Windows 8.1 Media Installation

[Pompeo Mixon]

Ifyou are installing Windows 10 on a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, or if you need to create installation media to install Windows 10 on a different PC, see Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC section below.

Note: Before you install Windows 10, check to make sure your PC meets the system requirements for Windows 10. We also recommend going to the PC manufacturer's website for any additional info about updated drivers and hardware compatibility.

After downloading and installing, the tool will walk you through how to set up Windows 10 on your PC. All Windows 10 editions are available when you select Windows 10,except for Enterprise edition. For more information on Enterprise edition,go to the Volume Licensing Service Center.

If you have Office 2010 or earlier and choose to perform a clean install of Windows 10, you will need to locate your Office product key. For tips on locating your product key, check Find your Office 2010 product key or Enter the product key for your Office 2007 program.

If your PC does not automatically boot to the USB or DVD media, you might have to open a boot menu or change the boot order in your PC's BIOS or UEFI settings. To open a boot menu or change the boot order, you'll typically need to press a key (such as F2, F12, Delete, or Esc) immediately after you turn on your PC. For instructions on accessing the boot menu or changing the boot order for your PC, check the documentation that came with your PC or go to the manufacturer's website. If you do not see the USB or DVD media device listed within the boot options, you may need to reach out to the PC manufacturer for instructions for temporarily disabling Secure Boot in your BIOS settings.

If changing the boot menu or order doesn't work, and your PC immediately boots into the OS you want to replace, it is possible the PC had not fully shut down. To ensure the PC fully shuts down, select the power button on the sign-in screen or on the Start menu and select Shut down.

If you downloaded an ISO file for Windows 10, the file is saved locally at the location you selected. If you have a third-party DVD burning program installed on your computer that you prefer to use for creating the installation DVD, that program might open by going to the location where the file is saved and double-clicking the ISO file, or right-click the ISO file, select Open with and choose your preferred DVD burning software.

If you want to use the Windows Disk Image Burner to create an installation DVD, go to the location where the ISO file is saved. Right-click the ISO file and select Properties. On the General tab, click Change and select Windows Explorer for the program you would like to use to open ISO files and select Apply. Then right-click the ISO file and select Burn disc image.

If you want to install Windows 10 directly from the ISO file without using a DVD or flash drive, you can do so by mounting the ISO file. This will perform an upgrade of your current operating system to Windows 10.

That works really well on my computer as well... this new Windows 11 is going to require Secure Boot enabled to install it. You can install inside of windows as a upgrade, but a clean boot doesn't seem like it's going to work very well. I'm still experimenting with different ways to get it to work with Secure Boot active. Most of my USB's are 3.0 and I have seen it mentioned they often don't work correctly... so I'm going to try a USB 2.0 drive.

I tried out something different... a PNY USB 2.0 drive with secure boot enabled. I created the media using Rufus Tool and FAT32. Since my .ISO image is less than 4GB, it worked using FAT32 format. If the image is larger than 4 GB it requires a split of the .ISO file. I'm not sure about how to do this at this point. Dell has a tutorial on how to do this... Windows 10 ISO contains WIM file that is big for FAT32 file system Dell US.

It did work, I was able to boot into the PNY USB 2.0 drive with Secure Boot enabled and everything worked as it should. It's apparent that my computer isn't USB 3.0+ drive compatible using UEFI Secure Boot mode. My other USB 3.0 drives work if you turn Secure Boot off... even then they don't always show up correctly.

Sometimes I get lucky and figure thing out on my own, it's always nice to get ideas from other users... you never know what you may discover. Thanks for input... it inspired me to try something new that I haven't tried before.

I have several laptops/PCs with Windows 10 that I want to upgrade to the latest Windows 10 version (Creators' Upgrade). To speed things up and avoid re-downloading the same stuff over and over, I've used the Media Creation Tool to build a USB stick with the installation media. Now I'm running setup.exe from the stick, and everything is going well.

At what point can I remove the USB stick to start the upgrade on the next PC? Do I need to wait until the entire upgrade is finished, or does Windows have all the necessary files on the upgrading PC at one point, and if so, how can I tell when to unplug the stick?

Early on in the process Windows will copy all the files it needs from the USB drive to your hard drive. Typically when the first reboot starts, you can remove it. In the unlikely event that the installation process needs it again, it will ask for it.

Wasn't paying attention when it got to that process and it started all over again right before my eyes. So when it gets to the end of the second process "#2" on the screen, you can yank the USB out and it should be good.

After experimenting, I've successfully removed the installation media immediately after the "Copying Windows Files" stage, IE, as soon as "getting file ready for installation" starts. I've done this on all the computers and suffered no ill effects.

Note: The following method for reinstalling Windows is exclusively applicable to devices with x86/x64 architecture. For devices with ARM architecture (such as the Qualcomm CPU platform), you can refer to this article for operating system reinstallation: Cloud Recovery within MyASUS in WinRE - Introduction.

If your device encounters serious issues (such as being unable to enter the operating system) and you have not previously created a recovery drive (learn more about How to create and use Windows recovery drive), you can try using installation media to reinstall the Windows operating system. To use installation media for reinstalling Windows, you will need another device that can connect to the internet (if your device is unable to enter the operating system) and an empty USB flash drive (at least 8GB of space) to create the installation media for Windows.

Note: Reinstalling Windows using Microsoft's installation media will not retain personal files or ASUS bundled applications. Some programs may not be available for download from the ASUS website. If needed, please contact the ASUS service center for assistance. Learn more about How to search for and download utilities.

I'm making a new post for this since no one has given any satisfactory answers on either of the two other threads for this problem (links at bottom). The error is that when installing iCloud on Windows 11, it is not detecting the computer already has Media Features installed and turned on. The following error pops up:

The problem is, I am not using an N version of Windows. I am using a full version of Windows 11, and I have Media Features already installed and turned on. Some of the help threads I've seen elsewhere tell the users to go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off > Media Features, and to turn it on manually. Mine was always on, so this is clearly not the problem.

None of the threads I have found have a satisfactory answer. Link 1 below provides a link to a random website with a download, but I don't consider than an "answer" to this problem, because I don't download mystery links. At least 100 other people have said they have this problem.

I had the same problem with my Windows 10 22H2 computer. The message is very misleading, clicking Download doesn't actually take you to a download. Here's what I did to make the error message go away. Hope this work for you all!!

Same problem here. In my case, I'm getting the error message not on installing iCloud but after several years of successfully using it. The error doesn't cripple iCloud. I don't use all features of iCloud but the ones that I do still work. The only nuisance is the error message popping up. I can't get rid of it. When I close it, it comes back a few minutes later.

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