MCT boot usb

Plankton · 20 Jul 2020

Is it possible to move the boot media from one USB drive to another one with out having to create one.

Example: I have a 8gb MCT bootable USB with version 1909 on it. Can I move/transfer it to another USB drive?

Anibor · 20 Jul 2020

You can use Rufus. Create a virtual VHD from the boot UFD, then build another UFD from this VHD.

Also ImageUSB, Tools for OSForensics - ImageUSB - Write an image to multiple USB Flash Drives.

Also an image program that supports this operation, like Terabyte IFW (Image for Windows). Create an image from the boot UFD, restore it to the other UFD. Macrium doesn´t do it.

spunk · 20 Jul 2020

When you use the MCT it saves an ISO image of the Windows Installer to your HDD. You can just choose to use Rufus to burn a new flash drive from the ISO you saved

Plankton · 20 Jul 2020

Anibor said:

You can use Rufus. Create a virtual VHD from the boot UFD, then build another UFD from this VHD.

Also ImageUSB, Tools for OSForensics - ImageUSB - Write an image to multiple USB Flash Drives.

Also an image program that supports this operation, like Terabyte IFW (Image for Windows). Create an image from the boot UFD, restore it to the other UFD. Macrium doesn´t do it.

Thanks

Plankton · 20 Jul 2020

spunk said:

When you use the MCT it saves an ISO image of the Windows Installer to your HDD. You can just choose to use Rufus to burn a new flash drive from the ISO you saved

This seems a bit easier and shall do that. I'm very familiar with Rufus. Thanks spunk.

Farvatten · 20 Jul 2020

Anibor said:

Also ImageUSB, Tools for OSForensics - ImageUSB - Write an image to multiple USB Flash Drives.

I saw this earlier in your other post and found the program easy to use and did exactly what I needed it to do, so a belated thanks!.

Clone of a Bootable Flash Drive will not Boot

Side note on MCT iso's compared to the generating a boot disk on line.

I prefer MCT created USB's to MCT iso's because I found they use a compressed install.esd instead of the larger install.wim that comes down on the ISO and therefore the install.esd can fit on a Fat32 formatted USB. This supports both legacy and UFEI having found it doesn't require me to turn off Secure Boot as it would with NTFS formatted USB's that get created by Rufus from the MCT iso.

And it's this utility 'imageUSB' that then lets me easily backup and move my MCT created Boot disks when I want to.

Berton · 20 Jul 2020

Since I have more time than money I use the MCT process to both create the Bootable USB Thumb drive and save the .iso file used to create the DVD copy of the original drive. Since I upgraded my ISP from 12Mbps to 25Mpbs the downloads are much better.

NavyLCDR · 20 Jul 2020

Plankton said:

Is it possible to move the boot media from one USB drive to another one with out having to create one.

Example: I have a 8gb MCT bootable USB with version 1909 on it. Can I move/transfer it to another USB drive?

Code:

diskpart
list disk
select disk #  <-replace # with the actual number of the new USB flash drive you want to create
clean <-this will erase the disk selected above, make sure it is your new USB flash drive!
convert mbr <-not really needed but won't hurt anything
create partition pri
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign letter=t
exit
exit

Then copy all the files and folders from your old USB flash drive to the new USB flash drive (T: drive).

Bree · 20 Jul 2020

The last time I actually made a usb directly using the MCT was for version 1709. Since then I have made the ISO, then made as many USBs as I need from that as NavyLCDR described above.

A usb made in that way is identical in all respects to one made directly by the MCT.

Farvatten · 20 Jul 2020

Bree said:

The last time I actually made a usb directly using the MCT was for version 1709. Since then I have made the ISO, then made as many USBs as I need from that as NavyLCDR described above.
A usb made in that way is identical in all respects to one made directly by the MCT.

~~I'm not sure this is the case for the 2004 iso where the install.wim is too large for a Fat32 format as this ZDnet article brings attention to?~~

-update-

This link is about problems with a pre-release iso of 2004.

The Media Creation tool downloads the small install.esd

Windows 10 installer files too big for USB flash drive? Here's the fix

~~Or are you breaking the install.wim up into pieces with DISM as this fix suggests?~~