Easy Create Bootable USB Windows Server 2016/2019/2022

If we want to install windows server on a bare metal device, the traditional way is to burn the ISO to a CD/DVD. But what is the maximum size of the DVD? The largest DVD storage size is around 4.4 GB. The problem occurs is the ISO file size of the Windows Server installer is 6.5GB.
Hmm… Of course it won’t fit if the Windows Server ISO file is burned to a DVD. It could be split, split into 2 DVDs. But it’s a lot of effort to do.

Basically making bootable for windows is easy. Especially for Windows 10 or Windows 11. We just download the Windows Creation Tool and plug in the USB. It will automatically download the installer itself online and stored on the USB.

But what if we want to create a bootable USB for windows server? Unfortunately the Windows Creation Tool does not have a menu to create a bootable Windows Server. So we have to look for other alternative tools that can make Windows Server bootable.

Make Bootable Windows Server with “diskpart”

Step 1. Insert the USB drive on your PC. Go to Start and type cmd in the search box. Click on Run as administrator to open a command prompt. 

Step 2. Type command diskpart and press enter.

Step 3. Type the following command one by one and press enter:

• list disk and press enter to appear disk list.
• select disk x 

Where ‘x’ is the number of your flash drive.

Type the following commands one by one:

• clean.
• create partition primary.
• select partition 1.

Next we will select the partition as per your own requirement.

• format fs=ntfs quick (if you want to create UEFI bootable USB, type “format fs=fat32 quick”).
• active.

Step 4. Type Exit and press enter. It will close the diskpart command. 

• assign letter= r or other available letter.

Then type “Exit” to leave the Diskpart command environment.

Step 4. Find the Windows Server setup ISO in your computer and double click on it to mount the ISO.

Step 5. Copy the entire contents of the mounted ISO drive to your bootable USB flash drive.

Step 6. Now, back to the Command Prompt window again and run the following command.

H:cd\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 R:

to build the boot sector code in the specified partition. (H:\ is the drive letter of the mounted Windows ISO and R:\ is the destination USB drive letter)

We have built a Bootable USB from ISO by following the steps outlined above.

Make Bootable Windows Server with RUFUS

Rufus is third party tool open source for make USB bootable for Linux Distro. But we can use rufus to create bootable USB for windows server.

Step 1. Download Rufus Software and run it.

Plug USB drive and file ISO windows server. Set parameter like image below. And then start.

Rufus is easiest solution open source to make Bootable Windows Server.

reference: 
- https://www.diskpart.com/server-2016/windows-server-2016-bootable-usb-7201.html
- https://rufus.ie/en/

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