USB flash drive --assign drive letter back to dynamic from static

Hi,

Then download Rufus to create the bootable USB from the downloaded ISO. That's what you mean isn't it?

Yes, you could do that. If your machine is fully UEFI comatible and uses that there's even no need to use Rufus. Just mount the ISO created by MCT, select all files and copy these to your flash drive.

Do you think I need to remove any remains of the Media Creation Tool attempts from my hard disc? I wouldn't have a clue where to look though.

Windows writes these to "Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Downloads"

Also, should I doing anything with my USB flash drive to prepare it before using Rufus ...reformat it or something more? Or will Rufus sort it out?

If it's already formatted using the FAT32 file system then the only thing to do is to delete any files on it.
When using Rufus select your W10 ISO file as a source and select the correct settings for BIOS/UEFI or both if you like.

Cheers,

Bree said:

Apparently you are not alone, at least 110 other have this problem...
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...8-ce7d2ea5b7d1


There's no need for Rufus though. Just make an ISO using the MCT, mount it, then copy everything from it to a USB prepared using the following DiskPart commands:

SELECT DISK n
(use the appropriate disk number in place of 'n')
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
FORMAT FS=FAT32 QUICK
ACTIVE
(only required for legacy boot, UEFI doesn't need this)
EXIT

Hi Bree. I printed off some instructions from Dell last year. Are these the same?
LIST VOLUME
SELECT VOLUME n (use appropriate volume number)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
FORMAT FS=FAT32 LABEL='OS INSTALL' QUICK
ACTIVE
EXIT

I don't understand the difference between Select Disk and Select Volume as Dell suggested?
I also see that after Create Partition Primary...you type Select Partition 1.
Also..I do have UEFI but is it OK to leave the ACTIVE command typed in..would it cause a problem?
Do you mind explaining the 2 differences above a bit so I have some understanding? I like to learn along the way if that's OK with you mate

Both ways work and make an mbr-type USB (I've just tested that).

I use SELECT DISK to be sure that I've cleaned the partitioning type of the usb first, then diskpart will use mbr by default when you make the new partition.

..I do have UEFI but is it OK to leave the ACTIVE command typed in..would it cause a problem?

Not at all - UEFI ignores it. It just makes the usb bootable on legacy systems as well as UEFI.

fdegrove said:

Hi,



Yes, you could do that. If your machine is fully UEFI comatible and uses that there's even no need to use Rufus. Just mount the ISO created by MCT, select all files and copy these to your flash drive.

Cheers,

If I use Rufus I know it wants to set up the GPT partitioning for my UEFI system as a default..so would you use that instead of MBR?
I'm confused now ..I don't know whether to use Rufus or the Mount method that Bree has mentioned and you have mentioned too. I did a quick search of Tenforums to see if there was a tutorial I could print off but I couldn't find one with the Diskpart commands etc

Hi,

If I use Rufus I know it wants to set up the GPT partitioning for my UEFI system as a default..so would you use that instead of MBR?

Since you're running UEFI there's no need to use a third party programme. Double clicking the ISO file mounts it and assigns a drive letter. All you need to do is select all files there and copy them to you USB stick.
It should boot off of it when you call the boot menu selection (F12 or something like that) or set boot order in UEFI to USB first.

The advantage of leaving the stick as MBR and set as Active is that it can be used for both UEFI and BIOS machines whereas GPT is only for UEFI machines.

O, since you're confused about the difference between a "Volume" and a "Disk"
A volume is a or several partition(s) on a disk or spanned across disks for instance whereas a disk is a physical unit like a hard dirve, usb stick. Whether or not these contain several volumes or not is irrelavant to the disk command in diskpart.




Cheers,

Look at it this way - the MCT makes a 'universal' usb that will boot and install as UEFI (if that's the type of machine you boot it on) or a legacy mbr install for older machines. The diskpart commands and the files from the ISO makes a usb that's identical to the one the MCT would make (or the one you'd buy in a Windows 10 box from Microsoft).

fdegrove said:

Hi,



Since you're running UEFI there's no need to use a third party programme. Double clicking the ISO file mounts it and assigns a drive letter. All you need to do is select all files there and copy them to you USB stick.
It should boot off of it when you call the boot menu selection (F12 or something like that) or set boot order in UEFI to USB first.

The advantage of leaving the stick as MBR and set as Active is that it can be used for both UEFI and BIOS machines whereas GPT is only for UEFI machines.

O, since you're confused about the difference between a "Volume" and a "Disk"
A volume is a partion on a disk or spanned across disks for instance whereas a disk is a physical unit like a hard dirve, usb stick. Whether or not the contain servarl volumes or not is irrelavant to the disk command in diskpart.

Cheers,



Cheers,

Have you come across a tutorial on here with the Diskpart Commands that are to be used to prepare the USB flash drive before mounting the ISO and copying the files across? Id print a copy if I could find one.
From your explanation above..If I'm understanding you correctly...Select Disk instead of Select Volume is better if you are going to clean and format the flash drive because when you select Clean after Select Disk..if there were several volumes on that disk it would automatically clean all the volumes as well. Have I got that right?
Ive just been discussing the Diskpart commands above with Bree. Diskpart is something I don't really understand

Hi,

Have you come across a tutorial on here with the Diskpart Commands that are to be used to prepare the USB flash drive before mounting the ISO and copying the files across?

Can't say I recall ever seeing one but it's all really straightforward once you get your head around it.

Disk instead of select volume is better if you are going to clean and format the flash drive because when you select clean disk..if there were several volumes on that disk it would automatically clean all the volumes as well. Have I got that right?

The "clean" command wipes the entire phycial disk regardless of the amount of volumes it contains. I don't think it will even run when no disk is selected anyhow. (Need to check that) It's a very powerful command so you're not allowed to makes mistakes or you'd lose the content of a disk when the wrong one was chosen.

Most common flash only have a single partition (so one single volume) on them in factory state.

Cheers,

sportsfan148 said:

Hi Bree. I printed off some instructions from Dell last year. Are these the same?
LIST VOLUME
SELECT VOLUME n (use appropriate volume number)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
FORMAT FS=FAT32 LABEL='OS INSTALL' QUICK
ACTIVE
EXIT

I also see that after Create Partition Primary...you type Select Partition 1.

1.Sorry to bother you again mate but I notice that you type Select Partition 1 after Create Primary Partition whereas in the Dell instructions they don't..they go straight to Formatting. Is there a reason for that?
2.Also could I ask..is it better to do the Quick Format....or the Full format. I'm guessing if you left off the word quick would that do a full format instead if required?

After reading what you and Fdegrove have said I'm going to go for preparing the USB flash drive with the Diskpart commands and then Mount the ISO and copy the files across to the flash drive after downloading it with the Media Creation Tool as you suggested.
I had decided to use Rufus as I'd used it once before successfully but after reading your advice I'm going to forget about using Rufus from now on

Full format is a waste of time on a usb stick as it checks every sector is OK for read/write. A usb is solid state and shouldn't have any bad sectors. You'd just be writing to it (and possibly reducing it's life) for no good reason. Useful for a usb HDD though, where bad sectors are a possibility (particularly if it's been in use for a while).

Dell's 'select volume' command means diskpart already knows which partition you're working on - a volume is a single partition.