How to Create a Windows Bootable USB on Linux: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Ever found yourself in a situation where your Windows system stops working, and the only other computer available is running Linux?

Don’t worry — it happens to the best of us!

Whether you need to perform a clean install or just repair your current Windows OS, your Linux machine can be the perfect solution.

In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to create a Windows bootable USB drive using Linux.

Let’s get started!

How to Create a Windows Bootable USB on Linux

Prerequisites:

• A computer running Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Pop!_OS, etc.).
• A USB drive with at least 8GB of space.
• A Windows ISO image (Windows 10, 11, etc.) – You can download the official image from Microsoft’s website.

Step 1: Prepare Your USB Drive

Warning: This process will format your drive. Back up any important files before proceeding.

1. Insert the USB drive.
   
2. Open your terminal and run
   
   dmesg or lsblk
   
   to identify your device. It will usually be something like /dev/sdX (where X is the letter of your drive).
   
3. If the drive is automatically mounted, unmount it using: umount /dev/sdX.

Step 2: Format the Drive to NTFS

Windows installation files require the NTFS format. Ensure you have the ntfs-3g package installed, then run in your terminal:

sudo mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdX

Step 3: Installing and Using WoeUSB

The most reliable tool for this task is WoeUSB. It handles the tricky parts of making the USB actually bootable for Windows.

For Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, and Debian-based distros: Run the following commands to add the repository and install it:

In your terminal, do:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install woeusb

Creating the USB:

1. Open WoeUSB from your applications menu or run in your terminal:
   
   sudo woeusb-gui.
   
2. Select your Windows ISO file.
   
3. Select your USB drive under “Target device”. (If it doesn’t appear, click “Refresh”).
   
4. Click Install.

Step 4: Wait and Eject

The process can take several minutes depending on your USB speed and the ISO size. Once finished, eject the drive safely:

sudo eject /dev/sdX

Conclusion

Creating a Windows bootable USB on Linux is easier than it looks!

Now you have a powerful tool to repair or reinstall your system.

After you fix your Windows installation, remember to keep your files synced and backed up to avoid future headaches.

A powerful tool for this is Robocopy—check out my list of Robocopy examples here.”