Windows 10: USB flash drive --assign drive letter back to dynamic from static

Ive just had a thought. If I'm using the flash drive for creating bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive installation media will it make any difference what the drive letter is? My PC has C: (the system drive) and D: (DVD drive)...that's all. So every time I insert a flash drive it uses E:
I'll be downloading the ISO using Media Creation Tool. Then, using Rufus with the ISO to create my bootable USB flash drive. I realise Rufus will format the drive again so will that revert the drive letter back to dynamic anyway?
I don't like messing with things I don't fully understand that's why I prefer drive letters to be left at default because I don't know if changing them can cause me problems. Especially as this flash drive is going to be used to clean install Windows 10 not just a PC Reset. I want to be sure I don't have any more issues after the way the Media Creation Tool messed things up. That's why I don't know what drive letter to choose when I have to create a New Simple Volume on the drive because it just shows it as unallocated space at the moment and I know that part of the process is having to Assign a drive letter. Should I just select the letter E: or something else?
Sorry to trouble you all again. You've all been brilliant in helping me. Its just all above my knowledge level

 

If this is for Bootable media then it doesn't matter. You tell the system which drive to boot from, they won't have letters.

Not sure why you are using Rufus. The Media Creation Tool produces a full function, bootable device in the right format. It was designed so no other tools or steps are needed.

Once the tool creates the key you can boot from it or you can do in place repairs by navigating to key and double clicking setup.

 

Ive always used the Media Creation Tool in the past. Earlier in the week I used the Media Creation Tool to do a clean install. Everything went fine with the download. After the two hour download the Media Creation Tool automatically started to create the media. Everything working normally so far..then suddenly at 50% a screen popped up with an unexpected error message Error code beginning 0x80004005. That was it I had to stop there.
After searching the net it seems that other people have had the same issue after the Fall Creators Update...with the installation stopping at 50%. After contacting Microsoft Chat Support they didn't offer any suggestions that worked either. When it stopped at 50%..it was creating the media. It must have been formatting/partitioning the drive etc because that's what has left me having to ask all these questions. Ive had to go into Disk management which Ive never had to use before to sort USB flash drive out. That's why Ive had to ask loads of questions this week. My USB drive was unusable..no drive letter, all the space on it was unallocated..basically it was totally blank

 

Strange. I used Tuesday night on an old flash drive and it worked flawlessly. I going to have a read on that error, thanks for posting.

How big was your key?

 

It's not new for the FCU. That error code has been around since the first release in 2015 (including the USB ending up 'unallocated'). Apparently one possible cause is that the USB had GPT rather than MBR partitioning before trying to use it with the MCT.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...5dee7ec?auth=1

 

The key is a Sandisk 16GB

 

If that's true Bree..thats crazy. I always take the extra step of formatting the drive in Windows before I download the Media Creation Tool even though I knew the Media Creation Tool formats it anyway. I don't know if that makes a difference. Previously that USB flash drive had been used as bootable Windows 10 media. I think it was the Anniversary Update that was on it before I formatted it in Windows. Ive always preferred to use the Media Creation Tool because you don't need third party software. I wonder if GPT partitioning was what caused my problem. How would I resolve it with my flash drive if that's the case? Or shouldn't I bother and just use Rufus to create the bootable USB flash drive after downloading the ISO with the Media Creation Tool. Its been a nightmare trying to sort this out this week. Media Creation Tool has never given me any problems before

 

Use DISKPART, be very careful to select the right USB drive, then use its CLEAN command. That removes all partition information (you did double-check you had the USB selected? *Smile).

I'm not saying gpt was the cause for you, just that it's one possible cause that's been seen before.

 

Would you also have to add the command convert mbr after the clean command?

 

Yes Id done everything correctly. Its a method Ive followed several times before without issue. I might be better off just using Rufus. I'm not familiar with Diskpart at all

 

No. There's no partition info at all after CLEAN - nothing there to convert. You could use CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY after CLEAN, that makes a MPR partition. Then format it with DISKPART, Disk Management or whatever you like.

 

I've looked at Rufus and come to the conclusion it has too many options - it's all too easy to leave some obscure option selected that makes a USB that won't boot. There are so many threads complaining of that.

An alternative to using the MCT to make a bootable USB is to use it to make an ISO file. You can then just double-click on the ISO to mount it then copy the files to a USB, prepared using DISKPART. Here's how....

Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 (post #270)

 

I wonder if it was the GPT partitioning problem you mentioned that caused my errors. All I did was format the drive in Windows to remove the previous Windows 10 Anniversary update which was on the drive and had been successfully created with the Media Creation Tool. When youre creating your bootable drives do you format the drive manually as an extra step before you use the Media Creation Tool. I know Media creation Tool formats the drive during the Media Creation process anyway but Ive always quick formatted it in Windows to blank the USB before starting the process

 

No. The MCT should format for Fat32 and mark the partition as active. I'm guessing though that it's only designed to expect an mbr layout and fails at that point if it finds gpt. None of my USBs have ever been gpt, so I've not tested that (yet).