How to Install Windows 8 from USB Disk

The standard package of Windows 8 operating system comes on a DVD disk. So if you do not have an optical drive that supports booting from DVD on your computer, then you cannot install Windows 8 on it. The same is true if for some reason your DVD drive is malfunctioning and it cannot really read from DVD disks. Then there are people who have downloaded Windows 8 ISO online from Microsoft, but they do not want to burn it on a DVD. In all these cases, you can try installing Windows 8 from a USB disk. For this, you have to create a bootable USB disk with Windows 8 files on it. Here is how you can create a bootable USB disk for installing Windows 8 :

You would need a blank USB disk (also called pen drive or USB key). It should have atleast 4GB of capacity to copy the Windows 8 DVD files. Not to mention, you also need the Windows 8 DVD or the Windows 8 ISO file (in case you have downloaded the Windows 8 ISO from Microsoft).

  1. Insert the target USB flash drive into one of the UBS ports of your computer. If you are using a Windows 8 DVD, then insert it in the optical drive of your PC. In case you are using the Windows 8 ISO file, make sure it is ready to be used.
  2. Download WinUSB Maker from http://www.joshcellsoftwares.com/. The downloaded file is a portable application, so you do not have to install it. Just extract the contents of the ZIP file and run the executable you find inside.
  3. Select the target USB flash disk from the drop down list in the WinUSB Maker. In my case, I am selecting my 8 GB Kingston pendrive. Be careful and do not select any other USB disk that is present on your system.

    How to Install Windows 8 from USB Disk

  4. Click on Setup to USB option on the left side. If you are using a Windows 8 ISO file, then select I want to work with an ISO image file. If you are using a Windows 8 DVD, then select I want to work with a Directory. Then click on the Select an ISO or Directory button to browse and select the ISO file or the DVD drive.

    How to Install Windows 8 from USB Disk

  5. Click on the Make USB Bootable button. After verifying the source (ISO or DVD), it will show you a warning that the contents of the target USB disk would be destroyed. Click Yes to continue. It will format your selected USB disk first and then start to copy the Windows 8 files to it.

    How to Install Windows 8 from USB Disk

  6. The copying process is going to take some time because Windows 8 DVD (or ISO) has thousands of files. After copying, it will make your USB disk bootable and show a message that the process has been successful. Now you can use the bootable USB disk to boot from and install Windows 8 on any PC that supports booting from USB disks.