In the past, Microsoft Windows was installed by disc, CD- or DVD-ROM, or the floppy disc – and optical data carriers are also gradually disappearing from the scene. Instead, the operating system is either preinstalled on the system partition of a new computer or laptop, or you acquire Windows directly online, complete with a digital license, and download it yourself.
But if you need an external installation medium, many people nowadays use a bootable USB drive. It’s quicker and more compact that an optical data carrier, and so is perfectly suited for setting up (or resetting) a system – there are also many other possible uses.
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There are lots of uses for a bootable USB drive. The most important is, of course, booting the PC if it will no longer start itself because of a virus, serious system failure, defective hard drive, or partition problems. The small piece of hardware is the standard solution for hosting an entire operating system and/or a recovery system like the multi-virus scanner Sardu and using it to successfully reboot and repair the computer.
In addition to various other tools, Sardu also contains 20 virus scanners that can search the entire hard drive of a defective computer for malware and clean it up.
Even if no such PC emergency is present, it’s a good idea to have a Windows image for data backup on a USB-capable storage medium (could also be an external hard drive) on hand.
You can also use a bootable USB to upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 if a previously automatic upgrade doesn’t function correctly. The drive also serves as a “clean” reinstallation of the operating system if it’s become too slow as a result of accumulated garbage.
Experienced computer experts and IT professionals also like to use a bootable USB as a “portable operating system” (the concept is known as “Windows2Go” for Microsoft). With this, you can use your preferred Windows version with all your favorite tools and personal data on foreign computers without having to fuss with the operating system already installed (regardless of whether it’s Windows or something else). This way, you can not only navigate in your familiar work environment but also access all your important documents via the cloud. A portable operating system also offers more security in case a keylogger on a foreign computer stores your passwords or your computer is infected with a virus.
Here are all possible uses for a bootable USB drive:
Hardly any commercial USB drives are suitable from the outset for these diverse tasks. This is because most models are only loaded with a single file system when you first get them, for example, an FAT32 or exFAT file system. They’re missing the “master boot record” (MBR) that’s absolutely necessary for booting most PCs (specifically those with a “basic input/output system” (BIOS)). You have to make a new USB stick bootable on your own.
BIOS (basic input/output system) is a program that is preinstalled on the mainboard of most computers and activates the hardware when the system boots so that the operating system can communicate and interact with it.
A bootable USB drive can of course be created on a different computer than the one you want to use it on later. There are basically two possible methods: either manually or using automated tools. The first option seems a bit complicated at first glance, and because of the various manual steps is slightly more error-prone, but it’s still doable even if you’re not an expert.
Regardless of which option you choose, you always need the following things:
You can legally download various versions of Windows from Microsoft. Note, however, that you need a license for the activation and legal use of the operating system, which you can get online in the form of a product key. Without this official confirmation, your user rights are strictly limited after 30 days. This means: You will have no more personalization options or updates support, but instead will receive warning messages that remind you to activate Windows as soon as possible.
If you dare to do the necessary work by hand, you can simply use the cmd.exe application, better known as “Command Prompt”, to create a bootable USB drive on all operating systems from Windows Vista (including Windows 10). This goes as follows:
To finish the process, you just have to copy the Windows ISO file to a bootable USB stick. This is done with a basic drag-and-drop. If you’re using an installation disc, you can also drag all setup files from there onto your drive (use the folder options to display all of the hidden files first). That’s all possible in the command prompt as well. For a source media with the drive letter “D:” and a USB drive with the letter “G:”, the corresponding command would look as follows: “xcopy D:\*.* G:\*.* /S /E /F” (all of the spaces are intentional).
The media creation tool mentioned previously can also write a downloaded ISO file to a USB drive in one go, and so create a bootable USB – but it only works with Windows 10. There are, though, many freeware programs suitable for all operating systems (including Linux) that can take over the tasks of the otherwise manual device management. Some of the most popular are Rufus, WinUSB, and UNetbootin. Each of these tools are made up of a single very small file that you can download directly and start without installation.
Rufus is widely considered to be the fastest and most reliable tool for the creation of a bootable USB. It also supports UEFI (“Unified Extensible Firmware Interface”), a new mainboard firmware that replaced the old BIOS and can already be found on almost all newer computers. From Windows 8, it’s also possible to install “Windows2Go” as a portable operating system on an external storage device with Rufus.
Operation of the tool is simple:
Avoid simply pulling the finished bootable USB drive out of the port without using the “Safely eject hardware” option. This could cause you to lose data, since the computer still has access to the storage device and theoretically could still have writing processes underway. With a USB-capable external hard drive, abrupt separation from the computer connection amounts to a system crash on the hard drive.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|
| ✔ Fast and reliable tool | ✘ USB drive formatting necessary |
| ✔ Very small file size | |
| ✔ Also supports UEFI | |
| ✔ Windows2Go possible |
The tool WinUSB essentially functions exactly like Rufus, but with two differences: The first is that the creation of a bootable USB is possible without prior formatting (provided there’s enough storage space), so the USB can also be used to store personal files and documents (though it’s recommended to keep a backup copy of all data). Another special feature: As desired, WinUSB can also write multiple different Windows operating systems onto the same drive. This makes it almost an equivalent to the Linux tool Yumi.
With WinUSB, the creation of a bootable USB also takes place in just a few steps:
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|
| ✔ No formatting necessary | ✘ Only in English |
| ✔ Can write multiple operating systems to one USB | |
| ✔ Slim user interface | |
| ✔ Various Ubuntu distributions can be loaded |
Like the popular tool Universal USB Installer, UNetbootin (short for “Universal Netboot Installer”) is actually specialized for Linux systems. It’s primarily used to install various Linux distributions – such as Ubuntu – on a USB drive so that they can be started directly from the storage media.
UNetbootin also works with Windows:
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|
| ✔ Various Linux distributions to choose from | ✘ USB drive formatting necessary |
| ✔ Can create portable operating systems | |
| ✔ Also functions with Windows ISO files |
| File size | Formatting necessary? | |
|---|---|---|
| Rufus | 945KB | Yes |
| WinUSB | 4.7MB | No |
| UNetbootin | 4.6MB | Yes |
After its successful creation, you can test your bootable USB drive by using it to start your computer. This is also a necessary step to preconfigure BIOS or UEFI for a possible emergency situation.
To do this, you have to change the boot order in the boot menu:
When you start your PC for the first time, the portable Windows will need a bit more time to boot, since the hardware first has to be detected. While it’s being detected, Windows may also restart several times.
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After a successful boot process, you still have to set up your operating system on the USB drive. This means: Run the Windows setup, establish the internet connection, and download and install all necessary drivers and updates from the internet.
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