Install Windows 10 using a bootable USB Drive?
Bootable USB is a storage device that can be used to start or boot a computer operating system. The hardware of the computer system uses a USB storage stick to access all essential files and information needed to boot a computer.
It is a very easy process to boot windows 10 or Windows 7 from a USB stick. You can have a fresh and new version of Windows installed on the PC within minutes. In this article, you will learn each and everything about installing Windows from a bootable USB drive.
What is the advantage of using a bootable USB storage stick?
A bootable USB drive has multiple advantages. In case your optical drive is out of order, a bootable USB stick will be the ultimate and the best solution. Also as USB storage drive is portable and compatible with every laptop and desktop PCs. All computer systems have USB ports even if the optical drive is missing. In the latest slim computers, the optical drive is always missing and the USB is the only option to install Windows on the laptop. Installing Windows from a bootable USB stick is always quick and you install the windows faster than installing it from an optical drive.
We will discuss two methods of installing Windows 10, one is using media creation tool and the other is using third party software called Rufus.
How to create a Windows 10 UEFI boot media using Media Creation Tool
If your system supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), you can use this method to have windows 10 bootable media on your USB stick. Following the following steps to make USB bootable using Microsoft Media Creation Tool.
- Open Microsoft Windows 10 download page. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10?
- Click the Download tool now button.
- When the executable file is downloaded, double click on it to run the installation wizard.
- Accept the terms and conditions.
- Select the option “ Create Installation Media (USB flash drive, or ISO file) for another PC.
- Click on Next.
- Uncheck the option stating “ Use the recommended option for this PC”.
- Select language, edition, and 64-bit or 32-bit option.
- Click on Next.
- Select the USB flash drive option.
- Click on the Next button.
- Select the desired USB stick from the list.
Click on the Next button.
Click the Finish button.
How to create a Windows 10 UEFI boot media using Rufus tool
If the previous method did not work for you, you can also use this method to create a bootable USB stick and install Windows 10 or Windows 7. The Rufus tool can be downloaded from its official website. You will need an ISO file for this purpose. The ISO file can be created from CD Disk using Nero burner or Ultra ISO tools. You can also download the ISO file from the internet. Just type “Windows 10 ISO file download” in search engine and you will get it.
Using Rufus to create boot media with Windows 10 ISO file
The following steps should be taken to create boot media using the Rufus tool.
- Open Rufus download page. https://rufus.ie/
- Select the latest version to download. Save it on your computer.
- Double click the downloaded file to start the Rufus tool. It does not need installation just double click on the .exe file.
- Select the USB stick under the device category in which you want to be made bootable.
- Click the select button in the “Boot Selection” menu to select the ISO file from your computer.
- Select the Windows 10 ISO file’s location from your computer. You can also download the Windows 10 ISO from here if you don’t already have it. Just click on the select option and select download.
- Select GPT under the partition scheme.
- Select UEFI under the target system menu.
- Check-in “Quick format”.
- Have a check-in “Create extended label and icon files.
- Leave the default settings in all other options and click on start.
These two methods work perfectly for installing Windows from a bootable USB media. If you have any question regarding this topic, please ask it in the comment section. Maybe another reader is also having the same question and we have missed it in the discussion.
