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I'd like to create a Windows 8 bootable USB stick, but I don't have a Windows machine with me to do so.

So how do I do it with Ubuntu/Linux?

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4 Answers

up vote 21 down vote accepted

Create a bootable Windows USB from Ubuntu through WinUSB software.

Ubuntu 13.10,13.04,12.10,12.04


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:colingille/freshlight
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install winusb

WinUSB screenshot

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There are 2 (3) things that you will need:

  1. Unetbootin
  2. Gparted


sudo apt-get install gparted unetbootin




You can also use dd being careful in what you are doing:

sudo dd if=/path/to/iso/windows.iso of=/dev/sdg bs=4M; sync

Sounds crazy, but dd works.

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aren't you missing count=1 or something on the dd line? that way you just overwrite everything on the usb drive with the ISO data, which result in not even a partition being mapped. –  gcb Dec 24 '13 at 22:50
@gcb actually, that's what it's intended. The first things I said was to backup your stuff. –  Braiam Dec 25 '13 at 2:43
i did that, and end up with a UFI(?) partition with the boot stuff, and nothing else. ...ended up getting a dvd driver and burning the image there. I think your idea works if the ISO is already in the format suitable for SD/HDD, when the ISO is in iso9660 format, it does not work that way. well, at least didn't work with the image i did from the install CD. –  gcb Dec 27 '13 at 21:13
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[Added it as a new answer because I don't have enough reputation for posting comments]

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You may use UNetbootin. Afaik, it works for Linux, Windows & Mac.

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Well this guy seems to think otherwise... --> CREATE A BOOTABLE WINDOWS 7 USB DRIVE FROM LINUX (TESTED ON UBUNTU) –  M.Meintjes May 2 '13 at 14:04
UNetbootin always generates any error –  gal007 Nov 30 '13 at 21:21
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