Creating a bootable Windows USB drive used to be a chore, but today, one solution can pretty-well suit most people. However, there are times when a flash drive has some quirk that prevents it from working with a particular solution, so for that reason, this article takes a look at five different methods.
Even if the target desktop or notebook has an optical drive, there are a couple of reasons to consider first creating a USB-based installer. Admittedly, the time and effort of creating the drive might make it best-suited for system builders, but for people like us, who juggle test machines, USB is a no-brainer.
To start, USB media is more durable than disc-based media. Discs can be easily scratched, while well-built USB flash drives can generally handle a bit of abuse. Ever walk around with a disc in your pocket? It looks a bit odd. To give an overview of what to expect from each solution, refer to this success table:.
For starters, modern UEFI-equipped machines are not designed to support such an old OS, so chances are that it will not even install, or even be detected in the first place. If the motherboard in question happens to support a legacy BIOS mode, then it might work. Different version of Rufus explained later have better luck with the XP process than others.
We strongly suggest you skip to the dedicated part of this article that explains the problems with Windows XP and USB support. What about Windows Vista? But first…. Some solutions listed on this page require a Windows disc image.
ISOs are available from a number of sources, but most people will acquire them after purchasing the OS online through Microsoft, or through some other related Microsoft service. Only the ISOs directly supplied by Microsoft would have static hashes.
How the image was captured as well will have an effect on how the final boot drive turns out, so stick to official sources where possible. Other tools exist that accomplish the same thing, but these are the only ones we can personally recommend. However, we prefer Rufus because we find it loads a lot quicker, and feels a bit faster, too.
For a great many reasons, this is still our preferred method of creating USB boot drives. To load the Windows. NOTE: As the program will state, doing this will erase all data off of the flash drive — so backup first. If you have any issues, be sure to check out our Common Problems section below. NOTE: This method will delete the entire flash drive, so be sure to back up personal data first.
Once selected, it needs to be wiped clean, have a partition created, and then be formatted. The entire command process is summed-up in this block:. At this point, the Windows setup DVD can be inserted into the drive, or the ISO mounted, and its files copied over to the root folder of the flash drive. While the company no longer promotes the tool, it supports at least 7 and 8 just fine, so some might prefer to use it over the other solutions. Once downloaded and opened, an ISO must be chosen.
If you plan to install Windows 10 on a new system, use it to recover an existing system, or upgrade a previous install of Windows 7 or 8, creating a bootable flash drive is the first step. The whole process for creating a Windows 10 bootable USB drive can be done by using the Media Creation Tool ; most systems these days will use the bit version, so grab that. The gallery below outlines each step of the process for the basic method. There are a few things you might need to check first.
Depending on where you plan to install Windows 10, you need to check which version you require, Home or Pro. This offers the advantage of being able to keep a backup of the ISO image, as well as create multiple boot drives without having to download the image each time.
If you run into problems with the Media Creation Tool when it comes to creating the bootable flash drive, you can use the following method. In general, we found this method more reliable than using the Media Creation Tool to create the Windows 10 bootable flash drive, and ther are a number of other advantages to using Rufus as well. The tool will only create a single partition up to 32GB and then completely ignore the rest of the drive, and Windows-based operating systems can only handle a single partition on USB flash drives.
Try another one! Step 4: Prepping the Hard Disk. You need to make sure that your hard drive is partitioned and formatted properly. Especially if you've had Linux or some other operating system on it, you'll need to repartition and format it.
The rescue drive contain file manager and command line utility. You can launch DiskPart for disk partitioning and formatting from the command utility. If you are sure that your hard drive is set up properly i.
If your hard drive is partitioned in GPT mode, you also need repartition and format the disc. Enter the commands needed to repartition and format your drive. For example, try the following:. On your computer, disk 0 may not be the correct disk, you can use "list disk" to find the correct disk. With your drive all ready, you can now launch the Windows XP setup with a few custom parameters. Remember that all USB devices will need to be plugged in right from the start while using the rescue drive.
Replace C: with the drive you want to install Windows to. Proceed with the installation. The setup program will then silently close, which might make you think that something went wrong. Don't worry though. Note: The above guide works with Windows XP only. Buy Now. Contact US. Insert the USB drive you intend to boot from. Instructions for doing so vary wildly from system to system, but generally entail the following: Reboot the system.
Go to the section that contains your boot devices. Exit from the BIOS configuration, saving all changes. Step 4: Prepping the Hard Disk You need to make sure that your hard drive is partitioned and formatted properly. To repartition and format This procedure will destroy any data on the hard drive : Click the icon on task bar to launch a command line Window. Enter DiskPart to run the built-in disk management utility.
For example, try the following: select disk 0 select the first disk.
0コメント