===== Create a USB bootable Windows key on a Linux ======
//Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has a mbr partition table, On EFI system window can only be installed to GPT disks.//
Once the windows 8.1 iso image downloaded, insert the USB key on the linux server, for the different operation you can use the root user (easier) or sudo:
List the USB disk:
manu-linux:~ # dmesg | tail -20
...
[ 747.310883] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[ 747.440062] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0e39, idProduct=f100
[ 747.440066] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 747.440068] usb 1-3: Product: USB-IBM
[ 747.440070] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: SMART
[ 747.440072] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: S78P3917YQ10DP486127
[ 747.960845] usb-storage 1-3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 747.961057] scsi host3: usb-storage 1-3:1.0
[ 747.961181] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 747.963772] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[ 748.959220] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access SMART USB-IBM 025D PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 748.959404] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 748.959848] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] 15466496 512-byte logical blocks: (7.92 GB/7.38 GiB)
[ 748.960664] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 748.960666] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 2b 80 00 08
[ 748.961514] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 749.563471] sdb: sdb1
[ 749.565929] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
manu-linux:~ # lsscsi
[0:0:0:0] disk ATA Samsung SSD 850 2B6Q /dev/sda
[3:0:0:0] disk SMART USB-IBM 025D /dev/sdb
First convert to MBR instead GPT:
manu-linux:~ # fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 7.4 GiB, 7918845952 bytes, 15466496 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 5B099F25-08D4-4593-9CCD-CB602E7D5AB8
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 15466462 15464415 7.4G Microsoft LDM metadata
Command (m for help): o
Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x94bed3f3.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 7.4 GiB, 7918845952 bytes, 15466496 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x94bed3f3
Command (m for help): w
Create a primary partition type 7 (windows), and bootable (a):
manu-linux:~ # fdisk /dev/sdb
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.27.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 7.4 GiB, 7918845952 bytes, 15466496 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x94bed3f3
Command (m for help): n
Partition type
p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
e extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
First sector (2048-15466495, default 2048):
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-15466495, default 15466495):
Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 7.4 GiB.
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Partition type (type L to list all types): L
.....
6 FAT16 42 SFS 87 NTFS volume set db CP/M / CTOS / .
7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT 4d QNX4.x 88 Linux plaintext de Dell Utility
...
Partition type (type L to list all types): 7
Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'HPFS/NTFS/exFAT'.
Command (m for help): a
Selected partition 1
The bootable flag on partition 1 is enabled now.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 7.4 GiB, 7918845952 bytes, 15466496 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x94bed3f3
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 15466495 15464448 7.4G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Command (m for help): w
Format the partition with type NTFS:
manu-linux:~ # mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sdb1
Install the package ms-sys from your distribution or sources from https://sourceforge.net/projects/ms-sys/
Make your USB key bootable:
manu-linux:~ # ms-sys -7 /dev/sdb
Windows 7 master boot record successfully written to /dev/sdb
Mount the partition:
manu-linux:~ # mkdir /mnt
manu-linux:~ # mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
Now Copy your ISO windows 8.1 image to your USB key:
manu-linux:~ # mkdir /mnt1
manu-linux:~ # mount -o loop Downloads/Win_Pro_8.1_64BIT_English.ISO /mnt1
mount: /dev/loop0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
manu-linux:~ # cp -r /mnt1/* /mnt/
manu-linux:~ # umount /mnt
manu-linux:~ # umount /mnt1