Windows users are looking for answers to “how to generate a Windows 11 bootable USB” now that Windows 11 has been released. That’s because, while you can start a clean install of Windows 11 with the Media Creation Tool or by mounting an ISO file, the easiest approach to finish the process is to boot the device with USB installation media.
Perhaps the only solution is to install Windows 11 on a fresh computer or device with an empty hard drive.
You can produce a USB bootable disc that you can use to do an in-place or clean installation of Windows 11 with UEFI compatibility using the steps in this article. You can use either Windows 10 or Windows 11 to complete these instructions. So let’s get this party started.
1. Using the Media Creation Tool, create a bootable USB for Windows 11
The Media Creation Tool for Windows 11 will be accessible as soon as the operating system is released, which is expected to be in October 2021.
The approach is very similar to the current edition of the programme because the new operating system is based on Windows 10.
Follow these procedures to build a bootable Windows 11 USB install media using the Media Creation Tool:
- By clicking on the link, you will be taken to Microsoft’s support site.
- In the “Create Windows 11 installation media” section, click the Download Now option.
- Double-click the MediaCrationToolW11.exe file to start the utility.
- Accept the offer by clicking the Accept button.
- Simply click the Next button to continue.
- You have the option of using a USB flash drive.
- Then press the Next button.
- Before picking your USB flash drive from the list, make sure it doesn’t contain any important files.
- Then press the Next key.
- Click the Finish button to complete the process.
After you’ve completed the instructions, you can install Windows 11 on a UEFI system using the USB stick.
2. Using Rufus, Create a Windows 11 Bootable USB
Follow these steps to make a bootable USB drive using Rufus to install Windows 11:
- Go to the Rufus website and log in.
- Go to the “Download” section and click the link there to get the most recent version.
- Double-click the executable to start the utility.
- At the bottom of the page, click the Settings button (the third button from the left).
- > “Settings” “Make sure you’re up to date” > “Daily”
- Close the window by clicking the “Close” button.
- Click the Close button one more.
- Rufus should be opened once more.
- Select the USB drive as the installation media source using the drop-down menu in the “Device” section (optional).
- Select a disc or an ISO image from the drop-down option in the “Boot selection” section.
- Click the down-arrow button on the right side to select the Download option.
- Select Download from the drop-down menu.
- Select Windows 11 as your operating system.
- To continue, click “Continue.”
- From the “Release” section, choose the Windows 11 ISO file you want to download. To download the version 21H2 ISO file, select the 21H2 (Build 22000.194 – 2021.10) option.
- Then press the Next button.
- You have the option of choosing between Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro.
- Proceed to the next step by pressing the Continue button.
- Choose the language in which Windows 11 will be installed.
- Clicking the “Continue” button will take you to the next step.
- Select x64 as the operating system architecture.
- To download, click the Download button.
- Choose a location to save the Windows 11 ISO file.
- If you attached a USB flash drive to make bootable media, keep the default settings after the download.
- Click the Start button to begin the procedure.
- Press the “OK” button to continue.
Once you’ve finished the steps, the utility will build bootable disc with Windows 11 installation media.
3. Using Command Prompt to Create a Windows 11 Bootable USB
To build a USB flash drive for installing Windows 11 using the command prompt, follow these steps:
- Go to the Microsoft Support website.
- In the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, choose Windows 11.
- To download, click the Download button.
- Choose the installation’s language.
- Select “Confirm” from the drop-down menu.
- Click the Download option to save the Windows 11 ISO file to your device.
- Start the programme.
- You may find the Command Prompt by searching for it and right-clicking the top result. Then, from the context menu, select Run as Administrator.
- Type the following command and press Enter to open Diskpart:
diskpart
Type the following command and press the Enter key to identify the USB flash drive:
list of discs
To pick storage, type and hit Enter the following command:
choose a disc 1
To erase all data from the USB flash device, use the following command and press Enter:
clean
You can make the main partition by entering the following command:
establish the primary partition
Type the following command and press Enter to choose the new partition:
choose 1st partition
To make the USB flash drive bootable, type and hit Enter the following command:
FS=FAT32 format quick
Type the following command and press Enter to assign a volume and a drive letter to the USB flash drive:
letter=X assign
- Replace X with any other letter in the command.
Enter the following command and press Enter to exit the tool:
exit
- Use the following command and press Enter to mount the Windows 11 ISO file:
Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath “C:pathtoWindows11.iso” PowerShell
- Replace the path in the command with the path to the Windows 11 ISO file you previously downloaded.
- To restart Diskpart, enter the following command:
diskpart
Use the following command and press Enter to get the drive letter for the mounted Windows 11 ISO file:
volume of the list
Type the following command and press Enter to exit Diskpart:
exit
By running the following command and clicking Enter, you may get to the Windows 11 ISO file:
E:
- To the boot folder, type the following command and press Enter:
boot from cd
- Type the following command and press Enter to change the volume boot code on the USB flash drive:
bootsect /nt60 X:
- By running the command below and clicking Enter, you can copy all of the Windows 11 installation files to the USB flash drive:
xcopy /E /F /H /E /F /H /E /F /H /E /F /H /E /F /H
- Change the E and X drive letters to the relevant drive letters for the Windows 11 ISO image and USB flash drive, respectively, in the command.
After you’ve completed, you’ll be able to install Windows 11 on UEFI-enabled devices using the bootable flash drive.
Which is preferable: a Windows 11 upgrade or a fresh install?
To save all of your files and data, updating to Windows 11 is usually the best option. If problems emerge following the upgrade, you may wish to try a fresh install. You’ll be deleting all of your system’s data and starting the process anew.
We strongly encourage you to perform a comprehensive backup of all of your crucial information ahead of time to avoid data loss. Following the techniques in this article, you may simply construct a Windows 11 bootable disc.
Final Thoughts
The Media Creation Tool is the most convenient option for the majority of users. You can also manually create a bootable USB device by downloading the ISO file. We hope you found this tutorial useful and that you were able to successfully make a bootable USB.
