Ways to create a bootable Windows flash drive in Linux

If you want to write the Windows installer to a separate medium, and your computer is running Linux, there will be no problems - despite the competition between the two operating systems, this is a simple task. There are several ways to record: using the internal resources of Linux and through third-party applications. Let us consider the four most simple options with sequential instructions.

Instructions for creating a bootable Windows flash drive in Linux.

Terminal and Gparted

To create a bootable USB flash drive with a Windows 10 image, we need the “Command Prompt” in Linux — the so-called terminal, or the Partition Editor — Gparted. Let's start with the first.

  1. Connect the USB flash drive, which will be the media distribution.
  2. To get to the terminal, press Ctrl + Alt + T or open the menu, find “Settings” - “Devices” - “Keyboard” in it and set your own combination to bring up the “Command line”, and then press it.
  3. You can also press Alt + F2, and the Run window will appear right in front of you - just like in Windows. It is necessary to enter either: "$ gnome-terminal" (a space between the $ icon and the command, but without the quotes), or: "$ konsole".
  4. In the first case, you will see the classic version of the “Command Line” without any graphics, and in the second - a small, nice looking window, located directly on top of the screen saver. You can choose what you like more - it does not matter, everything will work the same.
  5. Next you need to know the name of your flash drive. For accuracy, enter in the “Command line”: “fdisk –l” (without quotes), click “Inter” and save the result - now it will be useful to us.
  6. Now enter the command: “$ sudo mkfs.ntfs / dev / your_name_stop” and click “Inter” - the media will be formatted and will be ready for further work.
  7. Enter in the command line: "# dd if = / windows.iso of = / dev / sdx" (without quotes). Thus, the system "understands" that it is expected to write a boot disk.

Now do the same through the Gparted Partition Editor.

  1. Install a bootable USB flash drive, which is supposed to burn the image through Linux for Windows.
  2. Call the “Command Line” again and ask the system to install to open Gparted - enter: “$ sudo apt install gparted ntfsprogs”, click “Inter” and wait for the result.
  3. When the “Editor” window opens, in the upper right you will see a small disk image. Click it and select the desired flash drive.

  4. Now the drive with information about it is displayed below, in the main window. Right-click on it and click "Unmount". After that, unavailable commands displayed in gray will become clickable.

  5. And again, click PKM on the name of the flash drive - this time we select "Format to ...". There will be a lot of multi-colored squares with inscriptions - we are interested in bright blue with the inscription: "ntfs".

  6. We agree with the formatting.
  7. Again, right-click on the name of the flash drive and select the Manage flags option with the label opposite the boot. Apply the changes.
  8. Go back to the “Command Line” and enter in order: “$ sudo mkdir / media / iso” and “$ sudo mount windowsiso / media / iso -t udf -o loop” to find the image files.
  9. Be sure to check the mount point with the command: "ls / run / media" and remember the result.
  10. All, we start the recording process with the command: cp -R / media / iso / mount_flash_point.

As you can see, you can cope with the OS yourself, but if this is not for you, read below how to automate everything.

WINUSB utility

You can also create a bootable USB flash drive from Windows 10 to Linux using a special program - it is much faster than performing all the previous steps. You probably already know that programs in Linux can be installed directly from the “Command Prompt”. Let's use this nice option and set the values:

  • $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa: colingille / freshlight;
  • $ sudo apt update;
  • $ sudo apt install winusb.

When the program window opens, you will see two sentences:

  • write OS from iso-image;
  • write the OS from disk.

Choose the first and confirm the start of the process. No more manipulations are needed - you can remove the flash drive and use it.

Etcher utility

The previous program is very simple and good, but, unfortunately, it is not compatible with all varieties of Linux and does not always run, because developers do not often present actual updates to the public. If this is your case, then try Etcher. Like all applications for Linux, it is distributed free of charge. With the help of “Etcher” you can write the image of Linux and Windows 7-10 in just a few clicks. Just before downloading, note whether the software is suitable for your build. And now let's look at how to make a bootable USB flash drive:

  1. Start the program and press the first highlighted button: “Select image”. Specify the desired.
  2. Next, connect the drive and start recording - after completing the first step, the second button will be highlighted.
  3. Upon completion of the work, you will see an inscription indicating that the flash drive is ready for use.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive in Linux without programs

On the basis of all the above, you can do without the mediation of third-party software and create a USB flash drive with the installer in Linux much faster. For this:

  • stock up with a Windows optical disk image (you can download it or write it off from a running system);
  • flash drive with enough memory.

Further, the procedure is as follows:

  1. The flash drive must be pre-configured on the format ntfs or FAT32 (above described how to do it).
  2. The image of the optical disk must be turned into installation files. To do this, open it through the archiver and extract the contents from the repository.
  3. All items are simply dragged to the USB flash drive.

It should be noted that this method will be effective only for an updated intermediary between the OS and the firmware - UEFI with the system for structuring GPT partitions and 64 bits. For the earlier version of BSVV, this method will not work - you just will not find the necessary files. To use a flash drive, it is very important to configure UEFI in such a way that the drive is recognized as an OS launcher. To do this, restart the PC and press the key combination that is suitable for your version of BSVV (usually F2 or Del, but there may be other options), and call an intermediary. You will see a window with images of hard drives, which are numbered in order. Select your USB flash drive (it should be pre-connected) and drag it to the first place (fortunately, UEFI allows you to use the mouse and has a more or less clear appearance). After a reboot, the Windows installation window will start immediately.