Creating a Windows 10 image on a flash drive. Five programs to create a bootable USB flash drive

You can install Windows 10 from any media that has the Windows installation program on it. The storage medium can be a USB flash drive that meets the parameters described below in the article. You can turn a regular flash drive into an installation drive using third-party programs or the official application from Microsoft.

Preparation and characteristics of the flash drive

The flash drive you use must be completely empty and work in a certain format; we will achieve this by formatting it. The minimum size to create a bootable flash drive is 4 GB. You can use the created installation media as many times as you like, that is, you can install Windows 10 on several computers from one flash drive. Of course, you will need a separate license key for each of them.

Preparing a flash drive

The flash drive you choose must be formatted before you begin placing the installation software on it:

Second formatting method

There is another way to format a flash drive - through the command line. Expand the command prompt using administrator rights, and then run the following commands:

Enter one by one: diskpart and list disk to see all the disks available on the PC.
To select a disk, write: select disk No., where No. is the disk number specified in the list.
clean.
create partition primary.
select partition 1.
active.
format fs=FAT32 QUICK.
assign.
exit.

Obtaining an ISO image of the operating system

There are several ways to create installation media, some of which will require an ISO image of the system. You can download the hacked build at your own risk from one of the sites that distribute Windows 10 for free, or get the official version of the OS from the Microsoft website:

https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10).
Select OS language, version and bit depth. You should choose the version based on your needs. If you are an average user who does not work with Windows at a professional or corporate level, then install the home version; there is no point in taking more sophisticated options. The bit depth is set to the one supported by your processor. If it is dual-core, then choose the 64x format; if it is single-core, then choose 32x.
When prompted to select media, check the ISO file option.
Specify where to save the system image. Done, the flash drive is prepared, the image is created, you can start creating the installation media.

Creating installation media from a USB flash drive

The easiest method can be used if your computer supports UEFI mode - a newer BIOS version. Typically, if the BIOS opens as a menu, then it supports UEFI. You can also find out whether your motherboard supports this mode or not on the website of the company that made it.

Insert the USB flash drive into the computer and only then start rebooting it.
As soon as the computer turns off and the startup process begins, you need to enter the BIOS. Most often, the Delete key is used for this, but other options are possible, depending on the model of motherboard installed on your PC. When the time comes to enter the BIOS, a prompt with hot keys will appear at the bottom of the screen.
Change the boot order: by default, the computer starts from the hard drive if it finds the OS on it, but you must install your UEFI: USB flash drive first. If the flash drive is displayed, but there is no UEFI signature, then this mode is not supported by your computer and this installation method is not suitable.
Save the changes you made to the BIOS and start your computer. If everything is done correctly, the OS installation process will begin.

If it turns out that your board is not suitable for installation via UEFI mode, then use one of the methods below to create universal installation media.

Media Creation Tool

You can also create Windows installation media using the official Media Creation Tool.

Go to the official Windows 10 page and download the installation program from Microsoft from it (https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10).
Run the downloaded program, read and agree to the standard license agreement.
Select the option to create installation media.
As described earlier, select the OS language, version and bit depth.
When prompted to select media, indicate that you want to use a USB device.
If several flash drives are connected to your computer, select the one you prepared in advance.
Wait until the program automatically creates installation media from your flash drive. After this, you will need to change the boot method in the BIOS (put the installation flash drive in the first place in the “Boot” section) and proceed to install the OS.

Using unofficial programs

There are many third-party programs that create installation media. They all work according to the same scenario: they write a Windows image that you created in advance onto a flash drive so that it turns into bootable media. Let's look at the most popular, free and convenient applications.

Rufus

Rufus is a free program for creating bootable USB drives. It runs on Windows operating systems starting with Windows XP SP2.

Download and install the program from the developer’s official website: http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale.
All program functions fit in one window. Specify the device to which the image will be written.
In the “File system” line, specify the FAT32 format, since this is what we formatted the flash drive in.
In the system interface type, set the option for computers with BIOS and UEFI if you are sure that your computer does not support UEFI mode.
Specify the location of the pre-built system image and select a standard Windows installation.
Click on the “Start” button to start the installation media creation process. Done, after completing the procedure, change the boot method in the BIOS (in the “Boot” section you need to put the flash card in first place) and proceed to install the OS.

Ultra ISO

UltraISO is a very multifunctional program that allows you to create and work with images.

Buy or download a trial version, which is quite enough to complete our task, from the official website of the developer: https://ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/.
While in the main menu of the program, expand the “File” menu.
Select “Open” and specify the location of the pre-created image.
Select "Burn Hard Disk Image".
Specify which flash drive you want to use.
Leave the recording method as USB-HDD.
Click on the “Record” button and wait for the process to complete. After completing the procedure, change the boot method in the BIOS (put the installation flash drive in the first place in the “Boot” section) and proceed to installing the OS.

WinSetupFromUSB

WinSetupFromUSB is a utility for creating a bootable USB flash drive with the ability to install Windows, starting with version XP.

Is it possible to use MicroSD instead of a USB flash drive?

The answer is yes, you can. The process of creating an installation MicroSD is no different from the same process with a USB flash drive. The only thing is that you must make sure that your computer has a suitable MicroSD port. To create this type of installation media, it is better to use third-party programs described above in the article, rather than the official Microsoft utility, as it may not recognize MicroSD.

Errors during creation of the installation flash drive

The installation media creation process may be interrupted for the following reasons:

There is not enough memory on the drive - less than 4 GB. Find a flash drive with more memory and try again,
The flash drive is not formatted or formatted in the wrong format. Go through the formatting process again, carefully following the instructions above,
The Windows image recorded on the USB flash drive is damaged. Download another image, it is best to take it from the official Microsoft website,
if one of the methods described above does not work in your case, then use another option. If none of them work, then the problem is with the flash drive and should be replaced.

Video: creating an installation flash drive with Windows 10

Creating installation media is an easy process and is mostly done automatically. If you use a working flash drive, a high-quality system image and use the instructions correctly, then everything will work out, and after restarting the computer you can begin installing Windows 10. If after installation is complete you want to save the installation flash drive, then do not move any files to it, then can be used again.

With the release of the new version of Windows, the developers presented users with a special proprietary utility with which we can create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10. This utility is called Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool.

Note! Using this utility, you can install only the original image of Windows 10 Professional or Home versions and for one language. At the same time, the created flash drive is suitable if you have a license key for this product or you have previously updated the old version of Windows to the latest, then when you log in to your Microsoft account, the system will be activated automatically.

Let's proceed directly to the installation. Download Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool from the official website. Pay attention to the bit size of the program; you need the same version as the one you currently have Windows installed (32 or 64 bits).

After launch, the proprietary utility will ask you what you want to do:

Update this computer;
Create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10;

Since we need a flash drive with the system, we choose the second option.

Next, the following program window will open, in which you and I will need to select the language of Windows to be installed, the edition of Windows 10 (Pro or Home) and architecture (32 or 64 bit) and click the “Next” button.

To complete the settings, you and I need to indicate the media on which Windows 10 will be written. Select the “USB flash memory device” item. After clicking the “Next” button, the program will download the Windows 10 distribution kit from the official website and write it to a USB flash drive.

At the end of this procedure, you will have a ready-made bootable flash drive, with which you can, as well as restore it after.

This method is not suitable for all computers. A necessary condition is that it supports UEFI software (in simple words, the board must support EFI boot).

Advice! As a rule, almost all modern motherboards support this function.

In order to create a bootable Windows 10 flash drive using this method, we will need a downloaded ISO image of the system, as well as a flash drive formatted in the FAT32 file system (this is required).

In order to write an image to a flash drive, you need to follow these steps:

As you can see, we are slowly but surely moving on to consider how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using third-party programs. This method is suitable for all those who, for some reason, could not use the previous two methods.

Rufus is a special program that will allow you to make a bootable USB flash drive in a couple of mouse clicks. By the way, the program is completely Russified and is suitable for all users.

To make a bootable USB with Rufus, you just need to specify the path to the USB drive in the “Device” line.

Specify what the program needs to do. In our case, “Create a boot disk.” Specify the path to the ISO image and click the “Start” button. After this, the program will format the flash drive and write the image. Upon completion of the process, you will have a ready-made bootable USB flash drive in your hands.

As you probably already guessed from the name of the item, you can create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using another popular program - UltraISO. This program was created to work with disk images. Therefore, it is just ideal for our purposes.

The UltraISO program is paid, but, like most programs, it has a trial version, which is enough for us to create a bootable flash drive.

In order to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive from an iso image using UltraISO, we need to complete the following steps:

How to create a bootable USB flash drive in UltraISO will be described in more detail in a separate article.

WinSetupFromUSB is a small special program for creating bootable USB flash drives with Windows. It is perfect for creating a USB flash drive with Windows 10.

Setting up the program before recording is quite simple.

We will need to indicate where the installation image of the operating system is located on the hard drive;
You will need to select the USB flash drive on which the system will be recorded and check the “Auto format it with FBinst” checkbox. After the settings have been completed, click the “Go” button.

Conclusion.

In this article, we looked at how to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10. As you can see, creating a bootable USB flash drive will not be difficult for you and any user can cope with this task. You will need an image of the Windows 10 operating system and a program to write the image to a flash drive. After this, all you have to do is install the operating system on your computer, but that’s a topic for another article. It is advisable to keep such a flash drive always at hand, as it will help you not only when restoring the system after serious failures, but also for performing a clean installation of the system.

Microsoft has officially launched the long-awaited Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The latest release brings many exciting features and improvements that make the operating system even more powerful and sophisticated. And naturally, many of you will want to create a bootable USB drive to perform a clean installation of the update on your PC.

Even a schoolchild can create a bootable USB flash drive. All you need is a flash drive, Windows 10 Creators Update, a Windows device and a few free minutes.

First, it is very important to obtain a licensed image of Windows 10. There are several files available for download, but luckily they are clearly labeled so you can easily figure out which one you need to download.

Secondly, keep in mind that the Windows 10 update is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Which one you choose depends on your device and its ability to handle one or the other. There is also an 86-bit version, but we do not recommend using it.

How much storage should a USB drive have? The answer to this question depends on the size of your ISO file. Overall, an 8GB flash drive will satisfy all your needs. A larger one will also work, although in our case it is not needed.

Considering that much of the process involves transferring files, we recommend using a fast USB drive. This will also help when installing Windows 10 Creators Update.

To create a bootable USB flash drive, you also need a Windows device. There are no special requirements here, so you can use almost any desktop, laptop or tablet with a USB port, regardless of the version of the operating system it runs.

What's next?

Once the Windows 10 Creators Update image has finished downloading, the next thing you need to do is connect the USB drive to your device and open a Command Prompt window. To open the Run menu, press the Windows and R keys simultaneously. To open a program, type “cmd” and press Enter (“cmd” in the Start menu).

Next, you need to prepare a USB drive. To do this, using the command prompt window, you need to follow these steps:

To open partitions, use the "diskpart" function. You may have to accept the UAC prompt.

To view a list of all storage devices connected to the PC, enter the command “list disk”.

Determine the drive number of the USB storage device you are using. To make things easier, just find the size that matches the capacity of the flash drive. Typically, this is the last disk listed.

To select a USB drive, use the “select disk X” command. Replace X with the disk number you discovered earlier.

To format the flash drive, enter “clean”.

To create a primary partition on it, use the “create partition primary” command.

To select a flash drive, enter “select partition 1”.

To make the main partition active, use the “active” command.

To quickly format the main partition as FAT32, enter “format fs = fat32 quick” (NTFS is selected in the photo below, but we only use FAT32!).

To assign a letter to the primary drive partition, use the “assign” command.

If you use the command "fs=ntfs" or "fs=ntfs quick" then you risk having problems booting Windows on newer PCs, laptops and tablets configured as UEFI. Simply put, on such systems you will not be able to boot from a USB drive and will end up installing the Creators Update formatted as NTFS.

Once the flash drive is ready to go, all that's left is to copy the contents of the Windows 10 Creators Update image onto it. To do this, you can extract the ISO to a dedicated folder and duplicate everything from there, or mount the ISO and copy the files directly to a USB drive.

After this, you will have a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 ready to use.

Note! If you are using an older version of the Windows 10 operating system and want to upgrade to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, click the "Update Now" button from the link above. will update your device to the latest version of the operating system. First, check your computer for compatibility, after which the program will begin downloading the necessary installation files. Once the download is complete, the update will begin on your device.

Video - How to burn a Windows image to a flash drive

How to Burn a Windows 10 Image Using the Rufus Utility

Rufus is a free and fast program that helps you format and create bootable USB drives. Also has a portable version. Rufus has a fairly simple interface. The utility supports many languages, so it is understandable to any user. The important factor is that it does not need to be installed.

Let's understand how to use Rufus to create a bootable Windows 10 USB drive.

Follow the instructions below.

Download Rufus.
Connect the USB drive to your computer. Keep in mind that it must be 4GB+ in size.
Now run the program and click “Yes” every time you are prompted by UAC. The utility will start.
In the Device section, select the specified USB storage device.
Then decide on the partition scheme (GPT or MBR for a UEFI or BIOS/UEFI computer, respectively).
Also, select the file type FAT32 or NTFS.
Then find “New Volume” in the list.
Select the ISO Image option (see screenshot), and click the CD/DVD drive icon to locate the Windows 10 image file on your computer.
After selecting the file, click Start. A warning dialog box will appear. To continue, click the “OK” button.
You will now see a "Ready" message, which indicates that the Windows 10 Creators Update bootable USB drive is ready to use.

Many computer users are aware of the growing popularity of the newfangled OS and would like to get to know it better. Microsoft gives everyone the opportunity to try it at work. There are several installation methods, but in this review we’ll talk about how to burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive to make it bootable. Despite the fact that there are many such methods, none of them is anything complicated.

Why do you need a flash drive if you can carry out the whole operation the old fashioned way: download a system image, burn it to a DVD and install a new operating system from it.

But most modern laptops and netbooks are not equipped with a DVD drive. Then what to do, the answer is simple - use a removable drive. This method has a number of advantages:

there is no need for a DVD drive;
speed of data deployment is higher;
the ability to install the OS on all modern devices;
compactness of the carrier;
The volume of stored data exceeds the capacity of a standard DVD disc;
can be used as a regular flash drive.

In addition, many manufacturers supply the necessary software along with the flash drive to make it bootable.

Which flash drive to buy. If you intend to use it as a boot disk with an OS or Live CD, then an expensive and fast portable device is not needed. The data will be written once, and any reading speed is enough to install Windows 10 on USB. A volume of 4–8 GB is enough to accommodate not only the OS image, but also auxiliary programs. And you can transfer the ISO image of Windows 10 to a USB device in different ways.

Copying files from an image to storage media

This method is suitable for computers whose motherboard is configured for UEFI boot. In the last 2-3 years this has been possible for many motherboards.

You need a Windows 10 ISO image and a FAT32 flash drive. All that remains is to transfer the system image to this drive.

And a program like . will help reveal this data.

Allows you to see all image files.

Now all content can be copied and then transferred as is to the drive.

If the laptop on which the new software shell is installed supports UEFI mode, then there should be no problems starting the installation of the new Windows 10 OS.

Russian version Rufus good for all machines with regular BIOS that do not have UEFI. It will also help you create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10. The program is classified as a lightweight utility. Its weight is about a megabyte. But, nevertheless, it is well suited for these purposes.

After starting the program, the user will see the window shown below.

Let's look at its points in more detail:

We can add to the above that this program is one of the fastest in its category.

Microsoft utility

The official Microsoft website makes it possible to upgrade to version 10 using a proprietary utility, which can be downloaded there.

With its help, it is possible to either upgrade from a previous OS version to Windows 10 or burn a bootable flash drive for Windows 10. The future OS media must be prepared in advance, that is, formatted in FAT32.

Let's look at how this utility works:

But now the process of downloading files and forming the installation flash drive itself will begin.

All you have to do is be patient and wait for the process to complete. The better the Internet channel, the faster the time will pass for downloading a large amount of data (about 4 GB).

Then you have a choice:

immediately start the update process with the “setup.exe” file;
perform a clean installation.

Necessary addition to the above:

Software from Windows developers is successfully used for versions: 10 Pro, 10 Home and 10 Home Single Language. But it will not be possible to update Windows 10 Enterprise or Education versions, because the program does not support them.
It will also not be possible to update systems 7 and 8.1 corporate editions.
It is also impossible to upgrade from Vista or XP to version 10 in this way.
If you are updating licensed Windows from installation media to tens, then you will not need a product key for activation.

Windows USB/DVD Download Tool

Just like the program Windows USB/DVD Download Tool was available on the Microsoft website and was considered official for the transition to Windows 7. But the corporation stopped the open distribution of this particular software on its website due to numerous requests for the use of an open access code. At the same time, they admitted that this program was developed by third-party programmers, and it was they who were to blame for this incident.

Despite the fact that this utility is no longer on the official website, it can be found and downloaded from third-party resources.

Let's look at how to use it to create a bootable flash drive with Windows 10:

The completion of the process will be notified by the message: “Bootable USB device created successfully.” Now you can install Windows 10 on your computer from this drive.

Belongs to the category of programs that do not require installation. It is enough to unpack the required x32 or x64 version from the archive and run it.

Let's look at the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive using this program.

In general, in addition to this function, the program’s capabilities are expanded with three additional tools, which also make it possible to create a bootable drive for other operating systems. In principle, you can start all processes at once and make a multiboot flash device.

But in this case, we are interested in the ability to download a Windows 10 image. The process consists of the following steps step by step:

Select the desired USB drive. It must be remembered that all data from it will be erased.
Place a check mark next to the line “ Autoformat it with FBinst" This will automatically format the flash card into the desired partition.
Let's check the box which process we are going to activate. And in the same window, in the field where it says “for Windows Vista, 7, 8,” we show the path to the image with Windows 10.
Click the Go button.
All that remains is to agree with the two pop-up messages and wait for the process to complete.

When copying files from your computer to storage media, the program may seem to freeze. Calm down. You just need to be patient and wait for the application to finish.

Conclusion

We tried to show how to write a Windows 10 image to a USB flash drive in different ways. The review contains both proprietary utilities from Microsoft and other free applications for creating an installation USB drive with dozens of original images. Now you have the opportunity to both update your OS and restore the existing one.