How to create Windows 10 installation media on a bootable USB flash drive.
With a Windows 11 flash drive you’ll be able to install a fresh copy of Windows, repair your current Windows installation, or upgrade your system.
Creating a Windows 11 USB drive is free and and easy to do. All you need is a USB flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB.
Windows 11 Media Creation Tool.
The Media Creation Tool for Windows 11 will download and create a bootable USB flash drive that you can use to install Windows 11 onto your PC.
Before you get started, plug in your USB flash drive. Check that there aren’t any files on it that you might want because the Media Creation Tool will erase everything from it.
To create a Windows 11 installation drive, click the link below –
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows11
When you get to the web page, scroll down a little to the Create Windows 11 Installation Media section. Click the Download Now button. It doesn’t take long to download, the file is only around 20 MB.
Once the Media Creation Tool has downloaded, launch it.
Unplug Other USB Devices.
Mistakes happen, so be sure to temporarily unplug (disconnect) any other USB devices that you might have connected to your computer.
Doing this just makes it easy when it comes to selecting the correct USB drive.
Creating A Windows 11 Installation Flash Drive.
The Windows 11 Media Creation Tool will do all the hard work for you. All you need to do is to point it toward the USB flash drive that you want to use.
Give it a few moments while it “Gets a few things ready”. After that you’ll need to accept the Applicable notices and licence terms.
Select Language And Edition.
The Windows 11 Media Creation Tool will automatically select these options for you based on the PC you’re using.
For most of us on our home computers that’ll be fine and you can just click the Next button.
If you did want to change either the language, edition or architecture, you’ll need to uncheck the “Use the recommended option for this PC box”.
Choose Which Media To Use.
To create a Windows 11 installation flash drive, select “USB flash drive”.
The second option “ISO file”, is more generally used for creating virtual machines.
Select A USB Flash Drive.
This is where you’ll be glad you followed my advice and unplugged all your USB devices except the one that you want to use.
- Select which USB flash drive to use. and click the Next button.
- Media Creation Tool will download Windows 11 to your PC.
- And then install it onto the USB flash drive and make it bootable.
Summary.
The Windows 11 Media Creation Tool makes it easy for your to download and create an installation drive for your computer. You can use it on any Windows 11 PC.
The flash drive will be bootable, meaning that you can start your PC from it.
If you’re creating an installation drive to repair Windows 11, have you tried using the built in tools that Windows comes with?
Check Disk and System File Checker can solve a whole host of problems without the need to re-install Windows.
