Create Windows 8 Bootable USB with the help of this post. Whether you want to install the latest Windows operating system, Windows 8 on more than one computer or run it on your Mac with the help of the Boot Camp Assistant you will no doubt require a bootable USB stick or DVD to do so. While having a bootable DVD can work in most situations, if you don’t have a DVD burner, there’s no reason that should stop you from booting Windows 8 to a USB stick.
With a Windows 8 bootable USB you can run your OS straight from the USB stick. This means that you can install your operating system on any device and all you need is a USB flash device.
You can create a bootable USB with the help of a utility that also supports burning a bootable DVD. Available in the Microsoft store is a tool called the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Although the name suggests that it’s used for Windows 7, this tool is also applicable for Windows 8. To install and run this tool your machine needs to fulfill the following requirements:
- A minimum Pentium 233 MHz processor.
- 50MB free hard disk space.
- Any one of these OS – Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
- At least a 4 GB USB flash drive with no other files on it.
Creating the Windows 8 Bootable USB Drive
In this tutorial you will learn how to use this tool to transfer the Windows 8 ISO file to a bootable USB.
1. Download Windows 7 USB Tool
Before you begin, download and store the ISO file of the Windows 8 installer to your hard drive. Download the Windows 7 USB tool. To do that, go to the Microsoft Store and find the “Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool” page. On clicking on the download link on the page you will notice a popup asking you whether you want to “Run” or “Save” the tool. Click on “Run” or save the tool if you’d prefer to run it later or use it on other systems.
2. Choose the Windows 8 ISO file
Once you have downloaded the tool from the Microsoft store, you can go ahead and launch it. On the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool window, you will see the first step where you have to choose the ISO file that you had earlier saved to your hard disk. Click on “Browse” and select that ISO file.On clicking “Next” you will reach the second step where you will be asked to choose the media type that you would like to boot the Windows OS on. For the purpose of this tutorial, select “USB Device”.
3. Create a bootable USB Device
In the third step, you will be asked to insert a USB device into your computer. The tool will then begin creating a bootable USB device. At the end of the above procedure, you will have a Windows 8 bootable USB that you can use to run Windows 8 on any system.
The same tool also works to create a Windows 8 bootable DVD and all you have to do is select the “DVD” option in the second step.
Article by Vishal
Vishal Gaikar is a professional blogger from Pune, India. If you like this post, you can follow him on Twitter.
