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How to make a USB flash drive boot disk - NOT a "setup" boot disk?

I want to have a bootable USB flash drive for windows 7 and 10. All the "solutions" that I find are for a bootable setup. I want a bootable system, not setup. Is this possible?

CompProbSolv

I believe (haven't actually done it) that you can just do a Windows installation and select the USB drive as the target. That should be pretty easy to test. Keep in mind that it won't be very portable between different hardware.

Tom Cieslik

I don't understand ?
Do you wan tot install Windows on USB to have option to boot to it ? or you want bootable USB to have installation to install new windows from or option to repair your installation from bootable USB ?

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Joe Winograd

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Paul Corathers

ASKER

I will check out that I idea and let you know. That assumes I can find my setup cd to use.

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Joe Winograd

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Paul Corathers

ASKER

I would to like be able to boot from a USB not do a recovery or repair. Here is my reasoning. I have a laptop I have run all the checks passed so? why it will not boot. (the "repair' option runs but does not solve the problem) I see that all the files are there and do I have a complete backup, not an image. So I have all my data and programs. However, the only options will require a factory reset, reformat, clean install which would be a LOT of work, updating reinstalling etc. (not to mention take a week) I was thinking I could boot from a USB. - going back to windows 98 days - one could do that. or am I going down a rabbit hole?
I have this exact same issue on two workstations one is windows 7 and the other Windows 10. Coincidence?

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