How to make a USB recovery drive in Windows 10 | Microsoft

It's a good idea to create a recovery drive. That way, if your PC ever experiences a major issue such as hardware failure, you'll be able to use the recovery drive to reinstall Windows 10. You'll need a USB drive that's at least 16 gigabytes.

Warning: Use an empty USB drive because this process will erase any data that's already stored on the drive.

To create a recovery drive in Windows 10:
1. In the search box next to the Start button, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
2. When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next.
3. Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next.
4. Select Create. Many files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.

[masterphotog]

Thank you for this amazing, easy-to-understand and to follow video! Keep up the good work!

[jojosworldz]

What about if u don’t have a usb card? My computer is really laggy and slow and I’m trying to restart everything on my computer

[edmundtan]

I just created recovery usbs on my Windows 10 and 11 laptops, and they all required a 32 GB usb.

[shraddha]

How to check that window is recovered in pendrive

[timetorelaxfocus]

It just redirects me to a web page which doesn't have the option to create the media.

[YugiDooby]

can i still store other files if i make my pendrive into a recovery device?

[Chotabear]

The "select USB flash drive" and "create THE recovery drive" pages are omitted. On clicking "Next" after the first "Create A recovery drive" page it just goes straight to the "creating the recovery" page with the line going across. No option to select the hard drive or warning. It goes straight from first page to the fourth in other words.

[ourv]

I am in the habit of backing up my Pc Quarterly. Do I need to create a new recovery drive each time I backup?

[videocruzer]

I get the message ... we can't create a recovery drive some system files are missing, use your windows installation disk or media.

[SunLISunTube]

Hello, is there any issue of recreating again in the same recovery USB drive ?

[virtualzhbl]

Is 16 GB USB enough space to also back up system files on a brand new desktop? Nothing personally installed yet. Desktop is fresh from factory.

[gatedemon]

i have windows 10 i cant even find the create a recovery drive it does not exist

[ZalikhaOusou]

Hey
Please help me out. I didn’t know about finding a missing device future
My pc is missing now, and I can’t use this future because I haven’t turned location on 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Please help me

[samad]

If our USB has a little less than 16 GB full space can we still make it a recovery drive?

[jasminhosein]

I'm trying to resset my pc and it needs a window installation or a recovery for me to continue to factory reset it I've been waiting for 2+ hours to creat a recovery drive still nothing

[cybereye]

Hey how much storage it will take to make windows 10 home recovery drive from laptop

[SarmadTechLab]

Doesn't work when I have 3 32GB USB drives.

[GGwpTvnz]

What do you do if the recovery usb doesn't load like it loads then stops then just loads q blank blue screen mouse works

[moonm.]

I made one but it did not recover my PC. After hours of loading and saying "Recovering this PC" the screen just went black when it was complete and it gave me the same options all over again when I turned on my PC. I tried this multiple times and it just ends with a black screen.

[nathanjames]

So, once the recovery drive (USB) is created, how do I use it? Will my computer automatically boot from the USB if my Windows 10 operating system has been messed up? Does it issue prompts?