How To Create A Bootable Usb Drive

In the past, Windows was installed by disc, CD, DVD-ROM, or Floppy disk - and optical data carriers are also gradually disappearing from the scene. Instead, the operating system is either preinstalled on the system partition of a new computer, or you acquire Windows directly online, complete with a digital license, and download it.

Many people nowadays use a bootable USB drive, it's quicker and more compact than an optical data carrier, and so is perfectly suitable for setting up a system - there are also many possible uses.

There are many ways of creating a Windows bootable USB drive, for the sake of this tutorial, we are going to talk about three easy ways to create and install your favorite version of Windows (Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11) on your PC.

Note that the process of making your USB drive bootable will erase all data on the target drive completely. Remember to back up important files and data in advance.

You may want to download this :

• Windows 11
• Windows 10
• Windows 8.1

Create A Bootable USB Drive With Power ISO

Power ISO is a great tool when creating a bootable USB drive.

1. Download and install Power ISO with one of the links (depending on your system type)
2. Open the program upon download and installation.
3. Choose from the menu, "Tools > Create Bootable USB Drive..." You need to confirm the UAC dialogue to continue if you are using Windows Vista and above.
4. In the "Create Bootable USB dialogue box", click the... button to open the Windows ISO file.
5. Select your USB drive from the "Destination USB Drive" list if multiple USB drives are connected to the PC.
6. Choose the proper writing method - "USB-HDD" is recommended.
7. Click the "Start" button to start creating a bootable USB drive.
8. Power ISO will alert you that all data on the USB drive will be destroyed, click "OK" to continue.

Power ISO will start writing to the USB drive and showing the progress information.
If no errors occurred in the above process, you should now be all set to install or set up Windows from a USB drive.

How To Create Bootable USB Drive Using Rufus

With Rufus, you are in to do it quick and easily! Rufus is a free and open-source portable utility running on the Windows platform. It is a powerful tool that can be used to create a bootable USB drive.

Despite its small size, it provides you with almost everything you need during the process of creating a bootable USB drive. 

Easy Way To Create Bootable USB Drive With Rufus.

1. Download Rufus.
2. Run Rufus upon download.
3. Select the USB drive you prepared for creating Windows bootable from the "Device"  tab.
4. Click on "Select" to navigate to the location of your original Windows file.
5. Select "Standard Windows Installation" for "Imae Option".

Additional Info

For the Partition scheme, select MBR if you’re using a computer with traditional BIOS(old machine). If your PC is a new machine that supports the UEFI boot mode, select GPT. If you have no idea, here is how: If the PC has no operating system:  You need to access your computer’s BIOS to check whether your PC supports the UEFI Boot mode or not. Here is how to do it: 

 i. Start your PC and press a certain key at the same time to access your PC’s BIOS. Usually, the key to press is likely to be: F1, F2, F3, Esc, or Delete. If you are not sure, consult the manufacturer of your computer for the answer. 

 ii. navigate to the Startup or Boot tab (the name of that tab varies on different computers) to see whether your PC supports the UEFI boot mode or not. If the PC is already with the Windows system: on your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to open the Run dialog. Type msinfo32 and press Enter to view the system information of your PC. If the BIOS mode of your PC is UEFI, then select GPT. If it is BIOS, select MBR.

7. For "Target System", select "UEFI" if the partition scheme you selected is GPT; select "BIOS" if the partition scheme is MBR.
8. For other options like file system and cluster size, select the default settings.
9. Click start to start creating your Windows bootable USB drive.

When everything is successful, you will be up and running!

How To Use CMD(Command Prompt) To Format And Create Bootable USB Drive

1. In Windows 10, 8, or 7, press the "Windows logo + R" keys simultaneously to open the Run Dialogue box. Input "cmd" and press enter.
2. In Command Prompt, type "Diskpart" and press enter.
3. Type "list disk" and press enter. You will see all the connected drives.
4. Type "select disk #". The # represents the number of your own USB drives, for example, my USB drive is disk 2, so I type select disk 2.
5. Type the following commands one by one, and press enter after each command.
   
   clean
   
   create partition
   
   select partition 2
   
   active
   
   format fs=ntfs
   
   assign
   
   exit
   
   
6. Open command prompt the same way, then type the following commands one by one, and press enter after each command.
   
   E
   
   cd boot
   
   bootsect /nt60 j
   
   (j is your USB drive)
   
   copy e:\*.* /s/e/f j:

Alternatively, you can copy the entire content of the OS from an ISO image to the USB manually. To do this, go to the 'My Computer' window, right-click on the Windows image, select Open to view the contents. Copy all the files and folders to the USB drive.

Congratulations, you've succeeded in creating a bootable USB. Please share this post if you found it helpful. And also don't forget to give your thought in the comments box.