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How To Create A Bootable Windows 11 USB Drive.

Create your own bootable Windows 11 flash drive. You can download the genuine ISO file direct from Microsoft and either save it to your computer or load it to a USB drive that you can boot from.

You don’t need any special software, just an Internet connection and a flash drive of at least 8GB.

Download The Windows 11 Media Creation Tool.

The Microsoft Media Creation Tool for Windows 11 is very easy to use. With it, you can create a bootable USB stick, or just download the ISO file to your computer.

If you’re creating a bootable flash drive, plug it into your computer now.

Head to the Media Creation Tool web page by clicking https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows11

When the web page loads, scroll down to the “Create Windows 11 installation media” section and click the Download Now button.

Download Now button is marked.
Click the Download Now button.

About Your USB Drive.

The USB drive will be formatted so make sure that there isn’t anything of importance already stored on the drive. It should be at least 8GB in capacity, larger is fine, but not any smaller.

And one final thing, use a decent quality drive. Preferably a new drive, or at least one that hasn’t seen much service.

It only takes a few seconds for the Media Creation tool to download.

When it’s finished, launch it to begin creating your Windows 11 installation media.

Windows 11 Media Creation Tool being launched from within browser window.
When the Media Creation Tool has been downloaded, launch it from within your browser or from wherever you downloaded it to.

As the Media Creation Tool starts up, you’ll have to agree to the terms and conditions, and click the Agree button.

Next, you can choose the language that you want Windows 11 to use. By default, Windows will use the language settings of the computer your using right now. To change the language, you’ll need to deselect the “Use the recommended options for this PC” option first.

Accept button marked.
Click the Accept button.
“Use the recommended options for this PC” option and the Next button are both highlighted.
Click the Next button.

Choose Which Media To Use.

On this next screen, you can choose whether you want to download the Windows 11 ISO file to your computer or create a bootable USB drive.

If you select a bootable flash drive, then you should have the drive plugged into your computer and ready to go.

If you select the ISO file option, then you can either burn it to a disc with the Media Creation Tool or simply save the file to your computer for use later on.

After making your choice, click the Next button.

USB flash drive is selected and the Next button is indicated.
Choose whether you want to create a Windows 11 USB drive or just download the ISO file.

How To Create A Bootable Windows 11 USB Drive.

To create a bootable USB drive to install Windows 11, select the USB flash drive option and then click the Next button.

Then select which USB drive should be used. Note that it needs to have a capacity of at least 8GB, bigger is fine but no smaller. Also, be sure that you don’t have any other files on the drive because it will be formatted (wiped). Click the Next button to start the process.

The latest version of Windows 11 will be downloaded to your computer and then loaded onto your flash drive.

How long this will take depends on the speed of your Internet connection and your computer. One thing I generally advise though is to make sure your PC doesn’t enter sleep mode. It’s particularly a problem with laptops, which will often be set to a very strict power-saving mode to preserve battery life.

USB flash drive is selected and the Next button is indicated.
Select “USB flash drive” and then click the Next button.
The USB drive to be used is selected and the Next button is highlighted.
If you’ve got more than one USB drive plugged into your computer, select the one you want to use and click Next.
Windows 11 setup is downloading the files.
Windows 11 is being downloaded.
The bootable USB drive is being created.
Windows 11 USB drive is being created.

When the Windows 11 setup has finished preparing your USB drive, you’ll see this screen.

Click the Finish button and you’re ready to go.

Windows 11 setup finished screen. Message reads "Your USB flash drive is ready".
Click the Finish button.

How To Download The Windows 11 ISO File.

Instead of creating a USB flash drive, you can use the Media Creation Tool to simply download the Windows 11 ISO file.

On the “Choose which media to use” screen, select ISO file and then click the Next button.

Choose a location to save the file to and then click the Save button.

ISO file option is selected and Next button highlighted.
Select the ISO file option and then click Next.
Saving the ISO file to the desktop.
Choose where to save your ISO file.
Windows 11 setup is downloading the files.
Windows 11 will be downloaded.
ISO File creation progress indicator.
And the ISO file will be created.

When the Media Creation Tool has finished creating and saving your Windows 11 ISO file, click the Finish button to close the program.

You can burn the ISO file to a blank DVD disc if you wish by clicking the “Open DVD burner” option.

"Open DVD burner" option and the Finish button are both highlighted.
Click Finish to close the Media Creation Tool or click on “Open DVD burner to burn the file onto a blank DVD disc.
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