Creating Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows

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In this article you will find information about how you can create a Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows.

There are several different ways to get a bootable Windows image on a USB flash drive and then install it in UEFI mode.

Microsoft Software at Thomas-Krenn

1st Method: Rufus

The first method mentioned in this article is to create a bootable flash drive with Rufus.

Download and execute Rufus

Rufus is an open source program licensed under the GPL.[1] Rufus can be downloaded directly from the developer's website. The program does not need to be installed, it can be executed simply.

Hint: Rufus is the preferred tool to create a bootable GPT partitioned and NTFS formatted USB drive if the install.wim is larger than 4 GB.

Create UEFI USB flash drive

To create a UEFI bootable Windows installation flash drive with Rufus, you have to make the following settings:

  • Drive: Select the USB flash drive you want to use
  • Partitioning scheme: Select GPT Partitioning scheme for UEFI here
  • File system: Here you have to select NTFS
  • Create a bootable drive with ISO image: Select the corresponding Windows ISO
  • Create extended description and symbols: Tick this box

The UEFI USB stick is automatically created by clicking Start.

RufusUEFI.PNG

2nd Method: Windows USB/DVD Download Tool

The second method is to utilize the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool.

Download and install

First of all, the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool[2] has to be downloaded, e.g. from Codeplex.

Afterwards you can simply install the downloaded .exe file. The NET Framework 2.0 must be installed in order to install this tool.

Create UEFI USB flash drive

To create a UEFI USB flash drive, open the installed Windows tool.

3rd Method: Diskpart

The third method to create a bootable usb drive is diskpart.

Preparing the USB Stick

A new primary partition is created on the USB flash drive, formatted with the FAT32 file system and assigned a drive letter.

To do this, execute the following commands:

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

Copy Windows installation files to the USB flash drive

The next step is to copy the Windows installation files to the USB flash drive.

You can do this by simply using Copy - Paste. It doesn't matter whether you have mounted, unpacked or inserted an ISO image in Windows or an installation DVD.

If the install.wim file of the Windows image is larger than 4GB, an error will occur during the copying process. At the end of the copy process, the message that the file is too large appears. This message appears, because the FAT32 file system reaches its limits and cannot process >4GB files.

In order to finish the UEFI-USB-Stick you have to use a little trick:

Using DISM, the file must be split into two or more <4GB files. Please note that this process is only possible up to Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.[3][4]

Simply enter the following command:

Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:E:\sources\install.wim /SWMFile:C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\install.swm /FileSize:3000
  • /ImageFile: Path of the source file install.wim in the sources folder of the Windows ISO
  • /SWMFile: Path of the split target files
  • /FileSize: Maximum size of split target files in MB
DismSplit.png

Now you can copy the split install.wim, install2.wim, install3.wim etc. to the USB stick in the "sources" directory.

Fix error message status 0xc000000d

If you get the error message \EFI\Microsoft\BOOT\\\\BCD Status 0xc000000d when booting the USB stick, please check the following things:

  1. If it's a system with Secure Boot, deactivate Secure Boot.
  2. Select the USB stick (not Windows Boot Manager) from the boot menu.

Booting should work afterwards.

Einzelnachweise

  1. Rufus Website (akeo.ie)
  2. Windows USB/DVD Download Tool (microsoft. com)
  3. Split a Windows Image (WIM) (www.technet.microsoft.com)
  4. Split a Windows image file (.wim) (www.docs.microsoft.com)


Foto Armin Oberneder.jpg

Author: Armin Oberneder

Armin Oberneder has been working for Thomas-Krenn.AG for over 7 years now. He is currently employed in the consulting team and thus takes care of all customer-specific inquiries concerning servers, storage, virtualization and networks. In the past years Armin has specialized in Windows Server, Software-Defined-Technologies and Network Technology.

Due to these specializations, he also ensures that our customers are helped as quickly as possible in the event of problems by means of a ticket system, by telephone or in writing via e-mail.


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