Difficulty

Easy

Steps

10

Time Required

                          30 minutes            

Sections

1

  • How to Create a USB boot drive for Windows 10
  • 10 steps

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Introduction

However if you are having difficulty booting into your OS this can be done using another Windows PC.

What you need

Step 1

              Get the Media Creation Tool               

Go to: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software

And click “Download tool now”

1024

Step 2

              Allow in UAC               
  • If you have UAC enabled click “Yes”

If you have UAC enabled click “Yes”

Step 3

              Accept Ts & Cs               
  • Click “Accept”
  • Option: Actually read T&Cs

Click “Accept”

Option: Actually read T&Cs

Step 4

              Create installation media               
  • Select “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC”
  • Click “Next”

Select “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC”

Click “Next”

Step 5

  • If you are creating a USB for another computer take care to get these settings correct for the computer it will be used on. Language is not so important as it can be changed later.
  • If you are creating a back up for the computer you are running the tool on, selecting the check box “Use the recommended options for this PC” will select the settings automatically.

If you are creating a USB for another computer take care to get these settings correct for the computer it will be used on. Language is not so important as it can be changed later.

If you are creating a back up for the computer you are running the tool on, selecting the check box “Use the recommended options for this PC” will select the settings automatically.

Step 6

  • Select “USB flash drive”
  • Click “Next”
  • By selecting “ISO file” you can create a disk image that can be burned to a CD or USB at a later date.

Select “USB flash drive”

By selecting “ISO file” you can create a disk image that can be burned to a CD or USB at a later date.

Step 7

  • Now select the USB drive you wish to put the tool on.
  • If your drive does not appear here, make sure it is correctly inserted and detected by Windows.

Now select the USB drive you wish to put the tool on.

If your drive does not appear here, make sure it is correctly inserted and detected by Windows.

Step 8

              Download and verify               
  • Now windows will download and verify the installation files.

Now windows will download and verify the installation files.

Step 9

              Writing to disk               
  • Now windows will write the installation files to your drive.

Now windows will write the installation files to your drive.

Step 10

              Final steps               
  • Once it’s finished writing to the disk click “Next”
  • And after a short wait you’re done!

Once it’s finished writing to the disk click “Next”

And after a short wait you’re done!

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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                    Conor Bailey                     

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John Norton - May 24, 2017

Reply

Mr. Bailey. How is this Boot drive different from the Recovery drive that I create directly from my PC? Thanks.

Conor Bailey - May 24, 2017

They do the same thing essentially, they allow you to boot and recover your windows installation. However there is a one difference and that’s that, I believe, the recovery drive tool only gives you the option to create a disk for the computer you are using. It’s exactly like the recovery partition that some computers and laptops have.

My guide is quite generic in that you could create the disk for any Windows 10 installation.

Thanks for the question.

KKEmily - Nov 12, 2021

From my practice, UUByte ISO Editor can also create disks for any Windows 10 installation (including Windows 7, Windows 8 and Mac).

And compared with the method shared by Mr. Bailey above, UUByte ISO Editor saves time for users because it only takes 3 steps to create a Windows 10 bootable USB on my PC. It has no difficulty for those new users.

Bill Meacham - Aug 9, 2017

Reply

I recommend you add something about how to boot from the USB drive, especially on a machine that has UEFI SecureBoot enabled.

Conor Bailey - Aug 10, 2017

I agree that that part of the process is important, however there are so many variables to uefi that writing a coherent guide for that would be difficult. Not to mention that screen shotting those steps a more difficult (although obviously not impossible).

But thank you for the feed back, I’ll consider it in the future.