Running Windows “Live” is sometimes required (BIOS/Firmware updates, rescue HDD). Of course, there are a few software options for doing that, but you must pay or the free version has limitations.
You can easily achieve this, for free, with a few tools from Windows itself.
Prerequisites:
• USB Stick (16GB+)
• Windows 10 PC
• Windows 10 install disk/ISO
1.
Press + X, and select “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”
2. You will use “DISKPART” to prepare the USB Stick, but pay attention when selecting the disk because it will destroy all partitions on the selected disk. After that we will create two primary partitions, one of 100MB, FAT32, active (the BOOT partition), and the second one, NTFS, using the rest of the space on the stick (it will contain the Windows files):
PS C:\Windows\system32> DISKPART Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.610 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: Test-PC DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B * Disk 1 Online 14 GB 0 B DISKPART> select disk 1 Disk 1 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> clean DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk. DISKPART> convert MBR DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to MBR format. DISKPART> create partition primary size=100 DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DISKPART> format fs=FAT32 quick 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DISKPART> active DiskPart marked the current partition as active. DISKPART> assign letter=X DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DISKPART> create partition primary DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DISKPART> format fs=NTFS quick 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DISKPART> assign letter=Y DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DISKPART> exit Leaving DiskPart...
- I’ve assigned drive letters X: and Y: for the two newly created partitions, X: for the boot partition, and Y: for the partition containing Windows files (you can choose any letters you like, only pay attention to which is which, you will need this in the following steps).
3. Insert your Windows 10 Install Disk or mount the install ISO image and identify the Windows 10 distribution you want to use for your live stick. For this, we will use “DISM” and point to the installation image file (in my case “E:\sources\install.wim”):
PS C:\Windows\system32> DISM /Get-ImageInfo /imagefile:E:\sources\install.wim Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 10.0.19041.746 Details for image : E:\sources\install.wim Index : 1 Name : Windows 10 Home Description : Windows 10 Home Size : 15.489.142.996 bytes Index : 2 Name : Windows 10 Home N Description : Windows 10 Home N Size : 14.716.766.977 bytes Index : 3 Name : Windows 10 Home Single Language Description : Windows 10 Home Single Language Size : 15.470.244.213 bytes Index : 4 Name : Windows 10 Education Description : Windows 10 Education Size : 15.722.347.443 bytes Index : 5 Name : Windows 10 Education N Description : Windows 10 Education N Size : 14.953.374.712 bytes Index : 6 Name : Windows 10 Pro Description : Windows 10 Pro Size : 15.720.710.878 bytes Index : 7 Name : Windows 10 Pro N Description : Windows 10 Pro N Size : 14.955.666.348 bytes Index : 8 Name : Windows 10 Pro Education Description : Windows 10 Pro Education Size : 15.722.285.861 bytes Index : 9 Name : Windows 10 Pro Education N Description : Windows 10 Pro Education N Size : 14.953.312.230 bytes Index : 10 Name : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations Description : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations Size : 15.722.316.652 bytes Index : 11 Name : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations Description : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations Size : 14.953.343.471 bytes The operation completed successfully.
4.
Write the selected Windows 10 image (in this example: 6) on the second partition, “Y:“
PS C:\Windows\system32> DISM /Apply-Image /ImageFile:E:\sources\install.wim /Index:6 /ApplyDir:Y:\ /compact Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 10.0.19041.746 Applying image [==========================100.0%==========================] The operation completed successfully.
5.
Prepare the BOOT partition on “X:“, pointing to the newly copied files in “Y:“
C:\Windows\system32>BCDBOOT Y:\Windows /s X: /f ALL Boot files successfully created.
6.
Now the “Windows 10 Live Stick” should be ready, reboot your PC and select it as the first boot device!
