usb flash drive - Can I install Windows from a USB stick to a USB stick?

I am building a Windows 7 system without a CD/DVD drive or hard drive.

I followed one of the many tutorials for creating a bootable installation USB stick, but I couldn't find one for installing to another USB stick as bootable complete installation. The Windows installation wizard doesn't show the destination stick as a device I can install to. Is there a workaround for this?

The destination USB stick is USB 3.0.

Answer

You can install Windows 7 to a USB Drive by enabling the unofficial Windows To Go feature in Windows 7. Refer to my answers in the linked questions.

This is how i would do it.

1. Create a bootable USB Drive with WinPE - http://agnipulse.com/2011/06/beginners-guide-creating-custom-windows-pe/


2. Copy your Windows 7 Installation Files to your USB Drive


3. Copy WinNTSetup to your USB Drive.


4. Boot from USB Drive


5. Connect your other USB Drive


6. Follow the instructions at this link to install Windows 7 to the other USB Stick
   http://agnipulse.com/2012/11/windows-to-go-all-versions-windows-7-8/