Bootable Windows 10 USB drive

[Shodan]

Yeah, I know about Rufus, but I already used the media creation tool from Microsoft, so before I download Windows 10 all over again, I want to know if what I did worked. I'm not going to test it on my only PC with everything on it.

I remember a few years ago when I used the media creation tool from Microsoft as you're supposed to, my USB wasn't bootable for some reason, maybe I messed something up.

I think all it did was put the setup.exe and stuff on the USB so that you can run it on a PC that already has Windows installed on it.

Well, I gave it another shot this time, I selected "create bootable media for a new PC" rather than "upgrade this one" (something like that) and then I selected my USB drive and let it automatically do the thing. I didn't create an ISO and then manually transfer it to the USB drive or anything like that.



TL;DR - Does the Windows 10 media creation tool actually make the USB drive bootable or is it just intended for the USB drive to be plugged into a PC that already has Windows installed on it where you'd run a setup.exe? Once again, I know about Rufus, but I already used this thing.

[Omega]

You can just test it on your PC. It will not delete any data unless you tell it to. Just plug the bootable flash drive you created in and boot from it. If it successfully starts up the installer you succeeded.

[Shodan]

Originally posted by Omega:

You can just test it on your PC. It will not delete any data unless you tell it to. Just plug the bootable flash drive you created in and boot from it. If it successfully starts up the installer you succeeded.

Yeah, obviously... I'm an idiot, thanks, no idea how I forgot that.

[Shodan]

Originally posted by Omega:

You can just test it on your PC. It will not delete any data unless you tell it to. Just plug the bootable flash drive you created in and boot from it. If it successfully starts up the installer you succeeded.

Oh and what do you think about Windows 11 in general compared to 10, just out of curiosity? I know you're really active here for years.

[Shodan]

Originally posted by UberFiend:

I have one in a drawer but haven't had to use it, do you need to move USB to the 1st drive in BIOS?

If I remember correctly, all that has to be done is press something like F12 while the PC is booting up and select the USB drive right after, then the Windows setup runs and that's all.

[Omega]

Originally posted by unturorum:

Originally posted by Omega:

You can just test it on your PC. It will not delete any data unless you tell it to. Just plug the bootable flash drive you created in and boot from it. If it successfully starts up the installer you succeeded.

Oh and what do you think about Windows 11 compared to 10? I know you're really active here for years.

I haven't used Windows 11 yet. But from what I heard and read it is basically just a reskinned Windows 10 which is more locked down and anti-consumer than the previous one.

Microsoft is going all in with using dark patterns now. They give you choice (Because they have to) yet try everything to make you choose what they want you to choose by hiding settings or making it a lot of work to change anything. You manually having to change 50 different settings to make Firefox or Chrome your default browser while Edge can do the same with one click being a good example.

[Shodan]

Originally posted by Omega:

Originally posted by unturorum:

Oh and what do you think about Windows 11 compared to 10? I know you're really active here for years.

I haven't used Windows 11 yet. But from what I heard and read it is basically just a reskinned Windows 10 which is more locked down and anti-consumer than the previous one.

Microsoft is going all in with using dark patterns now. They give you choice (Because they have to) yet try everything to make you choose what they want you to choose by hiding settings or making it a lot of work to change anything. You manually having to change 50 different settings to make Firefox or Chrome your default browser while Edge can do the same with one click being a good example.

Ah well, in any case, I'm sticking with 10 for now and when I build a new PC, hopefully the programs I use will be further optimized for 11, bugs ironed out and some of these issues with extra clicks fixed. Like, I heard that you can no longer drag stuff to and from the taskbar, but I never even knew this was a thing anyway because I just use the pin option and then never touch it again since 98. I don't get why remove something like that, but I personally couldn't care less. Anyway, thanks.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Also if you have an older Win10 or 11 bootable USB Flash Drive; wipe it clean and remake it every so often. As the build of the OS that is on it would then be sorely outdated. If you ever go to do a clean install it will help to be clean installing what build is current. Avoiding a bunch of upgrades/updates that using an older one would cause. Plus if you build or buy a newer system, sometimes older builds of Win10 can be a real problem.

[Shodan]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Also if you have an older Win10 or 11 bootable USB Flash Drive; wipe it clean and remake it every so often. As the build of the OS that is on it would then be sorely outdated. If you ever go to do a clean install it will help to be clean installing what build is current. Avoiding a bunch of upgrades/updates that using an older one would cause. Plus if you build or buy a newer system, sometimes older builds of Win10 can be a real problem.

Yeah, I've just made this one and it works, yay. No idea what went wrong when I tried a couple of years ago, it just wasn't bootable and it seemed like it was meant to be ran on a PC that already has Windows installed by opening the setup.exe rather than BIOS...

Also, do you guys just love that feeling when you do a clean install of Windows? I hate when I've been on the same installation for years and then I've got tons of cache and other junk that piled up over years, possibly a bunch of corrupt stuff and a ton of garbage that I don't even remember downloading anymore and so on. When that happens, I don't even want to bother doing anything on my PC. Doing a clean install is such a priceless feeling, I just love knowing that every single little thing is freshly installed, knowing where every single thing is and what I have on my PC and what I don't and so on. I love it.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Win10/11 doesn't really have that issue of "junk piling" up.
It pretty much does a clean install of your OS whenever you install a Feature Update. Just that its an "in-place OS upgrade" and your Apps & Settings are carried over. The old OS gets moved to "c:\windows.old"

To clean up OS junk over time, run Disk Cleanup (Run As Admin) and select everything except for the "Downloads" folder option.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

another option is windows installed on the usb

its called usb on the go

you can use your personal usb on any computer you want and it saves your software and changes on usb like a mini computer