With
the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft is all set to dominate the personal
computer segment once again. As of this day, Windows 10 has already
achieved more than 14 million installations and is still increasing
rapidly. A majority of these installations were done via the free upgrade
system which Microsoft integrated into windows 7 and 8 PC’s via the windows
update. Thanks to this many genuine windows 7 and windows 8 users were able to
upgrade to windows 10 for free and without any hiccups. At the same time
Microsoft was even kind enough to let some pirates enjoy the same experience
for free
However,
as usual you can also install Windows 10 via a Bootable
Windows 10 USB flash drive. In fact the retail version of windows 10 also comes
in a bootable USB drive. For those who want to
perform a clean installation of Windows 10 on your PC. Here’s how you can
create a Bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive and use it to install Windows 10
on your PC.
How to create bootable USB media
from ISO for Windows 10
While most of us may have reserved a copy of the free
Windows 10 upgrade for our computers, there may be some who may want to go for
a clean install, using a Windows 10 ISO image. In this post, we will see how to
download the ISO image, burn it to a USB drive and create a bootable USB media
from ISO for Windows 10 installation.
First of all, you will have to download it from its
official link at Microsoft
Create bootable USB media from ISO for Windows 10
Once you have done this, you can use it to create a
bootable USB or Flash Drive. To do this, you will have to take help of some
software like Windows USB/DVD Download Tool, Rufus, ABUSB, ESET SysRescue Live, WinToFlash, Windows USB Installer Maker or Windows Installation Media Creation Tool.
In this post, I am using Rufus as an example. It also offers a portable
version, which I have used. After you have downloaded this freeware, insert
your USB and then click on Rufus to open its main window. Do note that, you
will require a 4 GB USB for the 32-bit version and a 8 GB for the 64-bit
version of Windows 10.
You may give a New volume label
and browse to the location of your downloaded Windows 10 ISO image. To browse
to the location, under Format Options, you will see Create a
bootable disk using option. Click on the small icon on the right side and
browse to the folder, and select the ISO file.
The rest of the options, you may
leave at their default values. When you use MBR partition scheme for
BIOS or UEFI, under Partition scheme
and target system type, the bootable USB will be suitable for devices
using BIOS as well as UEFI.
Prerequisites
Here’s a list of all the prerequisites required
to create a Bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive.
- A USB
flash drive with a storage capacity of more than 8GB.
- Windows 10
ISO image.
- Rufus (
Optional )
With Windows 10, Microsoft has made it very simple to
create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive. Microsoft now provides a Windows
10 media creation tool which can be used to download a ISO image of Windows 10
or directly create a Bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive. In this guide we
are going to use the later option to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash
drive and use it to perform a clean installation of Windows 10.
I’ve already created an instructional guide on creating a
bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using the Windows media creation tool
provided by Microsoft. You can visit the following link to view the detailed
instructions with screenshots.
How to Install Windows 10 using a Bootable USB Drive
- Step 1: Connect the Bootable USB flash drive with your
PC and reboot it.
- Step 2: As soon as your PC boots, press the F11 (
this key will differ from one pc to another ) key to bring up the boot
drive selection menu and select the Bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive.
This key will differ from one pc to another, so do a quick Google search to find out the correct key to bring up the bios boot menu.
Alternatively, you can also go into the bios of
your PC and set the Bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive with the First
boot priority.
- Step 3: Press any key when you see the “ Press
any key to boot from the USB option ”
- Step 4: Wait for a few seconds for the
files to load.
Step
5: Select language, Time and currency
format and keyboard input format and click on Next
- Step 6: Click on Install now.
- Step 7: Wait for a few seconds for the setup to start.
- Step 8: If you have a product key, enter it, otherwise click on Skip.
Step 9: Accept the license terms and
click on Next.
- Step 10: Select “ Custom: install
Windows only ( Advanced )”
- Step 11: Select the drive where you want to install Windows 10.
- Note: Make sure the drive is formatted, if not you can format by selecting the format option provided.
- Step 12: Wait for a some time until
Windows is being installed. This may take from a few minutes to a hour
depending on the hardware of your personal computer. once this process is
complete, your PC will restart.
- Step 14: Wait for a some more time.
- Step 15: Enter a serial key, otherwise
click on Do this later to skip this option.
- Step 16: Click on Use express settings
to use the recommended settings. Alternatively you can even click on Customize
settings to customize the settings.
- Step 17: Wait for a few seconds more.
- Step 18: Enter a name and password to
create your account.
- Step 19: Wait for a few seconds more.
- Step 20: There you go, you’re finally on
Windows 10.
I hope that you
were able to install Windows 10 successfully on your PC. If you face any
problems, let me know about them in the comments below.
Thank You
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