Fortunately, the ubiquitous and inexpensive flash drive, or any other USB-based drive, is a perfect solution. While many computers don’t have optical drives, they all have USB ports…thankfully. Once you have those installation files on a flash drive, which is exactly what we’ll show you how to do over the course of this tutorial, you can move on to the actual Windows 8 installation process, which we also have a complete tutorial of—but we’ll get to that at the end.
A Flash Drive
This flash drive, or any USB storage device you’d like to use, should be at 4 GB in size if you’re planning on installing a 32-bit version of Windows 8 or 8.1, or at least 8 GB in size if you’re planning on a 64-bit version. A 5 GB drive would do, but the next easily available size after 4 GB is 8 GB. This USB drive also needs to be empty, or you need to be fine with erasing everything off of it as part of this process.
Windows 8 or 8.1 (on DVD or ISO)
Windows 8 (or Windows 8.1, of course) is available for purchase as either a physical DVD, or as an ISO file. Either is fine, but there’s an extra step to take if you have a real DVD. We’ll get to all of that in a bit. If you bought Windows 8 from a retailer other than Microsoft, you probably have a DVD. If you bought it from Microsoft directly, you had the option of having an installation DVD shipped to you, downloading a Windows 8 ISO image, or both. So, if you have a DVD, find it. If you downloaded an ISO image, locate it on your computer. Be sure you find the product key that accompanied that purchase as well—you’ll need it later on.
Access to a Computer
The last thing you’ll need is access to a working computer. This can be the computer you’re about to install Windows onto, assuming it’s working, or it can be some other computer. This computer can be running Windows XP or newer. If what you’re working with now is a Windows 8 DVD (versus an ISO image), make sure this computer you’ll be borrowing has a DVD drive, too.
Get Started!
Now that you have a flash drive, your Windows 8 media, and access to a working computer, you can work on getting those installation files from that disc or downloaded onto your flash drive so you install Windows 8. There’s an extra step to take if your copy of Windows 8/8.1 is on a DVD, so:
Continue to Step 3 if you have a Windows 8 DVD and need that on a flash drive.Continue to Step 4 if you have a Windows 8 ISO file you downloaded and need that on a flash drive.
Unfortunately, you can’t just copy the files from the Windows 8 DVD directly onto the flash drive you want them on and expect that to work. The Windows 8 installation DVD first has to be converted to an ISO file (this step), and then that ISO file is used to populate the flash drive with the proper files for installing the OS (the next several steps).
Creating an ISO Image From the DVD
You’ll need to complete this step from that other computer you have access to—the one with the DVD drive in it. You’ll need your Windows 8 DVD at this computer, but you won’t need the flash drive quite yet. Creating an ISO file from your Windows 8 DVD is no different from creating an ISO file from any kind of disc. So, if you have experience “ripping” data-based discs, go for it, and then continue on to Step 4 when you’re done. Otherwise, see How to Create an ISO Image From a DVD for a tutorial and then continue to Step 4 after you’re done. To do this, you’ll need to download a free tool from Microsoft called the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Don’t worry that Windows 7 is in the name. Yes, it was originally designed for use as a way of getting a Windows 7 ISO onto a flash drive, but it works perfectly fine for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO images. With the help of this program, over the next several steps, we’ll get the flash drive properly formatted and the Windows 8 installation files properly copied to it. Once complete, you’ll be able to use this flash drive to install Windows 8. To get started, locate the file you downloaded, and run it. Once you see the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Setup window appear, proceed through the installation wizard: Select Next, and then Install. Wait while the installation occurs (as shown above); this will only take a few seconds. Finally, select Finish. That’s it. It’s a small program. Next up we’ll run the program, provide it the Windows 8 ISO image you downloaded or created from your DVD, and have it properly format and then copy the installation files to the flash drive. At least with most computers, the installation you completed in the last step created a shortcut on the Desktop called Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. Open that. If you’re presented with a User Account Control prompt after opening, select Yes to continue. Choose Browse. If you downloaded Windows from Microsoft and aren’t sure where you saved it, check for the ISO file in your computer’s Downloads folder, since there’s a good chance that it’s in there. Another way is to use Everything to search the whole computer for the ISO file. If you created an ISO from your Windows 8 DVD, that file will be wherever it is you saved it to. Once the ISO file is selected, choose Open. Confirm that this is the right ISO file and then select Next to continue. Your goal here is to get your Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 setup files onto a flash drive or some other USB storage, so select USB device. Find the USB device in the drop-down box and then choose the green Begin copying button. If you do have drives listed, but you’re not sure which one is the right one to choose, unplug the USB device you want to use, hit refresh, and note which drive goes away. Reattach it, refresh again, and then choose that drive. If all you ever get is a No compatible USB devices detected message, you may have an issue with the flash drive or other USB storage you’re using, or even some issue with your computer. If you do see this, select Erase USB Device to erase the flash drive in preparation for the copying of the Windows 8 or 8.1 installation files. Choose Yes to confirm that you want to erase the USB drive. You’ll see the Formatting status for several seconds, maybe longer. How long depends a lot on how large the USB drive is—the larger it is, the longer this part will take. The Copying files status will last a lot longer than the formatting status, perhaps as long as 30 minutes or more. How long this takes depends on a number of variables like the maximum USB speed supported by the USB device and the computer, how fast the computer is, and how large the Windows 8/8.1 ISO image is.
What Next?
Technically, you’re done. Not with installing Windows 8/8.1, of course, but you have gotten those Windows 8 or 8.1 installation files from the DVD or ISO file you started with onto this USB device. To actually use this portable drive to install Windows, you’ll need to boot from the drive, which we explain below. You can usually boot from your Windows 8/8.1 USB drive by doing the following: The boot order might need changed in the BIOS to make this happen, sometimes the USB port used isn’t the one that the computer motherboard prefers for booting from, etc. If you run in to any problems, see our How to Boot From a USB Device tutorial for help. The instructions there are much more detailed, and there are several suggestions on what to try if you’re having trouble getting your computer to boot from the USB drive. If even that doesn’t help, you may need to take some extra steps to boot from this Windows 8 USB drive. See How to Install Windows 8 or 8.1 From USB, the condensed version of this tutorial. Once you get your computer to boot from the Windows 8/8.1 USB drive you made during this tutorial, the installing Windows part should be a breeze. Continue on to the next step, and we’ll get you started with that. Installing Windows 8/8.1 is a fairly simple process. For the most part, you can just follow the process presented to you on the screen and an hour or so later you should be enjoying Windows. However, there are certainly a few places where you may have questions as to what to do next. See How to Clean Install Windows 8 or 8.1 for a complete walkthrough of the process. In that tutorial, we show you every screen you’ll see during the installation process, from the start of it (pictured above), all the way to the finish line.
