How to create bootable USB pendrive for Windows 10,8,7,XP

There are many ways to install Windows, but one of the easiest and popular ways to install any version of Windows, is with the help of a Bootable Pendrive, there are other popular ways too like CD/DVD drive but installing Windows with the help of bootable Pendrive, the pain is much lesser, In this post, I have written about all of the easiest methods to create bootable Pendrive for Windows 10 and the ways are pretty much similar to the Windows 7 and Windows 8 and 8.1.

How to easily create bootable Pendrive to install Windows 10, 8, or 7.

How to easily create bootable Pendrive from ISO to install Windows 10, 8, or 7.

What is a bootable Pendrive and why you need one?

A bootable Pendrive is a just a simple USB flash drive deployed with some system installation files used to install a new operating system in the case, Windows. With a bootable pen drive, you can be able to format and write to the blank hard disk on a new computer. In addition, when replacing an existing Windows version, it gives the installation program complete control of the computer.

Bootable Pendrive is also used to recover a failed system when Windows fails to load. With the help of bootable drive, files can be examined and repaired on the hard disk. If the system cannot be restored, valuable data files can be copied to an external drive. In the past, a compact version of DOS was often used as a bootable disk.

Installing large software like Windows 10 from a USB drive is simply much faster than from a CD/DVD and the only viable option for PCs without an optical drive. After creating a bootable Pendrive you can easily install or replace an operating system, in our case Windows (10, 8, 8.1 or 7)

Advantages of using bootable pen drive over CD/DVD

Not all laptops come with a CD drive especially these days. So, USB installation is the obvious choice.
Portability. Same bootable USB can be used to install the OS on multiple PCs.
We can easily change the OS file as compared to a CD.
Pendrives are easy to store compared to CDs and DVDs and also does not get damaged by scratches.
Modern pen drives like with USB 3.0 are much faster in data transfer and will boot up and install faster compared to CDs.

Minimum Requirements:

1) USB Pen drive with minimum 4GB empty space, larger may be better.

2) Windows ISO file or the installation files you got from CD/DVD.

3) Working PC and some patience

First of all, you need Windows ISO, in order to create an installation media, be it USB bootable drive or a CD/DVD drive, it is obvious.

If you don’t have any ISO file, head over to the given links and find an appropriate Windows 10, 8, 8.1 or 7 ISO file.

Download Windows 10 ISO file: Click Me

Download Windows 8/8.1 ISO file: Click Me

Download Windows 7 ISO file: Click Me

Follow this article on HowToGeek to know how to download any version of Windows ISO legally.

How to create bootable Pendrive via CMD [command prompt]

Step: 1) Insert your USB Pendrive in the computer, make sure it’s working.

Step: 2) Open Command Prompt From the Start Menu (Run as Administrator)

Step: 3) Type,

diskpart

Wait for a while until the DISKPART program run.

Step: 4) To determine the USB flash drive number or drive letter, type

list disk

Now, select your Pendrive, if you are using 4GB Pendrive then you will see the size 4GB on the disk list, from there find it from the list of disks and note down the disk name,

if it is the second one then the disk name should be Disk 1,
if it is the third one then the disk name should be Disk 2.

Step: 5) To select the disk, type

select disk 2

as you see I have entered disk 2 because it’s showing 2 for my Pendrive, but you have to enter your disk number and type that as the given format.

Step 6) Type,

clean

Press Enter, this command deletes all data from the USB flash drive.

Step 7) To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type

create partition primary

Step 8) To select the partition that you just created, type

select partition 1

Step 9) To make the selected partition active, type

active

Step 10) To format the partition, type

format fs=ntfs quick’

This will format the drive with the NTFS file system.

Step: 10.1) In case you need to format the USB flash drive as FAT32 rather than as NTFS, type

format fs=fat32 quick

otherwise, do not use this command.

Step 11) To assign a new drive letter to the USB flash drive and making it accessible, type

assign

Step 12) Enter the below command to exit DISKPART program.

exit

Here is the complete screenshot, All the commands used to create bootable Pendrive in few seconds.

Full Screenshot: All Commands used to create bootable Pendrive

Great! you have successfully created a working bootable pen drive, now you need the installation files, yeah, if you’ve CD/DVD, copy them to your hard disk and then move them to the Pendrive directly, no big deal, that’s what I simply do.

But if you have an ISO file, then don’t worry just extract the ISO files and move to the Pendrive.

Windows ISO files opened with WinRAR, Extract and move them to your newly created bootable Pendrive

And now you have a working bootable USB Pendrive and make sure before installing Windows using USB the computer must select USB pen drive to boot from USB. You can get the option in your BIOS or you can use boot options by pressing F12 (for DELL).

How to create bootable Pendrive via Software

There are numerous software available to create bootable Pendrive, it would not worth if I mention all of them here, so, here are some of the best software available and I have personally used to create my Pendrive bootable for Windows as well as other operating systems like Linux, etc.

Rufus

Rufus is a free and open-source portable application for Microsoft Windows that can be used to format and create bootable USB flash drives or Live USBs.

Rufus is all you need if you’re searching for the automatic way to create bootable Pendrive for any version of Windows. Rufus is best to choose as it is a simple and powerful tool. You can run it on the go because it doesn’t need to be installed in order to be usable. This can also automatically detect the USB device after you plug into your computer. You just have to select the Windows ISO file and click on the start button.

Ready to download Rufus.

Universal USB Installer

Universal USB Installer is a unique tool that comes with a one-page wizard that allows you to perform all actions with ease. This tool has got powerful features and processing speed that allows the user to make a bootable pen drive of any operating system.

Ready to download Universal USB Installer.

UNetbootin

UNetbootin is a very powerful tool that will help you to install Windows in few moments. All you need to know is just download the ISO file of the Windows you need to install, insert your Pendrive and start UNetbootin, select the ISO file you want to install.

Ready to download UNetbootin.

Conclusion:

So, Here are all the things needed to create bootable Pendrive from scratch, I have mentioned all the best ways to make your USB Pendrive bootable, If you encounter any problem or found anything missing, don’t forget to comment down below and make sure you’ve subscribed to the mailing list on Tech2Hack, I post such thing on regular basis, so, do subscribe and keep visiting!

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