No, you can't just copy and paste the files to the USB drive, it won't be in a bootable format. Use the Windows Media Creation Tool: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11 Answer from Emerald_Flame on reddit.com
🌐
Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com › en-us › windows › create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d
Create installation media for Windows - Microsoft Support
Run MediaCreationTool.exe. The media creation tool walks through creating installation media. Support for Windows 10 has ended on October 14, 2025
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Microsoft
microsoft.com › en-us › software-download › windows11
Download Windows 11
2 weeks ago - On the What do you want to do? page, select Create installation media for another PC, and then select Next. Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit) for Windows 11.
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Asus
asus.com › us › support › faq › 1039507
[Windows 11/10] How to Create and Use a USB Flash Drive Installation Media to Reinstall Windows | Official Support | ASUS USA
November 3, 2025 - Go to the downloaded folder of the tool, then double-click [MediaCreationTool]② file to start the installation. If the User Account Control window displayed, please select [Yes]③. Please read the Microsoft software license terms and applicable notices, then select [Accept]④. Select language ...
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Dell
dell.com › home › support home › knowledge base article
Create a retail image of Windows with the Microsoft Media Creation Tool | Dell US
June 9, 2025 - Create Windows installation media for Windows 11 and 10 with Media Creation Tool. Choose your media type (USB or DVD) and follow easy steps for OS upgrades or reinstalls.
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Windows 10 Forums
tenforums.com › tutorials › 2376-create-bootable-usb-flash-drive-install-windows-10-a.html
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums
(see screenshot below) 10 Connect your USB flash drive, click/tap on the Refresh drive list link, select the USB flash drive, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below) 11 It will now start Downloading Windows 10 and Creating Windows 10 media.
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Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › installation, updates and activation
Making a bootable USB drive for Windows | Windows 11 Forum
October 13, 2025 - Create a local account in Windows 11 v25H2 on an unsuppored hardware pc using bootable usb made by media creation tool.
Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/techsupport › i put windows media creation tool on a usb and try to put it into my computer. i don’t know what the next steps are.
r/techsupport on Reddit: I put Windows media creation tool on a USB and try to put it into my computer. I don’t know what the next steps are.
February 6, 2021 -

Firstly my computer had a problem after downloading windows 10 over a year ago. Then I mistakenly from the blue “choose an option” and “choose an operating system” page selected windows 10 4 times clearing the pervious operating system. As a result, I can’t select the previous windows 8 or 7. I can’t even preform a reset because the original is gone.

I tried to find a way to fix it.

My attempt now is putting the Windows media creation tool from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209 on a UBS using working computer. So far so good.

On the laptop with the problem, from the choose an option page I selected using device and then I selected USB drive (UEFI). The laptop goes to a purple page. It says Windows set up, I select from the drop boxes and I click next. I click install now. It says Setup is starting.

It goes to activate windows. My laptop did have windows when I bought it I didn’t have a product key. So I don’t know what to do and therefore I select I don’t have a product key. (I reckon that selecting this will have a future implication, please do enlighten me with any support here too). After that it’s a select operating system you want to install. It gives me seven options I don’t know which one is the right one or which is the best so I select Windows 10 pro. I accept the terms then it looks to me which type of installation do you want. Because I don’t want to lose my files, I choose upgrade install and not custom. It says in the compatibility report option if you start your computer using with the installation media and then I close and then I’m back to the beginning of the windows set up purple screen. Help me.

Additional edit: is there a way for me to back up my device from the blue page that says choose an option?

🌐
Microsoft
microsoft.com › en-us › software-download › windows10
Download Windows 10
October 21, 2025 - If you are installing Windows 10 on a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, or if you need to create installation media to install Windows 10 on a different PC, see Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC section ...
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Corsair
help.corsair.com › hc › en-us › articles › 14206252671117-Windows-How-to-Install-Windows-10-11-Using-the-Media-Creation-Tool
Windows: How to Install Windows 10/11 Using the Media Creation Tool – Corsair
Click the "Download tool now" button to download the tool for the desired version of Windows. Insert a USB drive with at least 8GB of storage into your computer. Launch the Media Creation Tool by double-clicking the downloaded file.
🌐
TechSpot
techspot.com › downloads › 6734-windows-10-installation-tool.html
Microsoft Windows Installation and Media Creation Tool Download Free - 22H2 | TechSpot
November 13, 2025 - Download Media Creation Tool - The media creation tool can be used to upgrade your current PC to Windows 10 or to create a USB/DVD and install Windows 10.
Rating: 4.2 ​ - ​ 663 votes
🌐
SanDisk
forums.sandisk.com › usb flash drives › all other usb flash drives
Create a bootable Windows installation drive using Sandisk USB3.0 64GB? - All other USB Flash Drives - SanDisk Forums
September 6, 2013 - I’ve tried multiple tools to create a bootable Windows installation on my Sandisk USB3.0 64GB drive, but none of them recognize the drive. Any thoughts on how to achieve my goal?
🌐
Computer Hope
computerhope.com › issues › ch000333.htm
How to Create a Windows 10 Installation Disk
June 1, 2025 - All existing data on the disk will be destroyed. Open a web browser and go to Microsoft's Windows 10 download page. Under Create Windows 10 installation media, click Download tool now.
Top answer
1 of 4
21

This answer is summarized below.

  • MBR partition a 16 GB or larger flash drive to contain a FAT32 volume and an ExFAT volume.
  • Copy all the files, except sources/install.wim, from the mounted Windows ISO file to the FAT32 volume on the flash drive.
  • Copy sources/install.wim from the mounted Windows ISO file to the ExFAT volume on the flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and enter a command to split the install.wim on the ExFAT volume to two files placed on the FAT32 volume.
  • The result is an USB flash drive which can be used to install Windows 11.

The steps are given next.

  1. Goto Microsoft's Download Windows 11 website and download the Windows 11 disk image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert a 16 GB or larger flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  2. Open a Terminal application window.

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the command below to format the flash drive.

    diskutil partitiondisk disk2 mbr fat32 MYFAT32 8G exfat MyExFAT R
    

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Windows ISO file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Enter the command below to mount the Windows 11 ISO file. In my case, the output from the command shows the file was mounted on /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9. If your folder name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Enter the command below to change the current directory to /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9.

    cd /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
    

    Enter the commands below to copy the files from the mounted ISO to the flash drive. Note: Since the install.wim file is very large, the cp command can take a while to complete.

    rsync -r -t --exclude=sources/install.wim . /Volumes/MYFAT32
    cp sources/install.wim /Volumes/MyExFAT
    

    Enter the commands below to unmount the Windows 11 ISO file.

    cd ~
    hdiutil detach /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    

    You can quit the Terminal application.

  3. Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive. You should get a window similar to the one shown below. You can ignore the contents of this window.

  4. Press the shift+F10 key combination to open Command Prompt window.

    Enter the command below. From the output, determine the drive letters for the MYFAT32 and MyExFAT volumes. In my case, the was C and D respectively. If your letters are different, the make the appropriate substitutions for c:\ and d:\ when entering the dism command given below.

    echo list volume | diskpart
    

    Enter the command below to create the install.swm and install2.swm files in the c:\sources folder. Note: This command will take a while to complete.

    dism /split-image /imagefile:d:\install.wim /swmfile:c:\sources\install.swm /filesize:4000
    

    Enter the command below to close the Command Prompt window.

    exit
    
  5. Close the window. When the popup shown below appears, select "Yes". The computer will reboot.

    The next time you UEFI boot from this USB flash drive, you should encounter the following window. You then can proceed and install Windows 11.


Example of Using the Terminal Window

Last login: Sun Mar  9 09:16:57 on console
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 ⁨MYFLASHDRV⁩              15.9 GB    disk2s1

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil partitiondisk disk2 mbr fat32 MYFAT32 8G exfat MyExFAT R
Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk2s1 as MS-DOS (FAT32) with name MYFAT32
512 bytes per physical sector
/dev/rdisk2s1: 15594504 sectors in 1949313 FAT32 clusters (4096 bytes/cluster)
bps=512 spc=8 res=32 nft=2 mid=0xf8 spt=32 hds=255 hid=2048 drv=0x80 bsec=15625000 bspf=15230 rdcl=2 infs=1 bkbs=6
Mounting disk
Formatting disk2s2 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT
Volume name      : MyExFAT
Partition offset : 15628288 sectors (8001683456 bytes)
Volume size      : 15370240 sectors (7869562880 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 32768
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 2048
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 4096 sectors (2097152 bytes)
# Clusters       : 240096
Volume Serial #  : 67cdc143
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 30012
Upcase start     : 3
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 4
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk2
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
/dev/disk3                                              /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % cd /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % rsync -r -t --exclude=sources/install.wim . /Volumes/MYFAT32
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % cp sources/install.wim /Volumes/MyExFAT
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % cd ~
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % hdiutil detach /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
"disk3" ejected.
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % 

Example of Using the Command Prompt Window

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.1742]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

X:\sources>echo list volume | diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.26100.1150

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MININT-NBNQP5I

DISKPART>
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     C   MYFAT32      FAT32  Removable   7629 MB  Healthy
  Volume 2     D   MyExFAT      exFAT  Removable   7505 MB  Healthy

DISKPART>
X:\sources>dism /split-image /imagefile:d:\install.wim /swmfile:c:\sources\install.swm /filesize=4000

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.1150

The operation completed successfully.

X:\sources>exit
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3

User Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight posted the following comment.

I'm leaving this as a comment since without access to a Mac I don't feel I could write a complete answer. Instead of directly creating a bootable windows installer USB, create a Ventoy bootable USB. Once you do that you can copy bootable drive images in all the major formats on as ordinary files, and then start them from a basic menu system that Ventoy shows when it boots. It's slightly more work the first time, but as long as you don't reformat the USB it'll make any future uses much easier since it reduces the operation to a simple copy/paste. ventoy.net/en/index.html

I decided to post this answer in response to the above comment. Note that the question does not explicitly rule out posting a solution which uses third party tools.

This answer is summarized below.

  • Download Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file, then copy this file to an 8 GB or larger flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and install Ventoy to the same flash drive.
  • Download the Windows 11 ISO file and copy to the flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and install Windows 11. If necessary, first enroll the key in MOK manager.

The steps are given next.

  1. Goto SourceForge's Ventoy project files website and download the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert an 8 GB or larger flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  2. Open a Terminal application window.

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso
    

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the commands below to copy the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file to the flash drive. Note: Using rdisk2 instead of disk2 usually results in a quicker copy.

    diskutil unmountdisk disk2
    sudo dd if=$HOME/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso bs=1m of=/dev/rdisk2
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    
  3. Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive.

    Note
    You will need to disable Secure Boot.

    When the following Grub menu appeared, I choose the first entry, which is the default.

    Ventoy2Disk is loading completely into RAM disk. This allows the flash drive to be overwritten. In my case, to install to the same flash drive, I just needed to select "Install" button shown below, then the "OK" button in the following popups.

    After installation to the flash drive has successfully completed, the following is displayed.

    At this point, either manually shutdown the computer or reboot by closing the window. If you choose to reboot and are successful, then the following will appear.

    Shutdown the computer by pressing the F5 key, then selecting "Power" and finally selecting "Halt".

    Remove the flash drive.

  4. Goto Microsoft's Download Windows 11 website and download the Windows 11 disk image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert the same flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  5. Use the same or a new Terminal application window to enter the following commands.

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Windows ISO file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the command below to copy the Windows ISO file to the ExFAT formatted volume named Ventoy on the flash drive.

    cp ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso /Volumes/Ventoy
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    
  6. If necessary, enroll key in MOK manager as described in this step.

    Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive.

    Note
    You should have Secure Boot enabled before UEFI booting from the flash drive.

    If you encounter the following display, select OK, otherwise proceed to the step 7.

    The next display should appear as shown below. Before the timer expires, press any key.

    Select Enroll key from disk, as shown below.

    Select VTOYEFI, as shown below.

    Select ENROOL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer, as shown below.

    Select Continue, as shown below.

    Select Yes, as shown below.

    Select Reboot, as shown below.

  7. Install Windows 11.

    If you have not already done so, UEFI boot the computer where Windows is to be installed from the flash drive.

    Note
    You should have Secure Boot enabled before UEFI booting from the flash drive.

    When the display below appears, press the F5 key.

    Select Temporary Control Settings, as shown below.

    This answer assume Windows 11 is being installed on supported hardware. Normally, when booting from the Windows 11 installer, the following would be set to 0, as shown in the image below. You need to decided whether the following need to be set to 0 or 1.

    • Bypass CPU/TPM/SecureBoot check when installing Windows 11 This allows includes bypassing the 4 GB RAM check.
    • Bypass online account requirement when installing Windows 11

    When finished, press the esckey twice.

    Select Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso, as shown below.

    Select Boot in normal mode, as shown below.

    Note
    When message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD. appears, you may need to press any key.

    When the display shown below appears, proceed with the installation of Windows 11.


Example of Using the Terminal Window

Last login: Thu Mar 13 17:46:02 on ttys001
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 MYFLASHDRV              15.9 GB    disk2s1

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil unmountdisk disk2                                               
Unmount of all volumes on disk2 was successful
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % sudo dd if=$HOME/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso bs=1m of=/dev/rdisk2 
186+1 records in
186+1 records out
195702784 bytes transferred in 4.038241 secs (48462383 bytes/sec)
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:               Windows_NTFS Ventoy                  15.8 GB    disk2s1
   2:                       0xEF                         33.6 MB    disk2s2

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % cp ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso /Volumes/Ventoy 
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % 
🌐
iBoysoft
iboysoft.com › home › how to tips › how to create windows 10/11 installation media/bootable usb?
How to Create Windows 10/11 Installation Media/Bootable USB?
November 3, 2025 - Microsoft's method for creating installation media is the media creation tool. You can download the ISO file to your local disk or use the media creation tool to make a bootable USB flash drive.
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Pendrive Linux
pendrivelinux.com › home › bootable usb creators › universal usb installer: bootable usb software
Universal USB Installer – Best Bootable USB Software (UUI)
1 week ago - To create a Linux or Windows bootable USB drive, you simply select your target flash drive, choose your distribution from the list, browse to the ISO file (or choose to download the ISO), and then click Create.
Top answer
1 of 2
2

The Windows 10 Media Creation Tool can create Windows 10 bootable/installation USB drives. If the USB drive you created is not bootable, chances are that you did not set your computer's boot order correctly. Reformatting the USB drive as FAT32 will make sure it is bootable on Legacy BIOS or UEFI computers. Of course, it does not rule out that the Media Creation Tool fails to work on your computer for some reason.

You can also create a Windows 10 bootable/installation USB drive from an iSO image file.

First, you need to download the official Windows 10 ISO file from the Microsoft website.

Then, you can use the Rufus tool to create a Windows 10 installation USB drive from the ISO.

Or, if you are familiar with Windows commands, you can also use the Command Prompt to create a Windows 10 bootable USB drive from the ISO.

Here are the detailed steps: https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/create-windows-10-bootable-usb-from-iso.html

2 of 2
1

You can create bootable USB for Windows 10 using Command Prompt on Windows. Here's the YouTube video on - How to create bootable USB for Windows using Command Prompt

In summary you'll have to follow these steps

  1. Open Command Prompt as an Administrator
  2. On Command Prompt window type diskpart and then click ENTER
  3. Inside disk part, now type command list disk and click ENTER, make sure you have inserted your USB drive, and note the disk number of the USB Drive.
  4. Type select disk <x> where x being your disk number of USB Drive.
  5. Type clean
  6. To create a new primary partition on the USB flash drive, type create part pri, and then click ENTER.
  7. To select the partition that you just created, type select part 1, and then click ENTER.
  8. To format the partition, type format fs=ntfs quick, and then click ENTER.
  9. Type active, and then click ENTER.
  10. Type exit, and then click ENTER.
  11. When you finish preparing your custom image, save it to the root of the USB flash drive.
🌐
GROK Knowledge Base
grok.lsu.edu › article.aspx
Windows 10: Create a Bootable USB - GROK Knowledge Base
5. Once the Windows 10 Setup window pops, select Create installation media for another PC, and click Next.