Installing Hiren’s Boot CD on a USB Drive

Let me tell you the 4 most important things about Hiren’s BootCD (HBCD) before we get started…

1: It’s an indispensable tool.
B: It’s very well put together.
5: You’ll need it eventually.
And J: Did I say PERIOD?

If you are here, you should already know what Hiren’s Boot CD is and at least a few of the many things it can do for you. So let’s get the homie Rufus to install it to a USB drive!

If you want to burn it to a CD\DVD, complete steps 1 and 2 below, then switch to this guide: “Burning a Bootable ISO to CD or DVD with BurnCDCC“.

Keep in mind that you need to use a version of Hiren’s that is compatible with your system’s motherboard boot configuration. BIOS or UEFI. The version we are using in this guide, (Hiren’s BootCD 15.2) and all earlier versions are compatible with BIOS configurations only. If you have a UEFI configuration, you’ll need to use Hiren’s BootCD PE x64 version, which is compatible with BIOS AND UEFI configurations. The easiest way to approach this is to check the drive that holds your Windows installation. Find out which partition scheme it is using. This will usually give you a good starting point. If it’s MBR, you can use any version of Hiren’s. If it’s GPT, you’re gonna have to use the x64 version. To get more info, check our guide “3 Ways To Check if Your HD Partition Scheme is MBR or GPT”. Alright, nuff said. Let’s get to it!…

1: Get a copy of Hiren’s Boot CD. In this example we will be using Hiren’s BootCD 15.2 but other versions will work, like Hiren’s BootCD PE x64.

Get it from the Innovators ToolBox or download it from one of the links on this page. If the links are broken, use a search engine to find it.

Download Hiren’s BootCD 15.2 from the official site

Download Hiren’s BootCD 15.2 from Archive.org

Download Hiren’s BootCD PE x64 from the official site

Download Hiren’s BootCD PE x64 from Archive.org

2: If Hiren’s Boot CD is zipped or in a compressed package, extract the contents to get the ISO file.

The ISO is the file we will be installing in the following steps.

3: Get a copy of the portable version of Rufus.

You can use a non-portable version as well. In this example we will be using Rufus version 3.17. Get it from the ToolBox or download it from one of the links provided here. If the links are broken, use a search engine to find it.

Download Rufus from the official GitHub page

Download Rufus From SourceForge

4: Open Windows Explorer to This PC or My Computer.

5: Insert a USB drive.

The USB drive has to have a large enough capacity to fit the installation. 1GB is sufficient for older Hiren’s versions. At least 4GB is needed for the more recent 64-bit PE versions. Go with 8GB if you want to cover all variants and still have storage leftover to expand if need be.

6: Take note of the name, drive letter and storage capacity for the USB drive.

7: Launch Rufus and confirm that the listing in the Device box matches the info from step six.

Make SURE the USB drive you want to use is the one Rufus displays at the very top under ‘Device’. THE USB DRIVE WILL BE COMPLETELY ERASED IN THE FOLLOWING STEPS!!! THIS IS ULTRA IMPORTANT. Rufus will attempt to choose the appropriate drive for you if any are inserted. It does a pretty good job at this but you must always verify for yourself! Choose the wrong drive and ZAP! there goes your data.

8: Click the ‘Select’ button.

9: Navigate to the Hiren’s Boot CD ISO file that you downloaded earlier. Select it and click ‘Open’.

10: Click ‘Show Advanced Format Options’.

11: Configure the settings and options correctly…

You can change the ‘Volume Label’ if you want to. This is the name that will show up in any explorer or file manager for the USB. It’s best to name it EXACTLY what it is for accurate identification purposes and to prevent confusion. But you can name it anything you desire. It does not affect the process. For everything else, Rufus will usually determine the correct drive format ad boot settings associated with the ISO. Just in case, use the images and references below for the proper settings.

Pay attention to the ‘Partition Scheme’ and the ‘Target System’. These settings are VERY important. If you use older versions of HBCD, MBR will be your only option. If you use the newer PE 64-bit version, you will have both options. You have to know which partition scheme is compatible with the target system you plan to use it on, which is a whole new guide in itself. If you use the wrong one, it simply will fail to boot. Nothing will happen to your system. No biggie. If you are not sure and get an error when trying to boot from the USB using one option, try again using the other option. Or just get some help.

If you’re anything like me, you’d rather not tamper around with trial and error. What a waste of time, right? To be sure, you can follow our simple guide, “3 Ways To Check if Your HD Partition Scheme is MBR or GPT”. It’s super simple and takes only a few seconds. For us at least. 🙂 Everything you need to know will be explained there.

12: When all settings are confirmed, click START to begin the process.

13: You will be warned before proceeding. Press OK if you’re cool with all this.

14: Wait for the process to finish.

Observe the progress bar and the status bar at the bottom to ensure things are moving along. Rufus is pretty fast, so if it hangs too long at some random percentage or on a certain file, it may be something wrong. You should know the general speed of your computer, so you be the judge. Just be patient. If it crashes more than once while trying to write the files, try a different USB.

15: When Rufus is done doing its thing, the progress bar will be full and show READY. The amount of time the process took will show in the bottom right corner. You can press ‘Close’ when it reaches this point.

16: Remove the USB drive and re-insert it.

17: Open Explorer and confirm the content of your now Hiren’s Boot USB in Explorer.

Thats it! You can now boot from it on any PC as long as you know how to access the boot options for the desired computer.

GOOD LUCK!