We are going to explain how to create a bootable USB to install Windows 11 on your PC, so that you can use it on another computer. Thus, if you are going to install Windows 11 on a computer that is not the one from which you are going to download it, you can have everything prepared on a USB.
In previous post we have already told you how to download a Windows 11 ISO. And while creating a bootable USB stick is similar, Windows Setup is downloaded and copied to a non-write-protected, formatted USB drive instead of being saved as an ISO file.
Bootable USB to install Windows 11
The first thing you have to do is enter the Windows 11 download and installation website, whose address is microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11. Once in it, you have to click on the Download now button of Create Windows 11 installation media. It is the second option on the page. This will download an .exe file to your computer, and you have to double click on it to launch it.
When you run the file, you’ll first see a screen telling you that preparations are being made, and after a few seconds you’ll go to another where you’ll first have to agree to the terms of use and license. It is a bit long text, so I leave it up to you if you want to read it or not, but in any case you must accept the terms and click Accept to continue.
And we will get to the most important part, because in the next window you have to choose the option USB flash drive instead of ISO file. As indicated in the text, you need a USB drive that has a minimum of 8 GB of free space in order to copy Windows installation.
Now you will arrive at a new window in which you must select the USB you want to use from the list of connected devices and click Next. If you don’t see it in the list, disconnect and reconnect the USB to the computer, and click Refresh drive list for Windows to search again. Remember that this will erase all the data on your flash drive, so you must have made sure first that it does not have data on it that you do not want to lose.
That’s it, in the next step the application will start to create your bootable USB. This may take a long time because it will first download the Windows 11 file, and then copy it to the drive after formatting it. Whether the process takes half an hour or several hours will depend on your connection speed and the speed of your computer.
