I used the Windows Media Creation Tool to write the Windows setup data to a USB stick. What would be a reliable way to test that the USB would work properly if a need arises to use it?
I can boot my PC using the USB stick, but how far into the setup process should I go to ensure that it works? Alternatively is there a better way to do this test?
You should be able to have confidence that the MCT has written the install media correctly. Before it wrote to the USB it ran a verification process on all the files it downloaded to create the USB.
The install files for Windows 10 are contained in the install.esd file in the Sources folder on the USB. Try the DISM commands in this tutorial to examine the contents of the install.esd.
See Full Details about a Windows 10 ISO file or USB
If there was any corruption, then DISM should tell you it couldn't read the install.esd.
It would probably be a good idea to make sure you can boot your computer from it. Boot the computer from it, when you get to the first screen, if you really want to do an "official" shutdown, press Shift + F10 (on a laptop it might be Shift +Fn + F10). That will open a command prompt and you can type:
shutdown /s /t 00
Some uses of a bootable windows 10 iso are:
1) Using Windows Recovery Environment:
a) startup repair
b) system restore
c) command prompt
2) Clean install
3) Custom install
4) Windows refresh
5) scannow and restorehealth limit access commands
6) revertpendingactions
7) rollback Windows
8) in place upgrade repair
The in place upgrade repair has little downside...it could be performed
Probably the easiest method to test the iso:
a) see if it can boot on computers with each Legacy and UEFI
b) perform a startup repair
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...covery-options
Run Startup Repair in Windows 10
System Restore Windows 10
Custom Install Windows 10
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
Clean Install Windows 10
Refresh Windows 10
Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image
Fortitude,
I know some people who have one computer only, so to be be 100% sure that they have good recovery we simply created 2 of them. For some us who have multiple computers it is not so critical because if our recovery media is bad, we simply go to another and create a new recovery media.
But if you are concerned, simply create a second.
Qemu Simple Boot lets you to Boot ISO images without having to burn them to disc first. It is a generic machine emulator and virtualizer.
Qemu Simple Boot
A little paranoia may be a healthy thing in this circumstance. I did Tech Support for many years both for Microsoft and and a major NAS / SAN company so I encountered far too many people who lost data, some of whom were doing regular backups but never tested their backup scheme. Ooops. As a result I always have multiple copies of all my critical data AND my means of recovery.
Back in my early days I had a computer that was doing nightly backups to another hard drive but when my HD failed I discovered that my backup drive had all corrupted data because of a faulty controller. That was before the intelligence was built into the HDs themselves. I got lucky and had another copy of everything but it made me realize how important multiple copies are. That holds true for recovery media as well, at least if you can't make another from another machine.
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