How to create bootable Windows 11 USB install media

To create a Windows 11 bootable USB, download and launch the “Media Creation Tool,” select the “USB flash drive” option, and continue with the on-screen directions.
Another way to create a USB drive is to use the Rufus tool, which includes the option to download the Windows 11 ISO or the Ventoy app that makes any ISO file bootable.
You can also download the official Windows 11 ISO manually and use Command Prompt to create the bootable media.

UPDATED 10/21/2023: If you plan to install Windows 11 on a computer that meets the minimum requirements using the clean process, you will have to create a bootable USB media, and in this tutorial, I’ll teach you how.

Although you can start a clean installation of Windows 11 directly from the Media Creation Tool or mounted ISO file, booting the device with a USB installation media is still the best approach to proceed with the installation. Also, it’s perhaps the only way to install Windows 11 on a new computer or a device with an empty hard drive.

If you need to create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 11, you have multiple options, including the Media Creation Tool, Rufus, Ventoy, and Command Prompt.

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to create a USB bootable media to perform an in-place or clean installation of Windows 11 with support for UEFI. You can also use these instructions from a device running Windows 10.

Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Media Creation Tool
Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Rufus
Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Ventoy
Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Command Prompt

Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Media Creation Tool

To create a bootable Windows 11 USB with the Media Creation Tool, use these steps:

Open Microsoft support website.
Under the “Create Windows 11 installation media” section, click the Download Now button.
Double-click the MediaCrationToolW11.exe file to launch the tool.
Click the Accept button.
Click the Next button.

Quick note: If you want to create a Windows 11 USB for another device, you can also clear the “Use the recommended options for this PC” option to select the correct language, architecture, and edition.
Select the USB flash drive option.
Click the Next button.
Select the USB flash drive from the list, but ensure it does not have any important files, as this process will erase everything on it.
Click the Next button.
Click the Finish button.

Once you complete the steps, you can start the UEFI-compatible device with the USB drive to install Windows 11.

Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Rufus

To create a bootable USB of Windows 11 with Rufus, use these steps:

Open Rufus website.
Under the “Download” section, click the link to download the latest version.
Double-click the executable to launch the tool.
Click the Settings button (third button from the left) at the bottom of the page.
Under the “Settings” section, use the “Check for updates” drop-down menu and select the Daily option.
Click the Close button.
Click the Close button again.
Open Rufus again.
(Optional) Under the “Device” section, use the drop-down menu and select the USB flash drive to create the installation media.
Under the “Boot selection” section, use the drop-down menu and select the “Disk or ISO image” option.
Click the down-arrow button (on the right side) and select the Download option.
Click the Download button.
Select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Continue button.
Under the “Release” section, select the “23H2 (Build 22631.xxx – 2023.12)” option to download the Windows 11 2023 Update.
Click the Continue button.
Select the Windows 11 Home/Pro/Edu option.
Click the Continue button.
Select the language for the Windows 11 installation.
Click the Continue button.
Select the x64 architecture.
Click the Download button.
Select the location to save the Windows 11 23H2 ISO file automatically.
Under the “Image option” setting, select the “Standard Windows 11 Installation” option.
(Optional) Continue with the default settings after the download.
(Optional) Under the “Volume label” setting, specify a name for the drive—for example, Windows 11 23H2 Setup.
Click the Start button.
Clear the “Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0” option.
Clear the “Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account” option.
(Optional) Check the “Create a local account with username” option if you want an installation with a local account instead of a Microsoft account (not recommended).
Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, the tool will begin creating a bootable media with the Windows 11 installation media.

Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Ventoy

Ventoy is a third-party application similar to Rufus, but the difference is that Ventoy is a piece of software that installs on the USB drive and makes bootable any ISO file from virtually any platform, including Windows 11.

To create a Windows 11 bootable USB with Ventoy, connect a flash drive with enough space (8GB or more) and use these steps:

Open Ventoy GitHub page.
Under the “Assets” section, click the ventoy-x.x.xx-windows.zip file and download it to your computer.

Quick note: You may need to force and keep the file as the browser may detect it as malicious.
Open File Explorer.
Open the Zip folder location.
Double-click the open the ventoy-x.x.xx-windows.zip file.
Click the Extract all button from the command bar.
Click the Browse button.
Select a location to extract the files.
Click the Select Folder button.
Click the Extract button.
Open the ventoy-x.x.xx folder.
Double-click the Ventoy2Disk.exe file to launch the installer.
Choose the USB flash drive from the “Device” setting.

Quick tip: If you have any important files in the flash drive, it’s recommended to create a backup, as this process will erase everything on the external drive.
Click the Install button.
Click the OK button.
Click on This PC from the left pane of File Explorer.
Open the Ventoy drive.
Open Microsoft Support website.
Under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Download button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to download the Windows 11 ISO on the device.
Copy and paste the ISO file into the Ventoy USB flash drive to make it bootable.

After you complete the steps, you can use the bootable USB flash drive to start a device with the Ventoy application, where you can then choose to launch the Windows 11 Setup.

Since Ventoy can make any ISO file bootable, you can upload multiple ISO files from virtually any platform, including Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 7, and Linux. The best part about this software is that when a new version of Windows becomes available, you have to reformat the flash drive. You can simply upload the new ISO file to make it bootable.

Create Windows 11 bootable USB from Command Prompt

To create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 11 with Command Prompt, use these steps:

Open Microsoft Support website.
Under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” section, select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Download button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to download the Windows 11 ISO on the device.
Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as Administrator option.
Type the following command to open Diskpart and press Enter:
```
diskpart
```
Type the following command to determine the USB flash drive and press Enter:
```
list disk
```
Type the following command to select the storage and press Enter:
```
select disk 1
```
Quick tip: The select disk 1 command as an example, but you must replace 1 with the flash drive you want to use.
Type the following commands to delete everything from the USB flash drive and press Enter:
```
clean
```
Type the following command to create a primary partition and press Enter:
```
create partition primary
```
Type the following command to select the new partition and press Enter:
```
select partition 1
```
Type the following command to make the USB flash drive bootable and press Enter:
```
format FS=FAT32 quick
```
Type the following command to assign a volume and a drive letter for the USB flash drive and press Enter:
```
assign letter=X
```
Change X for any available letter you want to use in the command.
Type the following command to quit the tool and press Enter:
```
exit
```
Type the following command to mount the Windows 11 ISO file and press Enter:
```
PowerShell Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\path\to\Windows11.iso"
```
In the command, update the path with the location where you have stored the Windows 11 ISO file.
Type the following command to relaunch Diskpart and press Enter:
```
diskpart
```
Type the following command to determine the drive letter for the mounted Windows 11 ISO file and press Enter:
```
list volume
```
Type the following command to exit Diskpart and press Enter:
```
exit
```
Type the following command to access the Windows 11 ISO file and press Enter:
```
E:
```
Type the following command to enter the boot folder and press Enter:
```
cd boot
```
Type the following command to update the volume boot code for the USB flash drive and press Enter:
```
bootsect /nt60 X:
```
Type the following command to copy all the Windows 11 installation files to the USB flash drive and press Enter:
```
xcopy E:\*.* X:\ /E /F /H
```
In the command, change the E and X drive letters with the correct drive letters for the Windows 11 ISO image and the USB flash drive, respectively.

Once you complete the steps, you can use the bootable flash drive to install Windows 11 on UEFI devices.

Update October 21, 2023: This tutorial has been updated with new instructions and reflect new changes.