How to: Create a bootable ISO file from your Windows 10 Download for reinstallation
Technical Level : Basic
Summary
The primary method of delivery for Windows 10 will be through Windows Update. Microsoft also provides ISO media, but if you are are already downloading Windows 10 through Windows Update, why not create your own? This is convenient for reinstall purposes especially if you need to perform a repair upgrade. Windows 10 already provides a recovery drive and reset pc functions, but these are limited by clean installs. Creating a ISO from the same PC you upgraded is also convenient if you have a second computer running a qualifying previous version of Windows you would like to upgrade, so it significantly saves on banwidth.
Details
Please note, if you plan to use this same ISO image to install or upgrade another computer, it must be running the same edition or at least have a product key that can activate it.
After downloading Windows 10 through Windows Update, a copy of the installation file called a Install.esd (Electronic Software Delivery) is created in the folder C:\$Windows.
Press Windows key + R
Copy the Install.esd file from the folder to your Downloads or Documents folder.
If you don’t see it, enable Show hidden files and folders.
Download the latest version of ESD Decrypter
(use 7zip to extract the compressed file)
Extract esd-decrypter-wimlib-4.7z to a folder.
You will need a free software called 7zip to do this:
After you have extracted the files, put the appropriate .ESD file you downloaded into that same folder.
Right click decrypt file in the same folder and click Run as administrator
Select option 2
When complete, burn to a blank DVD or create a bootable copy on a USB thumbdrive.
Preparing the .ISO file for installation.
See instructions for burning .ISO files in Windows 7 or later:
You can also use the Microsoft USB/DVD Tool, which is recommended for Windows XP users.
For UEFI based systems
If your computer is UEFI based, these are normally systems that come pre-loaded with Windows 8 or later, you will need to prepare the ISO file for such a configuration or you will receive an error message during setup. The thumbdrive needs to be formatted as FAT32 and use the GPT partitioning scheme. To do this, you need to use Rufus, a small tool you can download for free.
Rufus — credit: Pete Batard/Akeo
After you have installed Rufus:
- Launch it
- Select ISO Image
- Point to the Windows 10 ISO file
- Check off Create a bootable disk using
- Select GPT partitioning for EUFI firmware as the Partition scheme
- Choose FAT32 NOT NTFS as the File system
- Make sure your USB thumbdrive in the Device list box
- Click Start
- Close when complete
Otherwise, you download the official ISOs from Microsoft or use the one that will be provided as part of your upgrade.
How to install the latest Windows 10 build from within Windows 8.1 or Windows 7
Comments (62)
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Windows Insider MVP 2018-current and Moderator
Dell Inspiron 5590 — i5 10210U/12GB DDR4/ 4GB Nvidia MX230/ 512GB nvme
https://www.yourwindowsguide.com
Thank you Andre for another brilliant tutorial.
On a windows 8.1 machine where i am logged in using my insider account i reserved the upgrade to win 10 just a couple of weeks agao after the keys and iso for tech preview were no longer available from MS. I can see the Install.esd in the location you describe (it auto downloaded on 28th July) but it is not clear if i should wait for the notification to upgrade and then upgrade before creating the iso as you describe for win 10 or if it is ok just to go ahead and create the iso before the upgrade has been applied?.
EDIT: ahh i just found the reddit option .
Andre, thank you so much a very nice article. Can I use this ISO to do the upgrade? Will it recognize my machine as valid if I use the ISO to upgrade? And last, after I do an upgrade then can I do a clean install?
As I understand it first you must upgrade to register your machine with MS then you can do a clean install from then on out, correct?
There seems to be a lot of folks facing activation issues on their new upgrade and others are having issues on their old windows version install with things like windows updates errors and corrupt downloads as well as GWX app issues.
The upgrade is seamless if you just go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and click the «Download Tool Now» button for the architecture of the machine you are using to either upgrade or create installation media. 🙂 It is worth the time and effort for sure. 😉 The whole process will cost you one hour or less depending on the machine you’re using.
I have not created installation as yet but can confirm the actual upgrade process is very slick.
This was after my reserved copy and Get Windows 10 app (windows updates) method of upgrade failed. The files downloaded but i never got the notification to upgrade. Reviewing windows updates history revealed there had been many failed attempts at installing the win 10 upgrade. I used the deleting whole directory and refreshing registry to get windows updates to try redownloading upgrade files but failed again with same and similar error codes.
There is no need to use the deleting $Windows.
BT directory method (which has appeared to get the upgrade in ok for some) as the Download Tool creates a $Windows.
How to Prepare Bootable Install Media for Windows 10 — DVD, USB or SD Card
NOTE: These instructions reference Windows 10, but they work just as well if you want to create a bootable copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.
Technical Level : Basic
Summary
If you performing a new installation of Windows 10, you might need to prepare bootable install media. The Media you choose to install from will depend on certain factors, such as the Boot Scheme used by your computer (BIOS, UEFI) in addition to the storage device (hard disk partitioning layout). Examples of partitioning layout include MBR (BIOS) and GPT (UEFI). In this article, we show you several ways to create a bootable copy of Windows 10 from an ISO file. An ISO file is a digital replica of a virtual disc, which users will have to make bootable on a blank DVD, USB thumb drive or SD card.
Details
Before we begin, you need to have a copy of Windows 10 ISO file. See the following article for instructions how to download a ISO image for Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool:
NOTE: Microsoft no longer provides direct access to Windows 10 ISO images from the Microsoft Techbench website for computers running Windows 7, Windows 8.0, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. You can still download the ISO image from computers running earlier versions of Windows such as Windows XP, Windows Vista or alternative operating systems such as Linux or macOS.
After downloading the Windows 10 ISO, you need prepare it, this is especially important for Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows.
You can use the built in Disc Image burning tool or Microsoft .iso to USB/DVD tool to create a bootable DVD or USB (requires a blank DVD) or Rufus, a third party program that can create a bootable USB flash stick (requires at least 8 GBs).
After downloading the .ISO file, right click it and click Burn disc image
Insert a blank DVD
Windows 8/8.1 users can mount the .ISO file then start the upgrade automatically. Learn more here
Important:
If you are creating a bootable USB thumb drive, make sure the thumb drive is first formatted as FAT32.
Connect the thumb drive
Right click thumbdrive
Make sure FAT32 is selected as the file system.
For UEFI based systems
If your computer is UEFI based, these are normally systems that come pre-loaded with Windows 8 or later, you will need to prepare the ISO file for such a configuration or you will receive an error message during setup. The thumb drive needs to be formatted as FAT32. If you are installing on a hard disks that is 4 TBs or more in size, you need to format the disk using the GPT partitioning scheme. Rufus ensures your copy of Windows 10 is properly prepared to support it.
After downloading Rufus, connect your thumb drive, launch Rufus application, click in the Device list box then choose your thumb drive.
Click in the list box then choose your partition scheme. If you select the ISO, Rufus will automatically select the appropriate options for you. Next, click in the File system list box, then choose FAT32. If your thumb drive is larger than 32 GBs, choose exFAT.
Leave the default Cluster size then enter a label for your thumb drive.
Click the choose disk image icon, browse to where the ISO file is located, select it then click Open.
Click Start to copy the files to the thumb drive.
If you have any files on the thumb drive, they will be deleted.
Wait while the files are copied to your thumb drive.
Close when complete
Open File Explorer, then launch setup to begin the installation.
If you are performing a clean install see instructions how to configure your BIOS or UEFI firmware:
Create a Windows 10 USB Bootable Flash Drive (Updated)
Here’s a look at using the utility called Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10 which is actually much faster than Microsoft’s tool.
Usually, when we cover creating bootable USB drives for Windows, we recommend the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (time to update that name Microsoft), but I’ve had some problems creating one and started looking for a different option.
So this time around, I thought I would try the free utility called Rufus. Here’s a look at using it, and in the end, I had a faster experience using it than the older Microsoft tool.
Update: To get the ISO for the official release of Windows 10, head to this Microsoft page and download the 64 or 32-bit version of the media creation tool. It will allow you to upgrade your Windows 7 SP 1 or Windows 8.1 PC, or download the ISO to use later for a clean install.
Create Windows 10 Technical Preview USB Drive
First of all, make sure you download the Windows 10 Technical Preview by joining the Windows Insider Program as explained in this article. Also, make sure you’re using a USB drive that is at least 4 GB for the 32-bit version and 8 GB for the 64-bit version.
One of the first cool things about Rufus is that no installation is necessary, which means you can stick it on a network location, or another external drive to run it. When you run it, setting it up is simple. Select the USB drive you want to use, select your partition scheme – it’s worth noting that Rufus also supports a bootable UEFI drive.
Then select the disc icon next to the ISO drop-down and navigate to the location of your official Windows 10 ISO.
After that click Start and you should be good to go, within minutes. If you want to be extra careful, check the option to check the device for bad blocks. I didn’t do that, and my bootable drive turned out fine.
In my experience, using the older USB 2.0 port and drive, it took less than five minutes to create the drive. If you use a USB 3.0 or 3.1 device, I would love to know how fast that works.
Anyway, after it’s created, you can go ahead and install the Windows 10 Technical Preview on a spare computer.
Let us know what you think of this tool over Microsoft’s Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool, for me; I am going to continue to use Rufus – at least until Microsoft updates or recreates a new utility – if it does at all.
And yes, of course, you can use this to create other versions of Windows or Linux distros from an ISO if you wish.
86 Comments
Hi Brian, it took under 2 minutes when I tried Rufus for Windows 8, using USB 3.0, works great, as seen on video:
http://TinkerTry.com/rufus-takes-2-minutes-to-create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-for-esxi-installation
Glad you confirmed Rufus still works nicely with Windows 10, and it sure is good to find somebody making quality freeware!
Rufus works great for folks that use VMware ESXi as well, where the bootable USB media becomes your install target too:
http://TinkerTry.com/rufus-takes-2-minutes-to-create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-for-esxi-installation
BIOS does not detect the drive 🙁
make sure your using the correct partition scheme.
i’m on to you jiggman. ever since you started using my partition scheme i’ve been tracking you. i’m down to a margin of error of 3 kilometres and i’ll be improving that soon.
do i need to format the flash drive ?
can i use the flash drive for normal purposes after flashing an iso file?
absolutely!
I create my drives and put the software I need when I’m on the go. Just grab a big enough usb drive and you’re good to go.
Awesome! I’m just not brave enough yet to install Windows 10 yet. Looks like I’ll be dumping it onto a VM this week.
Windows 10 works fine in VMware player.
I’m using Rufus to create the bootable USB drive for this Windows 10 installation and I elected to use the “check device for bad blocks” option and it’s taking forever to create the drive. It’s been running now for over an hour and it’s only about 1/8 the way across the progress bar. Not sure why it’s taking so damned long. But, I’m gonna be patient. Not sure yet whether or not I’m really going to install Win 10 on this laptop I have. I have the laptop set up for a dual boot with Linux Mint17 and Win Vista and I don’t really want to lose the Linux installation when I install Win 10. Any comments about this. Don’t really care about the Vista one.
Since linux uses a different kind of format then windows the only way to install windows over it is to purposefuly delete the linux partition when installing so you should be good just to install 10 over vista.
it happened to me i had to manually format the partitionfrom bio sthen reset bios and then boot from dvd to install windows
“check device for bad blocks” is what takes the time. the application must read and write data to every block on the flash drive, the larger the flash drive the longer it takes. Just start it and let it go.
Bios can’t detect the usb 🙁
Um, coz it’s probably checking each sector for bad blocks as you instructed it. This does take ages.
when it is checking for ‘bad blocks’, it is checking that every byte on the drive is working correctly. There is no need to use this unless you want to make sure that every piece of the drive is working.
David…….because I had booted up this computer of mine into Win Vista (even though I also had Linux Mint 17 installed under a dual boot setup) that it’s not possible to just replace Vista with the Win 10 trial and you think if I remove Linux then I will be able to do that? I’m not sure I really want to do that though. Maybe if I can figure out how to save the Linux Mint 17 installation somehow so I can go back to it if I want to later then I’ll give it a try. Time to do some research on that possibility. Thanks for your comment. I was kinda convinced it was just not going to be possible to install the trial evaluation of Win 10 on a Vista machine, but now it might still be an option.
David……OK I wasn’t aware of that …..even though I had booted up the computer under Win Vista…. that you think the Linux installation is interfering with me trying to do the Win 10 USB boot? I just assumed that I was going to be able to keep my Linux Mint 17 installation and replace Vista. So….If I can figure out how to back up the Linux installation so I could reinstall it later I might remove it to give Win 10 a try. Time to research that at the Linux website. Thanks for your comments.
I don’t recommend the “check for bad blocks” option. I have a usb3.0 flash drive and it is 36% completed after 20 minutes. Simple math says that will be 2 hours to complete the check.
If you only have one computer and one drive to install Win10 to and are taking a one way trip upgrading your current OS, then maybe you need to make certain your flash drive is 100% error free. Otherwise, if you are installing to a partition, to a second drive, to a secondary computer, to VM, etc., don’t do the block check. Worst that happens you will have to start over. But starting fresh would still take less time than completing the block check.
BTW, Rufus says “Cancelling may leave the device in an UNUSABLE state.” Not wanting to brick a flash drive, I am now completing the block check. Probably okay to cancel it, but I’m not in a hurry.
Dear Sir
thanks a lot of your Sir for this .biy when i install win 10 tp it asks for the keys and when i enter the keys provided by the microsoft on their downloading page it says we would not …………….i mean it is not installing on my laptop/ and i have win 7 32 bit.plz help me sir.i will be highly obliged to you.thanks
Great tutorial! As far as I know, currently there are only two freeware: Rufus and ISO2Disc (http://www.top-password.com/iso2disc.html), which supports making UEFI / GPT bootable disk from ISO image.
Easy2Boot, SARDU and WinSetupFromUSB are multiboot tools which allow you to UEFI boot multiple Windows Installers.
Using a USB 3.0 flash drive for the 64bit version it took 3 minutes and 35 seconds. 😉
External HDD USB3 64bit 1 min.
if you extract windows 10 split iso into usb then it will be working you can get split files here
http://fullfreeversion.com/windows-10-download-iso/
I’m not sure I understand what exactly this does. Does it create a flashdrive that I can boot and run Windows 10 from or does it just create a bootable flash drive to use for installing Windows 10 on other computers?
H Arment…….. Initially, I thought that it just created a bootable flash drive to run Win 10 from, but it actually installs it. I say this because I pulled out the flash drive I used and cranked up the computer without it and Win 10 started up and ran just like it had done previously. So……not sure what’s going to happen with this installation once the evaluation period is over and MS releases their final build…….probably have to give them a bunch of money or forfeit my installation. I would guess.
I have only run Win 7 previously, but so far I’m pretty satisfied with my Win 10 experience.
Thanks Ron. I don’t care to get rid of my Win 7 install so I was looking for something that I could run the Win 10 TR from without having to install it over my Win 7 setup. Guess I will have to keep looking.
What you “can” do is learn about how to set up a dual boot system. I did this with an old desktop I had Win 7 on, but wanted to learn about Linux systems. I ended up able to have a dual boot set up that gave me the choice at startup as to which operating system I wanted to use. This will probably take some serious research and learning, however, to get it properly set up, but it’s all out there on the Internet.
This Rufus tool is soo much better than the windows version. It free, doesn’t require an install and it small in size. Can’t wait to try out window 10. It looks awesome.
Thanks for introducing me to Rufus. It works amazingly, which makes it my new “go to” bootable USB tool.
FYI, using a SanDisk Extreme 64 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive (SDCZ80-064G-X46), it took a total of 45 seconds to complete the process for the most recent public release (Windows10_TechnicalPreview_x64_EN-US_9926.iso).
Windows 10 is the best among all the previous versions
Thanks for the simple and awesome guide for creating Windows 10 bootable flash drive.
00:03:21 – Windows 10 @ USB 3.0
When you say “At _least_ 8GB” does that mean _useable_ space or just the nominal space as in “This is an 8GB USB stick”. The ‘8GB’ USB stick that I have actually has only 7.8 or so useable.
This utility does not work on any of the 256GB SD Cards I have. I boot Windows 8.1 from a USB drive with a 256GB SD card, but rufus does not see this 256GB SD card for some reason, NTFS (PNY)
thanks dude. it really helps me. i got an offer for free window 10 full version. it will download at 29 july and i want to make a bootable dvd of window 10. you helped me bro. again thanks
Hi, great tutorial, just wonder about NTFS file system for the bootable flash drive. Could it be really NTFS (usually FAT32) and does it boot smoothly?
Usb 3.0 took 1.47 Min to complete.
Wow…. Not bad at all. Impressive. Which USB drive do you have?
Hi, you asked about USB 3 speeds.
Using rufus and a 32GB Sandisk Extreme Stick it took 1.5 minutes to
to copy to the stick.
Awesome tutorials.. I will try this to install win10 to my PC
Thankyou
I have gotten a Windows 10 Pro – RESTORE SET – (lenovo sent me 4 dvds) today. That kinda suprised me – as the LAPTOP I bought from them (ordered direct from lenovo) DOES NOT HAVE A DVD player on it.
So I called tech support and they told me to use the WIN10 USB tool ; and also referred me to your website – to use your tool; to make a BOOTABLE USB.
However; its like the “chicken & egg” situtation here > I need a dvd player to FIRST CREATE an ‘iso’ image. There after I can load using your tool( or MS one) to the USB ….(that info I feel i gotten right> pls correct me if am NOT!)
so to my question:
Lenovo seems to have sent me 4 DVDs with Windows 10 Pro – that uses their OWN tool(s) to ‘expand each dvd to a temp area and then > install using some kinda script etc …….
a) How do I CREATE an ‘iso” from these Dvds?
b) pls help me with any way around to install Win10 Pro ( on this laptop that boots to an error = windows cannot load correctly”) from factory Dvds supplied (when no laptop dont have any dvd players.?
My only option is RETURN for REFUND (dont that with 3 other laptop so far) > maybe i should give up @!@ lol
Thanks in advance
This article explains how to make ISO images from DVDs:
Mike, It might be mutch easier for you to get an external USB DVD Writer drive, they are not expensive.
First restore your system using the restore DVD’s you have by booting from the external drive.
Once your system is fully installed, and setup how you like it.
You can then use disk image backup software like Acronis Trueimage to make a full image of your system.
You can then use YUMI multiboot creator to make a bootable Acronis recovery stick.
This way you can restore a full image of your drive in minutes directly from a usb stick.
You can download/create an ISO image using the Media Creation Tool that Microsoft provides. From there, you can use Rufus to make a USB drive your bootable device.
The media creation tool does not work with manufacturers recovery disc sets they are specific to the manufacturer and not recognised as microsoft iso’s.
If the recover discs are not available as iso’s then just rip the disc with an iso utility and then install from a fast USB stick,using rufus or yumi, mutch faster than installing via CD drive
May be it has worked with the Windows 10 preview.
But yesterday I downloaded the Windows 10 final 64 bit in english and Rufus fails to copy it on my USB stick: ISO image extraction failure.
Try, a tool called YUMI instead
You might also have a corrupted .iso, so try to re-download the official iso and check the size.
It works with yumi have installed it myself, just use the Windows Vista/7/8 option under Other OS.
I use easy2boot. It’s great. All I need to do is copy the 32bit, 64bit, home and pro isos in the windows 10 folder! No need to bother extracting anything.
With YUMI you dont need to extract the iso, it does it for you.
Just select OS from the drop down box.
But remember installing this way takes mutch longer than making an image.
One you have a clean install just make an image and then just re image from usb
this method takes few minutes.
Rather than 20 mins or more with windows installer.
There is a text file you can drop onto the USB that contains your serial key. This saves you having to enter they when you are installing. I just can’t remember the filename or the format.
worked great. with windows media creation tool would not detect my cruiser mini
Thx! I’ll tri right now!
works for me thanq very much
Sorry but rufus doesn’t detect any device, neither simple USB or HDD via USB
Thanks, it helped a lot.
it says that “Error: iso image extraction failure”
It would be a really great help if someone can help me with this 🙁
Using image: en_windows_10_education_version_1511_x64_dvd_7223856.iso
Format operation started
Requesting disk access…
Opened drive \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2 for write access
Will use ‘G:’ as volume mountpoint
I/O boundary checks disabled
Analyzing existing boot records…
Drive has a Rufus Master Boot Record
Volume has an unknown Partition Boot Record
Deleting partitions…
Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures…
Erasing 128 sectors
Partitioning (MBR)…
Closing existing volume…
Waiting for logical drive to reappear…
Formatting (NTFS)…
Using cluster size: 4096 bytes
Quick format was selected
Creating file system…
Format completed.
Writing master boot record…
Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
Set bootable USB partition as 0x80
Using Rufus MBR
Found volume GUID \\?\Volume<84858c4d-39b2-11e5-825d-eca86ba9075b>\
Opened drive \\?\Volume <84858c4d-39b2-11e5-825d-eca86ba9075b>for write access
Writing partition boot record…
Using Standard NTFS partition boot record
Confirmed new volume has an NTFS boot sector
Successfully remounted Volume<84858c4d-39b2-11e5-825d-eca86ba9075b>\ on G:\
Copying ISO files…
Extracting files…
Image is an UDF image
Extracting: G:\autorun.inf (128 bytes)
Extracting: G:\boot\bcd (16 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\boot.sdi (3 MB)
Extracting: G:\boot\bootfix.bin (1 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\bootsect.exe (109.3 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\en-us\bootsect.exe.mui (16.5 KB)
Error reading UDF file /boot/en-us/bootsect.exe.mui
Found USB device ‘Multiple Flash Reader USB Device’ (. )
Device eliminated because it appears to contain no media
Found USB 2.0 device ‘Kingston DT 101 G2 USB Device’ (0951:1642)
Found USB 2.0 device ‘StoreJet Transcend USB Device’ (174C:5106)
NOTE: This device is an USB 3.0 device operating at lower speed…
Device eliminated because it was detected as an USB Hard Drive (score 16 > 0)
If this device is not an USB Hard Drive, please e-mail the author of this application
NOTE: You can enable the listing of USB Hard Drives in ‘Advanced Options’ (after clicking the white triangle)
Found USB 2.0 device ‘Generic- Compact Flash USB Device’ (058F:6363)
Device eliminated because it appears to contain no media
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 941, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x002F1E8F
Drive has a Rufus Master Boot Record
Partition 1:
Type: NTFS (0x07)
Size: 7.2 GB (7746349056 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Boot: Yes, Recognized: Yes