[Fix] Cannot boot from NTFS-formatted Windows USB Setup Disk

When you create a Windows 10 or 11 USB setup disk using the Media Creation Tool, the USB stick is formatted as NTFS. However, if your system is somewhat old and doesn’t have a BIOS update, it may not boot from the NTFS-formatted USB stick when the boot mode is UEFI (UEFI-only). We have seen issue on ASUS systems. This happens regardless of the secure boot setting in UEFI.

As the install.wim image in the recent versions of Windows 10/11 is higher than 4GB, it can’t be copied to a FAT32 disk due to the FAT32’s filesize limitation.

You wonder how to boot from the NTFS-formatted USB setup disk on older systems to install Windows 10 or 11.

Resolution

Please check if a BIOS update is available for your motherboard model. If not, follow the instructions below to create the USB setup disk.

Create the bootable setup disk using Rufus

1. First, download the Windows 10 or 11 ISO using the Media Creation Tool or Rufus. See How to Download Windows 10 or 11 ISO.
2. Download Rufus if you don’t have it installed already.
3. Insert a blank USB stick of 8 GB or higher capacity. The contents of the flash disk will be erased during the setup disk creation process.
4. Then, start Rufus.
5. Ensure that the correct device is selected in the dropdown box at the top.
6. Click the Select button and browse to select the Windows 10 or 11 ISO.
7. Use the default settings — i.e., Partition scheme: GPT and Target system “UEFI (non CSM)“.

   

8. Click Start to start the USB setup disk creation process.

That’s it. Your USB setup disk is ready and can be booted in UEFI mode.

How it works

If the install.wim or install.esd size is more than 4 GB, Rufus creates a FAT partition and an NTFS partition in the USB stick. The .wim or .esd file is stored in the NTFS partition, and the FAT partition is only for loading boot files when starting in UEFI mode. You can see the hidden partition by running Disk Management or Diskpart.

Disk Management screenshot

Diskpart screenshot

UEFI:NTFS is a generic bootloader designed to allow boot from NTFS or exFAT partitions in pure UEFI mode, even if your system does not natively support it. This is primarily intended for use with Rufus, but can also be used independently. For more details, see https://github.com/pbatard/uefi-ntfs.

The hidden FAT partition is used for booting NTFS and exFAT partitions in UEFI mode. It contains the boot loader files, bootaa64.efi, bootarm.efi, bootia32.efi, and bootx64.efi to support various CPU architectures.

I hope the information in this article helps.