Many people periodically update their operating system (OS). This is most often done by Windows users. This is due to many things, but not about that now. The article will be about how to write Windows 10 to a USB flash drive, and why this is necessary. After all, anyone who is even a little acquainted with the operating systems and their work, understand that you can’t just download a Windows image and replace the previous OS with a new one in two clicks. It is necessary to do a number of manipulations.
Why burn the image to a USB flash drive
To install Windows 10, writing an ISO to a USB flash drive is a must. By the way, the flash drive on which the OS image is recorded is called bootable. Similarly, a disc (CD / DVD) is a boot disk. This is necessary, because the installation itself is carried out through the BIOS. Otherwise, the computer simply will not see the recorded image.
Of course, there is an installation option not through the BIOS, but directly from the already installed Windows, but this method is feasible in very rare conditions, so it will not be considered in the article. After all, it is better to know how to write an image to a USB flash drive, and then install it through the BIOS. So to speak, this method is universal.
It is noteworthy that the question in the spirit of “how to write the Windows 10 image to a USB flash drive?” There may be several answers. And this does not mean that some of them are incorrect. There are simply various programs with which you can record. The interface for each of them is different, and the recording method is not similar, so now we will take a step-by-step look at each program separately.
Preparatory stage
Before you burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive, you must first prepare it. First of all, I would like to clarify that the flash-card should contain more space than the ISO-image of the OS. So, if you see that the image is 3.5 GB in size, then ideally you need the USB flash drive to be 4 GB in size. This is necessary, because the program not only unzips the image, but also supplements it with the necessary files.
There are two versions of Windows 10, 32 and 64-bit. The first most often weighs about 3.5 GB, so a 4 GB flash drive is suitable for working with it. The 64-bit version takes up more than 4 GB of space, so to write it you will need a flash drive of 8 GB or higher.
Since you are going to burn Windows, you must first download it to your computer. It is important that you download the .iso format, as the unzipped data is not writable.
You also need to give a report that before recording a flash drive is always formatted, and if you have important materials on it, then make backup copies.
Recording with Rufus
First of all, we will consider the simplest, most understandable and more affordable way, namely recording an OS image using Rufus.
The program can be taken from the official site, at the time of writing, the latest version is Rufus 2.11. This program is good at least because of its mobility. It works without access to the Internet, weighs about 1 MB and does not need to be installed.
Running the program, you will see its interface. It is not loaded with unnecessary information and provides the ability to perform those operations that directly lead to image recording. So, here is the action algorithm:
Select the downloaded image. In order to do this, click on the disk icon. It is located on the right side of the window, opposite the inscription "Create boot disk." In the window that appears, find the ISO image and click the "Open" button.
Choose a device. At this stage, it is necessary that a USB flash drive is inserted. In the column "Device" in the drop-down list, select the name of your flash drive.
We select the partition scheme and the type of system interface. Here in the column of the same name in the drop-down list, select "MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI."
Select a file system. Since we are going to install Windows 10, we choose NTFS. For Linux, you must select FAT32.
Click "Start."
That's all, after the recording appears: "Done." You can safely close the program and proceed to install Windows.
Recording with UltraISO
Rufus - this was the first option on how to burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive. UltraISO is a more complicated program, but if you know what to do, you can record as soon as possible. This program is more popular than the previous one, and not because it is better for recording, but simply because of its versatility. Using UltraISO, you can not only create bootable flash drives, but also much more. It is because of this that its interface is full of various information. Now we will figure out how to write to the bootable USB flash drive Windows 10 using UltraISO.
After you have downloaded the program and installed it on your computer, you must run it. Next you need:
In the horizontal menu, select “File”, and in the list, click on the inscription “Open”. In the window that appears, as in the Rufus program, you need to pave the way to the previously downloaded image. Click "Open."
Again in the horizontal menu you need to click on the "Self-loading" item, then "Burn the image of the Hard Disk ...". After that a new window will open.
First of all, in the window you need to select your USB flash drive, this is done in the DiskDrive column.
Further, if you have not formatted the USB flash drive, then this must be done by clicking "Format".
Now you can safely click on the "Write" button. When you are asked permission to complete this task, click Yes.
After clicking, recording starts. After its completion, you can exit the program and perform manipulations on installing Windows 10. Now you know how to burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive using UltraISO.
USB / DVD Recording Download Tool
The third program in line is called USB / DVDDownloadTool. It is noteworthy because it was developed directly by Microsoft and is designed to record a Windows image.
The main advantage of this program can be considered its ease of use. Now we will analyze everything in detail.
As soon as the program starts, click the Browse button. In the window that appears, you need to pave the way to the image of the OS. Click Next.
At the second stage, you need to select the type of drive. Since we are writing to a USB flash drive, we select USBdevice.
At the third stage, you need to select a USB flash drive. Once you have selected it, click Beingcopying.
After the done manipulations, a window will appear, it is necessary to confirm the formatting in it. Click "Yes." As soon as the flash drive is formatted, recording will begin. Upon completion, you can use the USB flash drive to install the OS.
What to do next?
How to burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive, we figured out, now let's discuss what to do with a USB flash drive. Since the topic of the article is not at all about this, this issue will be raised indirectly.
The fact is that creating a bootable USB flash drive is necessary for subsequent installation of the OS using the BIOS. After the flash drive is recorded, you can not get it, but immediately start to restart the computer. At the time the computer starts, you must enter the BIOS (Del or F2 buttons). There, in the BOOT section, you must select the USB flash drive as the first boot device in the queue. After that, exit, saving the settings. After that, the installation of Windows 10 will begin. We figured out the step-by-step instructions.