How to Install Windows 10 from USB through BIOS: Step by Step Guide

To install Windows 10 from USB, make a bootable stick with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool, start the PC from it through the BIOS boot menu and choose Custom install in Windows Setup. Slow gaming rig? Family laptop that won’t start? Same fix for both. Build the stick once, boot from it, and let Setup run its Custom install while you wait.

The whole job takes about an hour. The part that trips people up is the BIOS, so that gets the most space here.

Is Windows 10 still the right choice in 2026

You can still download and install Windows 10 version 22H2 from Microsoft. If the PC meets the requirements of Windows 11, that’s the longer-lasting choice.

There are good reasons to stick with Windows 10 for now.

• An older PC with no TPM 2.0, or no supported CPU.
• A game or an app that misbehaves on Windows 11.
• A business tool certified only for 10.

In those cases a fresh install from USB is the cleanest way to fix a slow or broken system.

If your hardware qualifies for the newer system, follow our guide to installing Windows 11 from USB. The BIOS steps below are the same for both.

What you need to install Windows 10 from USB

• A USB flash drive of at least 8 GB that may be wiped.
• A working Windows PC with internet access to build it.
• A PC that meets the minimum requirements of Windows 10.
• A valid license: a product key, or a digital license from an earlier activation on the same machine.
• A backup of your files. A clean install erases the target drive.

Three more things before you start.

• Note your Wi-Fi password.
• For an unusual PC model, download the network driver to a second stick.
• Sign out of apps tied to a device limit.

Not sure whether the PC has a key stored in firmware? On many laptops that shipped with Windows 8 or later, it’s there. Setup picks it up without asking.

Creating the bootable Windows 10 USB drive

1. On a working PC, open the Windows 10 download page and select Download tool now.
2. Run MediaCreationTool22H2.exe as an administrator and accept the license terms.
3. Choose the Create installation media option, the one for another PC.
4. For a different target machine, clear “Use the recommended options for this PC”. Choose the language, the Windows 10 edition and 64-bit.
5. Select USB flash drive and pick your stick. Wait until the tool reports that the drive is ready.

The tool downloads Windows 10 22H2. The drive it makes boots on UEFI PCs and on older BIOS PCs. Expect 20 to 40 minutes on a typical connection.

Rufus is the popular alternative, when you already have an ISO or need a specific partition scheme.

For more options, and for fixes when a stick won’t boot, see our guide on creating a bootable Windows 10 USB.

Getting into the BIOS or the boot menu

Restart the PC and tap the firmware key as soon as the screen lights up.

The prompt, such as “Press F2 to enter Setup”, often flashes for less than a second. On PCs with Fast Boot it may not appear at all.

Tap the key repeatedly from the moment you press power. Missed it? Just restart and try again. Nothing breaks.

If Windows already runs, there’s a reliable route with no timing involved.

1. Open Settings, Update & Security, Recovery.
2. Under Advanced startup, restart.
3. Pick Troubleshoot, Advanced options, UEFI Firmware Settings.

We’d plug the stick into a USB port directly on the motherboard, at the back of a desktop. Not a front-panel port, and not a hub. On a few older boards, a USB 2.0 port is detected more reliably during boot than USB 3.x.

Setting the BIOS to boot from the stick

The easiest way is the one-time boot menu. Press its key at power-on and pick the entry for your USB stick. On modern PCs it’s labelled “UEFI:”, followed by the stick’s name.

To make USB permanent, open BIOS setup and find Boot Order, Boot Priority or Boot Sequence. Move the USB drive to the top. Then save and exit, usually with F10.

A few settings matter.

• Boot mode. Choose UEFI on any PC that supports it. Legacy or CSM mode is only for very old hardware or old operating systems.
• Secure Boot. Windows 10 media from Microsoft boots with Secure Boot on, so leave it on. Turn it off only if a third-party tool’s stick refuses to start.
• Fast Boot. Disable it temporarily if the USB stick never shows up. It can skip USB initialisation.
• Storage mode. Many Intel laptops use RST or VMD. Setup may then see no drive, and the fix is further down.

Our guide on enabling Secure Boot covers that setting. It matters later if you move to Windows 11, which needs a Secure Boot capable PC.

Save with F10, or with Save & Exit, and the PC restarts. On some systems the screen says “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD”. Press a key, or the PC skips the installer.

How to install Windows 10 from USB step by step

1. When the Windows logo and Windows Setup appear, choose the language, the time and currency format and the keyboard. Then select Next and Install now.
2. On Activate Windows, type your 25-character key. Or select “I don’t have a product key” if this PC had an activated copy before.
3. Choose the edition that matches your license, such as Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Home.
4. Accept the license terms.
5. Choose the Custom option, the one that installs Windows only.
6. Select the drive and select Next.
7. Wait. Setup copies files, installs features and restarts.
8. In the out-of-box setup, choose region and keyboard, connect to the network and create the account.
9. Review the privacy settings, which are all on by default, and finish.

Notes on a few steps.

• Step 2. With an earlier activation, the digital license activates the PC online later.
• Step 3. The wrong edition is the most common reason a reinstall won’t activate.
• Step 5. The Upgrade option only works when you start Setup from inside an existing Windows.
• Step 6. See the partition section below first.
• Step 7. If the PC boots back into the USB installer, remove the stick. Or restore the hard drive as the first boot device.
• Step 8. The Home edition asks for a Microsoft account when online. Pro also offers an offline, local account.

Partitioning the drive during setup

For a clean install on a single drive, delete every partition on the disk where Windows will go. Select the resulting unallocated space and select Next.

Setup then creates the right layout by itself. On a UEFI system that’s four partitions.

• An EFI System partition.
• A small reserved partition.
• The Windows partition.
• A recovery partition.

Don’t delete partitions on drives that hold data you plan to keep.

• Identify the disks first. Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on are listed with sizes. Unsure? Disconnect the drives you aren’t installing to. That removes the risk of wiping the wrong one.
• Keeping a data partition. Create the Windows partition with New, at a size of at least 64 GB. Leave the rest for data and format it later in Disk Management.
• GPT or MBR. UEFI boot requires a GPT disk, and legacy boot requires MBR. Delete all partitions, and Setup picks the right one for the mode you booted in.

Dual-disk setups and data partitions get more room in the clean install section further down.

When the stick won’t boot or Setup shows an error

Most problems come from the boot mode or the storage controller. Not from Windows itself.

An outdated BIOS can also cause odd behaviour on older boards. A firmware update from the maker’s site often fixes USB detection.

And if Setup crashes at random points, we’d test the RAM. Windows Memory Diagnostic or MemTest86 will show faulty modules that no reinstall can cure.

A stick made with Rufus in “Windows To Go” mode, or with a non-Microsoft ISO, behaves differently. If anything feels off, we’d rebuild it with the Media Creation Tool before troubleshooting further.

After you install Windows 10 from USB

These steps take less than an hour. They save you from a slow, unpatched system later.

1. Activation. Open Settings, Update & Security, Activation. A digital license activates automatically. Otherwise use Change product key.
2. Updates. Run Windows Update several times, and restart between rounds.
3. Drivers. Install the GPU driver from the chip maker, and the chipset driver from the motherboard or laptop maker. The network driver too, if Windows has none.
4. Backup. Create a restore point or a system image once the setup is the way you like it.

Activation errors are covered in our guide on how to activate Windows 10.

Need a key for the reinstall? Our Windows 10 Pro key comes as a genuine license. Delivery is instant to email. It also activates Windows 11 Pro if you move up later.

Common mistakes when installing Windows 10 from USB

• The front-panel port. A rear port on the motherboard is detected more reliably.
• The legacy entry in the boot menu. On a modern PC, pick the one that starts with “UEFI:”.
• The wrong disk. Check the number and the size before every Delete.
• The wrong edition. Home and Pro licenses aren’t interchangeable.
• The stick left in. Setup starts from the beginning again.
• No backup. A Custom install doesn’t ask twice.
• Fast Boot left on. The stick may never get a chance to show up.

Install Windows 10 from USB using Command Prompt

No Media Creation Tool on hand, only an ISO? A stick can be built by hand. Microsoft describes this route for PC makers, and it works the same at home.

Command Prompt, as administrator. Then diskpart:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
clean
create partition primary
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign
exit

Disk 1 is only an example. Check the size in the disk list first, because clean wipes the selected disk without a prompt.

Mount the ISO with a double-click. Then copy everything from it to the stick.

One catch. FAT32 can’t hold a file over 4 GB, and the install.wim in recent Windows 10 images is often bigger. So copy the rest first. D: here is the mounted ISO, E: the stick:

robocopy D: E: /s /max:3800000000

Then split the image onto the stick:

Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:D:\sources\install.wim /SWMFile:E:\sources\install.swm /FileSize:3800

Setup picks up install.swm by itself, as long as the name stays the same. FAT32 boots on both UEFI and older BIOS PCs, which is why we’d keep it over NTFS here.

Source: Microsoft Learn, Install Windows from a USB flash drive.

Install Windows 10 from USB without losing data

Booting from the stick through the BIOS means a Custom install. Files go. To keep them, start Setup from inside the running Windows instead.

1. Plug the stick into the PC while Windows is running.
2. Open it in File Explorer and double-click setup.exe.
3. Accept the license terms.
4. On the summary screen, select Change what to keep.
5. Pick Keep personal files and apps, then Install.

The PC restarts several times. Keep it on power.

A mounted ISO does the same job, no stick needed. And the Media Creation Tool has its own version of this: Upgrade this PC now.

This repairs Windows in place. It won’t fix a drive that no longer boots, and it can’t change the partition layout. For those, the BIOS route above is still the way. Back up anyway. We wouldn’t run any reinstall without a copy of the files somewhere else.

Windows versions and firmware this guide covers

BIOS screens differ by maker. The boot menu keys and the settings named here cover the common brands.

Once you’ve done it, the whole thing stops being scary. Make the stick, hit the boot menu key, choose Custom, pick the drive.

Keep the stick in a drawer. The next time a PC refuses to start, you’ll be back up and running in an afternoon.

What a clean install of Windows 10 is

You erase the system drive and install a fresh copy of Windows from installation media. No upgrade, no reset of the existing copy. Every program, setting and personal file on that drive is removed.

It fixes deep software problems and removes manufacturer bloatware. You end up with the latest Windows 10 22H2 build.

Reset this PC works differently. It reinstalls Windows from inside Windows and can keep your files. It’s easier, and for many people it’s enough.

A clean install from USB goes further. It clears hidden recovery partitions and fixes a broken bootloader. It works even when Windows no longer starts.

Should you clean install Windows 10 in 2026

You can. If your PC meets the Windows 11 requirements, a clean install of Windows 11 is usually the longer-lasting choice.

Plenty of machines can’t run Windows 11, though. Mostly older processors, or PCs with no TPM 2.0. For those, a fresh Windows 10 22H2 install is a sensible choice.

On a compatible PC, our clean Windows 11 installation guide follows nearly the same steps.

If the PC is changing owner

Delete every partition on the system drive and let setup install a fresh copy. When the region screen appears, shut the PC down. The new owner finishes setup with their own account.

We’d also remove the device from your Microsoft account afterwards. And keep your own key or license details out of the box.

The hardware it needs

Microsoft’s minimum numbers boot the system. They don’t make it pleasant.

We’d plan on a 64-bit install in any case.

Spinning hard drives are the one thing we’d refuse to install on now. It works, technically, but boot and update times feel like 2010.

An entry-level SSD changes the experience more than any other part.

Finishing the account screens

After the last restart, the system asks for region, keyboard, network, account and privacy settings.

Region and keyboard are simple. For the network, we’d connect if the drivers are there.

The system then grabs updates during this stage and doesn’t pile them up for afterwards.

The account screen is where it gets interesting. Microsoft really wants a Microsoft account, and on Home with a working connection it pushes hard.

Privacy settings come next: location, diagnostic data, tailored experiences, advertising ID.

We’d turn most of them off. You can change them later under Settings, Privacy, but it’s easier to decide now.

We’d read the privacy toggles and not click through.

Drivers, and their order

We’d be particular about the order. Odd problems show up when graphics drivers go in before the chipset package.

And a PC with no network driver can’t fetch anything else.

• Chipset, Intel or AMD, from the motherboard support page.
• Network: LAN first, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth after.
• Graphics from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
• Audio and anything special: RGB controllers, card readers, laptop hotkeys.
• Peripherals: the mouse, keyboard or headset software, if you want their extra features.

Download them from the board or laptop maker’s support page, not from driver-updater sites. Reboot when each installer asks.

Windows Update finds a lot on its own these days, often enough for a working desktop.

Manufacturer packages typically add the control panels and features the generic drivers lack.

On a gaming build, the gap between Microsoft’s basic display driver and the real GPU driver is enormous.

Then open Device Manager and look for yellow warning triangles. No triangles, no missing drivers.

Backup and security on the new Windows 10 PC

Keep Windows Security, the Microsoft Defender Antivirus, switched on. It’s far better than its reputation from the Windows 7 era.

For most home users it’s all the antivirus they need.

The system image is the bit people skip. Save one once the PC is the way you like it.

A power surge can take out the main drive and a backup drive sitting next to it. So system images go to separate storage, refreshed about once a month.

File History, under Control Panel, handles basic document backup. A third-party tool works as well.

Follow the 3-2-1 rule: three copies, two kinds of storage, one off site.

Whatever you use, test a restore once. A backup you’ve never restored stays a hope.

Related guides

• How to enter the BIOS on Windows 10 and 11
• The Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
• KB5063709 Windows 10 Update