Creating bootable windows usb from linux

How to Easily Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Ubuntu or Any Linux Distro

This tutorial is going to show you an easy way to create a Windows 10 bootable USB on Linux. I use Ubuntu 20.04 as an example. The method applies to any Linux distribution. I use Windows to do online banking because my bank doesn’t support Linux and sometimes play games that can’t run on Linux.

What you need

• A computer running Linux
• A USB flash drive at least 8GB
• Windows 10 ISO

Download Windows 10 ISO

First, you should download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft official download link. Note that you might not be able to download the ISO from this link on a Windows computer. This download link is visible to users on Linux computer. Once downloaded, follow the instructions below.

Note: It’s recommended to download the Windows 10 April 2018 update ISO, because the October Update ISO contains a file that is larger than 4GB, which can not be copied to a FAT32 partition.

Update: Microsoft doesn’t allow you to download the Windows 10 April 2018 Update ISO from their website anymore. You can download the ISO via this link: Win10 1803 English x64 ISO

Creating a Windows 10 Bootable USB for UEFI Firmware

This method works for UEFI firmware and is very simple. You create a GUID partition table on your USB stick, create a FAT32 file system on it, and then mount Windows 10 ISO image and copy those Windows 10 files to your USB stick and you are done. The following is a step-by-step guide.

First, install GParted partition editor on your Linux distribution. Ubuntu users run the following command.

Then insert your USB stick to your computer. Make sure you back up important files in your USB stick if there’s any. Next, launch Gparted. You will need to enter your password in order to use GParted.

Select your USB stick from the drop-down menu on the upper-right corner. My USB stick is /dev/sdb . Yours may be different.

If there’s a key icon after the partition name, that means the partition is mounted. Make sure all partitions on your USB stick are unmounted. To unmount a partition, simply right-click on it and select unmount.

Next, on the menu bar, select Device > Create partition table.

Choose GPT as the partition table type and click Apply.

Then right-click on the unallocated space and select New to create a new partition.

Change file system type from ext4 to fat32 and click Add.

Note: The install.wim file in Windows 10 October 2018 update ISO is 4.1G, so if you downloaded this ISO image, you need to change ext4 to ntfs . If you downloaded Windows 10 April 2018 Update ISO, which contains a 3.9G size install.wim file, you can change ext4 to fat32

Update: It is my observation that my NTFS formatted USB stick isn’t bootable on my old laptop, which was bought in 2012. However, it is bootable on my desktop computer, which was bought in 2017. It has a graphical UEFI firware (I can use my mouse to configure firmware settings).

Next, click the green check button on the toolbar to apply this operation. Once that’s done, close GParted (This is important), then find your Windows 10 ISO in file manager. Open it with disk image mounter.

Open the mounted file system. Select all files and folders and copy them to your USB stick.

Sometimes the file manager on Ubuntu hangs and it seems that the copy operation has stopped. Actually it’s working, just be patient. When you see a check mark, it means the copy operation has finished.

If your file manager doesn’t have the Disk image mounter in the context menu, then you can use the following commands to mount. The first command will create a mount point for Windows 10 ISO and the second command will mount Windows 10 ISO under that mount point.

Now in your file manager, go to /mnt/windows10/ and copy all files and folders to your USB stick.

Once the file and folders are copied, your windows 10 bootable USB is created! You can shut down your computer, boot it from this USB stick and install Windows 10 in UEFI mode. Keep in mind that you may need to disable compatibility support module (CSM) in the firmware in order to boot in UEFI mode. You may also need to remove USB stick from your computer and insert it back in order for the firmware to detect the boot loader on your USB stick.

Boot Windows 10 ISO Installer without USB (BIOS & UEFI)

Ever wondered if you can boot Windows 10 ISO installer without a USB flash drive? Yes, you can do it with GRUB2, which is the standard boot loader on Linux.

GRUB2 can not boot Windows 10 ISO directly. You need to create a separate NTFS partition on your hard disk or SSD with a partition editor like GParted and extract the Windows 10 ISO to that partition. Download the Windows 10 ISO file. The latest Windows 10 ISO file is 5.8G. The new NTFS partition should be at least 7G and it should not be used to store any other files.

Then find your Windows 10 ISO in file manager. Open it with disk image mounter.

Open the mounted file system. Select all files and folders and copy them to the NTFS partition.

Sometimes the file manager on Ubuntu hangs and it seems that the copy operation has stopped. Actually, it’s working. Just be patient. When you see a checkmark, it means the copy operation has finished.

Next, open up a terminal window and edit the /etc/grub.d/40_custom file with a text editor such as Nano.

In this file, we can add custom entries to the GRUB boot menu. In this case, we want to add an entry to boot the Windows 10 installer. If your computer still uses the traditional BIOS firmware, then add the following lines in this file.

My NTFS partition is the 6th partition on my first disk, so I use (hd0,6) as the root. You can run sudo parted -l command to check your NTFS partition number. If your computer has multiple hard drives, use the drivemap command to set the partition (hd0,6) as the first hard disk, so Windows will be able to boot.

If your computer uses UEFI firmware, then add the following text in this file.

Save and close the file. (Press Ctrl+O , then press Enter to save a file in Nano text editor. Press Ctrl+X to exit.)

Then update GRUB boot menu.

Next, set GRUB to boot the Windows 10 installer for the next boot with the following command.

Unplug all your external USB storage devices, then reboot your computer. GRUB will choose the Windows 10 installer.

GRUB2 can also boot Linux ISO files stored on the hard drive, so you don’t need to create Linux live USB.

Creating a Windows 10 Bootable USB for Legacy BIOS Using WoeUSB

WoeUSB is a fork of WinUSB. Both of them are open-source software (licensed in GPL) for making Windows bootable USB sticks on Linux platform, but the latter hasn’t been updated since 2012. You may be wondering why it’s named WoeUSB. The author said it’s a GNU convention to abbreviate software that support Windows to “woe”.

To install WoeUSB on Ubuntu 14.04/16.04/17.04, you can use the following PPA. Simply open up a terminal window and run the following commands one by one. Other Linux distro users can compile this software by following the instructions on the Github project page.

This PPA contains many other software. If you don’t need them, you can now remove this PPA from your system.

You can launch WoeUSB from Unity Dash or your application menu.

You can also start it from command line with:

It’s very easy to use the WoeUSB GUI. Select Windows ISO image and your target USB device. Make sure your data on the USB device is backed up before hitting the Install button.

Then wait for the installation to complete.

Once done, you can use the bootable USB to install Windows 10 on your computer.

How to Use WoeUSB From the Command Line

First, find the device name of your USB stick using the following command.

Mine is /dev/sdb . Make sure your USB is unmounted with the following command. Replace /dev/sdb1 with your own partition name.

Then create a bootable Windows 10 USB like below. Red texts shoudl be adapted to your own ISO file name and USB device name. The -v (—verbose) option will give more detailed output.

In my test, the Windows 10 USB created with WoeUSB can boot in both legacy and UEFI mode on my old computer. On my new computer, it can boot in legacy mode but failed in UEFI mode. I don’t know the exact reason, but it’s probably because of bug in this software.

That’s it! I hope this tutorial helped you create windows 10 bootable USB on Ubuntu or any Linux distribution. As always, if you found this post useful, then subscribe to our free newsletter to get new tutorials.

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How to Create a Bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux

Brief: This tutorial shows you how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux with and without a GUI tool called WoeUSB.

I have talked a lot about creating bootable USB of Linux in Windows. How about the other way round? How about creating a bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux?

If you are uninstalling Linux from dual boot or if you want to reinstall Windows completely or you simply want to have a Windows installation disk ready, you’ll need a bootable Windows 10 USB or DVD.

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a Windows 10 bootable USB in Linux. I am using Ubuntu for this tutorial but the steps should be valid for other Linux distributions as well.

There are two ways to do that and I have discussed both in this tutorial.

• The first method is mounting the ISO image of Windows to a USB disk formatted in ExFAT system. This works most of the times but there could be instances where it wouldn’t boot.
• The second method is to use a tool like Ventoy. It creates a UEFI compatible bootable disk.

If you want to use WoeUSB graphical tool for creating Windows bootable USB, you can jump to that section directly. Personally, I don’t recommend WoeUSB.

Creating a Bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux

Prerequisite: Get Microsoft Windows 10 ISO and a USB of at least 8 GB in size

You can download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft’s website. You have to specify the Windows 10 version, language and then you should see the link to download Windows 10.

Note that the Windows 10 ISO download link is valid for 24 hours only. So use a download manager in Linux to download the

5-6 GB file and finish it within 24 hours only.

Since the ISO and its content are more than 4 GB in size, I recommend a USB of at least 8 GB in size.

I have also made a video of this tutorial so that you can see the steps in action.

Step 2: Properly format the USB for creating bootable Windows USB

Insert your USB. You have to format it so make sure that you don’t have important data on the USB key.

In Ubuntu, press Super key (Windows key) and search for ‘Disks’. You have to use this tool to format the USB key.

In the Disks tool, make sure to select your USB drive and hit format.

It will ask to choose a partitioning scheme. It could be either MBR or GPT. Select one of them and hit Format.

It will show you a warning that you data will be erased.

The formatting of USB is not over yet. Now, you need to create a partition on the newly formatted USB.

Select the entire USB disk as the partition size.

Give a name to your USB and hit Create button.

Once done, your USB should be automatically mounted. It is now ready for creating bootable Windows 10 USB disk.

Files larger than 4 GB?

Newer Windows 10 ISO might have files larger than 4GB. In that case, FAT filesystem won’t work as it doesn’t allow a single file of size greater than 4 GB.

You should then format the USB in ExFAT format. This newer format allows files bigger than 4 GB.

Step 3: Copy the content of the ISO to USB

Now it’s time to copy the content of the Windows 10 ISO to the newly formatted USB.

You may ask, Abhishek, there is only one file and that is the ISO file itself. What are you talking about?

ISO is basically an archive format and you can see it’s content like any zip file in Linux. But to do that, you need to use ‘Disk Image Mounter’ tool that is installed by default in Ubuntu.

Go to your Windows 10 ISO, select it and right click on it. Now select ‘Open with other application’.

In the applications list, select Disk Image Mounter:

The ISO will be mounted. You may not see it in the left sidebar but if you click on the Other Locations, you should see it. Click on it to enter this mounted ISO folder.

You’ll see its content. All you need to do is to select all the files (Ctrl+A), copy it (Ctrl+C) and paste it in the USB drive (Ctrl+V).

Wait for the copying process to finish as it may take some time in copying 4-5 GB of data. Once it’s done, you have a bootable Windows 10 USB in your hand. Take out the USB and use it to any system you want, restart the system and change the boot settings to boot from the USB.

Method 2: Create bootable Windows 10 USB using Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool for making live USBs. You can use it to create a multi-boot USB, persistent Linux live USB and bootable Windows USB.

I find Ventoy an unorthodox tool. It is slightly tricky to use and this is the reason I am writing this step-by-step tutorial.

Step 1: Prepare your USB drive

Ventoy formats the USB disk while creating the bootable disk. However, I noticed it failed to do so for an already bootable Linux disk. For this reason, I advise you to format the USB disk before you proceed further.

Plug in and then format the USB disk. You can do that by right-clicking on the mounted disk and then selecting the format option.

It doesn’t matter which filesystem you choose during formatting. It will be formatted again by Ventoy in the later steps.

Once it is formatted, keep it plugged in and go on to the next step of installing Ventoy.

Step 2: Download and install Ventoy on Linux

Ventoy is a mix of GUI and CLI tool. It can be used on any Linux distribution. Download Ventoy for Linux from the release page of its GitHub repository.

You’ll find the .tar.gz file with Linux in its name. This is the file you should download.

Once downloaded, extract the tar gz file. Simply right click on it and extract it.

Go inside the extracted folder, and you’ll find a few scripts in it. You need to run one named VentoyWeb.sh. To do that, you’ll have to use the command line.

Now if you are familiar with Linux command line, I presume that you can easily find your way to the file by using the cd command.

Alternatively, you can use the “open in terminal” feature of the file manager to open the location in a terminal.

Once you are in the correct directory in the terminal, use the following command to run Ventoy:

Ventoy runs inside a browser. It will give you the URL when you run it. Copy this URL and paste it in a browser.

It will open a web page with Ventoy running in it and if the USB is already plugged in, it should recognize it. If not, press the refresh button.

Step 3: Use Ventoy to create bootable Windows 10 USB disk

Though Ventoy has the option to create a bootable disk with secure boot, it is experimental and may not work.

Considering you are going for a UEFI installation, it will be wise use GPT for partitioning scheme.

Once things are set, hit the install button. It will show you a couple of obligatory warnings. If the installation completes successfully, you should see a success message.

Note: If you do not see Ventoy disk mounted after the successful installation, please plug out the USB and then plug it in again.

When you hit the install button, it creates two partitions on the USB disk.

• VTOYEFI: A small partition for the UEFI files.
• Ventoy: A big, empty partition in ExFAT format where you’ll copy the ISO image.

Yes. That’s what you need to do. Copy the ISO image of the Windows 10 into the bigger ExFAT partition on the USB disk.

Once the copying finishes, DO NOT RUSH to plug out the USB just yet. Click on the unmount option from the file manager. Chances are that some files are still being written and it may show an error message.

Wait for a few more minutes and you should see a message that it is safe to remove the disk. Now you can unplug it and use it on whichever system you want.

Step 4: Using the bootable Windows 10 disk

Alright! You are almost there. Plug in your bootable Windows USB you created in the previous section. Start the computer and go to the BIOS setting by using the F2/F10 or F12 key at the time you see the logo of your computer’s manufacturer.

In here, look for the secure boot settings and disable it. If the secure boot is enabled, chances are that your system won’t allow you to boot from the USB disk (to secure your system and data at boot time).

After disabling the secure boot, go into the boot order and then choose the UEFI USB Disk to boot from. Some systems will give this option after you press F12 or F10 button.

It takes a couple of minutes to start the Windows disk. You should see a screen like this and it will give you the option to repair boot or install Windows.

I think you can take things from here. Enjoy it 🙂

You can also watch a video of creating Windows 10 bootable USB. Do subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux videos:

Let’s see how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB in Ubuntu and other Linux distribution.

Step 1: Install WoeUSB application

WoeUSB is a free and open source application for creating Windows 10 bootable USB. It is actually a fork of WinUSB tool that has been discontinued now.

Ubuntu and other Ubuntu-based Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, elementary OS etc have a PPA available. You can use the command below to install WoeUSB:

For other Linux distributions, you can check out the source code from the GitHub repository:

Step 2: Format USB drive

Now, plug in your USB key. You’ll have to format it first. I presume you know how to format a USB key in your Linux distribution.

Ubuntu users can simply right click on the USB and click format.

The important part here is that you should format it in NTFS:

Note: If you use Fat 32 file system for formatting, you may encounter the error below later on:

Step 3: Using WoeUSB to create bootable Windows 10

We have everything ready for us now. Start WoeUSB program.

Browse to the downloaded Windows 10 ISO file and select the USB drive on which you want to install it. Just click on Install to begin the process.

Note that it may take up to 15 minutes in creating the Windows 10 USB. Don’t get fooled by the ‘done’ on the screen.

That’s it. You should see a success message.

Step 4: Using Windows 10 bootable USB

Once the bootable USB is ready, restart your system. At boot time, press F2 or F10 or F12 repeatedly to go to the boot settings. In here, select to boot from USB.

You’ll see that Windows 10 is being booted and it gives you the option to install or repair your system. You know what to do now from here.

I hope you find this tutorial useful for creating bootable USB of Windows 10 in Linux . If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free leave a comment.

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