Bootable USB flash drive windows 10 home

An easier and faster way to reinstall Windows 10 is to use a bootable flash drive. You can do it yourself. Copying files from flash media is 2 times faster than from a conventional DVD. Therefore, installation and reinstallation of the “tens” is increasingly carried out with their help. Let's figure out in detail how to create it yourself bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10 on a desktop PC or laptop.

Installation Media Creation Tool - Basic utility for reinstalling the system

The tool for installing the OS on a PC is available for free at https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10. Helper program, loading into automatic mode on a flash drive with the latest version of Windows OS and making it a bootable disk.

Important! Using a tool from the official resource, the user gains access to the original version of the operating system (Home, Pro and Home generations for one language). But you can only use it if you have a key to the system.

To get a flash drive for restoring and/or reinstalling the OS using Installation Media Creation Tool, you need to download the tool and proceed like this:
The process of writing files will take several minutes. Progress of creation bootable media flash type will display in the window that opens " Booting Windows 10". As soon as the "Done" message appears. The drive can be removed from the USB connector and used when reinstalling the OS.

Creating an ISO image of OS Windows 10 yourself

Official Microsoft utility - USB/DVD Download Tools

Important! To create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive, you need a previously created and saved ISO file (we described how to do this above).

The creation procedure is as follows:
The process can be monitored in a new window. If necessary, you can mark it by clicking the “Cancel” button. Once the procedure is completed, the flash drive is ready for use.

Rufus - Alternative way

Download latest version, you can follow the link https://rufus.ie/ru_RU.html. Installation software product carried out in one click. Then proceed like this:
The remaining items in the window are filled in automatically upon insertion of the flash drive into the slot. After pressing the button Start", the system warns the user that all data is on removable media will be deleted. At this stage you need to click " OK" The procedure will take quite a long time. This is fine. As soon as in the section " Status» menu slider « Ready"will reach the end, you can press " Close».

Gone are the days when to install a system you needed a DVD, which in turn could get scratched and freeze during installation. A bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows XP for installing the system on your computer will be faster and more convenient. Let's create a bootable USB flash drive using Rufus And . When installing the system, I recommend inserting the drive into the rear USB ports of the computer.

Let's start the procedure for PC with UEFI bios, (you can read the bios types) because They may not be suitable for old computers and laptops; for old PCs we will consider them below. Using Microsoft's own utility. Download Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool, run the downloaded program and select “Create installation drive”.

• There should be a checkmark, then it will automatically adapt to your system.
• You can manually select what you need; to do this, you need to uncheck the box in step 1.

• We indicate the medium that will be a USB device.

• You specify (select) the path to the device. We are waiting for the download and recording to finish. That's it!!!

Windows 8.1 installation drive

Download Windows 8 Installation Media Creation Tool similar situation. We do as described above with the tenth version.

Create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10 without programs

Let's look at the option without programs (suitable only for UEFI bios). You will need the downloaded distribution from ISO format and USB storage device formatted in FAT32.

1. Select the windows image and right-click on it.
2. IN context menu click "connect".
3. A disk like the one in the picture with Windows files and folders will appear.

1. Circle (select) everything and right-click on the file or folder.
2. Click "send" in the context menu.
3. Select a USB device.

Create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10, 7, XP using Ultraiso

The seventh version is old, so we will create Windows 7 installation media using UltraISO programs. With this program you can also burn Windows 10 and XP to a USB flash drive. Download the program and install it.

1. Open our downloaded image from Windows system 7, 8, 10, xp.
2. Make sure the disk icon is highlighted.
3. Select "Burn Hard Disk Image".

1. We look carefully to see that he is standing USB drive so as not to format your hard drive.
2. Select the recording method "USB-HDD+". (When booting the computer, select USB-HDD+ in BootMenu).
3. Click "record".

Bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7, 10, XP using Rufus

If your bios old not uefi, then Rufus is created for this. Suitable for all versions of windows. Select in the "Partition scheme and system interface type" column: For old BIOS, select MBR. For modern UEFI. Download and install the rufus program.

Bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive using USB/DVD Download Tool

A utility from Microsoft created in ancient times is very relevant to this day to create Windows 7 installation media with using Windows USB/DVD Download Tool. Download and install on your computer.

• Select USB drive.

• Click "Erase".

• We press “Yes”, it formats the drive, writes it, and everything is ready.

Good day, my dear readers, as well as computer enthusiasts!

Yesterday I decided to install the tenth operating system on my laptop, but as it turned out, the disk drive in it had already died. What to do? What should I do? I solved the problem using a mobile device. Since there are many snags in this issue, I decided to describe in detail to you such an aspect as creating a bootable USB flash drive in Windows 10. I will describe everything down to the smallest detail especially for you. Be careful about the material! Let's go!

Why from a flash drive?

Many people ask this question. Let’s imagine that your disk drive burned out like mine, or it didn’t exist at all. How to install a new operating system? Only via USB. Buying a separate drive is expensive and not profitable. Therefore, it is better to do everything with a flash drive.

At the same time, imagine that you have Windows on your disk. It will either get scratched or become demagnetized. This is generally an unstable medium that is becoming a thing of the past. It takes up a lot of space and even in a box it is easily damaged. Yes and and ISO image It takes longer to write on a blockbuster than on a high-quality flash drive. Do you need it? I think not.

And one more technical advantage of USB cards. Imagine, you are writing Windows, and then the laptop turns off. An operating system error or the lights were turned off or the battery shorted - it doesn’t matter. That's it - the boob is ruined, you can throw it away. What about a flash drive? I turned on the machine again, formatted it and everything was ready again. Much better, don't you think?

Which flash drive to choose?

Believe me, this aspect is also important. Many of you come to the store and without hesitation take virtually any media, paying attention only to the capacity of the device. But in vain. There are many manufacturers, as well as flash drives themselves, which differ in appearance, shape, degree of protection and everything else. I looked through a lot of information about this and this is what I can tell you. I will divide the flash drive option into three important types.

Volume. Now technology has come a long way. Some 2-4 gigabytes is not enough. 32-64 gigs is already a lot, of course, if you take the device only for installation needs. Ideal option You can consider a flash drive with a capacity of 16 gigabytes. It will fit old version Windows and super new, plus there will be room for a small list necessary programs. Considering that some ISO images are quite large, especially with the tenth operating system, 16 GB will do just fine.

USB standard. There are cards for USB 2.0, and there are newer ones for 3.0. Ports of the latter type are indicated on laptops in blue. They work with other devices running 2.0, but if you take a flash drive specifically for new type, then the information transfer speed will be significantly higher. You don’t have to sit in front of your computer for two hours and wait for all the files to be copied to the hard drive.

Manufacturer and quality. Has it ever happened to you that your computer doesn’t see the flash drive? Most likely, the carrier itself has already outlived its usefulness. Therefore, you need to choose better quality products. For example, Kingston is considered the most sold-out company in terms of consumption of its devices of this type. They are cheap and their design pleases many. But the average lifespan of their products is 1 year. Just one. Imagine, one day you insert a card into the port, but it doesn’t see it.

At the same time, SONY produces not bad products, but their price scares many. With a 2-year warranty, the manufacturer is aware of the quality of the devices. But the golden mean will be Transcend. Flash drives different sizes They are quite cheap and last a long time. Remember this information for the future, come to the store and compare prices.

What will you need to register?

And so, we need the device itself - this is clear. Next, you need to download Windows. We will do this with the help this software.

A window like this will appear.

Press the right button. Another sign, and again the right button.

We tick all the boxes. And click Next.

Here we also check the boxes everywhere and click further.

Now click finish.

The installation has started and after it is completed you will see this window.

Now you need to download the ISO image. Let's go here. And click here.

The file that needs to be opened will be downloaded.

Now you need to download several programs. You will use one, but you need to be able to work with all of them.

UltraISO

Rufus.

That's it, the preparation is complete. Let's move on to the recording.

Burning the system

Insert your flash drive, let it be from QUMO, into the USB port. Next we install UltraISO. Then, open it and see this interface.

Click the open file button and select the image of our Windows in Explorer.

If everything is done correctly, then you will see on the right side of the program all the files that are on the image. If this is not the case, then try again, otherwise you may write completely different information onto the flash drive.

In the next window, set the format file system not FAT32, but NTFS. This is very important for UltraISO. Now check the box Quick formatting and press the button begin.

Click on the warning sign OK.

As soon as the process ends, you will be thrown back to the previous interface, only now you must press the “ begin».

Click YES on the sign and the recording process will begin.

Now wait for a message indicating that the process is complete.

IN " my computer"You will see this picture with your device.

That's it, we're done with recording using this software. By the way, here is a video instruction on this aspect.

Now let's consider alternative option, under Rufus.

We open the software and see this picture.

Now in the first line we select our drive. Only him, not the drive.

In the tag line, write whatever you want so that you can later identify your device, especially if you have a lot of external devices.

In the rufus formatting settings, set everything as in the picture below.

Then click on “ start».

In the window that appears, click OK.

That's it, the process has begun.

After its completion, you should see a picture like this.

Your device is ready to use.

BIOS setup

No matter how you write the flash drive, in any case you will need to configure it to run from it. It's done like this. Reboot the laptop, and as soon as it turns on, press DEL, or F2. If you have Avard Bios, you will see a screen like this.

You can move through items only through the buttons on the keyboard (arrows). We go to Integrated Peripherals and look there USB controllers. Set this parameter to position Enable.

Now let's go to Advanced BIOS Features and see it.

Move the second line to the first position.

Now let's go to First Boot Device ” and click “ Enter».

There, instead of the optical drive we install USB HDD. Next, click F10.

But if you have an AMI BIOS, then it’s a little different.

Go to the tab Advanced.

There go to USB Configuration and click on it.

You have two items - USB Function and USB 2.0 Controller. Everywhere, opposite them, put the inclusion value.

In the proposed article in more detail discussed how to install Windows 10 from a flash drive. A flash drive means not only a removable flash drive, but also a DVD disk, but due to the fact that CDs are going out of use, we will focus on a flash drive.

At the end the instructions are considered typical problems that the user is likely to encounter during the creation phase boot drive and installing the operating system from it through the boot menu.

Note that when using a licensed edition of Windows 10, which was obtained during the free update process, before performing a clean installation of “tens”, in mandatory need to update from old system to Windows 10, and only then reinstall the operating system.

This maneuver is necessary so that the license of the previous OS is “captured” and tied to your computer and Microsoft account, so that after re Windows installations 10 it was able to automatically activate upon first connection with global network. It became possible thanks to the release of a large-scale update package for the “ten”, released in early August 2016.

In this regard, some messages for activation or performing operations to skip entering a key during installation of the operating system may be invalid, but are noted just in case.

The first step in preparing to reinstall the system is to create bootable digital media (in in this case USB flash drives) with a distribution kit (compressed installation files of the operating system). To carry out the action we will resort to official application from Microsoft, which can be downloaded at https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10.

Please note that the bitness of the downloaded utility must match the bitness of the installed edition of Windows 10. Information about the current edition of the OS can be obtained from the properties of My Computer.

When the application is downloaded, click on the “Create an installation drive for another computer” icon, then select the “tens” interface language and its version (you should select the one for which there is a license, because when switching to another edition of the OS, the license is not transferred). This does not apply to bit depth; when moving from x64 to x86 and vice versa, the license remains the same.

Then we connect the drive to a free USB port, check the “USB flash memory device” option and wait for the installation files to finish downloading to the computer and copying them to the media.

This official utility from Microsoft will allow you to acquire a flash drive with the original Windows image 10. In this case, you will be prompted to download the distribution kit for the specific edition of the OS to which you can upgrade on the current computer (in the field with the recommended operating system will be checked by default).

Please note that after updating the app, it does not prompt you to select Windows edition 10 (professional, home). This is already done during the installation process.

If you have an ISO image that makes sense to store on your hard drive, you can create a flash drive at any time to reinstall the system using any convenient method:

• by simply deploying the image to a portable digital media, if you are using a computer with UEFI, but the flash drive must be formatted in FAT32 in advance;
• using the command line;
• using specialized applications (Rufus, UltraISO).

For more information on methods for preparing a flash drive, see the adjacent article in the section.

Before installation

The most important thing that beginners forget about before formatting system partition Before copying the files of the new operating system to it, this is to save the files stored on it. All data from the desktop, “Downloads” and “My Documents” directories should be copied/moved to another logical or physical drive.

We set the computer to boot from a flash drive. There are two ways to go here:

• Visit the BIOS/UEFI, find the menu or options responsible for prioritizing boot devices and install the USB device on which the installation files(ideally, other USB devices should be disabled) come first. But after the first reboot of the computer (it will happen automatically during the OS reinstallation process), the priority will have to be changed back in order to allow the computer to boot from hard drive and continue Windows installation 10. How to enter the BIOS and where to find the boot menu in it, look in the manual for the laptop or motherboard, or on the Internet.
• Use the function quick access to the boot-menu and boot from any drive without changing the BIOS settings.

After this, an inscription will appear on a black background, requiring you to click on any keyboard key. Press any button and wait for the installer program to appear.

Direct installation of Windows 10

In the first window of the installer, you must select the version of the language to be installed from the list of supported packages, as well as the time format and input method. In principle, the default language should be Russian.

In the next interface, click “Install”.

Further, the windows in different situations (using an outdated image, for example, or the state of the license), the windows may differ. In one case, a dialog for selecting a "tens" release may appear, but most likely, if you downloaded a new ISO file, there will be one of the following:

• If there is a key for the “ten”, it must be entered in the text form that appears;
• When license key no, for example, if you become the owner of a free update to Windows 10, we skip this action by clicking “No key” or “Skip”. In this case, the system will be installed, but will not be activated, which will entail the appearance of offers to purchase a key and will impose some restrictions on the functionality of the OS.
• When upgrading to "ten" without first installing it in order to transfer the license key to your computer (the key will be linked to the unique hardware ID and Microsoft account, if you have one). Here you should abandon the following steps, upgrade from Windows 7-8, and only then use the opportunity to perform clean install new operating system.

Then let's get acquainted with the new license agreement, where you should pay attention to the points about the collection of user data for their subsequent processing and the rest regarding confidentiality and data protection. Click “Next” if you agree with all the points.

We decide on the installation option:

1. An update is actually the same as an update if you switch to Windows 10 from older versions of the OS - in this case, all system files along with programs, settings for them and user data will be copied to the Windows.old directory. The process is similar to a regular update, so we won’t consider it.
2. Custom installation - will make it possible to install a new operating system, deleting all user and system files and will allow you to change the logical structure of the drive. We will focus on this option, because it is more expedient.

By clicking on the option custom installation(For experienced users), we find ourselves in the interface for selecting the future system volume with the ability to change the disk structure (re-partitioning).

Here you should not be alarmed if the number of disks is several more than you are used to seeing them in Explorer or file manager. Let's briefly look at the proposed options, their consequences and cases of application.

1. If the operating system has already been installed (you are using a purchased computer without an OS, which is practically impossible to encounter now), in addition to the partitions created by the user, several additional volumes will be shown, with a capacity of hundreds of megabytes, as well as reserved by the system disks. It is better not to touch these partitions, unknown to a beginner: one of them stores the bootloader, the second contains a copy of the “ten”, which allows you to reset the OS to its original state.
2. Select the current system partition or volume to which you want to copy the installation files Windows files 10. To format it (clear the table of contents in order to get rid of all files), select the disk and call the “Format” command by clicking on the corresponding button. Then click on the “Next” icon to continue the installation without changing the structure of the logical volumes. If present on the disk that will be the system disk, another Windows versions(it doesn’t matter whether it was “seven” or XP) you should delete the system volume and create it again in an unallocated area to automatically form the missing volumes with a boot loader or a future image to perform a “ten” reset.
3. If you choose the option without formatting and deleting, the operating system will be installed on the current system partition, if it has the necessary free space. The old OS will completely fit into the Windows.old directory, as discussed above, thus saving all the user’s files.
4. If you use a separate drive for Windows 10, for example, an SSD, or there is no important data on it, you can delete all partitions, format the disk, and then recreate its structure (or format each partition separately) and select required volume as a system one.
5. By selecting a partition that does not have an operating system, you can install two versions of Windows on your computer that will work properly, and a window for selecting them will appear when the computer starts. All user data will be saved in this case.

It may happen that when you select a volume to install Windows 10 on it, a window will appear with information that it is impossible to install the operating system on the selected partition or something like that. In this case, you will have to convert partitions from MBR to a new one - GPT. To solve such a problem there is separate instructions, and there is no point in repeating myself.

After you have decided on the option and solved the problem that arose, click “Next”. As a result, the installer will start the process of copying files to system disk, after which it will restart the computer.

If a message appears asking you to click on a key, you should not do this. The next time you restart your PC, you will have to go into the BIOS and change the priority of boot devices, selecting the HDD with the new operating system first. If you wish, you can restart your computer using Reset and perform the suggested actions now, but it is not recommended to interrupt the system in this way.

After this, the installer will prepare files for installing the operating system, as well as configure system components. At this stage, the screen may flicker and the computer may restart. No action should be taken in such cases, just wait.

After unpacking is complete system files and other operations with them, you will be prompted to connect to the Internet via the radio interface via WiFi technology. If you have and subsequently use a Microsoft account, it is recommended to connect, otherwise it is optional.

Next we carry out initial setup Windows 10. To use the proposed configuration, click “Use standard settings”, which is strongly not recommended. To make all settings manually, click “Settings”.

How to implement correct setting is also described in one of the articles, but you can confidently disable most of the parameters, nothing bad will happen in this case. Almost all of them are responsible for Windows 10's privacy and user tracking. If you have any questions or doubts, it is better not to touch the option.

After this, the installer will ask you to log in using your existing account. account Microsoft or add and configure a local account on your current computer. If there is no Internet connection yet or it is not active, you can only use a local account. This will not affect the status of the license in any way.

Here is the final stage - configuring and installing classic applications and preparing the “ten” for the first start. As a rule, the process takes no more than or about 10 minutes, but with older PCs it can take half an hour. Make sure that during this time period the computer’s power supply is stable and nothing interrupts its operation.

After some time, the login animation will appear and the desktop will load.

Additional information for beginners

After installing Windows 10, you should ensure that drivers for all devices are up to date. Although “Ten” copes with their installation, the automation of the process is far from ideal, which is associated with many problems: the installation is not the best latest version drivers, the wrong product is installed, the OS uses an unofficial version of the driver, the device is not detected or does not work correctly, etc.

First of all, you should get drivers for motherboard, chipset and video card by downloading them from official resources. No driver packs should be used. For laptops, you can visit the support site and download everything necessary programs, computer owners will have a more difficult time. If you encounter problems updating your video adapter software, use the Display Driver Uninstaller application.

If everything is in order, we carry out the installation necessary software, customize the system for yourself and create an image to restore it, for example, using True Image, although Windows 10 offers a simple tool for this. Thus, installing Windows 10 from a flash drive next time will turn into simply deploying the created image to the system partition.

We will devote this article to creating a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using popular program Rufus. This simple utility allows you to write the operating system to a USB drive in just two clicks. Then you can insert the flash drive into a USB connector and install Windows 10 on a “clean” computer. Please note that we will not make a multiboot flash drive (a flash drive with several OS or a set of related programs), but a simple flash drive with one operating system for one of two architectures - GPT (UEFI) or MBR (BIOS).

So let's get started. First, download the Rufus program itself from the developer’s official website https://rufus.akeo.ie/. You can download both regular and portable version. We have loaded the Portable option.

Now let's prepare the initial Windows ISO image 10, from which we will actually create a bootable USB flash drive. In our case, we will use an image with a 64-bit Professional level operating system.

The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive

Let's launch Rufus and get acquainted with the functionality of the utility. There are not many settings here, only the most necessary ones. First of all, we select the drive on which Windows 10 will be recorded. For us, it is an 8 GB USB flash drive.

We will create a flash drive for a computer with a regular BIOS and the MBR concept, so we select the first item - “MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI-CSM”. There are also options for "MBR for computers with UEFI" and "GPT for computers with UEFI". Everyone here will choose their own.

Now let’s set the file type (usually NTFS) and check the necessary boxes in the “Format Options” section.

Then, by clicking on the arrow next to the above inscription, we open the list of additional parameters.

Here we are primarily interested in the option “Show external USB storage devices." If you are planning to burn Windows 10 to a portable hard drive connected via USB, then this item will come in handy. We tried to check this box, and indeed external hard the drive immediately appeared in the topmost drop-down list.

The necessary configuration is installed, let's move on. Click on the button with the disk image and select the desired ISO image.

Click “OK”, after which the transfer of files to removable media will begin.

In our case, the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 from an ISO image took 20 minutes. It may be faster for you, it all depends on the performance of the computer, the type of USB connector and the size of the image itself.

The bootable media has been created, but it doesn't hurt to check its functionality. We turn on the computer, go into the BIOS (or UEFI) and set the priority to boot from our USB drive. We reboot and see the initial Windows 10 installation window. That is, everything works as it should.

Now you know the simplest way How to make a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive from an ISO image. As we see, Rufus program is very convenient tool for these purposes.