Program interface: Russian
Platform:XP/7/Vista
Manufacturer: MakeSoft
Website: www.imakesoft.ru
USB Manager is a freely distributed software product that is designed to manage and fully control various types of USB devices, be it, for example, printers or any removable media.
Key features of USB Manager
The first thing you should pay attention to is its full compatibility with all versions of the Windows family of operating systems, including even the outdated Windows 98. The program distribution does not take up much space, and the installation process is not difficult. So, a user of any level of training can handle this. The second thing that pleases is that the program has multi-language support, therefore, by installing the required interface language, you can understand the application without much difficulty.
In general, the program is apparently intended for users who work on personal computers not alone, but using different accounts. It is clear that many simply do not want anyone to use any USB device in their absence. That is why, first of all, the program allows you to enable or completely disable all available USB ports. If they are completely disabled, no one will be able to use them. For example, someone inserts a regular flash drive, and this is where the fun begins. The operating system simply does not see it. So, you won’t be able to use the information from it. By the way, many viruses and malicious codes are spread from such devices. Therefore, by disabling USB ports, you can, to some extent, guarantee the security of your computer. Re-enabling the ports is not difficult. In this case, you can use the password system you need.
Disabling and re-enabling ports can be configured based on the types of devices being connected. For example, these could be separate printers, scanners, flash drives or various types of peripheral audio devices.
In general, it should be noted that the program has a rather nice, intuitive interface. Yes, and it works quite correctly. By the way, in the latest version the protection system has been significantly improved and the function of disconnecting from the client has been somewhat updated.
Thus, the program is simply ideal for preventing unauthorized use of the USB ports of your computer, especially since it is distributed completely free of charge and has no restrictions on the terms and purposes of use.
Hello, friends! Today we’ll talk again about creating a bootable USB flash drive.
How to create a bootable USB device? For what purposes should I use it and what program should I use to record it?
A brief overview of the five most popular and free programs for creating a bootable USB flash drive.
Modern developments do not stand still, and yesterday's technologies are slowly but surely losing their relevance. So the once popular CDs and DVDs no longer seem like such a clear solution for storing, transferring and working with information. High data reading speed, versatility and reusability are just a small part of all the advantages of a flash drive as a bootable medium over disks. Already today, almost all personal computers and laptops, if they are no more than ten years old, support the ability to boot from USB devices. And in some cases (for example, a netbook), a flash drive may be the only boot device from an external drive.
By the way, the new Windows 10 operating system will be the first axis, the distribution of which will be officially distributed on a USB drive. And if you suddenly need to recover files from a flash drive, read about it. I also recommend paying attention to, which will help you take your mind off everyday work and lift your spirits.
With the help of additional software, a flash drive can be used not only as a boot device for installing, reinstalling and restoring the operating system, but also to create an emergency device (Multiboot). This is a kind of resuscitator, a tool from which you can boot at any time and cure your computer of viruses, restore system files or save important data. I described how to create such a flash drive resuscitator in the article “Creating a bootable Live CD/DVD/USB device and its use.” You can read this article.
Despite all the obvious advantages and the growing popularity of a flash drive as a bootable device, there are not so many programs for creating it. Nevertheless, they exist, and today I will introduce you to them in more detail, but first a few words about the preparatory stage.
Preparing a flash drive
We will need the flash drive itself, plus knowledge of some important aspects. First, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from USB devices. There is a misconception that if in the bios (boot section) there is no option to select boot from usb (there are only floppi, hdd and dvd-rom options), then boot from usb is not supported. This is wrong!
More precisely, this is not always the case. The only correct solution is to refer to the manual (user manual) of your motherboard or using specialized software (AIDA64 as an option) to obtain a detailed report on the hardware used.
The second point is the size of the flash drive. Here everything will depend on what we write on it. For example, to create a Live-USB, Linux or Windows 7 installation disk, a 4 GB flash drive is enough. To create a bootable device with the latest versions of Windows, it is advisable to have a flash drive of at least 8 GB on hand.
The third point is transferring files from a flash drive. Typically, the process of creating a boot device involves completely formatting it. If there are important files on the flash drive, transfer them to another device in advance. To create a bootable USB flash drive and then work with it as a boot device, use the USB-2.0 port (Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0).
How to create a bootable USB flash drive
Let's look at five different methods using five free programs for Windows as an example.
A small but quite functional utility with the self-explanatory name WinSetupFromUSB. Equally well suited for recording a bootable and/or multiboot flash drive (up to 10 operating systems) and creating Live devices. Official site .
Among the shortcomings is the lack of support for the Russian language. Among the advantages, as I already said, is its versatility. The utility can work not only with Windows distributions, but is also suitable for burning an installation disk with Linux.
The usual option for creating a bootable flash drive, for example, with a Windows distribution, involves selecting the flash drive itself, the option to automatically format the media, and the ISO image of the operating system in the appropriate boxes. The recording process starts after pressing the “Go” button. You can read more about how this program works.
To create a multiboot flash drive (several OS), you need to specify the path to the ISO images of the operating systems. At the time of writing this article, the Windows 10 selection item is missing by default, but in reality everything is written and works, you just need to select the appropriate box with the available versions - Vista, 7, 8.
2. Rufus
Perhaps the simplest solution for creating bootable USB drives. Everything is simple and intuitive. Suitable for working on systems that do not have an installed OS. Official site rufus.akeo.ie.
The main advantages are speed, simple interface, Russian language. An excellent solution if you need to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive with UEFI support. By the way, I wrote in detail about how to do this in.
Distributed in the format of a regular installer and a portable version. To create a bootable USB flash drive, in the utility window you need to specify the path to the ISO image to be written and click the “Start” button.
On new systems that use UEFI instead of BIOS, set the Partition Scheme and System Interface Type menu to GPT for computers with UEFI.
In other cases, the default settings will be sufficient. The option to format a flash drive is assigned by default.
3. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
This utility is an official application from Microsoft. The interface is minimalistic, simple and clear, it is easy to work with. Download from the official website wudt.codeplex.com.
Perhaps the name of the utility (Windows 7 USB) will mislead many people into thinking that with its help you can only write the Windows 7 distribution to removable media. However, this is not the case. In addition to the seventh version, Windows 8.1 and 10 distributions can be stored on a flash drive.
The downside is that the utility is not Russified, but the simple and intuitive interface is designed to offset this drawback.
All that is required from the user is to insert a USB drive in advance, select an ISO image with the operating system and specify the path to the media (flash drive) to which this image should be deployed.
The operating principle of this program is based on standard tools of the Windows operating system - these are “diskpart”, “bootsect /nt60”, unpacking ISO onto a flash drive. The program acts only as a graphical interface.
UltraISO is one of the best and most functional programs for working with disk images. A universal “harvester” that supports work with almost any known formats. Can work in tandem with Nero Burning Rom and integrates with virtual emulators. It will help if the boot disk image is not in ISO format.
The program can convert other image formats into ISO files - NRG, MDF, MDS, IMG, CCD, etc. With UltraISO you can edit ISO files without unpacking them. The UltraISO interface has been translated into many languages, including Russian. For downloading, you are offered several editions of UltraISO, adapted for individual versions of Windows, as well as a portable version of the program. Download link www.ezbsystems.com.
By and large, the program does not care what boot devices will be created with its help, with what operating system, what software and from what manufacturer. The ISO image to be burned must be opened in the program window either using the Open command in the File menu or using the browse button on the toolbar. This can also be done using the Ctrl + O key combination.
Then in the window that appears, if the program automatically selects the desired flash drive, you should click the “Burn” button.
Daemon Tools Ultra is a professional tool for working with images. The program itself is familiar to many users from the free Lite version, which allows you to mount virtual drives for reading disk images. Its more functional version - Daemon Tools Ultra - offers, among other features, the creation of boot devices.
Among the disadvantages, it is worth noting that it is paid, but to create a bootable flash drive, you can download a free 20-day trial version on the program’s official website. Official website of the program.
Go to the official website and download the program. During installation, you must select a trial license type.
The program works with a huge number of disk image formats and can be used both to create a boot device with subsequent installation of the operating system, and to restore it (Live disk).
To create a bootable flash drive, in the main window of Daemon Tools Ultra, select the “Tools” menu item, and among its commands is “Write bootable image to USB”. Or the hotkey combination Ctrl+B.
In the recording parameters window, specify the path to the image, enable the MBR overwrite option and click “Start”.
When the flash drive is ready, all that remains is to boot from it. The easiest way is to use the boot menu keys. The table below shows a clear example of such keys.
Of course, this is not the entire list of programs designed to create bootable devices, but for the vast majority of users, the capabilities and functionality of the listed software will be sufficient.
For example, the Rufus program can be used as the simplest and fastest tool for creating a bootable USB drive with one Windows distribution or for flashing BIOS from DOS.
USB (Universal Serial Bus or Universal Serial Bus)— the most multifunctional port to date. Using this connector, you can connect not only a flash drive, keyboard or mouse, but also many other devices to your computer. For example, there are portable mini-fridges with USB connections, lamps, speakers, microphones, headphones, mobile phones, video cameras, office equipment, etc. The list is actually huge. But in order for all this peripherals to work properly and data to be transferred quickly through this port, it is necessary to install drivers for USB. In this article we will look at an example of how to do this correctly.
By default, USB drivers are installed along with the motherboard software, as they relate directly to it. Therefore, if for some reason you do not have USB drivers installed, we will turn first to the websites of motherboard manufacturers. But first things first.
In the case of USB, as with any other computer components, there are several ways to find and download the necessary drivers. Let's look at them in detail in order.
Method 1: From the motherboard manufacturer's website
First we need to find out the manufacturer and model of the motherboard. To do this you need to follow a few simple steps.
- On the button "Start" you need to right-click and select "Command line" or "Command Prompt (Administrator)".
- If you have Windows 7 or lower operating system, you need to press the keyboard shortcut "Win+R". As a result, a window will open in which you need to enter the command "cmd" and press the button "OK".
- In both the first and second cases, a window will appear on the screen "Command line". Next, we need to enter the following commands in this window in order to find out the manufacturer and model of the motherboard.
- Now, knowing the brand and model of the motherboard, you need to go to the manufacturer’s official website. You can easily find it through any search engine. For example, in our case this is ASUS. Let's go to .
- You need to find a search bar on the site. We enter the motherboard model into it. Please note that in laptops, most often the motherboard model matches the model of the laptop itself.
- Pressing the button "Enter", you will be taken to the search results page. Find your motherboard or laptop in the list. Click on the link by clicking on the title.
- In most cases, at the top you will see several sub-items for the mother card or laptop. We need the line "Support". We click on it.
- On the next page we need to find the item .
- As a result, we will be taken to a page with a selection of the operating system and the corresponding drivers. Please note that it is not always possible to see the required driver in the list when you select your operating system. In our case, the driver for USB can be found in the section "Windows 7 64bit".
- Opening the tree "USB", you will see one or more links to download the driver. In our case, select the first one and press the button "Global".
- The download of the archive with installation files will begin immediately. After the download process is complete, you need to unpack all the contents of the archive. In this case, it contains 3 files. Run the file "Setup".
- The process of unpacking the installation files will begin, after which the installation program itself will start. In the first window, to continue, you must click the button "Next".
- The next step is to read the license agreement. We do this as desired, after which we put a mark opposite the line "I accept the terms in the license agreement" and press the button "Next".
- The driver installation process will begin. You can see your progress in the next window.
- Once the installation is complete, you will see a success message. To complete you just need to press the button "Finish".
wmic baseboard get Manufacturer - find out the board manufacturer
wmic baseboard get product - motherboard model
This completes the process of installing the USB driver from the manufacturer’s website.
Method 2: Using automatic driver update programs
If you don’t want to bother with searching for the manufacturer and model of the motherboard, downloading archives, etc., then you should use this method. For this method, you will need any utility to automatically scan the system and download the necessary drivers.
For example, you can use or . In any case, you will have plenty to choose from. There are a large number of similar programs on the Internet today. Take for example the same one. You can learn about detailed driver installation using this program from our special lesson.
Method 2: Through Device Manager
Go to Device Manager. To do this you need to do the following.
Please note that this method is the least effective of all three. But in some cases it actually helps the system to at least recognize the USB ports. After such an installation, you need to search for drivers using one of the two methods listed above in order to ensure that the data transfer speed through the port is as high as possible.
As we previously advised, for any force majeure situations, always save the most important and necessary drivers and utilities on a separate media. If necessary, it can save you a lot of time, which will be spent searching for software again. In addition, situations may arise when you simply do not have access to the Internet, and you will need to install drivers.
Most users do not even suspect that there are very useful and, to some extent, necessary programs for USB flash drives. Such utilities are designed to make it easier to work with these storage media, prevent frequent errors from occurring, and also protect against viruses from penetrating the computer or the memory card itself. Moreover, their size is very small.
One of the most popular free USB programs is called USB Safely Remove. This is a very useful utility that expands the capabilities of users when working with various devices, including card readers, portable hard drives and, of course, flash drives. The functions of the free utility are very diverse, because it can return disabled devices, remove disks from empty card reader slots, and conveniently and easily remove USB flash drives.
Any user has encountered a problem when an error occurs when removing a USB device. Some users try to wait until all operations are completed, although it is quite possible that one of the processes is simply blocked, so you will have to wait a very long time. Other people don’t want to wait, but immediately remove the memory card, but even here there can be unpleasant consequences - perhaps the system actually performed certain actions, and by canceling them, the flash drive lost some of the information. But if you download the free USB Safely Remove utility, it will show you exactly which processes are blocking your device and also allow you to disable them. This is a beautiful, convenient and useful program that everyone who often uses such storage media should download.
Quickly download USB Disk Security for free
We can also recommend downloading another excellent free program, the usefulness of which is difficult to overestimate. We are talking about USB Disk Security. It is no secret that flash cards are carriers of viruses, since no special program is required to record data; malicious software can freely move from computer to flash drive and from flash drive to computer. Therefore, you need to protect yourself from possible problems, for which it is recommended to download USB Disk Security for free.One of the advantages of the application is that it automatically blocks autorun of any removable media, that is, the virus will not be able to get onto the hard drive the first time you connect a flash card. The user can safely run an antivirus scan to identify and remove viruses. After all, the utility boasts a good built-in antivirus that doesn’t even need to be updated.
If you download this utility for free, users will be able to use another mode – Safe Open. It opens access to information on USB, but no malicious program can get onto your computer.