In this simple step by step tutorial we will tell you how to create Windows 10 Bootable USB Flash Drive using either of Two methods: Using Rufus that works for any Windows 10 Build including Insider Preview builds and Media Creation Tool (MCT) that lets you create Bootable USB Windows 10 Drive for the Official general release Windows 10 Build.

Using Rufus (Method 1):

This works for any of the the Windows 10 Builds, officially released for everyone or even for Insider Preview Builds.

1) As the first step you need to download ISO for the Windows 10 Build you want to create Bootable USB drive for. You can check our downloads section for ISO download links for many Builds. For the Windows 10 official ISO download click here.

2)  USB drive should ideally have minimum 4 GB for the Windows 10 32-bit version and 8 GB for the Windows 10 64-bit version.

3) Now Download Rufus (.exe file) to your desktop from here. Rufus doesn’t need any installation and the .exe file is ready to use.

4) Connect the USB Flash Drive to PC that you want to make Bootable

5) Run the Rufus .exe file, and click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.

rufus Windows 10 Bootable USB Drive

6) Set Rufus using the settings below which are valid for both 32-Bit and 64-Bit Windows 10 ISO files.

  • Device option: Select the USB flash drive you want to format
  • Format Options:
    • Check create a bootable disk using
    • select the ISO Image option
    • Click/tap on the Disk icon to navigate to and select your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10 ISO file
    • Select Standard Windows installation
  • Partition scheme and target system type: MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM under
  • File system: NTFS
  • Cluster size: Default value (4096 bytes)
  • Format Options:
    • Check, Quick format
    • Check, Create extended label and icon files
  • New volume label: Any name that suites your taste

7) Tap / Click on start and click ok on the next prompt to confirm

8) Rufus will start creating the Bootable USB Drive and it may take around 5 minutes to accomplish this task or even more.

Using official Media Creation Tool (Method 2):

It is quite easy to use and if you check our tutorial on updating to Windows 10 and downloading official ISOs, we have also shared steps to create Bootable USB drive using Media Creation Tool. So, as you can understand it works only for the official Windows 10 general release build.

  • Find the media creation tool on the Software download page.

  • There are two versions of the tool, one for a “32-bit operating system” and one for a “64-bit operating system.” To find out which you have, go to Start, type Control panel, select System and security, and then, under System, look at the value for System type.

  • If your PC is a 32-bit operating system, on the Software download page, select Download tool now (32-bit version). If your PC is a 64-bit operating system, select Download tool now (64-bit version).

  • When you’re asked, select Run (or choose to Save the tool if you don’t want to run it now).

  • Run the tool, if you didn’t already select Run above. (You need to be an Administrator on the PC to run it.)

  • Select Create installation media for another PC.

  • Choose the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10. Check the screenshot below that shows how one can choose these options.

  • Now choose USB Flash Drive option in the next screen and click on next

  • A blank USB or DVD (and DVD burner) with at least 4 GB of space if you want to create media. We recommend using a blank USB or blank DVD, because any content on it will be deleted.
  • Connect your USB flash drive, click/tap on the Refresh drive list link, select the USB flash drive, and click/tap on Next.
  • After the download is complete and the Bootable media is created, select Finish

In case you want to read our step by step tutorial about how to do a clean install of Windows 10 next by using Bootable USB created by following above steps, click here.

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