How To Create A bootable USB drive

The lion’s share of laptops go on sale with on-board operating systems. But sometimes, in order to reduce the cost of the final cost, without saving on the hardware component, computers without an OS are sold. And some users do not want to use the version of the operating system that was sold with the PC. All these troubles are solved by creating a bootable USB flash drive. This requires 5 things.

1. USB flash drive.
2. The right connector on your computer.
3. ISO document with OSes inside.
4. A program for creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows (from XP to 10) or Linux.
5. About half an hour to write to the media.

As soon as these “elements” are collected, you can proceed.

Creating a bootable USB drive with UltraISO

This app has an intuitive interface. The algorithm for working with it is simple.

1. Connect removable media.
2. Turn on the UltraISO program.
3. Show it to the iso-document that will be written.
4. Tap on “Self-loading”.
5. Confirm your choice through “Burn disk image”.
6. In the “Disk Drive” field, show the path to the required media. If the flash card is not formatted, you can erase all the information from it right here.
7. Recording method – USB-HDD + (default).
8. Confirm the decisions made by clicking on “Save”.
9. Wait 5-10 minutes while the infa is transferred to the media.

That’s it, now you can install Windows on any computer.

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Creating a bootable USB stick with Rufus

Rufus is so unpretentious that it turns on even on Win XP. In addition to the main task, it checks the drives for errors. This decided to use my everyday USB flash drive as an installation one. The program will scan it and tell you about the state of the drive.

A step-by-step algorithm for working with it.

1. Connect removable media to PC.
2. Connect the program.
3. Select the one you need in the appeared field “Device”.
4. Tap on “Select” and show the program the way to the ISO image.
5. Go to “Image Options” and find “Standard Installation” there. Then the media will act as an installation media. If you need to run the OS from a flash drive (without installation), find the To Go option.
6. In the line “Partition scheme” confirm the type of system for which the installation disk is created – MBR (for systems with Legacy / CSM) or GPT (for UEFI BIOS).
7. The card is formatted in FAT32, which is readable everywhere. If you need to enable NTFS, remember that it only works with UEFI systems with Secure Boot disabled (preventing unauthorized installation of operating systems from starting).
8. Start recording by clicking the mouse  on “Start”.

After 15 minutes of waiting, the ISO will be on the card. Enjoy your use!

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Microsoft Windows Installation Media Creation Tool

The app will create the desired image and update the operating system itself to the optimal version by generating a key. Therefore, it is suitable only for official versions: you will not be able to install a converted modification. Works this way.

1. Enable Creation Tool.
2. Select the line in the menu that says about creating an installation flash drive.
3. Tap on the desired type of system (x32 or x64), the desired language and the required version (7, 8.1, 10 Home , Pro, etc.).
4. Click “Next”.
5. When the application asks where to write the information, show it the path to the card.

After 15-20 minutes, the computer is ready for reinstallation!

Bootable USB flash drive Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 without programs

Owners of computers with UEFI BIOS, Win 8.1 and lower operating systems can create an installation USB without third-party software. Everything that’s needed:

• PC that works with EFI boot;
• media in FAT32 format;
• original system image.

Then it is enough to extract the information from the ISO and copy its portable media. UEFI computers will read it anyway.

Important : this scheme does not work with unofficial versions. Users will have to look for third-party programs.

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Microsoft Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool

Microsoft Appka for Win7, which is capable of giving heat on the “younger” versions (8th and 10th Windows). She works only with the official images of the systems. Fans of custom (redesigned by assemblers) systems will be able to be content with only UlrtaISO and Rufus.

Working with it consists of the following steps.

After 10-15 minutes of recording, everything will be ready and you can use the USB flash drive!

Multiboot flash drives

As the name implies, they have on board several systems or applications at once for different purposes. For example, on one large 128 GB flash drive, they can fit at the same time:

• several versions of Win 10;
• 2-3 popular antiviruses ;
• portable (not requiring installation) versions of Office programs Word, PowerPoint, Excel;
• there will also be 40-50 GB left for the images of your favorite games and attachments.

The filling can be absolutely any – it all depends only on the owner of the drive. WinSetupFromUSB and AIO Boot are especially popular among fans of multi-flash drives. It is these 2 programs that are detailed below in the text.

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WinSetupFromUSB

An application that will save seekers how to create a bootable USB flash drive with programs in the blink of an eye. It will format the USB flash drive, install the necessary OS, the programs and, as a bonus, check if everything turns on correctly. It goes like this:

1. Connect the media to the PC.
2. Turn on the program.
3. Select the drive where the information will be sent.
4. Check AutoFormat it with FBinst to format the USB stick.
5. Specify which files should be attached to the media.
6. Add distributions in turn by clicking on the ellipsis and choosing the path to the required file.
7. Check all the necessary files that should appear on the media.
8. Press “Go” and wait for the data to be written to the USB flash drive.

Note : You only need to perform automatic formatting if WinSetupFromUSB is writing data to the media for the first time. If you supplement the existing installation data, you do not need to check the box next to “auto-format”.

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AIO Boot

One of the few programs that even works with external hard drives . It can also be used to load various programs and LiveCDs. However, to work with it, you need to prepare the media – otherwise the program will not work as it should. For this, the following manipulations are carried out.

1. Download the attachment.
2. Insert USB stick. If she has worked with this program before, no formatting is needed. If it meets the device for the first time, format it in FAT32.
3. Select the “Bootloaders” button.
4. After that, going to a new window, click on Grub2.
5. Select the desired drive.
6. Tap OK.

Wait while the program prepares the media. This takes 3 to 30 minutes (depending on volume). After preparing the disc, you can start the burning process itself. It looks like this:

1. Go to the settings and set the Russian language for the bootloader environment. Those who understand English well can skip this step.
2. In the “Integration” tab, select the type of image (for example, “Windows” → “Win 10”) and the path to it.
3. Click on “OK” to confirm.
4. If the file is more than 4 GB, and the card is in FAT32, the system will inform you about the possibility of splitting it automatically.
5. Repeat the required number of times, adding the necessary images, utilities and LiveCDs with your favorite programs.

If you need to check how the boot menu will look, emulate it through the “Test Boot [QEMU]” menu. Then the program will launch the launcher emulator, by which you can understand how the installation menu will look.
For those who find the program interface difficult, there is a second way out of the situation. It is done in the following way:

1. Find the files you want.
2. Open the carrier through the “Explorer”.
3. Go to the removable media in the AIO \ Files folder.
4. Transfer the required images to that location.
5. After copying the ISO, they can be found in the line “Download from ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD and IMA.”.

Important : before starting the app, you need to disable SecureBoot on your computer. Otherwise, the operating system will not enable it.

It doesn’t matter what program the user will make a bootable USB flash drive – as long as it fits his needs. Even dummies will like UltraISO, and the complexity with WinSetupFromUSB is compensated by its capabilities.