Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Reply to this thread

Solved Forum question

Started by Fennicillin | | 2 answers
Can anyone recommend a good thumb drive to install from?
I have one PNY 16Gb that I use to store chipset drivers, Firefox and AVG installers etc. I tried making a Windows 8/8.1 bootable from it some time ago but the Windows tool would always fail to format it. Preferably something under $10?
  • By posting on this site, I confirm I am over 13 years of age and agree to abide by the site’s rules.

October 7, 2014 6:20:37 PM

Thank you very much, the full format seemed to do the trick!

Best solution chosen by Fennicillin

a b * Windows 8
October 7, 2014 2:07:36 PM

Your thumb drive should work just fine. It would fail because it needed to create a primary partition on the drive and you have a extended using all the space. Just use the diskpart.exe command to remove the partitions from the drive and create a new primary partition.
Also, this is a USB device, they have high error rates so do a full format on the drive not a quick format. After you install the OS from a USB drive
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS verify the core windows files to check for corruption after you finish the install.

run cmd.exe as a admin, (windows key + x, then type A)
sfc.exe /scannow

it can just save hours of troubleshooting later.

look here for info on setting up the drive:
http://betanews.com/2013/11/06/how-to-create-a-bootable...

but do a full format not a quick format

See all answers