FlashBoot: Create a current copy of Windows to USB Flash Drives

FlashBoot is one program with two versions, one free and one paid, which, among many others, can be used to create a standalone running copy of Windows to a USB Flash Drive.

With the free version you can create an installation of Windows 7, 8.1 or Windows 10 on a USB Flash drive as well as other additional features such as installing DOS or UEFI on a USB Flash drive or running various commands on the USB drive such as a quick format or a safe deletion. The paid version adds other interesting features, such as the ability to copy the active installation of Windows to the USB drive (clone) that you can later run from the drive.

Note that you need an ISO image of the operating system you want to install on the USB drive. You can use third-party programs or a third-party service such as Adguard or you are downloading Windows 10 and other Windows versions from Microsoft.

The free version of FlashBoot is available as an installation version and is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system. The program displays the following startup screen when you run it after installation.

The two main options are listed at the top. With the first you can configure a USB Flash drive with which you can install Windows from USB instead of DVD and with the second you can configure a USB drive with which you can install a bootable full version of Windows, independent of your hard drive. The other two options allow you to delete the contents of a USB Flash drive, and save existing content to another storage location or restore its contents.

Choose Full OS> USB to get started. The next screen shows all the free and paid options.

The free uses of the program are limited to creating standalone DOS, UEFI Shell, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 installations (the latter two for BIOS or UEFI computers).

After you do one choice, you are prompted to select an ISO or ESD image or insert a CD or DVD with the Windows image, as it is used as a source for the installation.

You are then asked to select which version of Windows is in the image, the USB drive you want to use as the installation unit, and finally select a volume label (optional).

At the end of the construction you can run Windows from USB. It is recommended that you use Flash quickly for this, as you may encounter a slow load. You'll need to set up the operating system when you run it for the first time.