Install Windows 10/8/7 From USB Flash Drive with UEFI Support When you are planning to install Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 on a PC, one of the requirements involves creating media to boot your computer into the setup wizard. This is especially true if you are performing a fresh installation of Windows. Download and install Rufus onto the same computer that contains the Windows 7 image. Plug the USB flash drive into the computer where Rufus was installed. Launch Rufus and select YES on the User Account Control dialog box. Select the CD/HDD icon and select the Windows 7.
If you've bought a system in recent years, it is most probably a UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) supported system. When using a UEFI enabled system, it is better to use a UEFI bootable USB drive to install Windows 10. Generally, most bootable USB creation software available on the internet only creates bootable USB drives that support Legacy BIOS. Those Legacy BIOS bootable drives might not work with the new UEFI system. Here are a few methods you can use to create a UEFI bootable Windows 10 USB installer device.
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Note: For this quick guide, I assume you've already have the Windows 10 ISO. If not, download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft download page.
Warning: While creating a UEFI bootable USB drive, any data in the USB drive will be lost due to formatting. So, backup all the data in the USB drive before proceeding any further.
Method #1 - Create UEFI Bootable USB Drive in Windows 10 Using Windows USB Tool
Microsoft supplies its own official tool to create bootable Windows 10 USB drive. Though you will not see any UEFI options, if you are on a UEFI supported system the tool will create UEFI bootable USB drive. If you are on a Legacy BIOS system, the tool will create regular BIOS supported bootable USB drive.
So, before creating the bootable drive, check if you are on a UEFI or BIOS system. If you are on a legacy BIOS system, follow the second method.
1. First, download the Windows USB Download Tool from the official Microsoft website. After downloading, install it like any other Windows software.
2. Plug the USB drive into an empty USB port on your computer. Make sure that the USB drive you are using is at least 8GB.
3. After installing the tool, find it or search for it in the start menu and open it.
4. In the main screen, you need to add ISO file. So, click on the 'Browse' button.
5. A browse window will open. Go to where you've stored the Windows 10 ISO file, select it and click on the 'Open' button.
6. The above action will add the file path to the tool. Click on the 'Next' button.
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7. In the next screen, since we want to create a UEFI bootable USB drive, click on the 'USB device' button.
8. If you've already plugged in the USB drive, it will show up in the drop-down menu. If not, plug in the USB drive, click on the 'refresh' button, select the USB drive from the drop-down menu and click on the 'Begin copying' button.
9. As soon as you click on the Begin Copying button, the tool will warn that the USB drive will be formatted. Click on the 'Erase USB Device' button to continue.
10. The tool starts to create the bootable Windows 10 USB drive. It can take some time to complete. So, sit back and wait.
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11. After completing the creation process, you will see 'Status: Backup completed' message under the progress bar. Close the tool by clicking on the 'X' icon appearing at the top right corner.
That is all. You are done creating the UEFI bootable USB drive in Windows 10.
Method #2 - Use Rufus to Create UEFI Bootable Windows 10 USB Drive
You can also use a free third-party tool called Rufus to create the UEFI bootable drive. The best thing about Rufus is that it is filled with features and you can select whether you want to create a UEFI drive or Legacy BIOS drive. Additionally, Rufus supports creating bootable drives for both Windows and Linux.
1. To start off, download Rufus from its official website. Apart from the regular installer, there is also a portable version if you don't want to install it on your Windows machine.
2. Once download, execute the downloaded file. On the main screen, select your USB device from the first 'Device' drop-down menu.
3. Next, select the 'GPT partition scheme for UEFI' option from the drop-down menu under 'Partition scheme and target system type'.
4. Select the checkbox 'Create a bootable disk using' and then select 'ISO Image' option from the drop-down menu. Click on the disk icon appearing next to the drop-down menu.
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5. In the browse window, go to where you've stored the Windows 10 ISO image, select it and click on the 'Open' button.
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6. As soon as you add the ISO image, you will see additional options appear under the 'Create a bootable disk using' option. Make sure that the radio option 'Standard Windows Installation' is selected.
7. Click on the 'Start' button.
8. You will see a warning message saying that the USB drive will be formatted. Click on the 'Ok' button to continue.
9. Rufus now starts to create the UEFI bootable USB drive. This can take some time to complete.
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11. When the UEFI USB creation process is complete, you will hear the completion sound and see that the progress bar is at a hundred percent. You can now close the Rufus tool and unplug the USB drive.
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That is all. You are done creating bootable UEFI USB drive in Windows 10.
If you like this article, do check out how to change OEM information in Windows 10 and how enable Windows 10 sandbox feature.