Since practically no one uses CDs and DVDs these days, it is only logical that windows image it is best to write to a USB stick for further installation. This approach is, indeed, much more convenient, because the flash drive itself is much smaller and it is very convenient to store it in your pocket. Therefore, we will analyze all the most efficient methods for creating bootable media for further installing Windows.
For reference: creating bootable media implies that an operating system image is written to it. From this very drive, the OS is subsequently installed on the computer. Earlier, during the reinstallation of the system, we inserted a disk into the computer and installed it from it. Now you can use a regular USB drive for this.
To do this, you can use the branded software Microsoft, the most already installed operating system or other programs. In any case, the creation process is not difficult at all. Even a novice user can handle it.
All the methods described below assume that you already have a downloaded ISO image operating system that you will write to the USB flash drive. So if you haven't downloaded the OS yet, do so. You must also have a suitable removable medium. Its volume must be sufficient to fit the image you downloaded. At the same time, some files may still be stored on the drive; it is not necessary to delete them. All the same, during the recording process, all information will be irrevocably erased.
Method 1: Using UltraISO
There is a detailed description of this program on our website, so we will not describe how to use it. There is also a link where you can download it. To create bootable USB drive with Ultra ISO, do the following:
If some problems occur during the recording, errors appear, most likely the problem is in the damaged image. But if you downloaded the program from the official site, no difficulties should arise.
Method 2: Rufus
Another very convenient program that allows you to very quickly create bootable media... To use it, follow these steps:
It should be said that there are other settings and recording options in Rufus, but they can be left as they were originally. Optionally, you can check the box "Check for bad blocks" and indicate the number of passes. Thanks to this, after recording installation flash drive will be checked for damaged parts. If such are found, the system will automatically fix them.
If you understand what MBR and GPT are, you can also indicate this feature of the future image under the inscription "Partition scheme and system interface type"... But doing all this is completely optional.
Method 3: Windows USB / DVD Download Tool
After the release of Windows 7, developers from Microsoft decided to create a special tool that allows you to make a bootable USB flash drive with an image of this operating system. This is how the program with the name was created. Over time, the management decided that this utility could well provide recording for other operating systems. Today this utility allows you to record Windows 7, Vista and XP. Therefore, for those who want to make media with Linux or another system other than Windows, this tool will not work.
To use it, follow these steps:
Method 4: Windows Installation Media Creation Tool
Also, Microsoft experts have created a special tool that allows you to install on a computer or create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7, 8 and 10. Windows Installation Media Creation Tool is most convenient for those who decided to capture an image of one of these systems. To use the program, do the following:
In the same tool, but for Windows 10, the process will look slightly different. First, check the box next to the inscription Create installation media for another computer "... Click "Further".
But then everything is exactly the same as in the Windows Installation Media Creation Tool for version 8.1. As for the seventh version, the process there does not differ from the one shown above for 8.1.
Method 5: UNetbootin
This tool is intended for those who need to create a bootable a Linux flash drive from under Windows. To use it, do this:
Method 6: Universal USB Installer
Universal USB Installer allows you to write images of Windows, Linux and other operating systems to drives. But it is best used for Ubuntu and other similar operating systems. To use this program, do the following:
For various tasks that users face, for example, you need to create a bootable USB flash drive or there were problems with formatting a USB flash drive standard means from explorer, it becomes necessary to format the flash drive using command line... Formatting a flash drive through the command line can be done in several ways.
In order to call the command line, launch the Start menu and enter the cmd command in the search bar.
In the command line window that appears, enter: format / fs: NTFS H: / q - where:
- format - formatting task;
- fs: NTFS - description of the file system we choose;
- H: - the drive we need;
- / q - command for quick format.
In the event that we want to format file system in Fat or Fat32, the command will look like this: format / FS: FAT32 H: / q.
After entering the command, a message will be displayed: “Insert new disc into drive H: and press the ENTER key… ”- press ENTER.
Then the command line window displays: "Volume label (11 characters, ENTER - no label needed)" -
so press ENTER.
Our flash drive is formatted.
Format command (second way)
We call the command line as described in the first paragraph.
We type in the command line window that appears: format H: / fs: NTFS / v: Arhiv - where:
- format - a task to format the disk;
- fs: NTFS - description of the file system we choose;
- v: Arhiv - the label of the drive we select (the name of your disk fits in).
Accordingly, when we choose another file system after fs: we enter what we need - Fat or Fat32. The command looks like this: format H: / fs: FAT32 / v: Arhiv. In case you want to choose fast formatting, add Q to the formatting command and the command will look like this: format H: / FS: NTFS / Q / v: arhiv.
Immediately after entering the command, a notification appears in the command line window: "Insert a new disk into drive H: and press the ENTER key ..." - press the Enter key.
The flash drive is formatted.
Method 3. Built-in Diskpart utility
The Windows operating system has a built-in utility for working with drives that allows us to format a USB flash drive.
Calling the command line cmd command at search bar Start menu.
In the window of the command line that appears, enter: diskpart and the utility for managing storage spaces is launched.
We type the command: list disk. This will allow us to see all the drives present on our computer. We find a USB flash drive that we are going to format by volume. We can see all the disks with an indication of their volumes. We remember the number of the disc we select, for example, 2.
Then we type the command: select disk 2, where 2 is the drive we select. We press Enter.
After that, the flash drive must be cleared of attributes, for which we enter the command: attributes disk clear readonly. After that, enter the command: clean.
After clearing the drive from the attributes, we need to create a primary partition, for which we mark our disk in the file system we have chosen:
First, enter the command: create partition primary, then set the file system we need with the command: format fs \u003d ntfs or format fs \u003d fat32. If you need fast formatting, then write the command as follows: format fs \u003d NTFS QUICK or format fs \u003d FAT32 QUICK. Click on Enter and the flash drive is formatted.
Exit the program with the command: exit.
Built-in Diskpart utility (another way)
There is another, slightly different, way to format the drive using the built-in Diskpart program.
We open a command prompt window, as described above, then enter the diskpart command and press Enter to launch the utility.
Then enter the list disk command and press Enter again. This is how we will see all our drives. After that, just as in the previous way, we recognize our flash drive by its size and remember the drive number. For example, 2.
We write the command: select disk 2, where 2 is the flash drive we select. Click on Enter.
We enter the clean command and press Enter - all files on the drive are deleted.
Next, you need to create new section on a USB flash drive, for which the command is entered: create partition primary and Input, then the command to select a disk: select disk 2 and Input, where 2 is the drive we need. Then you need to enter the command: active for the utility to mark the partition as active. Then we enter the command to markup the file system: format fs \u003d ntfs or format fs \u003d fat32. As mentioned in the previous method, for quick formatting, add to the QUICK command: format fs \u003d NTFS QUICK or format fs \u003d FAT32 QUICK.
After finishing formatting, you need to assign a letter to the USB flash drive. We do this using the command: assign, after which the drive starts up automatically, and we see an explorer window with an already formatted flash drive on the screen.
To exit Diskpart, use the exit command.
Conclusion
As we have shown in this article, it is not difficult to format a USB flash drive via the command line. The main thing is to carefully choose the disk for formatting and remember that after formatting your data may be lost forever. Working in the command line will help especially in the case of working with the built-in Diskpart utility, if the USB flash drive cannot be formatted in a simple way from the explorer menu or when working with a flash drive, you noticed that part of the file system is not visible and the size of the flash drive has decreased for some reason.
A bootable USB drive is very convenient. No need to carry around all the time boot diskTo install Windows, you do not need to be afraid that it will accidentally get scratched and at the most crucial moment it will give some kind of incomprehensible error. This is especially useful for those who often practice reinstalling Windows... And there are so many ways to create a bootable USB stick.
In this article I will show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive through the command line. That is, we will not install any extraneous programs on the computer, but use only the built-in windows capabilities... We will act through the diskpart utility.
Bootable USB flash drive via command line on Windows 7
This method is very simple. All you need is a Windows disk or disk image, a USB stick of a suitable size, and a computer with Widnows 7.
A bootable USB flash drive through the command line can be made on Window 7 and higher versions. Despite the fact that Windows XP also has a diskpart utility, it will not see removable media.
To create a bootable USB drive, just follow the steps described and be very careful.
We will enter different commands into the command line. Press the Enter key after entering each command. You can copy them from here and paste them into the command line. Only the key combination Ctrl + V does not work there. You can insert through the right mouse click.
- At the command prompt, enter diskpart.
- Then enter the command list disk.
- You will see a list of local and external storage your computer. We need to select our flash drive - we write select disk N, where N is the disk number. For example, I'll write select disk 1.
Be careful. If you choose the wrong drive, you might accidentally format something you want on your computer. Focus on the volume of the discs.
A bootable Windows 10 flash drive is designed to install, reinstall or restore the operating system. To perform these actions, a Windows image will be loaded on the computer from an external USB drive (flash drive).
A bootable Windows 10 flash drive created through the command line will work on any computer. On my site you will find many articles about creating a bootable USB flash drive using various programs... In this article, we will look at how you can make a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using the operating system tools, through the command line.
With this method, you can create a universal bootable Windows USB flash drive without using third party applications... An operating system image written to a bootable USB flash drive can be installed on any computer with a regular BIOS and MBR, or with UEFI and GTP. Modern computers are released with UEFI interface and GTP partition table, while the bootable media must be formatted in the FAT32 file system.
In this way, you can create a bootable USB flash drive with an operating windows system 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista... Keep in mind that Windows 7 will boot without problems on computers with BIOS and MBR, and to install the system on UEFI and GTP, UEFI support and additional steps are required.
All the work of creating a bootable windows flash drives from the command line consists of two steps: preliminary preparation of the USB flash drive and copying files from the Windows 10 operating system image.
Preparing a bootable USB drive on the command line
Prepare a USB flash drive large enough to record the Windows 10 operating system. Next, insert the USB flash drive into a USB connector on your computer.
Then click right click mouse on the Start menu, in context menu select "Command Prompt (Admin)". This will open a command line interpreter window.
Next, you will need to sequentially enter commands in the command line interpreter. To execute the entered command, press the "Enter" key. After executing the command, you will see information with explanations of the system about the performed action.
To run the DiskPart utility, enter the following command:
Diskpart
Information about the utility will be displayed under the entered command.
List disk
Pay attention to the disk number of the flash drive. You need to navigate by the size of the disk. For example, I have 4 connected to my computer hard drive (two of them are external) and one flash drive. The size of the flash drive will be smaller than that of hard drives... This can be clearly seen in the image.
Next, you need to enter a command to select a flash drive. Be careful! Your disk number will be different (I have Disk 4, as you can see in the image above), corresponding to the disk number of your flash drive. So enter your disk number:
Select disk 4
Disk 4 was selected.
Now you need to enter the command to clear the flash drive (quick format):
Disk cleanup completed successfully.
Enter the command to create the partition:
Create partition primary
The specified section has been successfully created.
Enter the command to select a section (there was only one section):
Select partition 1
Section 1 selected.
Then enter the command to mark the active section:
Format fs \u003d FAT32 QUICK
DiskPart formatted the volume successfully.
Entering the command to assign a drive letter (flash drive):
Drive or mount point assignment was successful.
To exit the DiskPart utility, enter the command:
Shutting down DiskPart.
Now you can close the command line interpreter; you will no longer need it. We proceed to the second stage of creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10.
Copying files from a Windows 10 image to a bootable USB flash drive
The Windows 10 image will open in the virtual drive. First select and then copy all the operating system files to the USB flash drive. Copying process Windows will take for a while.
Alternatively, you can open a Windows image to copy files using an archiver, or using an imaging program (for example, UltraISO).
After copying is complete, the image of the Windows 10 operating system written to the bootable USB flash drive using the command line is ready for use.
Other ways to create a bootable USB:
The mounted Windows 10 image, the contents of which were used to copy the operating system files, can be extracted from the virtual disk drive, it is no longer needed.
Click on the USB drive with the right mouse button, assign a name for the bootable flash drive (for example, something like "WIN10PRO"), because the bootable flash drive is named after the drive letter.
After that, the bootable Windows 10 Pro flash drive will be clearly displayed in Explorer.
You can create a universal bootable USB flash drive with the Windows operating system by selecting an image with a 32-bit or 64-bit (Windows 10 x86 or Windows 10 x64) bit depth, or write a combined Windows 10 x86 / x64 image, which can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft website using the program Media Creation Tool. You can read more about this.
Re-create a bootable USB drive
In this way, you can prepare a USB flash drive once, and then use this USB stick for recording different Windows images.
For example, you have a bootable Windows 10 USB stick, and you need a Windows 10 Pro bootable USB stick (systems may have different bit depth), or you need to update the system version to the current version. In this case, there is no need to prepare the USB flash drive again using the command line.
Procedure for a bootable USB flash drive created in the command line:
- Format the USB flash drive to FAT32 (quick format). With this formatting, previously prepared sections of the flash drive will not be affected.
- Copy files from another image of the Windows 10 operating system (Windows 8.1) to the USB flash drive.
- The bootable USB stick is ready to use on any computer.
Conclusions of the article
The user can create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 using the command line without using programs. Windows Universal Bootable USB stick will work on any computer with BIOS and MBR, or UEFI and GTP.
If you want to install or reinstall on a computer or laptop operating system, then it is quite natural that you have a question: how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows. In this article, we will look at three ways that will help us with this.
Using the first and second, you can make a bootable USB flash drive Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. Using the command line or the WinSetupFromUSB program, you can make a bootable USB flash drive Windows XP.
Select a USB flash drive that has more memory than the operating system image you have on your computer. Save all the information on it for hDD or other external media, since the flash drive will be formatted, respectively, all data from it will be deleted.
Through the command line
To create a bootable USB flash drive using the command line, you do not need to install any third-party applications on your computer. To start the command line, press the key combination Win + R, the "Run" window will open. In the "Open" field write cmd and click "OK".
Let's display a list of all devices - enter list disk.
In this case, two devices Disk 0 and Disk 1 are connected to the laptop. Of these, you need to select the USB flash drive that we will make bootable. I took a 4 GB flash drive, so we look at the "Size" column, it corresponds to Disk 1 - 3.9 GB. We enter the following command - select disk 1. If your flash drive corresponds to another device, for example Disk 2, enter the command select disk 2 - only the number at the end changes.
Enter the clean command.
Create a primary partition using the create partition primary command.
We select it - select partition 1.
We make it active - active.
Let's format the flash drive in NTFS format - format fs \u003d NTFS. Wait for the process to complete.
After that, select a letter for the section, for example R - enter assign letter \u003d R.
Exit the diskpart program - enter exit. To close the command prompt, retype exit.
The bootable USB drive has been created. Now you need to copy files to it for windows installations... If you have them stored in an archive or in an image, extract all the files from them to a USB flash drive.
To install Windows from a USB flash drive, we change the boot priority in the BIOS, we need to boot from the created flash drive. Detailed articles about installation can be read by clicking on the links at the bottom of the article.
Using Rufus
This program does not require installation on a computer, it takes up very little space, is free and easy to use. Download Rufus by following the link.
We launch it on the computer. In the "Device" field, select the required flash drive. Look for a tick in the box "Create bootable disk"... Then click on the floppy disk to select the operating system image.
Using Explorer, we look for an image on the computer and click "Open".
A line appears at the bottom "Using the image"... Click "Start". The program will warn you that all data from the flash drive will be destroyed, click "OK".
Wait for the flash drive to be formatted and the ISO image files copied to it. Then click Close.
A bootable USB flash drive with the Windows operating system has been created. We change the boot priority in the BIOS and install the new OS on the computer.
Using the WinSetupFromUSB program
First, download the WinSetupFromUSB program, for this you can follow the link. We insert the USB flash drive, which will be bootable, into a computer or laptop and run the program.
In the area of « USB disk selection and format " select the desired flash drive and press the "Bootice" button.
In the next window, in the "Destination Disk" field, select the USB flash drive from the list again. Here you can navigate by the amount of memory. I took a 4 GB flash drive, respectively, USB 3.9 GB suits me. Click Perform Format.
In field " File System»Select file nTFS system and click OK.
In the next windows there will be warnings that the flash drive will be formatted, all data will be deleted and so on. Click OK. In the last window, click "Yes" and wait for the process to complete.
A window will appear that a bootable flash drive has been created and can be written to it required files... Close the "BOOTICE" window by clicking on the red cross.
In the main window of the program in the "Add to USB disk" area, put a tick in the box "Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 Setup"... Click on the rectangle opposite the field and select the folder in which you store the files with the operating system.
If the files for installing Windows are stored on your computer in an archive or in an image, you must first extract them.
Press "GO" and wait for the files to be written to the USB flash drive.
Using the WinSetupFromUSB program, you can easily make a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows XP operating system.
I think we have considered enough ways with which you can make a bootable USB flash drive Windows XP, 7, 8, 10. Now change the priority of the boot in the BIOS and install the desired operating system. On the site you can read the following articles on this topic.
