A guide to returning a bootable flash drive to its normal state.
It happens that our beloved friend, the computer, breaks down. Got viruses? Not quality installation programs, or just want to change the operating system? And then the attack on the Internet begins, in search of useful information: how to make a bootable USB flash drive? In fact, there is more than one way to create it. In this article we will look at the main and most accessible ones. So let's begin.
How to make a bootable USB flash drive using the command line
The next method is for those who do not want to use additional programs and utilities. Here only the resources of your own computer are used.
First of all, insert a flash drive with a capacity of at least 4 gigabytes into the USB port desktop computer, or a laptop, or maybe a netbook. Next we need to get to the command line. To access the command line, you must press the “Run” key in the Start menu.
If you are familiar with the keyboard shortcut, then of course you know that just press “Win + R”, the “Run” window will appear. We enter “cmd” into the empty field and then the command line “menu” will appear, which is what we need. In what follows, we will work exclusively with the command line.
In the command line window, enter the value “ diskpart"- command enterprise, it will allow you to manage disks, press the “enter” key. Enter all values without quotes.
After the information has loaded, enter “ list disk", this command will display a list of all devices and disk drives that are connected to your device. Next, press the “Enter” key again.
We are looking for our flash drive, which can have any number. Depending on the number of this digit, we will enter the next value. If your flash drive is number 2, then enter the command “ Select disk 2", 1- " Select disk 1", 5 – « Select disk 5", and so on . You need to accurately determine the flash drive number if you do not want to format the volume of your hard drive.
So, let's enter the command " select disk", and the number that marks our flash drive. Next, press “Enter” again.
Once the flash drive is selected, we can continue further, but first we need to completely delete the files from it and prepare it for further recording. To do this, enter the command “ clean". Press the “Enter” key.
After disk cleanup is completed, enter the command “ Create partition primary". This will create a primary partition. Press "Enter".
Now, we need to format our flash drive and transfer it to an NTFS partition, since the flash drive is initially formatted as FAT32. Let's enter the command " format fs=NTFS" and press the “Enter” key. Let's wait for the formatting to finish. If you're in a hurry and don't have time to wait, you can perform a quick format instead of " Fformat fs=NTFS", you must enter " Format fs=NTFS QUICK". But it is not necessary to resort to this, since formatting does not take long.
After the flash drive is formatted, you can enter the command assign letter= and assign a letter to our flash drive. If you enter the command assign, the letter of the flash drive is assigned automatically.
After this our flash drive appears. Exit the program by entering the command Exit .
Bootable USB flash drive is ready!
The bootable flash drive is made, and now you need to transfer all the files of the selected operating system to it.
Important: Files must be transferred only in unpacked form. If you put a disk image, nothing will happen and will not work.
After everything is ready to reinstall the operating system, it is necessary in the system BIOS, select removable media as the primary device. So that the computer boots with the one you created bootable flash drive..To do this, press one of the keys. Usually this is Delet, F2, or Esc. We set the boot priority to removable media. That's all. Now you can install a new operating system and enjoy the knowledge that you did everything yourself!
How to make a bootable USB flash drive using UltraISO
This is a method for those who are not afraid to use different programs. Program Ultra ISO It’s quite easy to use, and you can easily turn a flash drive into a boot disk. So let's begin.
First, download the program and install it on your computer. After that, click on the icon right click mouse and select “Run as administrator”.
The program window has opened, and we go to the “file” menu and click “Open.” For those who use the keyboard shortcut, press Ctrl+O. Select the system image you need, select it and click open.
Go to the “Boot” menu and click on the “Burn hard disk image” option. Select a flash drive that will become the boot disk. It is desirable that it be at least 4 gigabytes in size.
In the pop-up window, you must select the recording method “USB-HDD+”, check that the instructions are correct removable media– flash drive, file – image. Click the “record” button.
A pop-up window will appear saying that all information from the flash drive will be erased! We are not afraid, we confirm that we agree and press the “yes” button.
The recording of information to the flash drive will begin. It may take some time. You can spend it on calling a close friend, or just have some tea.
The message “Recording complete?” appears. Great. The operating system image is recorded. You can exit the program by clicking the “Back” button. The program can now be closed.
The bootable USB flash drive is ready to go!
Also in the BIOS we set the boot priority from removable storage so that the computer loads the flash drive you created. After everything is ready to reinstall the operating system, it is necessary in the system BIOS, select removable media as the primary device. So that the computer boots from the bootable USB flash drive you created. To do this, press one of the “ ” keys to enter the Bios. Typically these are the keys Delete, F2, or Esc. We set the boot priority to removable media.
How to make a bootable USB flash drive dos (dos)
Another option for creating a bootable flash drive. There are several options for making a bootable USB flash drive. Let's start with the simplest thing.
How to make a bootable dos flash drive (DOS) using Rufus
First, let's download a program that will allow us to make such a flash drive from the official website. This program does not require installation and is immediately ready for use. Let's launch Rufus.
Select the Device field, and in it the flash drive that needs to be made the boot disk. Attention: All files from the flash drive will be deleted, so if there is any important information, move it to another place.
In the field File System specify the format of the flash drive FAT 32.
Opposite the “create a bootable disk using” item, select MS-DOS or FreeDOS, it depends on which version of DOS you want to run from the flash drive. There's not much difference. Click “Start”.
That's it. The recording process will not take much time.
Boot flash drive Dos– ready!
How to downloadfull-time flash drive dos (DOS) using the WinToFlash program
Actually, there is nothing complicated here either. Download the program to your computer from the official website. Let's launch the program. In the window that appears, select the “Advanced Mode” tab.
After that, in the “Task” field, select “create a drive with MS-DOS” and click the “Create” button.
The bootable Dos flash drive is ready to go.
Again in the BIOS we set the boot priority from the removable drive so that the computer loads the flash drive you created. After everything is ready to reinstall the operating system, you need to BIOS system, select removable media as the primary device. In order for the computer to boot from the bootable flash drive you created... To do this, press one of the keys. Typically these are the keys, Delet, F2, or Esc. We set the boot priority to removable media.
How to make a bootable USB flash drive for ubuntu (Ubuntu)
The first method is suitable for those who use the operating room ubuntu system, or can boot from LiveCD. This operating system has the necessary utility for this. With the help of it we will make a bootable USB flash drive. Its name is “usb-creator-gtk.” You can call it by pressing ALT+F2 and entering the name of the utility. Or go to the applications menu, find the “Create a boot disk” item.
In the program, you need to select the drive device (physical media or image), and then the flash drive device.
Another way to the delight of those who want to make a bootable ubuntu flash drive directly from Windows.
First you need to have the UNetbootin program, in order to use it to create boot disk flash drives. It is also important to format the flash drive in the fat32 file system before working. We launch the program, indicate the path to the image downloaded Ubuntu programs. Select the flash drive you want to use and press the “ok” button. All. You don't need to do anything else. Everything will be done without our help and guidance.
And again we put it in Bios priority booting from a flash drive.
AND last method which we will look at is...
How to make a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 USB/DWD Download Tool
Again, download the program from the official website (so as not to pick up viruses). Let's install it on your personal computer. Let's launch the program from a shortcut on the desktop, with administrator rights.
Program for English(there were no people willing to Russify it), but it is not complicated and quite easy to understand.
Click the “Browse” button and select the image file of the “OS” that we want to install. The image is selected, click Next. Now you need to select the media type. We have removable media, and therefore we select “ USB device».
In the window that appears, select the flash drive and click the “Begin copying” button.
Thus, let's start formatting the flash drive.
After some time, when formatting is completed, data recording to the flash drive will begin.
We are waiting for the formatting to complete; when everything is ready, we will receive a ready-made bootable USB flash drive.
And again we visit Bios, set the boot priority from the flash drive.
Now, without any difficulties, you can create bootable flash drives for yourself, or just help your friends. No visit service centers and endless cries for help, you will do it yourself.
If you want to install or reinstall an operating system on a computer or laptop, then it is quite natural that you have a question: how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows. In this article we will look at three ways that will help us with this.
Using the first and second, you can make a bootable Windows flash drive 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. Using the command line or the WinSetupFromUSB program, you can make a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP.
Select a flash drive with more memory than the operating system image you have on your computer. Save all information on it to hard drive or other external media, since the flash drive will be formatted, accordingly all data from it will be deleted.
Via command line
To create a bootable USB flash drive using the command line, you do not need to install anything on your computer. third party applications. To launch the command line, press the key combination Win + R, the “Run” window will open. In the "Open" field, write cmd and click "OK".
Let's display a list of all devices - enter list disk.
IN in this case There are two devices connected to the laptop, Disk 0 and Disk 1. From them you need to select a flash drive, which we will make bootable. I took a 4 GB flash drive, so we look at the “Size” column, it corresponds to Disk 1 - 3.9 GB. Enter the following command – select disk 1. If your flash drive corresponds to another device, for example Disk 2, enter the command select disk 2 - only the number at the end changes.
Enter the clean command.
Using the create partition primary command, we will create a primary partition.
Select it – select partition 1 .
Let’s make it active – active .
Let's format the flash drive to NTFS format– format fs=NTFS . Wait for the process to complete.
After that, select a letter for the section, for example R - enter assign letter=R .
Exit the diskpart program - enter exit. To close command line, retype exit .
The bootable USB flash drive has been created. Now you need to copy the files to it for Windows installations. If you have them stored in an archive or in an image, extract all the files from them onto a flash drive.
To install Windows from a flash drive, in the BIOS we change the boot priority; we need to boot from the created flash drive. You can read detailed articles about installation by following the links at the bottom of the article.
Using the Rufus program
This program does not require installation on your computer, takes up very little space, is free and easy to use. Download the Rufus program by following the link.
We launch it on the computer. In the Device field, select the required flash drive. Make sure the box is ticked "Create a boot disk". Then click on the floppy disk to select the operating system image.
Through Explorer, look for the image on the computer and click “Open”.
A line will appear at the bottom "Using an image". Click Start. The program will warn that all data from the flash drive will be destroyed, click “OK”.
Wait until the flash drive is formatted and the ISO image files are copied to it. Then click "Close".
A bootable USB flash drive with the Windows operating system has been created. We change the boot priority in the BIOS and install the new OS on the computer.
Using WinSetupFromUSB
First, download the program WinSetupFromUSB, for this you can follow the link. We insert the USB flash drive, which will be bootable, into the computer or laptop and launch the program.
In the area « USB disk selection and format" select the desired flash drive and press the “Bootice” button.
In the next window, in the “Destination Disk” field, select the flash drive from the list again. Here you can navigate by memory capacity. I took a 4 GB flash drive, so USB 3.9 GB is suitable for me. Click "Perform Format".
In the "File System" field, select the file system NTFS system and click "OK".
In the following windows there will be warnings that the flash drive will be formatted, all data will be deleted, etc. Click "OK". IN last window Click "Yes" and wait for the process to complete.
A window will appear indicating that a bootable USB flash drive has been created and can be written to. necessary files. Close the “BOOTICE” window by clicking on the red cross.
In the main program window, in the “Add to USB disk” area, check the box "Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup". Click on the rectangle opposite the field and select the folder in which you store your operating system files.
If Windows installation files are stored on your computer in an archive or image, you must first extract them.
Click “GO” and wait for the files to be written to the flash drive.
Using WinSetupFromUSB program, You can easily make a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows XP operating system.
Today I want to tell you about such a wonderful program as. What's so wonderful about it? – you ask. And the fact that with its help you can (data from a flash drive after formatting) or a disk, and the most interesting thing is that this program is available to anyone Windows user via the command line, in other words, does not require installation. And don’t let the phrase “command line” scare you – using it is much more convenient and simpler than it seems at first glance.
So, after we have inserted the flash drive into the USB connector, we launch the command line. To do this, click Start and in the search bar we write cmd, and press Enter.
In the command line that appears, we write, thereby launching the disk management program. Click Enter.
In the list of devices we find our flash drive - it can be recognized by its size. In my case it's Disc 6. Therefore, next we write the command. If your flash drive is number 4, then you need to enter the command. If the number is 2, then , accordingly. Click Enter.
Then enter the command clean, which will delete all files from a flash drive or disk. Click Enter.
Then we enter the command. Thus, select the specified section and move the focus to it. Click Enter.
Then we execute the command. The system marks the partition as active. Click Enter.
Now it is necessary. It can be quick or complete. Full formatting executed by the command format fs=NTFS. If you don’t want to wait and time is running out, then we do quick formatting with the command format fs=NTFS QUICK. Click Enter.
We are waiting for the formatting to finish.
Now you need to assign a letter to the flash drive. We do this using the command assign. Click Enter.
The flash drive is automatically assigned a letter, and then the media automatically starts.
Now you can shut down the program. Enter the command exit and press Enter.
The last thing to do is to copy the distribution files of the operating system (the one for which we made a bootable flash drive) to, in fact, our flash drive. After this, our flash drive will be bootable and will boot absolutely everywhere, on any device. With its help, you can install your operating system anywhere.
I would like to note that with the help of the program you can carry out many manipulations both with hard drives(), and with flash drives. The example discussed today is only a small part of all the possibilities. I will consider other commands and examples of working with this program in the following articles.
Also read on this topic:
Formatting a flash drive to NTFS
How to recover data from a flash drive after deleting or formatting?
How to change disk size in Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8. Free EaseUS program Partition Master Free
How to create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive to install Windows 8.1 and 10?
How to freeze a row in Excel?
How to create a disk image with using Daemon Tools?
I will show you 4 ways to help you make a bootable USB flash drive. Usually it is needed to install Windows OS or for a program if it runs before the system boots.
There are many programs to solve this problem, but sometimes you can get by using the system. I will provide instructions that will help you make a bootable USB flash drive from any Windows version or program. 4 methods, 2 universal and 2 for specific OS.
But before that you need to prepare. You will need:
- Flash drive with a capacity of 4 GB or more.
- Image ( iso) operating system or program for which a bootable USB flash drive will be created.
Before creating a bootable USB flash drive, be sure to format it to avoid errors.
Bootable USB flash drive in Windows OS
You can do without third party programs and do everything in Windows. To do this you will have to use a number of commands. I will demonstrate only the most necessary ones.
First clear your device of all files. To do this, go to the execution line ( Win+R) from the Start menu >> Run, and then enter the command diskpart as in the image below.
In the window that appears, enter list disk to see all devices for further work with them.
In my example, there were 2 devices:
- 0 - hard drive.
- 1 - flash drive.
Distinguish a flash drive from hard drives very simple in size. Select it with the command select disk 1.
Be careful, there may be another number instead of 1.
After this, you need to create a primary partition. To do this, enter create partition primary.
Select a section by entering select partition 1 and activate it with the command active.
Then set the letter to the carrier ( automatically) by entering assign and finish the job Exit.
Now be sure to download the files to the USB flash drive unpacked. If you just copy the iso file, nothing will work.
If you don’t understand something, you can watch a video on how to do it using a real example.
Bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
Download and install the USB/DVD Download Tool. It is made specifically to work with Windows files 7 and absolutely free. Most likely it won't work with others. Total 4 simple steps to create.
Please note that if you use an image not from the official Microsoft website, problems or errors may occur.
Specify the path to iso file y and go to the next step.
Then select “USB device” for a flash drive or “DVD” for a disk.
Select a flash drive and start copying. It must have at least 4 GB of free space.
Then wait until it is written to the device and you will receive a ready-made bootable USB flash drive.
The instructions are also available in video format.
Bootable USB flash drive for all images in UltraIso
This paid program having free trial period. Download it from the official website and install. It is multifunctional and in Russian. Suitable for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10.
You can watch an example of installing Windows XP in the video. With other versions of systems, everything is done similarly.
Once launched, select a trial period.
Then open the image in the program.
Now in the “Bootboot” tab, select the image entry as shown in the example below.
Settings are set here.
- Disk drive- flash drive.
- Image file— here check whether the path is specified correctly.
- Recording method- be sure to use USB-HDD+. Otherwise, in some cases it will not work.
After checking all the settings, start recording.
Wait for it to finish. Time to finish is shown on the right.
Under no circumstances remove the flash drive until the process is completed.
If completed successfully, you will see a completion message. After this, the bootable USB flash drive will be ready. Just close the window and enjoy.
Additional method for Windows XP
Download free utility DirectGrub and unpack the archive. No installation required. Select the iso file, flash drive and click “Start” as in the image below.
Wait while the files are copied. After successful completion, a window will appear.
I hope you don’t have any questions and everything turned out well.
What did you use to create a bootable USB flash drive?
For various tasks problems that users face, for example, they need to create a bootable USB flash drive or there are problems with formatting the flash drive standard means from Explorer, it becomes necessary to format the flash drive using the command line. Formatting a flash drive via the command line can be done in several ways.
In order to open the command line, launch the Start menu and enter the cmd command in the search bar.
In the command line window that appears, enter: format /fs:NTFS H: /q – where:
- format – formatting task;
- fs:NTFS – description of the file we select file system;
- H: - the drive we need;
- /q - command for quick formatting.
In the event that we want to format the file system in Fat or Fat32, the command will look like this: format /FS:FAT32 H: /q.
After entering the command, a message will be displayed: “Insert new disk into drive H: and press the ENTER key...” – press ENTER.
Then the command line window displays: “Volume label (11 characters, ENTER - no label needed)” -
so click on ENTER.
Our flash drive is formatted.
Format command (second method)
Call the command line as described in paragraph one.
In the command line window that appears, type: format H: /fs:NTFS /v:Arhiv – where:
- format – disk formatting task;
- fs:NTFS – description of the file systems we choose;
- v:Arhiv – the label of the drive we select (the name of your drive is entered).
Accordingly, when we choose another file system, after fs: we enter what we need - Fat or Fat32. The command looks like this: format H: /fs:FAT32 /v:Arhiv. If you want to select quick formatting, you need to add Q to the formatting command and the command will look like this: format H: /FS:NTFS /Q /v:arhiv.
Immediately after entering the command, a notification appears in the command line window: “Insert a new disk into drive H: and press the ENTER key...” - press the Enter key.
The flash drive is formatted.
Method 3: Built-in Diskpart utility
In the operating room Windows system There is a built-in utility for working with drives, which allows us to format a flash drive.
Call the command line cmd command V search bar Start menu.
In the command line window that appears, enter: diskpart and the utility for managing storage spaces will launch.
Type the command: list disk. This will allow us to see all the drives present on our computer. We find a flash drive that we are going to format by size. We began to see all the disks with an indication of their volumes. We remember the number of the disk we select, for example, 2.
Then we type the command: select disk 2, where 2 is the drive we select. Press Enter.
After this, the flash drive must be cleared of attributes, for which we enter the command: attributes disk clear readonly. After that, enter the command: clean.
After clearing the drive of attributes, we need to create a primary partition, for which we mark our disk in the file system of our choice:
First, enter the command: create partition primary, then set the file system we need with the command: format fs=ntfs or format fs=fat32. If quick formatting is necessary, then write the command as follows: format fs=NTFS QUICK or format fs=FAT32 QUICK. Click on Enter and the flash drive is formatted.
Exit the program using the command: exit.
Built-in Diskpart utility (another way)
There is another, slightly different way to format the drive using the built-in Diskpart program.
Open the command line window as described above, then enter diskpart command and press Enter to launch the utility.
Then enter the command list disk and press Enter again. This way we will see all our drives. After this, the same as in previous method, recognize your flash drive by size and remember the drive number. For example, 2.
We write the command: select disk 2, where 2 is the flash drive we select. Click on Enter.
Enter the command clean and press Enter - all files on the drive are deleted.
Next you need to create new section on a flash drive, for which you enter the command: create partition primary and Enter, then the disk selection command: select disk 2 and Enter, where 2 is the drive we need. Then you need to enter the command: active so that the utility marks the partition as active. Then enter the command to mark up the file system: format fs=ntfs or format fs=fat32. As mentioned in the previous method, for quick formatting add to the QUICK command: format fs=NTFS QUICK or format fs=FAT32 QUICK.
After formatting is completed, you need to assign a letter to the flash drive. We do this using the command: assign, after which the drive autostarts, and we see on the screen an Explorer window with an already formatted flash drive.
To exit Diskpart, use the exit command.
Conclusion
As we showed in this article, formatting a flash drive via the command line is not difficult. The main thing is to carefully select the disk to format and remember that after formatting, your data may be lost forever. Working on the command line will help especially when working with built-in Diskpart utility if the flash drive cannot be formatted in a simple way from the Explorer menu or when working with a flash drive, you noticed that part of the file system is not visible and the volume of the flash drive has decreased for some reason.
