Using Diskpart to create a bootable USB flash drive

Hi All,
Ive decided to use Diskpart to create a bootable USB flash drive instead of using the Media Creation Tool to create the Windows 10 media. Im just going to use the Media Creation Tool to download the iso image and diskpart to prepare the flash drive.
Are the following commands correct? In particular is it OK to put the Active command before the format fs=fat32 command?
You'll notice that Ive omitted "quick" from the format command. Is that the right way to do a Full Format?
I would prefer to perform a full format on the USB flash drive so that it checks for errors at the same time. I just want to know that performing a full format after the Active command wont interfere with the Active command in any way.
Ive also left out Assign. Am I correct in thinking that Assign isn't necessary because Windows will automatically give the flash drive the next available drive letter which is what I want to happen?

diskpart
list disk
select disk #
clean
convert mbr
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
exit

Many Thanks

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...sb-flash-drive

I've never had to use the "convert MBR" command.

The link above formats as NTFS, but you need to use FAT32 to make the drive bootable from the UEFI.

I believe that marking the partition as "active" is unnecessary with a UEFI system.

In fact, using Diskpart is probably unnecessary. Just do a quick format of the USB drive as Fat32, mount the .iso (which can be done natively under Window 8, 8.1, and 10), and copy all of the contents of the .iso to the USB drive.

bobkn said:

I've never had to use the "convert MBR" command.

It's a useful precaution in case the usb has previously been used with Rufus and ended up as GPT.

I believe that marking the partition as "active" is unnecessary with a UEFI system.
In fact, using Diskpart is probably unnecessary. Just do a quick format of the USB drive as Fat32, mount the .iso (which can be done natively under Window 8, 8.1, and 10), and copy all of the contents of the .iso to the USB drive.

That would do if you only ever want to boot on UEFI systems. The Diskpart method produces a usb that is identical to that made by the MCT and will boot on all systems, Legacy and UEFI. I have both, so I always use Diskpart.


@sportsfan148, yes, the Active command and the format are completely independent commands and have no interaction with each other. You can use them in either order.

I would recommend a quick format. A full format will write to every location on the usb and may reduce its life.

You are correct, Assign isn't necessary.

AddRAM said:

NavyLCDR is a wiz with this stuff, hopefully h`ll see your post.

Thanks mate. Yeah I know how knowledgeable Navy is. He has helped me a lot in the past

sportsfan148 said:

One another point Bree. Just out of curiosity..is it also possible to use Disk Management to prepare the flash drive? You would have to Clean the drive and Convert MBR using Diskpart first. Then switch to Disk Management to create a New Simple Volume and format etc. Then finally go back to Diskpart to make the partition Active.

Once you have used Diskpart to clean and convert to MBR then yes, you could use Disk Management to create a new simple volume, format it and mark the partition as active (just right-click on it).

...Im presuming a Full Format would pick up on any issues on the flash drive whereas a quick format wouldn't flag up any possible errors etc.

I don't bother. If there were any bad memory locations then I'd expect the attempted copy would also pick up on them.