Create Windows 10 installation media using Rufus or Media Creation Tool

Here is how to create a windows 10 bootable USB using the official media creation tool or third-party utility Rufus.

By Kelvin smith Last updated Apr 18, 2024

Sometimes you may need Windows 10 installation media to perform various tasks such as performing Windows 10 clean installation or access advanced startup options to troubleshoot when Windows 10 fails to start normally. Here in this post, we go through steps to create a windows 10 bootable USB /DVD using the media creation tool or third-party utility Rufus.

Create Windows 10 installation media

Note: Using Rufus that works for any Windows 10 Build, including Insider Preview builds and Media Creation Tool (MCT), only allows you to create Windows 10 Bootable USB Drive for the Official general release of Windows 10 Build.

Also, make sure you have a stable internet connection to download Windows 10 files from the Microsoft server. And you need USB with 8 GB free space (backup your USB data, if there any as while creating a bootable USB this will format and clean the driver before place installation files)

Create a Bootable USB using Rufus

The simplest way to create a bootable USB drive is with Rufus. Especially this works for any of the Windows 10 Builds, officially released for everyone or even for Insider Preview Builds.

Open the Rufus official website. And download the latest version.
And open it by right-clicking on it and selecting Run As Administrator.
Under the “Device” section, use the drop-down menu and select the USB drive that you want to use to create the installation media.
Under the “Boot selection” section, use the drop-down menu and select the Disk or ISO image option.
Here On the right side, click the down arrow button, and select the Download option.
Note: If you have windows 10 ISO file on your local drive, you can directly select it from here.
Click the Download button and select the Windows 10 option.
Click the Continue button, and Under the “Release” section, select the version of Windows 10 that you want to download.
You can select the latest version 22H2, or you can choose to download older versions as well, including Windows 10 preview builds.
Click the Continue button.
Select the edition, including Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro, or Windows 10 Education.
Click the Continue button and select the language of Windows 10.
Next, select the operating system architecture (x64 or x86). (If it’s a newer device, usually, you’ll select the x64 option.) and click the download button

Select the location to save the Windows 10 ISO automatically.
Use the default selections after the download.
Click the Start button.
Click the OK button to confirm the USB drive data’s deletion before new files take place there.
Rufus will start creating the Bootable USB Drive, and it may take around 5 minutes to accomplish this task or even more.
That’s all Once you complete the steps, you can use the bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 10 using a clean or in-place upgrade installation.

Using the official Media Creation Tool

Also, you can use the official media creation tool to download and create Windows 10 installation media. But the downside is it works only for the official Windows 10 general release build.

Download the media creation tool from Microsoft’s official site here.
Right-click and Run the media creation tool setup.exe as administrator.
Click the Accept button to agree to the Microsoft terms.
Select the Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC option and click the Next button.

Next, select the correct language, architecture, and edition of Windows 10 if the default selection doesn’t reflect the desired options.

Note: Under “Architecture,” you can select Both options to create a bootable media that will work for devices using 64-bit and 32-bit processors. If you’re unable to change these settings, make sure to clear the Use the recommended options for this PC option.

Next, select the USB flash drive option and Select the removable drive from the list.
Click the Next button.
Once you’ve completed these steps, the wizard will download the Windows 10 installation files, and it’ll create the bootable media.

And you can use the drive for Windows 10 clean installation purposes.