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How to Make USB flash drive bootable with Win 10

Anonymous
2021-05-19T20:45:13+00:00

I have purchased some Win 10 licenses, and I tried to use the first one for a 32-bit Win 10 Pro and boot from a USB flash drive.

As I use the MediaCreationTool20H2 and chose “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC” option, the program did created something on the flash drive.

I shutdown the PC, started up and got to the boot menu. I was able to see the flash drive as a bootable device. Selected to boot from flash drive, but it won’t boot, and returned with a message that “Some files are missing”. So, I don’t even have the chance to enter Windows product key for Activation.

What I have done wrong? Or there are other steps that I have to do to make Win10 bootable from the flash drive.

One more question.

Previously I have asked questions from the Microsoft Community before and got good answers. However, I have never seen where is my question posted on the Microsoft Community. Which page should I go to in order to see my original question?

Thanks in advance.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Licensing and activation

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-05-19T22:17:08+00:00

    Format to FAT32, then follow the instructions from tenforums.

    Media Creation Tool: https://download.microsoft.com/download/d/5/2/d...

    During installation, You'll be prompted to enter a product key.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2021-05-20T00:28:26+00:00

    My PC is working fine, and  I am not going to do Clean Install Windows 10 to wipe out all my build ups there just because of this problem.

    Thanks for your time.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2021-05-19T23:20:25+00:00

    I have formatted the flash drive in FAT32 format, followed the link and got the MediaCreationTool21H1 this time.

    When making the Architecture selection, I chose 32-Bit(x86), because I wanted to have a 32-Bit W10 Pro. I suppose this "Architecture" is for software selection, not hardware ( almost all PC now have 64-bit hardware architecture).

    After the program said "Finish", the flash drive volume label changed to ESD-USB. Is it  already ready to boot at this stage? Again, don't see anything requesting my product key. From the Tenforum instructions I should have been prompted for product key already.

    This time the flash drive did not appear on the boot menu as if it is not bootable.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2021-05-19T21:58:58+00:00

    Thank you for the quick reply.

    Is there any particular format ( FAT32 or NTFS) needed for my USB flash drive preparation?

    As I read the guide, I have found that Rufus is not for 32-bit version with UEFI. My PC uses UEFI only.

    I used MediaCreationTool20H2 (though not 21H1 yet, but I ran it inside the Microsoft Site) to create the bootable flash drives ( tried on different flash drives, same result) so that should not be the problem with flash drives.

    One more thing, when I ran the MediaCreationTool20H2, I did not see any page ask me for the product key.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2021-05-19T21:24:24+00:00

    Hi,

    I'm an Independent Advisor here to help you.

    Looks like the USB bootable is corrupted.

    Create a bootable USB again.

    Here's the guide, --> https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2376-create...

    Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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