Create-a-Bootable-USB-Flash-Drive.md

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Create a bootable USB flash drive	Learn how to create a bootable USB flash drive to use to deploy Windows Server Essentials.	08/15/2024	article	2fe8e35c-69f9-40b3-a270-22e2402510d8	nnamuhcs	wscontent	mtillman

Create a bootable USB flash drive

Applies to: Windows Server 2022 Essentials, Windows Server 2019 Essentials, Windows Server 2016 Essentials

You can create a bootable USB flash drive for deploying Windows Server Essentials. The first step is to prepare the USB flash drive by using DiskPart, which is a command-line utility. For information about DiskPart, see DiskPart Command-Line Options.

Tip

To create a bootable USB flash drive for recovering or reinstalling Windows on a PC instead of a server, see Create a recovery drive.

For additional scenarios in which you might want to create or use a bootable USB flash drive, see the following articles:

• Restore a full system from an existing client computer backup

• Restore or repair your server running Windows Server Essentials

To create a bootable USB flash drive

1. Insert a USB flash drive into a running computer.

2. Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.

3. Type diskpart, and then select ENTER.

4. In the new command line window that opens, determine the USB flash drive number or drive letter by typing list disk, and then select ENTER. The list disk command displays all the disks on the computer. Note the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive.

5. At the command prompt, type select disk <X>, where X is the drive number or drive letter of the USB flash drive, and then select ENTER.

6. Type clean, and then select ENTER. This command deletes all data from the USB flash drive.

7. To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type create partition primary, and then select ENTER.

8. To select the partition that you just created, type select partition 1, and then select ENTER.

9. To format the partition, type format fs=ntfs quick, and then select ENTER.

   [!IMPORTANT] If your server platform supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), you should use the FAT32 format rather than NTFS. To format the partition as FAT32, type format fs=fat32 quick, and then select ENTER.

10. Type active, and then select ENTER.

11. Type exit, and then select ENTER.

12. When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root folder of the USB flash drive.

Related content

• Getting Started with the Windows Server Essentials ADK

• Creating and Customizing the Image

• Additional Customizations

• Preparing the Image for Deployment

• Testing the Customer Experience

• Windows help and learning