Windows 10: Query for others who use Rufus to create a bootable Win10 flash drive

If you don't tell diskpart to convert to GPT then it will create an MBR, which will have the 1st stage of the BIOS bootloader. The full UEFI bootloader (efi\boot\bootx64.efi) as well as the 2nd stage of the BIOS bootloader (\bootmgr) are copied later from the ISO.

As I mentioned earlier, if the USB drive is MBR and has both BIOS and UEFI bootloaders present then which one is used depends on your system's configured UEFI boot order.

 

I depend on rufus. Easy to create a bootable flash drive. I either use factory "create partition" tool for all Windows versions to format flash drive to fat 32 or let refus do it for me. I select the drive for my flash drive and iso file and select build. I have never played with other settings in refus, and I've always had insecure boot turned on. Never had a problem with refus. MS-DOS BIOS PowerShell 2.0 uefi system. Works the same on any version of Windows and Linux using same settings. Installs the same on both my hp (uefi) and accent 32 bit Dell with standered BIOS pulling flash drive from one unit after install to the other to install. Same method, select iso, select flash drive, refus does rest.

Also, I have recently noticed media creation tool won't do iso download for doing bootable flash drive, but it will do "upgrade this pc"

As I'm waiting for new year to pass to see if media creation tool still works for Windows 8.1 users, I do know Windows 8 media creation tool still works (last tested) and as a complete non-noob, I ran both 8 and 10 creation tools to download iso a long time ago and still have them. Even have multi iso for Windows 7 32/64 home basic to Windows N. You never know when they will no longer allow downloading them, save them when you get them.

 

That would be great. I searched all over TenForums and other forums as well. I cant find a tutorial anywhere on how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive using Diskpart. It would be really handy to have instructions on how to do the whole process using Diskpart..including how to mount the ISO in Windows 10 afterwards.
Happy New Year mate

 

So Diskpart....if you don't manually tell Diskpart to convert to GTP....creates MBR by default which will have the 1st stage of the BIOS bootloader. What about the 1st stage of UEFI bootloader?..my PC is UEFI. I presume it must also have UEFI bootloader too?
I know you say that the 2nd stage of BIOS bootloader and the Full UEFI bootloader are copied later from ISO but what about at the beginning before the ISO is accessed?

Also, Can you tell me if I decide to use the Diskpart method. Bearing in mind my PC is UEFI and my USB flash drive will be in MBR. Does Windows 10 automatically set up windows on my hard disc in GPT format. At what stage does Windows setup make that decision..whether to partition the c:drive (system) in GPT or MBR style?

 

I know that the Diskpart method sets up the USB flash drive with an MBR partition as default. Is that OK for me? My laptop is UEFI. I want to be sure that Windows setup is done in GPT i.e my PC c: drive (system) is GPT.
Does booting up with a USB flash drive with an MBR partition mean that Windows 10 will be installed in MBR too?

 

The USB flash drive, in my opinion, should be MBR partitioned with a FAT32 partition that is marked as active. That is the way Microsoft makes the flash drives, whether it is with the Media Creation Tool, or whether it comes out of a purchased retail boxed version of Windows. If you boot the USB flash drive in UEFI mode, it will partition the hard drive as GPT and set it up for UEFI booting. On your UEFI firmware's boot override menu, there should be a boot menu entry for something like UEFI USB XXXX, where XXXX is the description of the flash drive. As long as you pick the boot menu entry with UEFI in front of it, you will be booting (and installing) in UEFI mode.

 

The UEFI bootloader is just a .efi file located in the \efi folder. There is no need for a separate bootloader in the partition table like MBR uses. The reason MBR has a built-in one is because legacy BIOS did not understand partitions or filesystems so they needed boot code in the MBR to actually locate and load the OS files. Filesystem support is now built in to UEFI so there's no need for separate boot code as part of the partition table.

There is no UEFI bootloader before you copy the files from the ISO for the reason stated above.

I believe I have answered this multiple times in this thread. It doesn't directly matter how the USB drive is partitioned - it depends on whether your system chooses to boot in BIOS or UEFI mode. Windows Setup bases its decision based on which bootloader is used.

I created a Windows Setup USB drive with MBR and my UEFI lets me select whether to boot via the MBR or via the .efi file. This boot order is dependent on your UEFI setup. So your particular system may select UEFI mode first; other systems may not.





The possibilities are:
USB drive MBR - UEFI boots via MBR - BIOS bootloader is used - Setup boots in BIOS mode and creates MBR
USB drive MBR - UEFI boots via .efi - UEFI bootloader is used - Setup boots in UEFI mode and creates GPT
USB drive GPT - UEFI boots via .efi - UEFI bootloader is used - Setup boots in UEFI mode and creates GPT

So if you partition the USB drive with GPT then you are guaranteed to have Windows Setup create GPT. If you partiion the USB drive with MBR then it's not guaranteed which one you'll get unless you are explicitly choosing the boot mode in your UEFI.

 

Thanks mate for your patience..I know you explained that when we talked about Rufus ..I was just checking that it was the same if I decided to use Diskpart

 

Thanks again...this thread has been very informative. Your help is very much appreciated along with all the other guys on this thread

 

Hi all, I have just been getting familiar with Diskpart. When creating a bootable Win10 USB flash drive with Diskpart the last command you have to enter is Active. Under Windows 10 Disk Management when viewing the flash drive..it says Healthy (primary partition). Should it also say Active there ? (confirming that when I used Diskpart and typed Active that it was successful)
The reason I ask is that Ive seen screen shots of other peoples systems and in some cases it states active for their USB flash drive in Disk management console. Should that be the case in Windows 10? Should it say Active as well as Healthy (Primary Partition)? I'm wondering if those screenshots were Disk management screen shots from Windows 7 or 8 and Disk Management is different in Windows 10. I thought Id better check that I havent done something wrong. Maybe when I typed Active in Diskpart it wasn't done successfully? Is there a way of telling if the partition has indeed been successfully set as active in Disk Management?

 

My USB flash drive fat32 partition is showing as Active in Disk Management. Healthy (Active, Primary Partition). You can only have an active partition on a drive that is MBR partitioned. GPT does not allow active partitions.

 

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR
Rufus is a waste of time.

Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive

Make sure to use FAT32 instead of NTFS:

To create a bootable USB flash drive

Insert a USB flash drive into a running computer.

Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.

Type diskpart.

In the new command line window that opens, to determine the USB flash drive number or drive letter, at the command prompt, type list disk, and then click ENTER. The list disk command displays all the disks on the computer. Note the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive.

At the command prompt, type select disk <X>, where X is the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive, and then click ENTER.

Type clean, and the click ENTER. This command deletes all data from the USB flash drive.

To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type create part pri, and then click ENTER.

To select the partition that you just created, type select part 1, and then click ENTER.

If your server platform supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), you should format the USB flash drive as FAT32 rather than as NTFS. To format the partition as FAT32, type format fs=fat32 quick, and then click ENTER.

Type active, and then click ENTER.

Type exit, and then click ENTER.

When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root of the USB flash drive.

Then just mount the Windows installation ISO file and copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive and you're done.


Hi again mate. I copied and pasted here your post from the Tutorials thread. Ive listed all of your Diskpart commands and I'm going to use your exact method to create a bootable Win10 USB flash drive at the weekend. I'm then going to use the Media Creation Tool to download the Windows 10 ISO.
A couple of questions if you don't mind me pestering you again so that I'm sure I perform the whole procedure correctly. At the end of your instructions you say "When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root of the USB flash drive." What exactly does that mean?
You then go on to say "
Then just mount the Windows installation ISO file and copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive and you're done
"
I'm unsure how to follow those two instructions. Would you mind explaining in detail for a novice what exactly you mean in both of those instructions.
I'm not familiar with mounting ISO's..so its a learning curve for me..Sorry

 

I don't think that quote was from me in the tutorial. What you quoted was if you create your own customized ISO file. You can disregard the line about preparing your custom image and saving it to the USB flash drive. Here are the simple steps to create a standard Windows 10 USB flash drive:

1. Use the Media Creation Tool to download and save the ISO file to your hard drive.
2. Insert the USB flash drive.
3. Open a Command Prompt and enter: diskpart (if it isn't an administrator command prompt, it will ask for administrator permission).
4. list disk
5. select disk # <- replace # with the actual disk number of the USB flash drive
6. clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure it is the USB flash drive!
7. create part pri
8. format fs=fat32 quick
9. active
10. exit <enter> exit <enter> - and if the first command prompt was not an administrator command prompt, exit that one too.
11. Mount the ISO file saved by the Media Creation Tool. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, you only have to right click on it and click on mount. If you are using Windows 7, then you must use a program like WinCDEmu to mount the ISO file:
WinCDEmu - the easiest way to mount an ISO. And more...
12. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive.

That's as simple as it gets. Between steps 7 and 8 you can enter: "select part 1" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.
Between steps 8 and 9 you can enter: "assign" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.

 

Ceating one now from the FCU 64 bit ISO.

Once done it will boot EFI or MBR, very nice.

Added the steps to my database of tips.

 

Hi Navy LCDR. That's brilliant..everything there in one easy to follow guide. It would be great in the Tutorials section of TenForums. I'm sure a lot of other people would benefit from using that too. Thanks. Ive made a copy of that and saved it so that I can use it whenever I need it. There should be no need now to have to rely on the Media Creation Tool or Rufus in the future.

I just wanted to double-check one thing with you if you don't mind me asking. Its about the order the Diskpart Commands are typed in ...You show "Between steps 8 and 9 you can enter: "assign" without quotes - but it should not be necessary". Is that a TYPO mistake...should it be between steps 9 and 10 (after Active)? I ask because in all cases where Ive seen examples of people who use Diskpart the Assign command (if they've used it) is always the very last one listed before the Exit command. Also, do you think in order to play it safe its better to use the Assign command to dynamically assign a drive letter just in case Windows doesn't recognise the drive or in your experience is it an unnecessary command because Windows will always dynamically assign the drive letter anyway? The reason I'm asking is just in case I'm unlucky and Windows doesn't recognise the drive. Because I'm a novice with Diskpart I wouldn't know what command to type in Diskpart to sort it out. I don't know whether the command would be list disk then select disk, list partition then select partition or list volume then select volume...before using the Assign command. I'm guessing it would be list partition and select the correct partition if I'm understanding the way it works correctly..but I'm not 100% sure...maybe it would be list volume and select volume. I'm not sure really what the difference is between a partition and a volume.

Can you just clarify for me the Mount procedure in Windows 10.
Right click on the ISO file and click on Mount. Is it just a simple matter of highlighting all the files in the open window. Then use Copy and Paste to copy the files over to the USB flash drive?
When you Right Click on the ISO and click on Mount..Does that show all the files of the ISO there on screen? i.e you don't have to have view hidden items (files) open or anything like that? I want to be sure that I copy everything to the USB drive without missing anything.