8.18 Create a Bootable Windows 8.1 USB Flash Drive

Microsoft has provided a way of creating a copy of the Windows Operating System on a bootable USB flash drive only since the release of Windows 7.

This option was a much needed addition to the Windows operating system; it also saved on the use of DVDs, particularly as many users now heavily rely upon USB stick, not only for backing up files, but also for creating the all important recovery type disks.

To create the Windows 8.1 USB flash drive you will need the following:

A copy of the Windows 8.1 ISO - this can be either the ISO file downloaded directly from the Microsoft website; or a copy of the original Windows 8.1 DVD.
A suitable USB stick - If you go for a minimum 8GB stick this should be ample for what you need.

Before you can proceed to create the USB drive you will need to copy the contents of the Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO to a folder on your PC.

Once the contents of the Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO have been copied to a suitable folder on your computers' hard drive you should proceed as follows:

Simultaneously press the Windows Key and the letter R key on your keyboard. This will open the Run dialogue box.
In the Run dialogue box type: cmd and then click the OK button.

Fig: 8.18.1 Type 'cmd' into the dialogue box and then click the OK button
The Command Prompt window will now open.

Fig: 8.18.2 Command Prompt Window
In the Command Prompt window type: diskpart and then press Enter.
A User Account Control security warning will now appear. Click OK to continue.
The Disk Partitioning application will now open.

Fig: 8.18.3 Disk Partitioning Application Window
Insert your USB stick into your PCs USB drive.
Now in the diskpart application window type: list disk and click the Enter key.

Fig: 8.18.4 List of available drives
The Disk Partitioning application should now display all of the available physical hard drives on your system.
You now need to identify the number which refers to your USB drive, i.e., Disk 1 and then type: select disk X (where X is the number of your USB drive) and then press the Enter key

Fig: 8.18.5 Select the disk you want to use
Once you have selected the disk a message should appear in the diskpart window saying "Disk X is now selected."
Warning! The next step requires the system to delete everything from your USB stick. Before proceeding to step 13 (below) ensure that you have backed up any files currently on the USB stick that you wish to keep. Once the USB stick has been cleaned you will loose all files that were previously stored on the USB stick.
Now type: clean and then press Enter.
The clean command will now erase all of the contents from your USB drive.

Fig: 8.18.6 Cleaning the drive removes all files
Once the USB stick has been cleaned the next step is to create a Primary Partition on the USB stick. To do this type: create partition primary and then press the Enter key.

Fig: 8.18.7 Create a primary partition on the drive
Next type: select partition 1 and press the Enter key.
This command will now select the partition you have just created.

Fig: 8.18.8 Select the newly created primary partition
Now you need to make the selected partition active. To do this type: active and then press the Enter key.

Fig: 8.18.9 Make the partition active
Once the partition has been made active you need to format the partition.
To format the partition type: format fs=ntfs quick
The above command will format the USB partition in the Windows NTFS file system format.

Fig: 8.18.10 Now you need to format the partition
Finally, you need to assign a drive letter to the USB stick. To do this type: assign and then press the Enter key.

Fig: 8.18.11 Finally the partition needs to have a drive letter assigned
OK. Now that the USB stick has been prepared all you now need to do is copy the contents of the Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO from the folder you created on your PC to the USB stick and the USB flash drive is ready for use.

Fig: 8.18.12 Copy the Windows files to the newly created USB drive