Installing the Windows 10 from bootable USB stick: The days of burning DVDs to install an operating system are long gone. Today the installation is easily done from a USB which is much more convenient as the installation speed is much faster than the installation from a DVD. Let's see how you can flash Windows 10 setup to a bootable USB stick. If you currently have a Windows 8 system then you will need software third-party tools like 7-Zip archiver to extract Windows 10 contents from ISO file.
Caution! All data from unit USB flash will be deleted, keep a backup of your files before proceeding.
First you need to unzip the ISO file. On Windows 7, use it free and open source archiver 7-zip or install Virtual CloneDrive a software which is also free. It will create a virtual disk from which you will open them pictures ISO to view the files it contains as if from a normal DVD disc.
In Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, you do not need any third-party software to open and edit the contents of the ISO for the USB flash drive. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have built-in support for ISO images. Just double-click the ISO and Windows 8 will create a virtual DVD in the "This PC" folder. Then simply copy and paste the files from the virtual DVD into your USB stick.
Important note: You cannot create bootable Windows 10 USB stick in 64-bit (x64) from a 32-bit (x86) version of Windows. Use 64-bit version to create a 64-bit USB stick. However, you can create a 32-bit (x86) USB drive from the 64-bit version of Windows.
Download Windows 10 if you do not have it, as described here: Download Windows 10 Preview
Open a command prompt with Administrator privileges (Admin). Right-click in the lower left corner of your screen and select it as in the image below
Type the following command:
diskpart
Diskpart is a console utility for disk management in Windows by default. It allows you to run all disk management functions from the command line.
Connect your USB stick.
Type the following at the diskpart command prompt:
list disk
It will show you all of your disks, along with the USB stick attached. Note the drive number with the USB stick.
Now you have to select your USB drive in the diskpart. Type the following, at #, type the USB number that appeared with the list disk command:
sele disk #
Because repeat is always helpful: Where # is the number of the USB stick.
Then type the following command:
clean
This will erase all data from your USB drive.
Note: You can skip this step if you are an advanced user and you know that your USB stick is in the correct file system. If you are not sure, better delete partitions and data.
Then type the following command:
create prime part
The command will create a primary partition to store your data.
You will now need to configure this partition. Use the following command:
format quick
Then type the following command:
active
The command will cause your USB stick to be able to accept the bootloader.
You are done with diskpart. Enter "exit" to leave. You will return to the command line - do not close it.
Double-click the ISO image if you are using Windows 8 to open and copy all files from the ISO image of Windows 10 to the USB stick. This will take a few minutes, depending on the speed of your USB flash drive.
If you are using Windows 7, open the Windows 10 ISO with 7-Zip and extract all the files to your USB stick.
And finally: we need to write a bootloader for the USB stick. Suppose your ISO has the drive letter, D: and is in the This PC / Computer folder, and your USB stick has the drive letter E:
Type the following command at the command prompt:
D: \ Boot \ Bootsect / NT60 E: / force / mbr
This will write the NT6 boot sector for your USB stick. Replace the letters we use in the example with the letters in your operating system.
That's it! Now you can use this USB stick to install Windows 10 on any computer that supports USB boot.
Υ.Γ. Once you have created the bootable USB drive by writing the boot sector, as long as you do not format the drive, you can simply delete all the files on it and copy newer files from future updated ISOs e.g. you can do this when Windows 10 reaches the RTM stage.
