Using Rufus 3.7 to install Win 10 Pro USB stick fails, ruins stick(?)

Rufus 3.7 seems to have made a Windows installation "spanning" my USB stick and a Windows 10 folder/drive/volume on my HDD. This has rendered my USB stick useless. Plus, it needs formatting, says Win 10, but its size is reported as 128MegaB, not 32GigaB).

I had screenshots of the Rufus screens but careless editing in Word lost them. I hope to recreate them soon.

(To clarify the complexity of the situation, I have attached a Word document with lots of shapes and screenshots. It contains all of the text below, so I'd look at the attachment instead of what follows.)

Here’s where I am right now.

Volume H: on my HDD contains a Windows installation that should have been put onto my 32 GB USB stick, as I had asked Rufus to do. Its size is 29.40 GB and would have fit nicely onto the USB stick.

Volume F: is my 32GB USB stick. Not only did Rufus not put Windows 10 onto it, Windows says the stick needs formatting, but it says capacity is 128 MB. No thanks.

The “Safely Remove Hardware and eject media” dialog shows that somehow F: and H: have been “grouped” under the name “Extreme”, which is the name of the USB stick.

If I want to eject F:, I can’t—it’s grayed out, as is H:. So I have to eject both or neither. “Extreme” is more or less the union of the two volumes. How can that happen? Why would it happen?

If I remove the stick (volume F:), volume H: disappears from Disk Management. If I insert the stick, H: is back.

Volume F: never shows up in Disk Management since it supposedly needs formatting.

BTW, when Rufus finished, I didn’t at first notice that those two volumes were mentioned in the same textbox near the top of the Rufus dialog box, with a caption that said something like “Dual Partitions F: and H:”

I wish I had a screenshot. When I found that the USB stick did NOT contain Windows 10 Pro, I came back to the Rufus dialog and when I saw that message, I gave up. The day had been filled with other frustrations before Rufus.

If I format the USB stick, that’ll no doubt kill the Windows volume that Rufus added to my HDD. This would also kill the stick, I fear.

How did this mess happen? Can I save the USB stick?

(If that's not clear, even if it is, the attachment is worth looking at for more clarity. I hope.)

^^^^ What @Kyhi said. +1000

Kyhi said:

Rufus created a Multi-Partition "Removable" Drive (USB)

To regain USB - open Command Prompt(admin)
Type> DiskPart
Type> list disk
Type> select disk # (# being the Disk Number Assigned to USB Stick
Type> Clean

No need to use Rufus.... Just format USB Fat32 and copy contents of ISO to USB

Does it matter if Rufus has converted his USB flash drive to GPT partition style format?... because I know from past experience it usually does. Should the OP also use the "convert mbr" command after "clean"?

User error....

Kyhi said:

the Clean command will remove the GPT format

I don't think it does. I think that in the case of a USB flash drive the clean command leaves the partition type exactly as it was before the clean command. If it was GPT it stays GPT as far as Im aware

As Kyhi suggested, you must clean all partitions on the USB disk and create a new Fat32 partition.
Open a CMD window as administrator and type:

Diskpart.exe (to enter diskpart)
list disk (to list the computers disks. Take note witch number corresponds to your USB disk)
select disk n (where n is the number of USB disk. Make sure to type correct disk number from step two.)
clean (to erase all partitions on the selected disk)
create partition primary (to create one partition on the selected disk)
select partition 1
format fs=fat32
active (to make it Legacy boot able)
assign (to assign a disk letter)
exit.

Then all you have to do is to copy all iso files and folders to it.

If your Win 10 iso has a \sources\install.wim bigger than 4G you will have to split it into smaller install.swm (Fat32 limitation)
To do so, mount the iso file, go to \sources, Shitf +right click and select "Open Command window here" and on the CMD window type:
Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:install.wim /SWMFile:install.swm /FileSize:3600

Two install.swm files will be created.
Delete install.wim and then copy all files and folders from the mounted disk to the flash disk.

It will boot as UEFI (If you have UEFI BIOS) or Legacy.

Megahertz said:

As Kyhi suggested, you must clean all partitions on the USB disk and create a new Fat32 partition.
Open a CMD window as administrator and type:

Diskpart.exe (to enter diskpart)
list disk (to list the computers disks. Take note witch number corresponds to your USB disk)
select disk n (where n is the number of USB disk. Make sure to type correct disk number from step two.)
clean (to erase all partitions on the selected disk)
create partition primary (to create one partition on the selected disk)
select partition 1
format fs=fat32
active (to make it Legacy boot able)
assign (to assign a disk letter)
exit.

Then all you have to do is to copy all iso files and folders to it.

If your Win 10 iso has a \sources\install.wim bigger than 4G you will have to split it into smaller install.swm (Fat32 limitation)
To do so, mount the iso file, go to \sources, Shitf +right click and select "Open Command window here" and on the CMD window type:
Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:install.wim /SWMFile:install.swm /FileSize:3600

Two install.swm files will be created.
Delete install.wim and then copy all files and folders from the mounted disk to the flash disk.

It will boot as UEFI (If you have UEFI BIOS) or Legacy.

Yes I realise this procedure is correct as you show. My point was that Rufus may have changed the USB flash drive to GPT partition style depending on the selections that he made during setup which might cause the OP issues

Rufus version 3.7 is no longer needed as Rufus 3.8 came out a few days ago with some important bug fixes