Admin In the past, Microsoft Windows was installed by disc, CD- or DVD-ROM, or the floppy disc – 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 laptop, or you acquire Windows directly online, complete with a digital license, and download it yourself.
But if you need an external installation medium, many people nowadays use a bootable USB drive. It’s quicker and more compact that an optical data carrier, and so is perfectly suited for setting up (or resetting) a system – there are also many other possible uses.
Why do you need a bootable USB?
There are lots of uses for a bootable USB drive. The most important is, of course, booting the PC if it will no longer start itself because of a virus, serious system failure, defective hard drive, or partition problems.
Fact
Even if no such PC emergency is present, it’s a good idea to have a Windows image for data backup on a USB-capable storage medium (could also be an external hard drive) on hand.
You can also use a bootable USB to upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 if a previously automatic upgrade doesn’t function correctly. The drive also serves as a “clean” reinstallation of the operating system if it’s become too slow as a result of accumulated garbage.
Experienced computer experts and IT professionals also like to use a bootable USB as a “portable operating system” (the concept is known as “Windows2Go” for Microsoft). With this, you can use your preferred Windows version with all your favorite tools and personal data on foreign computers without having to fuss with the operating system already installed (regardless of whether it’s Windows or something else). This way, you can not only navigate in your familiar work environment but also access all your important documents via the cloud. A portable operating system also offers more security in case a keylogger on a foreign computer stores your passwords or your computer is infected with a virus.
Here are all possible uses for a bootable USB drive:
- Boot after a PC emergency
- Use a recovery system to repair your PC
- Store an image of the operating system
- Upgrade an old operating system to Windows 10
- “Clean” reinstallation of the operating system
- Use a “portal operating system” on a foreign computer
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How can you make a bootable USB drive?
Hardly any commercial USB drives are suitable from the outset for these diverse tasks. This is because most models are only loaded with a single file system when you first get them, for example, an FAT32 or exFAT file system. They’re missing the “master boot record” (MBR) that’s absolutely necessary for booting most PCs (specifically those with a “basic input/output system” (BIOS)). You have to make a new USB stick bootable on your own. Fact
BIOS (basic input/output system) is a program that is preinstalled on the mainboard of most computers and activates the hardware when the system boots so that the operating system can communicate and interact with it.
A bootable USB drive can of course be created on a different computer than the one you want to use it on later. There are basically two possible methods: either manually or using automated tools. The first option seems a bit complicated at first glance, and because of the various manual steps is slightly more error-prone, but it’s still doable even if you’re not an expert.
Regardless of which option you choose, you always need the following things:
- The Windows utility program DiskPart or an external tool with the same functions.
- A USB drive with at least 4GB of storage (for a 32-bit operating system) or at least 8GB (for a 64-bit system). To obtain a high working speed (or enable the creation of a portable operating system), the selected drive should support the standard USB 3.0. If the drive is already being used, make sure that it doesn’t contain any important or indispensable data.
- An ISO file for the desired operating system that contains all setup files that you need for installation. These files used to be found on a CD- or DVD-ROM, which came with a new computer or could be acquired separately. Today, Windows is generally preinstalled on a system partition of a matching PC or laptop. You can create such an ISO file yourself, though, for example with the use of tools like WinISO, UltraISO, or the burn program InfraRecorder. But it’s simpler to just download the required operating system from the internet. In the case of Windows 10, this can be done completely legally via the media creation tool from Microsoft. Downloading directly from the company’s website is also possible for Windows 7 and Windows 8, for example.
Note
You can legally download various versions of Windows from Microsoft. Note, however, that you need a license for the activation and legal use of the operating system, which you can get online in the form of a product key. Without this official confirmation, your user rights are strictly limited after 30 days. This means: You will have no more personalization options or updates support, but instead will receive warning messages that remind you to activate Windows as soon as possible.
Make a bootable USB drive with the Windows utility program DiskPart
If you dare to do the necessary work by hand, you can simply use the cmd.exe application, better known as “Command Prompt”, to create a bootable USB drive on all operating systems from Windows Vista (including Windows 10). This goes as follows:
- Plug the USB drive into your computer’s USB port.
- Search for the “cmd” application in the Windows start menu, right-click on the item, and select “Run as administrator” from the context menu. This opens a small window with white text on a black background.
- Type the command “diskpart” and confirm your input with the enter key (you’ll also do this after every other entered command). This starts the storage device manager.
- Enter the command “list disk” to display all available storage devices.
- You can recognize your USB by its storage capacity, and it’s usually listed as “disk 1”. In the system partition, “disk 0” is usually your PC, so a hard drive or solid state drive in your computer.
- Based on the assumption that your USB has the label “disk 1”, enter the command “sel disk 1” to select it (or the corresponding “disk 2”, etc.).
- Enter then command “clean” to delete all files from the USB.
- Enter the command “create partition primary” to create a main partition.
- Enter the command “list par” and select the newly created main partition with “sel par 1”.
- Activate the partition with the command “active”.
- Format the USB with the command “format fs=FAT32 label=“WINDOWSUSB” quick override” (in place of “WINDOWS USB” you can also choose another label, so long as it doesn’t contain any spaces or special characters. The drive will later be displayed under this name if you plug into a running Windows computer). Formatting may take a while. You can track its progress in the percentage bar.
- As soon as the process is finished, enter the command “assign” to automatically assign a drive letter (for example “G:”) to your USB.
- Enter “exit” to close DiskPart, and then “exit” again to close the command prompt.
To finish the process, you just have to copy the Windows ISO file to a bootable USB stick. This is done with a basic drag-and-drop. If you’re using an installation disc, you can also drag all setup files from there onto your drive (use the folder options to display all of the hidden files first). That’s all possible in the command prompt as well. For a source media with the drive letter “D:” and a USB drive with the letter “G:”, the corresponding command would look as follows: “xcopy D:\*.* G:\*.* /S /E /F” (all of the spaces are intentional).
Create a bootable USB with external tools
The media creation tool mentioned previously can also write a downloaded ISO file to a USB drive in one go, and so create a bootable USB – but it only works with Windows 10. There are, though, many freeware programs suitable for all operating systems (including Linux) that can take over the tasks of the otherwise manual device management. Some of the most popular are Rufus, WinUSB, and UNetbootin. Each of these tools are made up of a single very small file that you can download directly and start without installation.
Bootable USB with Rufus
Rufus is widely considered to be the fastest and most reliable tool for the creation of a bootable USB. It also supports UEFI (“Unified Extensible Firmware Interface”), a new mainboard firmware that replaced the old BIOS and can already be found on almost all newer computers. From Windows 8, it’s also possible to install “Windows2Go” as a portable operating system on an external storage device with Rufus.
Operation of the tool is simple:
- Open the program with a double-click
- Select your USB drive in “Device”
- Select “Create a bootable disk using” and the option “ISO Image”
- Right-click on the CD-ROM symbol and select the ISO file
- Under “New volume label”, you can enter whatever name you like for your USB drive
- You’ll receive the warning “ALL DATA ON THIS DEVICE WILL BE DESTROYED”, which you can confidently confirm with “OK”– at this point, you’ve ideally already saved any important files from the USB drive
- Click on “Start”
- As soon as the green bar is full, click on “Finish”
- Eject your bootable USB drive with “Safely eject hardware”
Note
Avoid simply pulling the finished bootable USB drive out of the port without using the “Safely eject hardware” option. This could cause you to lose data, since the computer still has access to the storage device and theoretically could still have writing processes underway. With a USB-capable external hard drive, abrupt separation from the computer connection amounts to a system crash on the hard drive.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|
| ✔ Fast and reliable tool | ✘ USB drive formatting necessary |
| ✔ Very small file size | |
| ✔ Also supports UEFI | |
| ✔ Windows2Go possible |
Make a bootable USB with PowerISO
Step1: Create Bootable USB Drive
- Start PowerISO (v6.5 or newer version, download here).
- Insert the USB drive you intend to boot from.
- Choose the menu “Tools > Create Bootable USB Drive”. The “Create Bootable USB Drive” dialog will popup. If you are using Windows Vista or above operating system, you need confirm the UAC dialog to continue.
- In “Create Bootable USB Drive” dialog, click “…” button to open the iso file of Windows operating system.
- Select the correct USB drive from the “Destination USB Drive” list if multiple USB drives are connected to the computer.
- Choose the proper writing method. “USB-HDD” is recommended.
- Click “Start” button to start creating bootable USB drive.
- PowerISO will alert you that all data on USB drive will be destroyed. Click “OK” to continue.
The program will start writing USB drive, and showing the progress information. You should get the message “Writing USB drive completed successfully.” after the operation completes.
If no errors occurred in the above process, you should now be all set to setup Windows from USB drive!
Step 2: Configuring the BIOS
You should now reboot and go into the BIOS configuration to boot from USB. Instructions for doing so vary wildly from system to system, but generally entail the following:
- Reboot the system.
- While booting (before Windows starts loading), get into the BIOS configuration screen by hitting something like F1, F2, Delete or Escape. Hotkey instructions are generally provided on the screen.
- Go to the section that contains your boot devices.
- With your USB drive plugged in, the USB drive should be listed. If it isn’t, your system might not support booting from USB. Assuming that it is supported (as is the case with virtually all modern hardware), promote your USB drive to the primary boot device.
- Exit from the BIOS configuration, saving all changes.
Please notice that you can seriously screw up your system by providing incorrect BIOS settings!
Step 3: Booting and setup windows from USB drive
Assuming that you properly configured your BIOS and your USB drive supports booting, Windows setup should now load. Depending on the speed of your USB drive, this may take a while.
If it isn’t working, then double-check the following before making a scene:
- Is your BIOS properly configured for booting from the USB device? (Is the USB device listed and does it have top priority?)
- Have you correctly prepared the USB drive in step one? (Restart the procedure.)
- Does your USB drive properly support being booted from? (Try another one!)
After a successful boot process, you still have to set up your operating system on the USB drive. This means: Run the Windows setup, establish the internet connection, and download and install all necessary drivers and updates from the internet.
