Create a bootable USB flash drive
Applies to: Windows Server 2022 Essentials, Windows Server 2019 Essentials, Windows Server 2016 Essentials
You can create a bootable USB flash drive for deploying Windows Server Essentials. The first step is to prepare the USB flash drive by using DiskPart, which is a command-line utility. For information about DiskPart, see DiskPart Command-Line Options.
Tip
To create a bootable USB flash drive for recovering or reinstalling Windows on a PC instead of a server, see Create a recovery drive.
For additional scenarios in which you might want to create or use a bootable USB flash drive, see the following articles:
Restore a full system from an existing client computer backup
Restore or repair your server running Windows Server Essentials
To create a bootable USB flash drive
Insert a USB flash drive into a running computer.
Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.
Type
diskpart
, and then select ENTER.In the new command line window that opens, determine the USB flash drive number or drive letter by typing
list disk
, and then select ENTER. Thelist disk
command displays all the disks on the computer. Note the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive.At the command prompt, type
select disk <X>
, where X is the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive, and then select ENTER.Type
clean
, and then select ENTER. This command deletes all data from the USB flash drive.To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type
create partition primary
, and then select ENTER.To select the partition that you just created, type
select partition 1
, and then select ENTER.To format the partition, type
format fs=ntfs quick
, and then select ENTER.Important
If your server platform supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), you should use the FAT32 format rather than NTFS. To format the partition as FAT32, type
format fs=fat32 quick
, and then select ENTER.Type
active
, and then select ENTER.Type
exit
, and then select ENTER.When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root folder of the USB flash drive.