How to Boot Windows 11 From a USB Drive (2 Ways)?

There are three official method that you can use to boot Windows (Including Windows 11), USB flash drive, network boto and CD/DVD boot. Home user are always using USB flash drive to perform to a clean installation, fixing errors of Windows startup etc. However in a network environment, using the Windows Deployment services, the Admin will install windows across multiple devices at once. The new models of laptops that had arrived do not have CD or DVD room at all. However the old computers which has CD or DVD room can still install windows using the DVD or CD. People are mostly preferring to use a USB flash drive, especially a clean installation of Windows, that’s why in this article my target is to guide you How to Boot Windows 11 From a USB Drive in 2 ways.

Note: Before beginning how to Boot Windows 11 from a USB, make sure to create a bootable USB of Windows 11.

1. Boot Windows 11 From a USB Drive Using Advanced Options

Advanced startup options is a set of utility tools available within windows that is used for troubleshooting and booting into the safe mode. If your computer is not starting due to start up error, visiting the Startup options it can automatically fix the issue (Mostly Windows Automatically fix this error). System restore is another option which is quite handy. If you have installed a bad application on your computer which ended in system failure, by visiting the startup options, you have the ability to restore it into a healthy condition (Restores to last restore point). There are even more troubleshooting tools available within the advanced startup options which I am covering here.

Steps to Boot Windows 11 using Advanced options:

1. Turn on your Windows 11 computer and login with your credentials
2. Attach the bootable Windows 11 USB that you have created
3. Right click on the start menu and choose settings
4. Go to the windows update, click on Recovery, and click on restart now. Once you click on restart now, your PC will restart the change to change the sort of settings including the USB flash drive that you have inserted.
5. Once’s the PC restarted, click on the “use a device”
6. Following that choose EFI USB drive.
7. You must have patience for now, because your PC is going to restart and it will boot your directly into the installation page of the windows 11. Do keep in mind that the installation file which has brought you here has been taken from the USB flash drive that you had attached to the computer.

Note: The shortcut to boot your computer into the advanced startup is to hold shift key on the keyboard and click on restart.

2. Boot Windows 11 From a USB Drive Using the Boot Key

As the name suggests, boot key is a primary key on the keyboard which is booting your computer to the boot options AKA boot manager. During booting  your computer from an external device for fresh installation or troubleshooting purposes, this key is pressed on the keyboard. Please keep in mind that each manufacturer of computer, sets a different boot key. For instance one key recovery is the primary boot key of the Lenovo systems. Different models of Acer has ESC, F12 and F9 as the primary boot key.  Asus uses ESC and F8 while Dell and Toshiba uses F12. So, the whole idea is that you have to research the model of your computer on the Internet to find the boot key. Anyway perhaps this image will help on your research online too.

Steps to Boot Windows 11 using the Boot Key:

1. Attach the bootable Windows 11 USB to your computer
2. Power on your computer if it is turned off however if it is turned on simply restart it
3. Once your computer is starting to boot, you have to press the boot key of your computer.
4. From the boot menu options, select USB flash drive and move on to the next step
5. In the boot manager window, again select the USB flash drive and press enter on the keyboard. (This depends on the computer, you may not see the boot manager window at all).
6. Wait a moment and you will be on the installation page of Windows 11 that has booted from the USB flash drive.

Conclusion:

There are three methods that you can use to boot Windows 11, however the most used and favorite method is to use the USB flash drive. There are also two different ways that you can use to boot Windows 11 from a USB drive too. The Advanced startup options and boot key.