How to Make a Bootable USB Drive (Windows and Linux)

A bootable USB drive lets you install or repair Windows or Linux, run diagnostic tools, or recover a PC that will not start normally. It is one of the most useful things to have ready before you need it, since you cannot easily make one once your PC is already broken.

What you will need

• A USB drive, at least 8GB (everything on it will be erased)
• A working PC with internet access
• The ISO file for the OS you want to install, or the tool’s built-in downloader

Creating a bootable USB for Windows

The simplest route for most people is the free Rufus tool:

1. Download Rufus from its official website and download a Windows ISO from Microsoft.
2. Plug in your USB drive, then open Rufus and select it under “Device”.
3. Under “Boot selection”, choose the Windows ISO file.
4. Leave the partition scheme on the default (GPT for modern PCs) unless you know your PC needs otherwise.
5. Click Start and wait for it to finish — this can take 10–20 minutes.

If you want one USB drive that can hold multiple ISOs (Windows and Linux side by side), Ventoy is a better choice — you set it up once, then just copy ISO files onto the drive whenever you want to add a new one.

Creating a bootable USB for Linux

1. Download the ISO for your chosen Linux distribution (Ubuntu and Linux Mint are good starting points).
2. Use Etcher or Rufus in the same way as above — both work fine for Linux ISOs.
3. On an existing Linux PC, you can also use the dd command, but this is unforgiving if you get the target device wrong, so double-check the device name before running it.

Booting from the USB drive

1. Plug the USB drive into the PC you want to boot.
2. Restart the PC and press the boot menu key repeatedly as it starts (commonly F12, F11, Esc or Del — it varies by manufacturer).
3. Select the USB drive from the boot menu.
4. If the USB drive does not appear, you may need to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS/UEFI settings first.

Not confident doing this yourself? Computer Repair Bolton can help

If your PC will not boot at all, or you are not sure which option is safe for your situation, we can create the right recovery media and get your system back up and running without the risk of wiping the wrong drive.

Computer Repair Bolton
07538 513 916
support@computer-repair-bolton.co.uk