What is Computer RAID? – RAID Levels. 
Computer circuit board or Motherboard. 
Computer security – mobile and computer safety. 
Computer storage – What is the difference between SSD and HDD 
Computer hardware maintenance – Improve performance. 
What are mobile phones about? 
What is computer mediated communication – How does it help? 
How to create a bootable USB drive. 
What are the pros and cons of digitalization? – Is it worth it? 
If you want to install, update, repair or dual boot your desktop or laptop computer. And you don’t know how to go about it or which software to use. Here are some easy steps on how to create a bootable USB drive using Command prompt(CMD) for your installation or update.
Steps to creating a bootable USB drive.
Assuming that you already have your windows computer on and a 4GB USB flash drive or bigger inserted into your computers USB port.
- Open the command prompt as an administrator by using windows key + x then selecting command prompt(Admin) or by simply typing CMD in the search bar.
- In the command prompt type diskpart and press enter key. To enter into the disk part of your hardware.
- Within the new line that opens in the command prompt, type list disk and hit enter key to display all the disks on the computer and in this section take note of your USB flash drive number or letter as this is useful for the next step.
- Type select disk X and press enter key to select your USB flash drive, where X is your USB flash drive number or letter.
- At the command prompt, type clean and hit enter key to delete everything within the flash drive.
- In order to create a primary partition on your USB flash drive, type create partition primary and hit enter key.
- Type select partition 1 and press enter key to select the primary partition that you just created earlier on.
- Now to format the partition that you have just created, you have two options depending on the type of operating system that you want to install, repair or dual boot. For windows use format fs=ntfs quick and hit enter key while for Ubuntu or Linux use format fs=fat32 quick and hit enter key.
- Type active and press enter key to activate the settings.
- Lastly type exit and then click enter key to exit the disk part.
Adding a system image for your operating system.
Now that you are done with creating the bootable flash drive. It’s time to add a system image for your operating system. Create an empty folder and give it the name of your operating system or name it something else apart from new folder. By the way, naming depends on your choice. Extract the files of your operating system from an ISO format into an empty folder that you created earlier on. Once the files are done extracting, copy or cut the extracted files and paste them into the bootable flash you created. When the files are done being transferred, eject the USB flash drive. And once you plug back the USB flash drive you will be able to see the OS image come up.
Conclusion
Fortunately you can use the same procedure to recover your hard drive or USB flash drive but not necessary the information within it. If you are afraid that you can damage or destroy your flash drive or computer at large, please feel free to use free software programs such as Rufus or Universal USB Installer. Generally this method stated above is much faster than compared to some software programs. For questions and contributions use the comment section below.
I enjoy reading this post and I’m glad I came across it because I am not tech savvy at all. I’m always in need of help when it come to computer skills or software anything related to the technology behind the computer. I feel like technology is evolving faster than I can keep up with it.
Great job, please keep these posts coming because I really need them and can use the information you provided to help me a great deal.
Nicole,
Technology is truly evolving at a faster rate and you don’t really have to be a computer genius to be up to date. All you need is interest with tech that’s all.
Wow, this is some really technical stuff. I had to go over it a couple of times before it starts to make sense! But you’ve really put the process down in a step-by-step and organized manner. The created bootable USB drive would come in really useful in the case of my laptop crashing.
It will surely be helpful if that happens.
Hey Volkert. Extremely useful post. To be fair I’m not expert in computers and I’m always looking for tutorials to get me through more complicated tasks. Thank you for your clear and transparent article, with this guideline even I can prepare bootable USB drive, and its definitely easier and faster then using some external software.
Am sure you will get there, just keep the interest within you and everything will be possible. Its good that you found the article useful.
I have never been good with computer “stuff” so I’m always lost when someone says something like “just back it up onto a bootable USB” or other foreign terms I’m lost. What I need is what you’ve done right here…step-by-step instructions on how to actually do that. I have just used these steps to back up all my autofill passwords to a USB. Thank you!!
We all have been the before, you only have to take one step at a time and you will eventually be good at it.
Hi Folkert, great job. Actually many people need such websites to help understand computers. I am not a computer expert and always look for tutorials to help me get things done. Thank you for your clear and transparent article, with this guide so I can set up a bootable USB drive which is easier and faster than using some other software
You are most welcome and am glad you found the article useful.
What a refreshing experience in simple step by step instructions to help us learn how to implement this tip! Thank you for the effort you put into this tutorial, I know how much time it takes to create training as I create training tutorials and manuals too. I like the factbthatbyou can use a Flash Drive now instead of the Floppy Drive or CD Rom e used to use before!
That’s true, from floppy drive to flash drive. Quiet an advancement in digital technology.
Well this is certainly one of the most useful articles that I have run into today. I must admit I did not think that creating a booted USB would be so much easier when there are thorough and concise instructions involved. You have really gone above and beyond with all these instructions and how concisely you put it together. Thank you so much for this thorough information
You are most welcome Misael and please do hang around you might find something new to learn about.
Thanks for sharing this. in the earlier days of computers we all had to know some of this basic stuff about how to setup hard drives. So many times I’ve had to deal with those dreaded blue screens with all the numbers dumped on the screen. One that you don’t see often these days either is when the computer is stuck in pre-windows bootup. See, I don’t even remember what it is called now but this was a common occurrence back in the days of Windows 3.1 and Windows NT for that matter. This is excellent though as I am sure I will be confronted with some catastrophic PC crash sooner or later. Extremely valuable to be able to setup your own bootable USB drive. Thanks again for sharing. Best regards, Andy
Hello Andy, thank you for taking time in reading though this article and leaving a comment. Now that’s some late 90’s OS and also the beginning of great advancement of computer technology that led to todays trends in computers.
I am definitely bookmarking this for my future use! For a person that don’t know much about coding and these back end technology procedures, your article really is easy to follow and I love it! I have looked through all the steps and you made it the instructions simple, clear and straightforward. (I also love that you play assassins creed haha!) This is helpful for me as my computer are getting old so it is always good to have this extra knowledge.
Once again, thank you so much for your awesome article! You don’t know how much this will help someone until they get desperate! Looking forward to seeing more of these articles and keep up the good work!
Hello joeyoung, I think you are the only one whose notice that am also gamer😀 too. Its great to know that you have found this piece of information useful and bookmarked it please do stick around you might learn some more new things.
Thanks for this step-by-step walkthrough. It was very informative and is great information to have for the future. I am not really tech-savvy and I am always impressed by those who are. I will check out those free software programs that you mention, Rufus, and Universal USB Installer. I will definitely favorite this website for future reference.
You are most welcome, please feel free to check them out. And you don’t normally have to be a tech- savvy to be good at computer technology cause you only have to build interest and eventually you will be good at it.
Great guide on setting up a bootable drive just with the command prompt! Although if we’re talking Windows 10, I think you can simply download Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool that will set it up for you.
And they require an 8GB drive for the install as far as I remember, perhaps things have changed?
Hello Julius, when you use the method stated above you erase both the partition and the data. Hence allowing you to format the flash drive according to the format you want and can be much useful when you are dealing with a limited space such as a 4GB. Unlike some other software’s that don’t erase most of the things in the hard drive.
To create a bootable USB drive is really technical stuff, but the step by step instructions that you describe, makes it easy to follow and implement. I am not a computer expert, so the created bootable USB drive would come in very handy should my laptop crash. I always panic a bit when somebody asks if I have backed up my computer recently, so this will certainly help me to do it.
Hello LineCowley, it’s normally good to back up your data as you don’t know when exactly your computer may crash. And you don’t really have to be a tech expert to do so. Am glad you found this article useful.
Although all these years I am using computers I never needed to dual boot I can see the reason for something like this to be useful. Does this procedure works for all windows versions and 4GB are enough of a flash disk or it depends on the operating system? Is there a way to see how much space it is required before going through all this procedure?
Normally it depends on the size of the windows OS you are trying to install or fix. Cause in some cases were the OS is about 3.56 GB, mostly windows 8.1 a 4GB flash drive can be used. But 8GB flash drive are most preferable.