Will Installing Windows 10 From USB Delete Everything?

Many users are worried about one question: " Will installing Windows 10 from USB drive delete all data? " This article will answer your questions and guide you on how to reinstall Windows 10 from USB drive without losing data.

Will installing Windows 10 from USB drive delete all data?

Many users choose to reinstall Windows when the computer frequently experiences blue screen of death, black screen, or fails to boot. Among the many ways to install Windows, installing Windows 10 from a USB flash drive is the most commonly used method because of its simplicity and ease of use.

However, many users have raised the question: Will installing Windows 10 from USB drive delete my files? Or, will it delete all the data?

There are two situations for installing Windows from a USB drive: one is to install Windows through File Explorer, and the other is to boot from a USB drive and perform a fresh installation. The former is during Windows installation, and you can choose whether to keep personal files and applications. The latter will delete all personal files on the device, as well as the hard disk partition currently used as the recovery drive. You can view this article for more details: Reinstall Windows.

How to reinstall Windows 10 from USB drive without losing data?

Although you can choose whether to keep personal files or not, there is still a risk of file loss during Windows installation. Additionally, if the computer fails to boot, you can only choose to install it completely, which will delete all data on the disk.

How to reinstall Windows 10 from USB drive without losing data? The best way is to back up the files in advance.

Step 1: Back up your files

As Microsoft recommends, before reinstalling Windows, you should back up important files on your device to an external hard drive or cloud drive anyway.

For file backup, we must mention a professional backup software, MiniTool ShadowMaker. It is mainly used to back up files, folders, partitions, or entire disks to internal/external hard drives, USB drives and shared folders. This makes data recovery very easy.

In addition, this tool is also good at backing up Windows systems. It allows you to restore the system to its previous state by creating a system image.

If your computer fails to boot, SM can also access and backup data without starting Windows. This is a paid feature and you need to use the Pro version. Alternatively, you can use the trial version for 30 days for free.

Step 2: Install Windows 10 from USB drive

After backing up the files, you can install Windows from the USB drive without worrying about data loss.

Step 1. You can now use the Media Creation Tool to create Windows 10 installation media.

Step 2. Press the F2 key to enter the BIOS and set the bootable USB drive as the first boot device. The method of entering BIOS varies by computer brand.

Step 3. When you see the window below, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Windows installation.

Summarize

This article describes whether installing Windows via USB drive will delete your files. It is recommended to back up your data before reinstalling Windows. Or, if your files are already lost, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover them.

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