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I created Windows 10 installation USB drive using media creation tool provided by MS. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/)

At first I thought it was USB bootable and also supports installation, but it was not. It was not bootable. Can I create a USB drive which is bootable and also I can install Windows 10 from it?

A couple of webpage say that this media creation tool makes bootable and installable USB drive.

1) http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/04/how-to-create-a-bootable-windows-10-usb-flash-drive-2/ 2) http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-create-bootable-windows-10-usb-flash-drive-guide/

But for me, it was NOT bootable. I checked if it was bootable using this tool. http://www.thewindowsclub.com/check-if-usb-is-bootable-windows

The computer I tested surely supports USB booting (I tested it with another Windows 7 bootable external HDD)

What's wrong with my Win 10 USB drive?

user67275
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2 Answers2

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The Windows 10 Media Creation Tool can create Windows 10 bootable/installation USB drives. If the USB drive you created is not bootable, chances are that you did not set your computer's boot order correctly. Reformatting the USB drive as FAT32 will make sure it is bootable on Legacy BIOS or UEFI computers. Of course, it does not rule out that the Media Creation Tool fails to work on your computer for some reason.

You can also create a Windows 10 bootable/installation USB drive from an iSO image file.

First, you need to download the official Windows 10 ISO file from the Microsoft website.

Then, you can use the Rufus tool to create a Windows 10 installation USB drive from the ISO.

Or, if you are familiar with Windows commands, you can also use the Command Prompt to create a Windows 10 bootable USB drive from the ISO.

Here are the detailed steps: https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/create-windows-10-bootable-usb-from-iso.html

Kris Evans
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You can create bootable USB for Windows 10 using Command Prompt on Windows. Here's the YouTube video on - How to create bootable USB for Windows using Command Prompt

In summary you'll have to follow these steps

  1. Open Command Prompt as an Administrator
  2. On Command Prompt window type diskpart and then click ENTER
  3. Inside disk part, now type command list disk and click ENTER, make sure you have inserted your USB drive, and note the disk number of the USB Drive.
  4. Type select disk <x> where x being your disk number of USB Drive.
  5. Type clean
  6. To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type create part pri, and then click ENTER.
  7. To select the partition that you just created, type select part 1, and then click ENTER.
  8. To format the partition, type format fs=ntfs quick, and then click ENTER.
  9. Type active, and then click ENTER.
  10. Type exit, and then click ENTER.
  11. When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root of the USB flash drive.
Luzan Baral
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