If you want to reinstall Windows, you need installation media – these days, almost always a bootable USB drive. There are two tried-and-tested tools for this: Microsoft's Media Creation Tool downloads Windows and sets up the drive in one go. The free program Rufus writes an ISO file you have already downloaded to the drive and lets you control more of the details yourself.
What you need
- A USB drive with at least 8 GB of storage. Please note: all data on the drive will be erased.
- A Windows PC with an internet connection.
- Around 10 GB of free space on your hard drive for temporary files.
- A little patience: the download is several gigabytes in size (around 5 GB or more).
Which tool is right for you?
| Media Creation Tool | The easiest option. Downloading Windows and creating the drive happen automatically, with hardly any settings required. |
| Rufus | Useful if you already have an ISO file or want to choose the partition scheme and target system yourself. |
Option A: Media Creation Tool
- Go to Microsoft's official download page: microsoft.com/software-download/windows11 for Windows 11 or microsoft.com/software-download/windows10 for Windows 10.
- In the section on creating installation media, download the Media Creation Tool and run it.
- Accept the licence terms. With the Windows 10 tool, then select Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC; the Windows 11 tool skips this step.
- Choose the language and edition. The defaults match the current PC. If the drive is intended for a different computer, untick Use the recommended options for this PC. You can only choose the architecture (32/64-bit) for Windows 10 – Windows 11 is available exclusively as a 64-bit version.
- Select USB flash drive as the media and choose the correct drive from the list that follows.
- The tool downloads Windows and copies it to the drive. Try to avoid using the PC while this is in progress.
- As soon as the message Your USB flash drive is ready appears, click Finish and remove the drive.
Option B: Rufus with an ISO file
Rufus is available free of charge from rufus.ie. The program doesn't need to be installed – you can run it straight away.
- Download the ISO file from the Microsoft download page mentioned above. In addition to the Media Creation Tool, you'll also find a direct ISO download there.
- Start Rufus and select your USB drive at the top under Device. Check the name and size carefully so that you don't accidentally erase a different drive.
- Next to the boot selection, click Select and open the ISO file.
- For a modern PC, set the Partition scheme to GPT and the Target system to UEFI. Only choose MBR for older computers with a classic BIOS (Legacy) – in practice this only applies to Windows 10, as Windows 11 officially requires a UEFI computer.
- Click Start. Rufus may display a dialog with additional customisation options; for a standard installation you can confirm it without making any changes.
- Confirm the warning that all data on the drive will be erased.
- Wait until the status bar is completely green and shows Ready. You can then close Rufus.
Booting the PC from the USB drive
- Plug the drive into the computer you want to install Windows on and restart it.
- Open the boot menu during start-up. Depending on the manufacturer, you do this with F12, F11, F9, F8 or Esc.
- Select the USB drive in the boot menu. Windows Setup starts.
If the drive doesn't appear in the boot menu, disable Fast Boot in the UEFI settings and check that the boot mode is set to UEFI.
If it doesn't work
- The drive isn't recognised: Use a different port – ideally a USB 2.0 port directly on the motherboard rather than a hub or front-panel port.
- The Media Creation Tool stops with an error code: Often there isn't enough free space or an antivirus program is interfering. Free up space, temporarily disable the antivirus program and run the tool again.
- Error message relating to the install.wim file: The FAT32 file system only supports files up to 4 GB. So don't copy the ISO contents manually – use Rufus instead: it detects files that are too large and automatically formats the drive appropriately (NTFS with an additional UEFI boot partition).
- The drive boots, but Setup doesn't: Check that the partition scheme and boot mode match: GPT goes with UEFI, MBR with the classic BIOS. Secure Boot is only available in UEFI mode.
- You want to use the drive as a normal storage device again: Reformat it using Windows Disk Management.
Any questions? Email us at support@officelizenz24.de and tell us your device model and the Windows version you want. Our support team is available Monday to Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00.
