When you copy files from an ISO image to a USB drive is it the same as using a tool to create a bootable usb of the ISO?

[Egyptian20]

I've always wondered this, since people have told me that you can't copy the files from an .iso and do a clean install of windows, since it is not "Bootable", but I've actually done it many times.
Maybe I just don't understand what they mean by bootable?

My understanding is that it means the USB drive can be chosen in the Bios or in the boot menu to be booted from, which is what you have to do to do a clean install of windows, which I have done many times by just extracting the files from the ISO with daemon tools and copying them to a USB.

To clarify, I am not "Upgrading" by running the USB while logged into windows, I am going into the bios and selecting the USB drive to boot too, and it automatically starts the windows installation, where I can then format the drive and install windows to it.

Is my understanding wrong? Am I not really making the USB bootable?

 

[Titillating]

By "bootable USB", this usually refers to a USB that has had boot files added to it. You can grab the files off the ISO and you can select the USB drive in your boot menu, but without those boot files, it will not launch the installer. In previous versions of Windows, this involved a convoluted process that required the use of the command prompt in order to extract the boot files from the ISO and then inject them onto the USB drive, separately from the ISO itself.

Your understanding is correct, but I have never seen that particular method so I have no idea if that works. Seems to work for you though, so that's all that should matter. That being said, a bootable USB for Windows 10 is much, much simpler than previous ones. Microsoft has provided a Media Creation Tool that will automatically download the ISO and prepare the USB drive for you--start the software with the USB drive plugged in, select the correct drive to place the installation files on, and the software takes care of the rest.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

I've always wondered this, since people have told me that you can't copy the files from an .iso and do a clean install of windows, since it is not "Bootable", but I've actually done it many times.
Maybe I just don't understand what they mean by bootable?

My understanding is that it means the USB drive can be chosen in the Bios or in the boot menu to be booted from, which is what you have to do to do a clean install of windows, which I have done many times by just extracting the files from the ISO with daemon tools and copying them to a USB.

To clarify, I am not "Upgrading" by running the USB while logged into windows, I am going into the bios and selecting the USB drive to boot too, and it automatically starts the windows installation, where I can then format the drive and install windows to it.

Is my understanding wrong? Am I not really making the USB bootable?

Following your idea I decided to try and simply copy the contents of a Windows ISO onto my USB Stick and try to boot it up and install Windows and voila! It worked! At half the time it usually takes using specific programs such as Rufus 2.2.

Thank you very much!

 

[Egyptian20]

Thank you Rafael for testing it! I knew it was a full clean installation. You will be quoted in future arguments against the nay-Sayers.

People have been telling me this for years, that you absolutely CAN NOT EVER do a clean install from the files copied from an ISO image. I recently got into an argument with someone who refused to even try it, because he KNEW it wouldn't work, so I posted here because I really wanted to know if I was wrong or not.

To Titillating:
Thanks for the info and confirming my understanding.

I really think it's strange so many people think you just CAN'T do this, or that it isn't bootable or whatever, do you have any insight as to why that might be?
I feel like just copying the files was easier since it was always much faster than the tools I tried to use, but then again not everyone has ISO Mounting software. (Thank god it's native in windows 10!)

Also just a note: I have done this to do clean installs of Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and now 10, on over 50+ devices (For clients, friends and family.)

 

[gregoirerenee007]

I've was able to copy about 10 GB of files from an aging and extremely noisy and slow hard drive via a USB adapter -- Would have gotten a head ache had I copied from windows explorer, or tried to. PS. 0/42 flagged by virus total, it's clean. PSS. Development seems to have slowed down but there's a beta floating that adds some features / fixes some issues...some other tools are better than TC like gsrichcopy 360/fast copy/robocopy