Windows 11 - How To Create a Bootable USB Flash drive

Using third party tool Rufus or the official Media Creation Tool you can Create a bootable USB drive for Windows 11. Both tools are free and easy to use

Sometimes you may need Windows 11 bootable USB drive or installation media to clean install your OS or even upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 for free. Also, windows 11 installation media help you access advanced options and troubleshoot startup problems on your computer. Well, Microsoft makes it easy to create bootable USB for Windows 11 with installation media (Media creation tool). In addition, you can use the popular third-party tool Rufus or the command prompt to Create a Windows 11 Bootable USB Drive.

This post will take you step by step guide, different ways to Create a Windows 11 Bootable USB Flash Drive which can be used for the installation of Windows 11.

Contents

1 How to make Windows 11 bootable USB drive?
- 1.1 Create Windows 11 Bootable USB drive With Rufus tool
- 1.2 Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Drive With Media Creation Tool

How to make Windows 11 bootable USB drive?

You can easily make Windows 11 bootable USB flash drive using Installation media (Media creation tool) or third-party tool Rufus.

Requirements for bootable USB drive

A USB drive with at least 8 GB of storage space, Make sure backup data because the drive was formatted before making it bootable.

To make Windows 11 bootable USB flash drive using Installation media (Media creation tool) you need a stable internet connection to download Windows 11 files from the Microsoft server.

If you prefer the third-party tool Rufus to create a bootable USB, you need Windows 11 ISO image. And you can get it from the official Microsoft website.

To download Windows 11 ISO

First, visit the official Microsoft page to download Windows 11
Scroll down to locate the ‘Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)’ section.
From the drop-down menu, select Windows 11, then click the Download button,
The page will load additional information here you need to Choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu labeled “Choose one”. and click confirm
Once the download section loads, click the 64-bit Download button.

Create Windows 11 Bootable USB drive With Rufus tool

This is one of the most popular and open-source utility help formate and make bootable USB drives for the Windows operating system. And you can make Windows 11 bootable USB flash drive using Rufus by following the steps below.

First Download the latest version of the Rufus tool from its official website.
Next, locate the installer file, right-click on it select run as administrator and click “Yes” if prompted by UAC.
Let’s Connect your USB flash drive to your computer USB port and wait for Rufus to detect it; it should appear under the “Device” section.

Now from the “Boot selection” drop-down, select “Disk or ISO image”, click the Select then locate the Windows 11 ISO image.
From the “Image” drop-down, select “Standard Windows 11 Installation (TPM 2.0 + Secure Boot)” or “Extended Windows 11 Installation (no TPM / no Secure Boot)” if you want to create a bootable drive for an unsupported system.
Keep the “Partition scheme (GPT)” and “Target system (UEFI)” options as default.
Next, Enter a name for your USB flash drive under the “Volume label” section.
Leave the “File system” and “Cluster size” options, as well as any other options, as default.
Make sure the “Quick format” and “Create extended label and icon files” options are checked.
Click the “Start” button to initiate the creation process for your Windows 11 bootable USB drive.

Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Drive With Media Creation Tool

Also, you can download Windows 11 Media creation tool and use it to make Windows 11 bootable USB. This is the official tool developed by Microsoft to help users create installation media or download the latest Windows 11 ISO image easily without any fuss

Let’s first visit the Microsoft download center page and next to Create Windows 11 Installation Media click Download now to get the latest Media creation tool.

Now connect a USB flash drive with at least 8GB of storage to your PC. (Make sure backup USB drive data, the process will erase all data on the drive)
Locate the MediacreationtoolW11.exe file on the download folder, right-click on it select run as administrator,
You must agree to the terms by clicking the Accept button, Scroll down and read the license terms before clicking on Accept.

Next, select your preferred language, you need to clear the “use the recommended option for this PC” option then select the language or leave it default,

Next Select the USB flash drive as the media to use and Choose your USB drive from the available list, click next.

Wait while the Media Creation Tool downloads the Windows 11 necessary files and creates the installation media. It may take sometime, depending on your Internet speed

Once it’s done, the message “your USB flash drive is ready” appears, click Finish to close the setup wizard.
And You can boot using the USB drive to perform a clean install of Windows 11.

Also, you can refer to this video explain the steps to create Windows 11 bootable USB flash drive.