

If you use a modern PC with UEFI bootloader, you must use GPT (GUID Partitioning Map) as partitioning scheme for your USB disk.

Instead, I recommend to download the ISO file, and then use Rufus to create the USB stick from the ISO file. It is possible to directly burn to a USB disk from MediaCreationTool, but in my experience it did not always work. If you use MediaCreationTool, be sure to select "Create installation media for another PC", than "ISO file". You may find that your browser redirects you to the other page depending on the operating system of your current system. You can either download the ISO file directly, or with a helper program, called MediaCreationTool.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 installers can be downloaded from. 4 Error: "A media driver your computer needs is missing."ĭownload a Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file.

1 Download a Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file.This will ensure your USB thumb drive is working properly which may be preventing a successful completion. Expand "Show advanced format options" under Format options in Rufus and check the option to "Check device for bad blocks". Pro Tip: If you are having issues creating your bootable USB thumb drive. The process may take several minutes depending on the speed of your USB thumb drive. Click OK on the confirmation screen to begin creating your bootable USB drive. The Format Options can usually be left as is, hit Start when you are ready. Once selected, just hit Open.įor image option, partition scheme and target system, I suggest using the defaults which are "Standard Windows Installation", GPT Partition Scheme and UEFI target system. If you need to download a Windows 10 ISO file, check out this article. Next, click Select and navigate to your ISO file you want to use. To be safe, I typically use a 16GB thumb drive by Transcend.īy default, Rufus will only display removable USB drives but make sure the correct device is selected under Drive Properties. Make sure that your USB thumb drive is larger than the ISO file downloaded. Once installed, plug in your USB thumb drive and then start up Rufus. Alternatively you can download directly from the Github repository here. To get started, head over to and download Rufus 3.12 or later. This is very helpful when performing a clean install of the Windows 10 20H2 October update ISO. But recently I switched to using a new tool called Rufus that is both reliable at successfully creating bootable media and automating many steps to quickly get the job done so you can perform a clean install. I've written about a few methods over the years to create a bootable USB flash drive from a Windows 10 ISO file.
