How to make windows 10 bootable USB drive (Step by step Guide)

Windows
By Kelvin smith
Windows 10 Bootable USB
Image by sebastianperezhdez from Pixabay

Creating a Windows 10 Bootable USB drive is a simple process and sometimes you should definitely do it if you own a Windows computer. Using a bootable USB drive of your OS (operating system), for example, Windows 10, you can clean install or reinstall Windows 10 or access advanced options to repair a PC that won’t turn on. There are different ways to Create a Windows 10 USB Bootable Flash Drive, but here in this post, we cover only the methods that are both the easiest and officially approved.

How to Make a Windows 10 Bootable USB Drive

In this article, you will learn how to create a bootable USB from iso, using the Windows 10 media creation tool and using the third-party tool Rufus.

Pre-Requirement for Bootable USB flash drive:

  • Make sure you have a USB drive with a minimum 8GB of space. (Backup your existing USB  Drive Data)
  • Working internet connection

Create a bootable USB from Windows 10 ISO

If you already have a Windows 10 ISO file and looking to make a bootable USB drive, then the simple and easiest method is, to download the official Windows USB/DVD Download Tool and follow the steps listed below. If you don’t have a Windows 10 ISO file, download the latest Windows 10 ISO files direct from the Microsoft server using this link.

Note: The following steps are applicable for Windows 7 and 8.1 as well.

  • Insert the USB flash drive into your Windows 10 computer.
  • Download the official Windows USB/DVD Download Tool from here.
  • Open the location where the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool downloaded, double-click on it, and follow the on-screen instructions to install it on your computer.
  • Next, run the application (double click on the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool shortcut icon located on the desktop)
  • Click on browse and locate the ISO file (Stored on your local disk)

 

  • On the next screen, choose the media type, click USB device (because we are making bootable USB)
  • Now select the USB drive from the drop-down list and click on being Copying.

This will warn to erase/format the USB Drive before make it bootable click yes and proceed.

Select the USB drive

  • Well, making the bootable USB process will take a while, Wait a while until you see the Bootable USB device created successfully.
  • Then you can use this bootable USB / DVD for Windows installation purposes.

Bootable USB created

Create a Bootable USB with Rufus

Also, you can make Windows 10 bootable USB using the third-party application Rufus. It’s a free and open-source portable application for Microsoft Windows that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives or Live USBs.

  • Download Rufus from the Official site here
  • Locate the download location and double-click on rufus.exe
  • Under “Devices,” select the USB drive with at least 8GB of space.
  • Next, click on select, under boot selection, and locate the Windows 10 ISO image.
  • Then Under “Partition scheme and target system type,” select the GPT partition scheme for the UEFI option from the drop-down menu.
  • Lastly, click on “Start” and wait for the software to create the bootable USB drive.

Rufus

 Using Windows 10 Media creation tool

The official way Microsoft recommends, to download or create a Windows 10 bootable USB flash drive using a media creation tool.

Visit Microsoft’s official windows 10 download site and download the media creation tool,

windows 10 media creation tool download

  • Once downloaded, locate MediaCreationTool.exe right-click on it, select run as administrator,
  • Click yes If UAC prompts for permission,
  • Accept the media creation tool Licence terms,

Media creation Tool license terms

  • On the next screen, Select the Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC option and click next.

Media creation tool Download ISO

  • On the next screen, language, architecture, and edition will be selected automatically based on your computer configuration.
  • Here you can clear Use the recommended options for this PC option to select the appropriate settings if you’re trying to use the media on another device. Click next,

Select language architecture and edition

  • The next screen ask for choose which media to use, select the USB flash drive option, click next,

Select USB flash Drive option

  •  locate the USB drive and click next,
  • Finally, this will start download Windows files from the Microsoft server, This will take some time depending on your Internet connection speed and hardware configuration.

Downloading Windows 10

  • And it automatically makes Windows 10 Bootable USB flash drives for you.
  • Once done it will prompt bootable device created successfully. that’s all.

Now you can use the USB drive for Windows installation or Upgrade purposes.