How to Create a Bootable Windows 8.1 USB Flash Drive

Prepare a USB flash drive for installation, is has to be at least 4 GB in size and it has to be formatted with FAT32. It does not have to be erased, the tool will do that for you if needed.

Create a bootable Windows 8.1 installation USB flash drive

This time I’ll help you find a way to install Windows 8.1 quick and easy, from a simple USB flash drive. It’s a piece of cake really, but a few things you need to know about.
I’ll list them here and if you want, you can follow the step by step guide below.

Quicksteps:

1. Get a USB Flash drive formatted with FAT32, it has to be AT LEAST 4GB!
2. Download and install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool from Microsoft Store HERE or Codeplex HERE (It is an official Microsoft tool, totally wierdly named from the Windows 7 release but still very much valid!)
3. Download or locate a ‘Windows 8.1’ .iso file and store it locally on your harddrive.
4. Start the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool (from startbutton or ‘windows 8 style startmenu’?)
5. Complete the steps 1-4
6. Insert the USB flash drive into the powered off PC to install, Power on and boot from USB drive (F9 at HP logo on HP Machines).
7. Install Windows as you would normally.
8. Done!

This guide in its entirety works just as well if you replace the Windows 8.1 .iso file with Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 or plain Windows 8 (Windows Server 2008 R2 not verified but willmost likely also work)

Step by step:

1. USB Flash Drive

Prepare a USB flash drive for installation, is has to be at least 4 GB in size and it has to be formatted with FAT32. It does not have to be erased, the tool will do that for you if needed.

2. Download and install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool from Microsoft Store or Codeplex. The Links are as follows:

Run the .exe file, you will have to be a local administrator on your machine for it to install properly.

3. Locate a Windows 8.1 .iso file. This file should be placed on a local harddrive. It does not matter where you put it, as long as it is on a local HD and it is accessable to you when running the tool, meaning that you have access to where the file is stored in the filesystem.

4. After the installation of the tool has completed, you will suddenly notice this tile:

You can also just use the search function, in ‘metro mode’ simply type Windows 7 and you will see it and its uninstall app.
Start the tool
Click Ok at the User Account Control popup dialog
The first screen should now look like this:

5. Hit the Browse button to locate your Windows 8.1 installation iso file.

In my test, I’m using an .iso file downloaded from TechNet Subscriber downloads (soon to be no more)
It does not have to be from TechNet, it can be MSDN or Volume Licensing or really any form of Windows 8.1 installation iso.

Click on ‘USB device’
If you see the window below, that means that the USB drive is either not plugged in properly, or it has the wrong formatting or insufficient storage or similar. Make sure that you have a USB flash drive that meets: 4GB minimum+FAT32.

Insert a USB drive that meets the requirements and press the refresh button
Now, click on the ‘Begin copying’ button.

If the USB drive was ok, the copying will begin, but if not, if it still had files still on it, you will see this dialog:

Click Erase to continue

Click Yes and the formatting and copying process will begin.

Let it do its thing until it reaches 100%

When it has finished formatting and copying files, you are done.

6. Next step, is to insert the USB drive into the PC you want to install Windows 8.1 on, Power it off completely and Power on again.
Use BIOS settings to select ‘boot from USB’ or like on a HP machine, hit F9 at tghe HP logo screen to boot directly from USB.

7. Let the Installation begin! The Windows installation is pretty much standard. A Clean install is described here. The setup of Windows 8, which is the same, is described here

8. Done!

References:

As Always, Mattias Gutke! At CAG for some strange reason….Always a friend, a great help and a second opinion!

How to Create a Bootable Windows 8.1 USB Flash Drive

Windows 8.1 will be out in a few days . Starting October 18th everybody will be able to purchase windows 8.1 . For people who already have a legal copy of Windows 8 , They can upgrade to windows 8.1 for free from the Windows app store .

If you already have a legal copy of windows 8 then you can skip the wait and get your hands on the RTM version of Windows 8.1 . once you download the Windows 8.1 RTM , you can use your windows 8 serial key to activate windows 8.1 and use it before everybody else . Currently the RTM versions of Windows 8.1 are not officially available for everyone , except developers and students with a MSDN or Technet subscription. If you’re geeky enough , you can easily get your hands on a copy of the RTM version of Windows 8.1 online .

Once you get your hands on the RTM version of Windows 8.1 , you can follow this guide to create a Bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 8.1 on your PC . Also these instructions will work with the windows 8.1 preview versions too .

What do you need ?

There are many free programs out there which can help you to create a bootable windows 8.1 USB Flash drive . For this guide I would be using Rufus , because its very small and faster than all the other programs to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB Flash drive . Follow these instructions to create a bootable windows 8.1 USB flash drive .

Instructions to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB Flash drive

• Step 1: Download and run Rufus
• Step 2: From the device drop down menu select your USB flash drive
• Step 3: For partition scheme . Select “ GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer “ if you have a UEFI enabled Bios , otherwise select “ MBR partition scheme for BIOS and UEFI computer “ .
• Step 4: For file system select Fat 32 if your windows 8.1 ISO file size is below 4 GB else choose NTFS . For a UEFI bios it is compulsory to have a FAT32 file system .
• Step 5: Leave the cluster size at default and check the quick format option .
• Step 6: check “ create a bootable disk using “ and select ISO image and select the Windows 8.1 RTM ISO image .
• Step 7: Check “ create extendable label and icon “
• Step 8: Now click on start to create your bootable Windows 8.1 USB flash drive .

Once your bootable windows 8.1 USB pen drive is created , you can then process further with installing windows 8.1 on your PC . We will do a detailed guide about installing windows 8.1 very shortly .