Windows 10: Microsoft Releases Windows 10 S ISO to Developers, Education Customers

Meh, same error only at 94% and install.wim. I have no idea what's going on? If I click skip it just errors on another file. That's enough for me for today. Not feeling well at all and in no mode for this headache at the moment. Next try will be with a different thumb drive.

 

Looks like it was the thumb drive, used a different one (same manufacturer, same size) and no error. *Smile

EDIT: FYI, thumb drive was formatted in fat32. I've had issues with the 10 multi edition ISO where the wim file was to big to fit on a fat32 formatted drive. File size was to big.

 

FAT32 has a 2GB MAX file size limit. The newer version has a 4GB limit

I format all my bootable thumbdrives in NTFS, just in case.

ExFAT is also a good alternative. Has virtually unlimited file size limit.

 

FAT32 has been 4GB max for Donkey's years. I cannot remember it ever being 2GB.

 

I customize install images all the time, my install.wim files are very seldom under 4 GB which rules out using fat32.

I use this UEFI:NTFS tool to make a small fat32 partition for bootloader on USB drive, rest of the drive being then NTFS which allows larger WIM files to be used: GitHub - pbatard/uefi-ntfs: UEFI:NTFS - Boot NTFS partitions from UEFI

BTW, Rufus can make it automatically.

 

That's great except if your trying to do a UEFI install. A lot of PC's won't let you install in UEFI mode from an NTFS formatted thumb drive. Your only option is Legacy. My wife's Acer laptop won't boot from an NTFS thumb drive period. No way no how. This thumb drive was already all setup as fat32 and tagged as active. I just replaced the Windows 10 install files already on it with the new ones from the new ISO.

 

Read my post just before yours.

 

I read it. My point is, if you do it the normal way, one single NTFS partition, it ain't happening. That's all. Last time I checked the MCT was still Fat32 compatible. For most people installing Home or Pro it should be more than adequate.

 

There's also the question of drivers, of which Microsoft warns:

 

What's the issue? I see none. Just use Rufus selecting NTFS:





That automatically creates a small fat32 partition named UEFI_NTFS (yellow highlight) at the end of the drive which takes care of the boot then transfers control to NTFS partition (green highlight):





Rufus makes all this automatically, works like a charm.

That will change quite soon, WIM files are approaching the 4 GB limit and now with S edition already over it. You need to adapt for changing facts.

 

I always use Rufus, it's small, fast and works like a dream. So much important functionality put into such small binary. *Smile

 

Hey if that works for you great. IMHO, RUFUS is overcomplicated with too many settings to get wrong for the average Joe. Just "My Opinion", if it works for you have at it. I don't and won't recommend RUFUS to anyone. I recommend using the MCT. Which I expect will continue working. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't it use an install.esd file instead of a wim file?

 

In other news, 10-S will let you setup with a Microsoft ID. I only mention this because 10 Education won't. And oddly, mine activated with a Digital Licence without me ever entering a key? I clicked "I don't have one" with the intent to enter latter. It must have activated off of my 10 Home DL?

 

I still use the Windows 7 USB Tool! *Rolleyes

 

OK, so you do not advice Insiders? I mean, MCT can't do Insider builds. Anyway, the WIM file size is approaching the limit, soon even you have to adapt.

And what about Rufus being complicated with too many settings? The screenshot in my post you quoted shows everything (all four settings) you need to select: Target drive, Partition scheme, File system and ISO file used. That's it, you can now create ISO that can boot a UEFI / GPT computer, regardless how big files it contains as long as your USB drive is big enough to store them.

Windows 10 S is basically PRO edition without ability to run Win32 applications (exception: native Windows Win32 apps), you should have noticed this already when setting up the initial user account. Home edition does not allow you to choose to set up a personal or domain / Azure AD account, whereas Windows 10 S setup stops to ask this question.

Next clue is that it can run Hyper-V virtualization and has group policies, both elements missing from Home edition.

It will be automatically activated if the machine has a previous digital license for PRO edition.