Create installation media for another pc...can't find USB device?

[Bif]

Quick question (s):
When trying to create Windows 10 installation media on a USB drive with media creation tool,despite having a 16gig USB drive plugged in and recognized by my laptop it's not being recognized by media creation tool..(refresh does nothing)
Question #1..does this USB drive need to be empty with no other files on it whatsoever?
Question #2..this USB drive was formatted in Windows 7 initially,do I need to reformat it now in Windows 10?
Question #3...Why the heck am I doing this on a relaxing Sunday afternoon??..??

Sorry for the Sunday bother...

 

[Trouble]

Good questions all
And sorry I have no answer as I have never used the media creation tool exactly like that. I always choose the ISO option and then I produce my own installation media from that as I have need for both a UEFI / GPT and a Legacy BIOS / MBR install, so.....
I do it myself.

 

[Bif]

Unfortunately Trouble for as much as I think I know about this stuff your method is fathoms over my head,although from what you've described sounds like a very sound way of doing things for the more technically inclined.
Perhaps someone else out there has run into my particular problem......?

 

[jmccleary50]

OK I'm just a novice at this so take my advice at your own risk.
I used media creation tool to copy a windows 10 ISO onto a 128GB usb drive. It was empty because that made me feel better. Formatting took place automatically somewhere along the line.

After completion I inserted the usb drive looked at the files listed and clicked on "setup". It was supposed to be setup.exe but wasn't and it started the installation of 10 anyway.

Installation took about an hour.
I have since used this same usb drive to reinstall 10 by changing the BIOS to boot from usb.
A better newer method is Reset This PC in the settings options.

EDIT: 16GB doesn't sound like enough for 10. You'll see 20 GB again and again if you look around.
When I dual booted 10 with 7 I shrank 100 GB out of 7's space. Later utilization showed 89% occupancy, My best guess would be to provide at least 50GB just to be sure.

 

[tomheaverlo]

Bif,

Several times, I've done what you're attempting to do with the media creation tool. First off, 16GB isn't large enough... you need at least a 32GB USB (at least that's what I've needed). I've also had issues with USB drives that were formatted on earlier versions of Windows not being accepted by later versions.

As for #3... I get involved in the same kinds of things on Sunday... haven't yet figured out the exact cause.

 

[Bif]

Bif,

Several times, I've done what you're attempting to do with the media creation tool. First off, 16GB isn't large enough... you need at least a 32GB USB (at least that's what I've needed). I've also had issues with USB drives that were formatted on earlier versions of Windows not being accepted by later versions.

As for #3... I get involved in the same kinds of things on Sunday... haven't yet figured out the exact cause.

I'm not entirely sure we are talking about the same thing as "the tool" states it needs a USB drive of 3gigs or better to create the media...and I'm fairly confident they didn't mean a 32gig drive (although I could be wrong)...good to know about the format issue as I surmised the same.
Thanks for the reply and suggestions!
Now back to the leisurely Sunday..

 

[tomheaverlo]

My fault... I was thinking of the size needed for the second step in the process, which does require a 32gig drive. The bootable drive only requires a 4gig drive. Sorry for the mistake!

Tom

 

[jmccleary50]

He's right.

 

[Bif]

He's right.

He who?...

 

[jmccleary50]

I'm not entirely sure we are talking about the same thing as "the tool" states it needs a USB drive of 3gigs or better to create the media...and I'm fairly confident they didn't mean a 32gig drive (although I could be wrong)...good to know about the format issue as I surmised the same.
Thanks for the reply and suggestions!

This rings a bell. Which means as I said take my own advice with a grain of salt. It's been a while since I used the tool.

But the end result was it worked for me. It's a matter of floundering (my favorite description of my own level of expertise) until you get it right.

 

[Bif]

This rings a bell. Which means as I said take my own advice with a grain of salt. It's been a while since I used the tool.

But the end result was it worked for me. It's a matter of floundering (my favorite description of my own level of expertise) until you get it right.

Flounder I will!...or wait for someone to clarify my queries,either way it really is no big whoop.Thanks for the reply!