For those curious, it's possible to use a Mac to create a Windows 10 boot drive, but the process is fairly involved and requires familiarity with Terminal, the Mac's command-line tool. It's not a process that I'd recommend for the average user. I recently built my first gaming PC, and despite my mild comfort level with Terminal, I still found using a Windows computer to be a safer and easier process.
4. You'll be asked to select the language, edition and architecture you want to use. By default, the tool will use the best options for the PC you're creating the boot drive on. You can change any of the options by unchecking the box next to Use the recommended options for this PC and using the drop-down options. If you're unsure about whether you need a 64-bit or a 32-bit architecture, select Both from the Architecture drop-down.
When the tool is done, click Finish and remove the USB drive from your computer. Going forward, if you need to install or reinstall Windows, you can connect the drive to your computer and reboot it. Your PC should boot to the drive, giving you the option to install Windows.
Not long ago, to install the operating system or to create a rescue disc, there was no other choice than to burn the operating system into a CD/DVD. Though it is nothing hard but CD/DVD method is clunky, not-so user-friendly and majorly laptops are on their way to bury the CD/DVD writer. Thankfully, now we can use USB flash drives but to make it bootable you would need a Bootable Software.
When it comes to creating bootable USB drives in Windows, Rufus is the best, free, open-source, and easy-to-use software. Rufus not only lets you create bootable USB for different kinds of operating systems but you can also use it to flash BIOS, firmware, and run low-level utilities. Add to that, Rufus is much faster than the other apps when it comes to creating bootable Windows USB drives.
If you are a Windows user and the only requirement is to create a bootable USB drive for Windows, then the official tool is for you. As the name suggests, the Windows USB/DVD tool can be used to create both bootable USB and DVD drives.
Etcher is the new kid on the block and the easiest to use bootable software in this list. The main reason to build Etcher was to escape the complexity of selecting multiple options and settings with different Operating-system. It just requires few clicks to convert your SD card or USB into a bootable drive. It supports Windows, Linux based OS and even macOS. Etcher also has a pro variant that is targeted towards enterprises where 100+ drives need to be flashed simultaneously.
The name says it all, Universal USB Installer is a Windows bootable USB tool that lets you create almost any type of bootable USB media. Be it Linux or Windows, special antivirus rescue drives, security, and penetration testing drives, or other low-level bootable drives.
Unlike other software, the best thing about Universal USB Installer is that you can select the operating system from the drop-down menu. Now, as per the selection, it will create bootable media with appropriate settings. For instance, if you want to create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive then you have to first select Ubuntu from the drop-down menu. Further, the software will handle all the complexities of making directories, boot partition, etc.
If you are looking for a highly customizable and feature-rich bootable USB creator then RMPrepUSB is the way to go. Just like with Universal USB Installer, you can create almost any type of bootable USB media. But what makes RMPrepUSB special is its ability to create multi-boot drives, support for multiple image formats, customizable the bootloader options, file system options, and QEMU Emulator.
Just like the Windows USB/DVD tool, UNetBootin is designed to create bootable drives but only for Linux. The good thing about UNetBootin is you can either create a bootable media using an ISO file or you can download the Linux distribution within. When creating bootable media for Ubuntu distribution, you can set aside some space to preserve files across reboots. This feature is especially useful when you want to install software on live bootable drives.
If you are like me and have multiple pen drives with multiple operating systems, rescue software, and antivirus tools then give YUMI a try and see if it fits your needs. I personally use YUMI to create a bootable USB drive with multiple Linux distributions.
WinSetUpFromUSB is yet another popular and feature-rich bootable media creator for Windows. Although it is specifically designed to create bootable Windows drives, you can also create bootable Linux distributions using SysLinux or IsoLinux. Apart from creating Windows bootable drives, WinSetUpFromUSB is also capable of creating bootable media for WinBuilder, WinPE, BartPE, UBCD4Win, etc.
If booting or bootloader sounds new to you, Etcher would be the ideal usb bootable software for you. If you deal only with Windows, Rufus or Windows USB/DVD tool is a good option. For everything else, you can go for YUMI or Universal USB Installer.
Rufus is an open-source and free USB bootable program. You can directly run it by double-clicking on its setup file without installation. This booting software enables you to create a bootable USB for all versions of Windows and Linux. The needed time depends on the drive size, the amount of passes, and USB drive speed.
In addition to making bootable USB drive, Rufus can also be used to flash BIOS and firmware, and run low-level utilities. And it offers you advanced options like partition scheme file system and cluster size while creating a Windows USB bootable drive. These options are beneficial to the creation of BIOS firmware or other low-level devices.
To make a bootable USB drive through this tool, you need to download and install it, and download the ISO file of the target system. Then plug the USB into your PC and run Windows USB/DVD Download Tool. After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process.
WinSetupFromUSB is another multifunctional bootable USB creator for Windows. As it prepares a multiboot USB flash drive or fixed disk, you can install multiple operating systems (like Windows 7, Windows 8, and Linux). It means that you can create more than one sets of Windows setup files and create a program that allows you to create a USB disc that can boot both in BIOS and UEFI. You will be asked which OS would you like to boot while booting from the USB drive.
In addition, WinSetupFromUSB can create bootable media for WinBuilder, WinPE, BartPE, UBCD4Win, etc. Though its interface is simple, it still provides you with advanced options that can be found under the Advanced Options checkbox. Last but not the least, it can test bootable media in QEMU emulator along with other tools like 7-Zip, RMPrepUSB, Bootice, etc.
If you need plug-and-play bootable USB software, WinToUSB is an ideal option. It has a user-friendly interface. It allows you to transfer contents of the Windows PE image to a USB drive so that you can create a bootable Windows PE USB drive. This is the feature what makes it one of the best USB bootable software.
As its name indicates, Universal USB Installer enables you to create any type of bootable USB media. To be specific, it is capable of creating a bootable USB drive for Windows Linux/Vista/7/8/8.1. Moreover, it allows creating USB bootable devices with persistence storage, but please note that it is only available for the selected Linux distributions.
Like WinToUSB, Universal USB Installer also works with USB type C ports. This booting software has a simple interface. Even if you are a beginner, you can create a bootable USB drive on this tool smoothly. Simply choose the operating system from the drop-down menu, choose the ISO file and your USB drive, and then hit Install.
Windows Bootable Image Creator is a lightweight tool to create bootable USB drives from CD/DVD. It is easy to use and compatible with popular operating systems. However, it has limited OS options and few features. As you see in the next picture, its offered OS types only include Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
UNetBootin includes a collection of predefined distributions and system utilities. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux but with a separate file for each OS. It is built to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions.
DiskMaker, built with AppleScript, works on Mac. It can be used with various versions of OS X/macOS, so it can help you build a bootable USB drive from the OS X/macOS installer program. The operation can be done within a few clicks.
You can use Startup Disk Creator. It is native tool in Ubuntu for making bootable USB. Here I found some download page for windows 10, because official microsoft source does not work for me for some reason: www.itechtics.com/windows-10-download-iso.I think you do not need step by step guide how to use Startup Disk Creator, but if so: Create a bootable USB stick on Ubuntu.
EDIT: Apparently the problem is with my computer. The same version of the media creation tool and the same usb drive worked fine in another computer. Does anyone know where the log files for the creation tool are stored?
You might need to include an antivirus, a partition manager and a network diagnosis tool. The program allows you to fetch the bootable images from the internet and to include them on your disk. The recovery tool can be customized by adding any bootable image from an ISO file.
The boot menu can be personalized with folders, files and other items that are useful for the diagnostics. Unfortunately, you cannot preview the menu which means that you have to keep track of the inserted items. The recovery disk can be saved as an ISO file for burning it to a DVD or by creating a bootable disk from a removable USB device. The app automatically detects the connected USB device and turns it into a bootable recovery toolbox.
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