Create Bootable Windows 10 USB Drive Using Rufus

Create a Bootable Windows 10 USB Drive Using Rufus

A bootable Windows USB drive does three things:

  1. It performs a clean installation of the Windows operating system.
  2. It helps in repairing the existing problematic Windows installation
  3. It upgrades the out-of-date existing Windows installation.

It is always good to have a bootable Windows USB drive ready.

Things Required for Creating a Bootable Windows 10 USB

  • Program Used: Rufus
    The program used to create the bootable disk is Rufus; you can download it from its official website here:
    https://rufus.akeo.ie/
  • Minimum USB Size Required: Use at least an 8 GB USB to create a bootable Windows 10 USB drive.

How to Create a Bootable Windows 10 USB Drive Using Rufus

Step 1: Open Rufus.

  • Select the USB drive that you want to use as your Rescue Disk from the Device drop-down menu.
  • Under Partition scheme and target system type, select MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI. The USB created will work with both types of systems – older BIOS, and newer UEFI.
  • Under the File system selection setting, select NTFS. The NTFS (New Technology File System) is made by Microsoft for the Windows NT family, and is used for Windows operating systems. So use only this one for creating the Windows To Go drive.
  • Keep the Cluster size value to its default setting, which is 4096 bytes (Default).
  • The New volume label field changes automatically during the rescue disk creation process.
  • Under Format Options, check all of the settings.
    • Check device for bad blocks – Do not use this option. When used, it will check your USB device for any hardware defects that it may have. But, it takes a lot of time to do so, hence not recommended.
    • Quick format – Rufus will perform a quick format to remove any previously stored files on your USB device.
    • Create a bootable disk using – Set this to ISO Image.
    • Create extended label and icon files – Be default, you can type only a limited number or letters in naming your USB device. However, it is possible to type a longer name. This option will let you do that. You will also get a bootable disk icon for your USB device.

Step 2: Click on the button with the Disk icon. It will open a file explorer window to browse for the Windows ISO file. Select the Windows ISO file, and click Open.

Step 3: You’ll notice that the Volume label automatically changes. You can enter your custom name here. I’m going to call it Windows 10 Installer.

Step 4: Another thing that happened after selecting the Windows ISO file is that there are now two options under Create a bootable disk using. By default, the first option called Standard Windows installation is selected, which is what we want to create. Click on the Start button to start the bootable disk creation process.

Step 5: All data on the device will be deleted if you continue with the process, so make sure that you have selected the right USB drive. Click OK to process further.

Step 6: Rufus starts copying and installing files on the USB drive.

Step 7: The time taken to complete the process depends upon the performance of the computer, USB drive, and the USB port. Once the process is finished, the READY message will be displayed in the Rufus Status bar. Click the Close button to close the program, and remove the USB drive.

Your Bootable Windows 10 Drive is now ready.

Create Windows To Go USB Drive Using Rufus in Windows 10

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