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I made a bootable Windows 7 USB using UNetbootin, and when I try to boot from the bootable USB and select the Default boot menu entry, it gets stuck at the UNetbootin boot menu and it keeps repeating an Automatic boot in 10 seconds... message in an endless countdown loop. Selecting Press [Tab] to edit options and editing the options has no effect. When I go back to the boot menu, it keeps repeating the same countdown loop.

I've tried redoing the UNetbootin extraction, but I still have the same issue.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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The "Automatic boot in 10 seconds..." countdown loop is a UNetbootin problem. If the UNetbootin boot menu does not have an entry for the OS you are trying to boot to under the Default boot menu entry, this is another sign that UNetbootin is not working properly. I know that it's a problem with UNetbootin because I have seen it before, and managed to solve it by reformatting the USB flash drive to remove to bootloader and then making the live USB again with Startup Disk Creator. Startup Disk Creator is capable of making both Ubuntu and non-*buntu bootable live USBs.

This wouldn't solve your problem because you are trying to boot Windows 7, so I suggest that you use the WoeUSB application to make the bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive.

First reformat the USB drive as FAT32 to remove whatever obsolete boot information UNetbootin wrote on the USB flash drive. If your computer detects obsolete boot information on the USB flash drive, it may try to boot an operating system that no longer exists on the USB flash drive, and then UNetbootin will get stuck in a repeating countdown.

Then download WoeUSB and install it. Native UEFI booting is supported for Windows 7 and later images (limited to the FAT filesystem as the target device). WoeUSB is an updated fork of the WinUSB project.

Some third-party installers feature Windows installation images (/sources/install.wim) greater than 4GB making FAT32 as target filesystem impossible. NTFS filesystem support has been added to WoeUSB 3.0.0 and later.

Installation

To install the WoeUSB command line tool snap package in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu open the terminal and type:

sudo snap install --edge woe-usb  
sudo snap connect woe-usb:removable-media

To launch the woe-usb snap package command line tool run the following command:

/snap/bin/woe-usb.woeusb

If you get a permission denied error click the Permissions button on the woe-usb screen in Ubuntu Software and toggle the permissions options from OFF to ON as shown in the below screenshot.

woe-usb Permissions

Windows USB drive from Ubuntu failing repeatedly
WoeUSB Issues

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    one more question sorry, what do you do when you get to the install windows screen with the repair your computer screen?
    – user301770
    Jul 9, 2014 at 6:39
  • *repair your computer option
    – user301770
    Jul 9, 2014 at 6:45
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    Click Repair your computer to access system recovery options. Afterwards it could get complicated, so I'll start with the simple part first. Visit this Microsoft website: Start your computer from a Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive. This website has links for information about system recovery options in Windows 7. If you need an answer to a specific question, there are many questions about Repair your computer Windows 7 at superuser.com/questions.
    – karel
    Jul 9, 2014 at 6:53
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    I love you man.. and I hate unetbootin!
    – Juraj Misur
    May 8, 2015 at 21:08
  • UNetbootin is no longer in the default Ubuntu repositories in Ubuntu 18.04 and later. As a UNetbootin replacement I tested the built-in Startup Disk Creator application with 5 different distros, and my USB flash drive booted successfully every time.
    – karel
    Nov 13, 2018 at 6:28
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Install WoeUSB instead of Unetbootin

WoeUSB is now WoeUSB-ng and a way easy to install, just follow these two commands and you are done:

sudo apt install git p7zip-full python3-pip python3-wxgtk4.0

sudo pip3 install WoeUSB-ng

Now search for WoeUSB in your apps

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Just reinstall UNetBootIn and it should work fine. I just did that myself. I realize that your question has probably been solved, just putting this here for the other people that may come across this thread.

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I got stuck with the same error after all windows installations completed(my previous os has gone already) and I used these below steps. 1. Remove the USB first, 2. Restart the system. Now go to the boot settings and enable the safe boot mode on. I hope it'll work for you too.

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