How to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="How to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive" border="0" src="http://content.screencast.com/users/Sanaullahrais/folders/Snagit/media/77f5bd2f-88be-466b-90b6-3ba424fb446b/11.22.2014-16.46.png" title="How to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive" /></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In keeping up with tradition, Microsoft has launched Windows 8.1 in both digital and physical form. Users can install the new operating system by using either a downloaded ISO file or the provided DVD. But what happens when neither option is right for you? You can use a USB drive.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of major benefits to using a USB drive for this process. It's compatible with virtually every device that is meant to run Windows, forgoes the need to have a spare DVD and the burner around and is much easier to store and carry with you wherever you may go. A USB drive can also be faster than any DVD, shortening the time needed for the install, and, chances are, you probably already have one lying around. Also, compared to ISO files which can only be leveraged from Windows, USB drives can be used with no software installed on the device.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Requirements</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">To create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive you will need the following.</span></div><ol><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><li>4 GB or larger USB drive;</li><br /><li>Windows 8.1 DVD, ISO file or product key;</li><br /><li>A device that is running Windows.</li><br /></span></ol><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What If I Have a Windows 8 Product Key?</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">If you have a Windows 8 product key, you can download the Windows 8.1 ISO file directly from Microsoft's servers, and create a bootable USB drive as well. My colleague Wayne Williams has already written a </span><a href="http://betanews.com/2013/10/21/download-the-windows-8-1-iso-using-a-windows-8-key-and-some-simple-trickery/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Download the Windows 8.1 ISO using a Windows 8 key and some simple trickery">guide which details all the steps</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;"> that you have to go through. Please note that you need a Windows PC for this task.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How Does the Windows 8.1 Product Key Help?</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">Obviously, you cannot install Windows 8.1 using just the product key. But, you can use it to download the ISO file directly from Microsoft's servers. Please note that the default Windows partition (usually "C") has to have at least 5 GB of free storage. You will have to follow these steps next:</span></div><ol style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download and open the <em>Install Windows 8.1</em> <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Upgrade Windows with only a product key">setup file from Microsoft</a>;</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type in your Windows 8.1 product key and initiate the download;</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the download completes, select <em>Install by creating media</em>;</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Select <em>USB flash drive</em> (it should be the default choice) and insert the USB drive;</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accept any prompts to erase the contents of the USB drive in order to kick off the process.</span></li><br /></ol><div><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you prefer a visual step-by-step guide, you can look at the screenshots posted below.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" height="470px" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="http://files.photosnack.com/iframejs/embed.html?hash=pdxplzdw9&t=1416660474" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="600px"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">How Can I Create the USB Drive From a Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO file?</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you already have the Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO file, you will first have to copy the contents of the DVD or ISO into a folder on the internal storage of the device. You can use <a href="http://teezservices.blogspot.com/2014/11/7-zip-file-compression-software-free-download.html" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="7-Zip (32-bit)">7-Zip</a> or <a href="http://teezservices.blogspot.com/2014/11/winrar-520-beta-3-registered-full-version-with-serial-key-free-download.html" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WinRAR (32-bit)">WinRAR</a> to extract the contents, if the file cannot be mounted. Please make sure the location you choose has more free space available than the size of the media -- more than 4 GB should suffice. After you have copied or extracted the contents, follow the next steps:</span></div><ol style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Open the Command Prompt. This can be done by triggering the Run -- Windows Key + R -- feature, and opening "cmd".</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "diskpart" to open the disk partitioning software. Accept the UAC security prompt, if asked.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insert the USB drive.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "list disk". The program will then show you a list of all the physical drives (HDD, SSD, USB, etc.) that are attached.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Identify the disk number of the USB drive (it can be recognized by looking at the size column; it's usually the last listed disk) and type "select disk X", where "X" is the disk number of your USB drive.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "clean". This will erase the contents of the USB drive, so make sure you have the contents backed-up beforehand.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "create partition primary". This command will create a primary partition on the USB drive.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "select partition 1". This command will select the created partition.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "active". This command will make the selected partition active.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "format fs=ntfs quick". This command will format the created partition as NTFS.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type "assign". This command will assign a letter to the USB drive, which will make it show under Windows Explorer.</span></li><br /><li style="list-style: decimal inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Copy the contents of the Windows 8.1 DVD or ISO from the created folder on the USB drive.</span></li><br /></ol><div><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a visual step-by-step guide featuring all the commands presented above.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="true" height="303px" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="http://files.photosnack.com/iframejs/embed.html?hash=ptmf4nk7a&t=1416659077" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="600px"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What Should I Do Next?</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">You have now created a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive. To install the operating system from it you will have to set the device to boot from USB, right after powering it on. Afterwards, carry on with the process as you would normally.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><br /><br /></div>

How to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB drive

In keeping up with tradition, Microsoft has launched Windows 8.1 in both digital and physical form. Users can install the new operating syst...

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