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OhmitFlag for Denmark

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How do I make a bootable windows flash drive?

Sound like its pretty easy to google but REALLY - its not!

What I need is an USB flash key with a minimum but complete running Windows 7 or 10 I can boot from.
Once again - I do not need just a bootable usb media for installing Windows on the pc.

The primary purpose is that I often need to do a complete virus scan of a pc without have to dismount the harddrive and connect it to another pc. If possible I could have a stand-alone Windows with my AV tools all running from a flash drive.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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Tom Cieslik
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Just download RUFUS software, put your DVD into drive and flash into USB and create it... VERY SIMPLE

https://rufus.akeo.ie/
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Ramin

The best try is to create a bootable USB with your Antivirus Program.
Windows was not designed to run from a flash drive.  HOWEVER, you MAY be able to if you have the right edition of Windows using Windows To Go.  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/plan/windows-to-go-overview?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Note: I haven't used Windows To Go; it might not be possible to mount the internal drives (or they might simply be "offline" and easily brought online; I don't know).  However, Windows To Go requires FAST USB 3 and not all USB 3 drives will be seen as compatible.

Honestly, I just carry a $10 USB to SATA adapter and plug it in to a laptop or another computer and run scans from there.
All antiviruses can create Rescué USB,
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Gentlemen Im more confused now than before. So its not possible to make a Windows 7 or 10 running from an USB flash stick??
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Tom Cieslik
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The steps outlined at Lifehacker (link above) will let you create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 or Windows 8 --- for reasons noted in the article it's preferable to use '8, but either will work.

However, if your primary purpose is (as you stated) just to scan for viruses, you don't need a full-fledged Windows system.   You can create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows Defender Offline [ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17466/windows-defender-offline-help-protect-my-pc ] or you can create a bootable Avira USB flash drive [ https://www.avira.com/en/support-for-home-knowledgebase-detail/kbid/655 ].     Either will let you scan the system without the need to be running a local OS or remove the hard drive.   Several other A/V utilities also support a bootable USB flash drive as well.

Most of the standalone bootable USB flash installs from A/V vendors use a bootable Linux base -- you can create a single USB flash drive that will boot to several different installs using one of the free multi-boot managers for flash drives, such as the excellent (but a bit "geeky" YUMI:  https://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/
you can not run some Antivirus in full function mode from Windows USB bootable drive.
some Antiviruses need to create their own USB to load their files during boot process.
Windows PE was my solutions , you can. create a virtual machine with Windows 7 as an example you install  all the tools you need in the VM (install AV etc...) then with the Windows PE tool you will be able to compress that Windows installation into a flash drive and at the time of booting the usb will mount the OS image and desconpres it in RAM so you can work if the internal HDD is "damage".

Here is how to put a previously created windows PE image in a USB and then make the USB booteable

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825109.aspx

Sadly youre missing the image and here is tutorial on how to make one , make sure you read and understand the way it works because ussualy if you run into any issues if you don't know what you're doing or why ,google is kind of useless .

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709665(v=ws.10).aspx

There is other solutions out there to make this happen I choose this one since it is almost the same way to do it in Linux.

1- encapsulate with microsoft tools a Windows installation (.IMG)

2- create a bootable USB

3- tell the USB in its boot file to mount the .IMG file in memory (ram)

4- the IMG file will get the super ultra minimum of Windows so you can run it in RAM without problems as a rescue tool.
note that any system running from USB must be able to boot from it ( can be a problem on older systems, and with USB3)
unless you have windows to go - it also will want to install the drivers for every PC you connect it to

it's much simpler to connect the drive of the infected system first to a working - and protected pc - and run a first scan on it
then reconnect the drive in the Original system, and probably it will run better  - so you can run a scan now
I will suggest to use RUFUS or MIcrosoft DVD, USB tool by microsoft
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool