6 ms·

With the disclaimer than I'm primarily a Linux user and may be missing something from Microsoft, isn't it weird that there are no tools for this functionality t

With the disclaimer than I'm primarily a Linux user and may be missing something from Microsoft, isn't it weird that there are no tools for this functionality that come with Windows? I've tried a few times through the life of Windows 10 to make installer USB drives from inside Win10 with only microsoft tools but never found anything that worked. Rufus comes through for me again and again, but why do we need to download a 3rd party tool for even basic configs? Nothing fancy, just a windows installer on USB.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
It's not weird at all given the target audience of windows. 99.9999% of windows user don't need this, so why include it ?
- spacemanmatt 5y ago
  Because the small percent of users that do need it serve many other Windows users. Seems sorta obvious that SOMEone needs the functionality.
  - BiteCode_dev 5y ago
    People that have this need have the skill to install the required tool.
    - spacemanmatt 5y ago
      That's why we're here talking about Rufus. I'm not sure what you were getting at but thank you for demonstrating my point.
AussieWog93 5y ago
Microsoft provide a fantastic program for creating Windows boot disks that "just works" (Media Creation Tool), and have done so for years. It doesn't support Linux images, though, for reasons that should be obvious.
- madars 5y ago
  Media Creation Tool requires internet access, so you can't just flash a Windows .iso that you have independently downloaded from microsoft.com. Of course, you can always prepare the correct disklabel yourself, use a BOOTSECT.EXE incantation to make the USB bootable, then copy all the files, etc, but this really should be easier than that.
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    Are you sure about that? I distinctly remember using .isos with Media Creation Tool.
    - madars 5y ago
      I just tried it and the tool started downloading Windows without giving me an option to select an .iso. It can download .iso's for burning them to DVD's but I don't think it can take dangling .iso's and make installation USBs out of them.
      - AussieWog93 5y ago
        Ahh, fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.
        phist_mcgee 5y ago
        Definitely weird, I installed windows about a month ago and it asked in the tool if I wished to install using an ISO.
quyleanh 5y ago
Rufus is a light and effective tool when Windows user want to create USB bootable. In the past, I faced some issues about disk partition. The Windows Media Creation Tool usually created MBR partition but my disk was on GPT partition. Rufus did well on creating USB bootable with detail log. No need to type complicated command. No need to copy and edit files. Just select, select and press Start.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
RMPR 5y ago
Also a Linux user, but back in the Windows days you could use Diskpart to do so: select disk ## clean create partition primary active format fs=ntfs quick assign Then just extract the disk image to the USB Drive and voila. I just noticed it's even documented on Dell's support page[0] 0: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000136959/create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-using-the-diskpart-utility https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000136959/create-a-...
- mrjin 5y ago
  I have to say that M$ has screwed up diskpart in some versions of Windows. Sometimes it simply cannot clean the disk correctly after being formatted using some other tools such as Rufus.
- josteink 5y ago
  That’s not a feature of Windows, but simply how UEFI works. https://www.happyassassin.net/posts/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how-does-that-actually-work-then/ https://www.happyassassin.net/posts/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how...
  - josteink 5y ago
    Key quote because my linked article is quite extensive: > What the firmware will actually do when trying to boot in this way is reasonably simple. The firmware will look through each EFI system partition on the disk in the order they exist on the disk. Within the ESP, it will look for a file with a specific name and location. On an x86-64 PC, it will look for the file \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI. What it actually looks for is \EFI\BOOT\BOOT{machine type short-name}.EFI - 'x64' is the "machine type short-name" for x86-64 PCs. The other possibilities are BOOTIA32.EFI (x86-32), BOOTIA64.EFI (Itanium), BOOTARM.EFI (AArch32 - that is, 32-bit ARM) and BOOTAA64.EFI (AArch64 - that is, 64-bit ARM). It will then execute the first qualifying file it finds (obviously, the file needs to be in the executable format defined in the UEFI specification).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

BiteCode_dev 5y ago

It's not weird at all given the target audience of windows. 99.9999% of windows user don't need this, so why include it ?

spacemanmatt 5y ago
Because the small percent of users that do need it serve many other Windows users. Seems sorta obvious that SOMEone needs the functionality.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  People that have this need have the skill to install the required tool.
  - spacemanmatt 5y ago
    That's why we're here talking about Rufus. I'm not sure what you were getting at but thank you for demonstrating my point.

AussieWog93 5y ago

Microsoft provide a fantastic program for creating Windows boot disks that "just works" (Media Creation Tool), and have done so for years. It doesn't support Linux images, though, for reasons that should be obvious.

madars 5y ago
Media Creation Tool requires internet access, so you can't just flash a Windows .iso that you have independently downloaded from microsoft.com. Of course, you can always prepare the correct disklabel yourself, use a BOOTSECT.EXE incantation to make the USB bootable, then copy all the files, etc, but this really should be easier than that.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  Are you sure about that? I distinctly remember using .isos with Media Creation Tool.
  - madars 5y ago
    I just tried it and the tool started downloading Windows without giving me an option to select an .iso. It can download .iso's for burning them to DVD's but I don't think it can take dangling .iso's and make installation USBs out of them.
    - AussieWog93 5y ago
      Ahh, fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.
      - phist_mcgee 5y ago
        Definitely weird, I installed windows about a month ago and it asked in the tool if I wished to install using an ISO.

quyleanh 5y ago

Rufus is a light and effective tool when Windows user want to create USB bootable. In the past, I faced some issues about disk partition. The Windows Media Creation Tool usually created MBR partition but my disk was on GPT partition. Rufus did well on creating USB bootable with detail log. No need to type complicated command. No need to copy and edit files. Just select, select and press Start.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

RMPR 5y ago

Also a Linux user, but back in the Windows days you could use Diskpart to do so: select disk ## clean create partition primary active format fs=ntfs quick assign Then just extract the disk image to the USB Drive and voila. I just noticed it's even documented on Dell's support page[0] 0: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000136959/create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-using-the-diskpart-utility https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000136959/create-a-...

mrjin 5y ago
I have to say that M$ has screwed up diskpart in some versions of Windows. Sometimes it simply cannot clean the disk correctly after being formatted using some other tools such as Rufus.
josteink 5y ago
That’s not a feature of Windows, but simply how UEFI works. https://www.happyassassin.net/posts/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how-does-that-actually-work-then/ https://www.happyassassin.net/posts/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how...
- josteink 5y ago
  Key quote because my linked article is quite extensive: > What the firmware will actually do when trying to boot in this way is reasonably simple. The firmware will look through each EFI system partition on the disk in the order they exist on the disk. Within the ESP, it will look for a file with a specific name and location. On an x86-64 PC, it will look for the file \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI. What it actually looks for is \EFI\BOOT\BOOT{machine type short-name}.EFI - 'x64' is the "machine type short-name" for x86-64 PCs. The other possibilities are BOOTIA32.EFI (x86-32), BOOTIA64.EFI (Itanium), BOOTARM.EFI (AArch32 - that is, 32-bit ARM) and BOOTAA64.EFI (AArch64 - that is, 64-bit ARM). It will then execute the first qualifying file it finds (obviously, the file needs to be in the executable format defined in the UEFI specification).

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]