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How to create a bootable USB drive from an ISO image for UEFI systems

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At the time this post is being written, March 2012, at least some UEFI systems don't boot to NTFS USB thumb drives.  These UEFI systems will only boot to FAT32 USB thumb drives.  I have no idea if this will change in the future.  The details of UEFI are outside the scope of what I typically deal with.

There are several utilities for creating a bootable USB drive from an ISO image, but you’ll most likely end up with something formatted with NTFS.  This won’t boot on some UEFI systems.  Instead, right-click on your USB drive and select “Format…”.  Ensure that FAT32 is selected as the file system and click “Start”.  You can also format a drive from the command line using format or diskpart if you like.

If you’re on Windows 8, double-click your ISO image to mount it.  If you’re on earlier versions of Windows, use a 3rd party utility to mount the ISO.  Just search the web and you’ll find options.  Or, burn the ISO to a DVD and then mount it.  Once the ISO is mounted, copy all files and directories over to your newly formatted USB drive by dragging and dropping.  You can also do this from the command line using robocopy or xcopy.

You’ll then have a USB drive which will boot on UEFI systems.  It will also boot on systems which use a BIOS instead.

I hope this saves people some time.  I spent quite a while wondering why I couldn’t get a USB drive to boot on one of my newer systems.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 28, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 15, 2012
    I just slipstreamed all of the latest Win8 updates and it pushed the install.wim well over 4GB (The limit of FAT32 file sizes)  No problem, I'll just split the image using DISM or ImageX but no, Windows 8 installation fails when using split images...says it can't find the license file.  Windows 7 installed fine with split images. Very annoying!!

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2013
    I have the same problem as Kelvin Jeffs. What to do now?

  • Anonymous
    February 16, 2014
    You can try ISO to USB or UNetbootin. Both apps are freeware and easy to use. www.vmwareandme.com/.../guidehow-to-create-bootable-usb-drive.html

  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 04, 2014
    or you can use rufus usb tool :) if anyone needs more info on how to make a usb recovery i will help you just leave me a mail at hostmarcel@hotmail.com