How to Install Windows 10 from a USB Drive in Minutes

Do you want to install Windows 10 on a laptop without a DVD drive and save yourself precious hours of your work schedule by skipping the sluggish DVD read/write speeds and continue with your installation via a blazing fast USB drive?

In this age of fast SSDs and fast wireless internet, laptop and desktop makers are devaluing the use of CD/DVD drives as efficient portable devices.

Hence, USB drives like thumb drives, external hard drives and ISO disk images are highly preferred when installing any operating system on your computer.

This article provides detailed instructions on how to install Windows 10 from USB devices if your computer does not have a CD drive or installation disc.

What are the benefits of installing Windows 10 using a bootable USB drive?

There are many benefits to installing Windows 10 using a bootable USB drive, and learning about them is essential in order to choose this installation media over other devices in the future:

There are a few cases where installing a new copy of Windows 10 over a previous one becomes critical, especially in cases of a severe BSOD error, faulty system files, a corrupted or corrupted hard drive, or simply when upgrading or downgrading your PC.
Correct installation of Windows is possible only if the correct installation files are present. Disc images are conveniently available online, making it faster to copy them directly to a USB flash drive rather than burning them to CD/DVD.
Some Windows 10 All-In-One ISO files require at least 8 GB of disk space on your portable device to begin installing Windows. In such cases, it is preferable to use a bootable USB drive, as only 4 GB of data can be stored on one DVD.
USB sticks are blazing fast and can complete the installation within 10 minutes, and there are many tools available online that make it easy to create a bootable USB stick.

How to install Windows 10 from a flash drive?

Because there are so many benefits to installing Windows 10 using a USB drive on your PC, performing this step can still cause you difficulty if you don’t know the correct procedures for installing the operating system on your device.

The official Windows website has a guide on how to install Windows 10 using the Media Creation tool.

However, they don’t provide the full picture, barring the use of faster third-party tools and not including a brief explanation before moving on to the recommended options.

Thus, this comprehensive article will show you how to install Windows 10 from a USB drive through a series of step-by-step procedures and detailed descriptions. But first, let us know about the prerequisites for the whole process.

Prerequisites for installing Windows 10 USB:

USB flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB. The flash drive will be completely formatted, so make sure there is nothing important inside. (Because they will be removed and erased!)
Windows 10 ISO file (any version) (if you already have it, skip to step 2)
The Tech PC is a fully functional Windows 10 PC connected to the Internet, on which we will download Windows 10 disk images and create installation media using a USB drive.
Target PC – A PC that does not have an operating system installed. If any OS had been previously installed, everything would have been removed!

Recommended system requirements for the smooth operation of Windows 10:

Before you install Windows 10 from a USB drive, make sure your target computer meets the following hardware specifications table. If your PC doesn’t fit certain categories of hardware, be sure to have it upgraded by a PC specialist or refrain from installing Windows 10:

Processor: Intel 8th generation processors (Intel i3/i5/i7/i9-7x), Core M3-7xxx, Xeon E3-xxxx and Xeon E5-xxxx processors, AMD 8th generation processors (A Series Ax-9xxx, E-Series Ex-9xxx, FX-9xxx) or ARM64 processors (Snapdragon SDM850 or later)
RAM: 4 GB (for 32-bit architecture) / 16 GB (for 64-bit)
Hard drive (less recommended): 512 GB minimum for both 64-bit and 32-bit OS.
SSD/NVMe (faster boot times): 128 GB minimum for both 64-bit and 32-bit OS.
Video Card: Any video card that supports DirectX 9 or later.
Screen resolution: 800 x 600, the minimum diagonal size of the main display is 7 inches or more.

Step 1: Download the Windows 10 ISO file to your computer without using the Media Creation Tool.

If you have everything from the Prerequisites except the Windows 10 ISO file, we’ll show you how to ethically obtain the image file from the official Microsoft website.

Users who are well acquainted with the Windows 10 website should also know that there is no other way to download the Windows 10 ISO image without using the Media Creation Tool using the Download Tool Now button.

On the contrary, the steps below will give you an alternative route that skips using the tool:

Open Google Chrome on a Technician PC and go to the Microsoft Windows download website.

Click the three dots icon next to your Google profile picture, expand the More Tools category in the list of options, and select Developer Tools. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + Shift + I to perform the same action.
A new developer tools window will open on the right with a lot of HTML code written inside. Click the three-dot button next to the gear icon, expand the More tools section, and select Network conditions.

In the new “Network Conditions”menu, uncheck “Use Default Browser”next to User Agent, expand the “Custom…”list, and select “BlackBerry – BB10”.
This action imitates your computer as a Blackberry BB10 device and the tool download button will not appear on the Microsoft website because you are using a non-Windows device.
Refresh the Microsoft website without closing the Developer Tools tab and this time you will see a drop down menu where you can select the Windows 10 (multi-serial ISO) you want to download. Click the confirmation button to continue.
Select your Windows 10 product language from the drop-down menu and click Confirm again.

After the website confirms your request, click “32-bit download”or “64-bit download”depending on your processor architecture.
Chrome will begin downloading the ISO file, which may vary in size depending on the version of Windows you choose.

Wait patiently for the download to complete, and you can proceed to the next step: flash the ISO file onto a USB flash drive and make it bootable.

Step 2: Create a bootable USB drive

If you have already purchased the Windows 10 ISO file, then transferring it to a USB drive will be our immediate step. The flash drive must have at least 8 GB of free space, and all important files must be backed up beforehand.

Transferring the Windows setup system files to a USB drive and making it bootable from the BIOS is more difficult than moving the ISO files directly.

Thus, the task is performed by different programs according to the instructions of the three popular USB flashing programs mentioned below:

Create installation media using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool

The Media Creation tool creates a bootable USB device after downloading the ISO file from official Microsoft servers. It uses the latest GPT partition scheme, targets UEFI systems by default to make the USB bootable, and only provides the latest version of Windows 10.

As such, there aren’t many customization options here, but in the end, you have a genuine copy of Windows disk images free of malware and spyware.

Even if you don’t have a Windows 10 install image, you can use Microsoft’s official Media Creation Tool to download it and burn it to a USB drive automatically.

Go to the Windows 10 download page on a technician’s PC and click the Download Tool Now / Download Now button.
Insert the USB flash drive into the PC port and make sure the device is formatted with FAT32 file system.
Double-click the downloaded file in your Downloads folder to open the Media Creation Tool.
The first time you run the tool, it initializes with a few settings.
Click “Accept”to agree to the license agreements before proceeding with USB flashing.
After further processing, select the option “Create installation media (flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC”and click the “Next”button.
If you want to change Windows editions or regional language, uncheck “Use the recommended settings for this PC”and select the appropriate options for “Language”, “Edition”, and “Architecture”. Click Next to continue.
Select the “USB Flash Drive”option and click “Next”.
Select a flash drive from the list of removable drives. If your USB device is not there, plug it back in and click Refresh Disk List. Once selected, click Next to continue.
The Windows 10 ISO file will now automatically download; the percentage indicates the progress of the download.
Once the download is complete, the tool will start creating the Windows 10 media where your USB drive will be cleared and made bootable for any UEFI BIOS after copying the setup system files.
After creating the Windows installation disk, the path to the bootable USB drive is shown below. Click the Finish button to complete the process and clean up any remaining installation files.

Create a Windows Install USB Drive with Rufus

Rufus is one of the best free utilities that helps format and create bootable USB drives from an ISO file that can be pre-presented or downloaded using the built-in ISO downloader.

Rufus is faster and smaller than most of the tools we’ve tested in creating Windows installation media and provides a wide range of customization options depending on the target PC.

Follow the instructions below to create a bootable Windows 10 USB drive using an existing ISO image or by uploading a new one:

Go to the official Rufus website on Technician PC and click on the first link in the Download section.
Once downloaded, plug in your USB drive and run the Rufus-x.xx.exe application from your Downloads folder.
The destination USB drive will automatically be listed under the Device category.
If you have already downloaded the image files from the previous section, click the SELECT button, navigate to the folder where the ISO is stored, click the file, and select the Open button.
If you don’t have an ISO file, click the down arrow next to the SELECT button, check the LOAD button and click it again.
When the download script runs, select your Windows 10 version in the Download ISO Image window and click Continue.
After a while, select your preferred Windows 10 edition version from the drop-down menu and click Continue again. (Latest version is Windows 10 21H2)
Click Continue again after selecting Windows 10 Home/Pro/Edu Edition and regional language.

Select x64 (64-bit) or x86 (32-bit) architecture and click the Download button to download the Windows Setup ISO file. Select a download location and click Save.
The downloaded ISO will be automatically uploaded to Rufus for flashing to the USB stick.

Select a standard Windows installation in the image options section.
If your target computer was purchased within 5 years, or if you have a UEFI BIOS, select GPT under Partition Scheme and UEFI (not CSM) as the target system.

If the destination computer is old or has an outdated BIOS and does not support UEFI-based installs, select MBR from the Partition Scheme menu and BIOS (or UEFI-CSM) as the target system.
Click the START button to start burning the ISO file to the USB drive and make it bootable on the target PC according to the provided options. Select OK on the USB format warning.
After deleting the existing USB files, creating the necessary file system, and copying the ISO files, press the CLOSE button for a few minutes to exit the utility and safely disconnect the USB drive.

Create a Windows installation USB drive with WinToUSB

WinToUSB is another free software utility designed specifically to create a Windows installation media or create a version of Windows that boots directly from a flash drive without any installation.

Follow the instructions below to install the utility and create a fresh install of Windows on any USB drive:

Go to the Technician PC WinToUSB website and click the Download button to get the latest free version.
Once downloaded, run the installation and follow the on-screen instructions to install WinToUSB on your device.
Go to your desktop and double click the Hasleo WinToUSB icon to open the utility.
You can choose to download the ISO file, or use previous Windows 10 installation DVDs and burn them directly to a USB drive. You can also clone your current Windows 10 OS and transfer it to a USB drive. This guide will only show you the ISO flashing method as a demonstration.
Click the “Tools”button in the upper right corner and select the Windows Installation USB Creator button.
Click the Explore button, navigate to the Windows 10 ISO file you downloaded in the previous section, and click Open to download it.
When asked to select a USB device, click the down arrow and select the connected USB drive.

Click the “Yes”button to continue formatting the flash drive.
After cleaning the USB drive, the system partition and the boot partition will be displayed as a partition scheme. Click OK to continue with the recommended settings.

The Win2USB tool will spend a few minutes creating the Windows installation media until the “Operation completed successfully”dialog box appears. Click OK to exit.
Safely remove the USB drive and plug it into the port.

Step 3: Reboot to a bootable USB drive after changing the boot order

Flashing the USB drive with Windows Installer and creating a bootable file completes only the initial steps needed to install Windows 10 on the target PC.

In order for the installation to start successfully, you must set the new PC to boot from a USB flash drive instead of a hard drive or solid state drive, and you must also change the default boot order.

Follow the steps below to boot from the Windows installation media and start installing Windows.

Navigate to the target PC and connect the flash drive where the ISO image file was installed in the previous section.
Turn on your computer (if it’s already off) or click Restart from the Start menu (if it’s already running).

On power up, keep pressing the F10/F12 keys on your keyboard to bring up the boot selection menu. (Contact your PC manufacturer for the correct keyboard setup key to bring up the boot selection menu)
Highlight the UEFI USB device listed in the boot selection menu using the cursor keys on your keyboard and press Enter to select them.
The system will reboot to a bootable USB drive and press any key to begin installing Windows.

Step 4. Start Windows installation and select the HDD/SSD partition.

If your computer’s boot order is set to boot a USB device first, you can start installing Windows from a USB drive.

After booting from the USB drive, you will see the Windows 10 logo with a spinning icon below.
You will be greeted with a Windows setup window where you can select the language, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method from the respective drop-down menu. Click Next to continue.
Click the “Install Now”button.
The installation window will ask for a genuine Windows 10 product key, which you can enter in the box as shown above. If you don’t have one right now, select the “I don’t have a product key”option to activate Windows 10 later.
Select the edition of Windows 10 you want to install on your system and click Next.
Check the “I accept the license terms”box to confirm reading and click “Next”.
If you have previously installed Windows OS on your computer, you will notice 2 types of installation: update and custom. Choose a custom installation type to install a fresh copy of Windows 10 from USB.
You will now see the partition scheme of your hard drive or solid state drive that already exists. If there is no partition table, click the “Create”button.
Select the disk size you want to allocate in one partition and click “Apply”to confirm and successfully create the partition.

Select the partition where you want to install the Windows 10 system files and click the Next button.
Windows Setup will automatically format the partition and start the installation process.

Step 5: Wait for Windows 10 installation to complete and set up the new operating system

Once you’ve finished creating the partition table and selected it as the primary drive where system files are stored, all you need to do is sit back and have a cup of coffee while the setup goes through the following steps:
- Copying Windows files: Transfer system files from a USB flash drive to the system partition.
- Preparing files for installation: unpacking the installation files.
- Installation options: Installation of additional files.
- Install updates: Update installed Windows files.
- Finish: remove all unnecessary Windows installation files.
When the installation is complete, Windows will automatically restart several times. Be sure to unplug your flash drive after restarting your computer.
When a new installation of Windows boots for the first time, you will be prompted for the region you are in. Select a region and click Yes.

Windows will ask you to connect to the Internet and prompt you to sign in to Microsoft with your email address, phone number, or Skype ID. Click “Create an account”if you don’t have a Microsoft account.
After that, follow the on-screen instructions to set up advanced Windows 10 account settings.
Wait a few minutes after the above screen appears and you will be redirected to the Windows 10 desktop screen.

Summarizing

After reading our article, we hope you have learned how to properly install Windows 10 from USB.

FAQ

How to install Windows 10 from a USB drive to Windows 10?

You can install Windows 10 from a USB drive to Windows 10 by doing the following: – By connecting the flash drive to a Windows PC – By formatting the USB drive partition as Fat32 and marking it as active in Disk Management – By copying the Windows installation files to a USB drive – connect the flash drive to a new PC and run the setup files from the BIOS – follow the instructions on the screen to install Windows

How to install Windows 10 on a USB drive and make it bootable?

You can install Windows 10 on a USB drive and make it bootable using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Download the tool from the Microsoft Windows 10 website and follow the on-screen instructions after running it. Select the USB drive option and click the connected USB drive to make it bootable.

Can I install Windows 10 without booting from USB?

Yes, you can easily install Windows 10 without booting from USB. You only need the Media Creation tool to download the latest Windows 10 ISO, mount it from File Explorer, and run setup.exe from the ISO file. Follow the on-screen instructions to perform a clean install of Windows 10 without a USB drive or DVD.

Can I install Windows 10 without a USB or CD?

Yes, you can install Windows 10 without a USB or CD using one of the following methods:- Using the Windows installation files stored on a different partition on the same hard drive.- Using a Windows installation from a PC on a shared network.