFI bootmode. It comes with command-line woeusb and graphic version woeusbgui. this application is a rewrite of original WoeUSB. It is written in Python and released under GNU General Public License v3.0.
Install WoeUSB-ng on Ubuntu Linux
Open the terminal command-line application (ctrl+alt+t) and run below commands one by one.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git p7zip-full python3-pip python3-wxgtk4.0 grub2-common grub-pc-bin
sudo pip3 install WoeUSB-ng
You need Windows ISO image file or Windows DVD and insert USB stick/Pen drive/USB drive in the USB port.
Format your USB before creating Windows USB installer.
Click the top-left “Activities” button or the show applications button and then search for WoeUSB and open WoeUSB-ng.
Select your ISO file or DVD drive and highlight the USB stick and click refresh.
Then click Install button and confirm the pop-up . It will open a new small dialog indicates the installing process and you will get “Installation Succeed” message after completion.
That’s all, now insert the Windows USB installer in your target computer and boot it and install windows.
WinUSB is an Ubuntu application for creating a Windows USB installer for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Like other applications that enable creating installer USBs, you can create a bootable (installation) USB from an ISO disc image or a DVD. While other tools like Unetbootin can perform similar tasks, however, WinUSB is much simpler than other competitors, and delivers a two-click solution for creating a Windows installer USB. This may be a blessing for users who may require creating a USB installer for Windows for dual booting it with Ubuntu or other Linux distributions. Similarly, you might require installing Windows on another system, but do not have Windows installed on a computer to utilize tools such as the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool.
To create your bootable installer disc, select an ISO image or CD/DVD disc, and click Install.
This will create your Windows Vista/7 installer USB. It is worth mentioning here that the tool might also work with Windows 8; however, it has not been tested. Having said that, the developer has mentioned that the supported images include, “Windows Vista, Seven+.” You can install WinUSB either from the Deb package given at the developer’s website (for Oneiric, Natty, Maverick and Lucid), or from the PPA given below.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:colingille/freshlight sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install winusb
Since WinUSB also works from the command line, you can create a Windows 7 or Windows Vista USB installer by following the command line format given below:
sudo winusb --format <iso path> <device>
Once the USB is formatted using the above method, install a Windows partition and edit the Master Boot Record:
sudo winusb --install <iso path> <partition>
[via WEBUPD8]
