The remontcompa resource on its pages offered the option of creating a distribution kit with the Windows 10 operating system. It differs in that it includes preinstalled programs. The creation of such a distribution is very important, especially for those people (office workers) who need to install the same operating systems and programs on several computers. By creating a ready-made image of Windows 10 with programs, a person gains a lot of time, saving him on re-installing software on each of the entrusted PCs. Therefore, we suggest testing the provided method.

What is an audit mode and what is it for?

Audit mode is a network environment that allows you to add drivers, utilities, programs and even games to the created distribution kit of the operating system that a certain PC user should get. Created in audit mode, the distribution kit allows you to install the system itself along with add-ons, bypassing the software installation stage.

Such images are often created by Microsoft for its partners who sell laptops and PCs with Windows 10 and pre-installed software. Probably, each of you had to notice that on the purchased gadgets after installing licensed Windows you can't get anywhere from anywhere, already installed programs appear. The question arises, who installed them? They were added to the Windows 10 image and installed automatically by the user.

Preparing to create a distribution

In order to create a Windows 10 distribution with preinstalled drivers and programs, you will need:

• Virtual machine;
• A storage device with a volume of at least 8 GB.

Creating a distribution kit with preinstalled programs

After the above manipulations, the install.esd file will appear on the flash drive. Its size will depend on how many programs and drivers you install. Often, its size is 4 GB or more. If the file is larger than this size, then it is better to compress it. To do this, run the command line with Administrator rights. Enter "DISM / Export-Image /SourceImageFile:K:\\install.esd / SourceIndex: 1 /DestinationImageFile:K:\\install2.esd / Compress: recovery", where K is the letters of the flash drive.

If the file size is up to 4 GB, then compression is not necessary. Save the file with the name install2.esd. After that we delete the first option, and give the compressed file the original name install.esd.

Now download the ISO image from the official Microsoft website. Open it (connect it to the virtual drive) and copy all the contents.

Create a folder on the USB stick with any name. Paste the copied image content there. Then open the sources folder and paste the install.esd file there. Since it is already there, we replace it with our own (the one that has the installed programs).

Now you actually need to mount the installation file. This requires the Windows Deployment Kit (Windows ADK).

After installation, we launch the deployment tool environment. Enter the following command: Oscdimg / u2 / m /bootdata:2#p0,e,bK:\\10\\boot\\Etfsboot.com#pef,e,bK:\\10\\efi\\microsoft\\boot\\Efisys.bin K: \\ \\ boot \\ etfsboot.com, in combination bK - K is the drive letter. Also:

• K: \\ 10 - create an ISO image in the K: partition in folder 10
• K: \\ Windows.iso - place the created Win 10 image on the K: partition.
• Give a name to the Win 10 image - Windows.

The distribution kit will appear on the USB stick. Now it needs to be correctly written to the media. The Windows 10 installation process is standard.

Often, in certain situations, you may need a copy of your own OS, made in the form of an image. For example, if you need to make an installation media from a downloaded distribution kit or a copy so that you can use it later. However, this process raises many questions due to the novelty of the system. Creating an image of an existing Windows 10 PC is not that difficult.

As a rule, most users tend to use various third-party programs downloaded on the net in this business. But you can also make an image using regular means, which is not difficult.

The installation image created specifically for installing Windows 10 is not as up-to-date as its backup copy, due to the free distribution of the distribution kit with auto-installation. However, it is desirable to create an image of the existing system. A backup is a must, because anything can happen. And it is much easier to carry a small image on a USB flash drive than to restore the operating system from scratch later.

DIY image creation

Using various third-party programs is not always beneficial. Of course, they provide space savings on a flash drive or disk, and they do it quite well. However, in this case, there is a great risk of not recovering your data without using a boot disk. And not everyone has it and not always. Because of this, it is not recommended to use these utilities to create a copy of Windows 10. Therefore, it is most beneficial to use the tools of the system itself. This is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

Find the right tool

So, in order to create an image of your Windows 10, you need to carry out a few manipulations. First you need to open the "Search", which is located next to the "Start" button. After changing the interface of the Windows 10 operating system, the process has been simplified compared to previous versions. We need to find a section called "File History". Enter this name into the line and then click on the section that appears.

A new dialog box will appear. In it, we need to look at the lower left corner, where it says "System backup". This inscription must be clicked. You will need administrator rights, make sure you have them before starting the operation.

In the section that will open after this action, you need to click on the inscription "Create a system image". After clicking on this inscription, a new window will appear, which we needed. Here you can easily create a Windows image.

Copying the system directly

The first step is to choose the drive on which the copy will be stored. You can use several different places for this:

• A local drive different from where the copied system is located. The most convenient option that does not require additional media. The image will be saved on the selected disk, from where it can then be used. You can create it here only when you are sure that your hard drive is working properly.
• Local disk with operating system. Not the most profitable solution. If something happens to this section, both the system itself and its backup copy will disappear. The Windows 10 image was not created for this, so it is not worth using. If you decide to create it here, then your backup copy is not so necessary for you.
• External media (DVD). Convenient, practical, easy. The disc can be stored in some place where no one and nothing will touch it. However, there is also a minus - you can always lose or break it.
• A network folder at a specific address. The downside is that without access to someone else's computer on which the file will be stored, it is problematic to use it. But it will not work to lose or break such a medium, unless the user of this PC on the local network will spoil it personally.

After that, you can create an image of the Windows 10 operating system. We chose the storage location - and click on the "Next" button. A window will appear in which the user is shown information about the upcoming creation. It shows us that a backup copy consisting of such and such files will be saved there, and so much space will be required. You can choose which discs to copy.

By the way, before you start archiving, make sure that there is definitely enough space in the selected section. It is also desirable that at least 10% of free space remains on it after the operation is completed. If there is not enough space - close "Create an image" and delete unnecessary files.

Now, to create an image, you just need to click the "Archive" button, and then wait, watching the progress in the status bar. You may have to spend a lot of time on this operation, but it's worth it. Windows 10 will automatically inform you that the operation is complete. And only after that it will be possible to close the window that displayed the archiving status.

After operation

Immediately after the backup is complete, Windows 10 will prompt you to create a dedicated recovery drive.

With its help, you can quickly restore the operating system when there is no access to your image or other PCs with this version. It is recommended to do this because it is much easier to play it safe.

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It is no secret that most of the Windows distributions, from those that are laid out on torrent trackers, are custom assemblies. All these assemblies, albeit conditionally, can be divided into two types. The first type includes assemblies with the original system components saved and third-party software integrated into them, the second type includes so-called lightweight assemblies, from which a good half of the components are cut.

It's no secret that it is these lightweight assemblies that give users the most problems.

Initially, Windows has more features than the average user might need, the system, if I may say so, is given to grow. And now, if a certain user wants to screw something to his system, the components he previously unused will be even very useful. Now imagine that this very user has a lightweight assembly installed. It is interesting to know who he will remember with an unkind word, the creator of this assembly or himself, so short-sighted, who managed to lead the promised ease and performance Lite-systems.

So how can you use only official assemblies? It is not necessary, especially if you have a low-power computer, it is just sometimes better to do everything yourself, that is, build a Windows image yourself, taking into account your needs. How to do this will be described in this article. We propose to create an assembly using the program. It is paid, the price of the home version is 40 dollars who do not want to pay can search the Internet, even if not the newest, but "Cured" and quite working versions.

What is NTLite

Program is a powerful tool for creating modified Windows assemblies. With its help, you can remove from the system distribution everything that seems superfluous to you, or, on the contrary, add to it something that was not in it initially. allows you to remove system components from images, disable services, set settings, integrate third-party software, registry tweaks, drivers and updates.

Does NTLite require any knowledge from the collector? Yes. It is necessary at least to know what purposes certain components serve, otherwise you can get a buggy system at the output. But this is if you are going to facilitate assembly. Integration of third party components is much less risky.

Building your own Windows assembly

Assembly design is a three-step process. The first one unpacks the Windows image, the second one configures it in the program , the third step is to package the files into an installation image. First of all, we will unpack the installation ISO -image with Windows in a separate folder. Let it be called data .

Launch , press the button Add and specify the path to the folder with the previously unpacked image ISO ... In this case, in the program window you will see the structure of the image, which, by the way, may contain several editions. We will work with the editors Windows 10 Pro... Click on it PKM and select the option "Download"... If the program asks to confirm the conversion of the image Wim in ESD , we confirm the operation. Conversion procedure (downloads) Wim or ESD the image will take some time. Upon completion of the procedure, on the left side of the program window you will see a panel with several tabs. Let's go over them in a quick way.

Removing and disabling components and services

In section "Components" contains Windows modules that can be disabled by unchecking them. This includes pre-installed universal applications together with the Defender, hardware support components for some peripheral devices and their drivers, multimedia modules - themes, sounds, wallpapers, etc., network services and applications, for example, a payment manager NFC , system components - Hyper-V , subsystem Linux , symbol editor, shadow copy and more. Some components are locked by compatibility, which means that they cannot be removed, but can be disabled in the section "Functions". When removing components, you must be careful, carefully read the descriptions, fortunately, they are given in Russian.

In section "Functions" components unavailable for removal are disabled, for example, NET Framework ... Among the modules available for disabling are office games, gadgets, working folders client, indexing and search, subsystem Linux , WMC , service IIS , PowerShell 2.0 , PDF -printer and Internet Explorer , disabling which, by the way, is not recommended, as this may lead to incorrect operation of other programs.

Section "Settings" responsible for enable / disable various settings that are valid for all users of the system, section "Services" - per enable / disable system services. Here, as in "Components" you need to be careful not to disable an important service, without which Windows will not even be able to start. This is especially true for services in the tab "Additional services".

Integration of updates, drivers and registry tweaks

The next three tabs contain tools for integrating updates, drivers and registry tweaks into the distribution. If you need to add, say, a new security update or a language pack, click the button Add and specify the path to the file CAB , MSU or EXE ... The already installed packages are displayed in the same section. With drivers, everything is the same, only the driver must be unpacked, since you need its configuration inf -file. In the same way, registry tweaks are integrated into the system: press the button Add and specify the path to the files REG .

Personal settings and installation of third-party programs

If the assembly is created for yourself, it will not be superfluous to look into the section "Automatic"... Personal user settings are set here: computer name, localization, time zone, network settings, shell options, compression, licensing options (key installation, etc.) , setting is in progress WinPE .

If you want to integrate third-party software into the image, you can do this in the section "After installation" using the function Post-Install... This is also not difficult, just press the already familiar button Add and specify the path to the executable files of the applications. The procedure for their installation will be launched one by one at an early stage of the installation of the Windows assembly. Additionally, installation with parameters is supported, - in the field "Options" the necessary keys are registered, for example, for a quiet installation.

Saving settings and packaging the assembly into an image

By and large, this is all, it remains only to apply the specified settings and pack the files of the modified assembly into the installation image. Switch to the tab "Apply" and determine the parameters of the image. When creating an assembly Windows 7 everything can be left by default if it is an assembly Windows 8.1 or 10 , you must select the image format "High compression"at which Wim -image is converted to ESD ... After that, tick the checkbox "Create ISO".

Almost everything is ready, you can start packing. After assigning a suitable name to the assembly, press the button "Treatment"... If Defender is enabled on your system, will ask you to turn it off, so things will go faster. The time it takes to create an assembly will depend on the number of specified operations, and the conversion will take most of the time Wim in ESD (on Windows 8.1 and 10) , on average, the whole procedure takes from 40 minutes to an hour or more. Upon completion, you will receive a ready-made installation image that you can burn to a USB flash drive or optical disc.

However, you shouldn't rush to install the resulting assembly on your computer, let alone upload it to a torrent or other resource. First, you need to make sure that the assembly is working, for which you need to test it in a virtual machine. However, you can do without a virtual machine. If you have a free computer, use you can modify the Windows installed on it by selecting in the main window "Live installation" and doing all the same as mentioned above. True, save in a separate image ISO or ESD "Live" the system will not work, but it will be possible to test it right there on a physical machine, identifying the most suitable modification options.

Create a windows 10 OS image

It is not that difficult to create an image for installation and burn it to a USB flash drive or disk. Moreover, this (in some cases) can be done even using the standard capabilities of the operating system. Of course, you can use third-party software, but Windows will cope with this task much better, since the OS itself knows how to write the image correctly so that there will be no further installation problems. There are several ways to create a Windows 10 image. Some of them are even approved by Microsoft itself. However, to install the OS in an official way, you will need a license key.

Image creation methods

Read also:

The vast majority of users are accustomed to downloading various OS builds from torrent trackers and writing them to a drive or disk using third-party programs. But this method is by no means the only one.

• Using the Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool. This is an official utility from Microsoft that helps to create a bootable media with a 10 on board. The company's specialists recommend using this particular method.
• Simple copy (if UEFI mode is present in BIOS). This option is suitable for new PCs and laptops. If there is a UEFI mode and the partition table is of the GPT type, then the user will not need any special utilities to create an installation image
• Using third-party programs. Today, many utilities can create "correct" flash drives or disks with Windows installation images. As a rule, this option is much easier than all the previous ones.
• Create an image using the backup wizard. This utility helps to create an image of an already working operating system and write it to media. A kind of "lifeline" in case the OS suddenly refuses to boot

You can also simply update your version of Windows to the latest one. But it is worth considering that in this case, systemic failures are possible. They can be so severe that the user can lose all of their data. Therefore, it is best to perform a clean installation.

1. We use a utility from Microsoft

Read also:How to speed up Windows 10? TOP-6 Main ways to overclock the operating system

This is the “official” method approved by Microsoft. Its essence is that the user downloads the operating system image itself and the utility for creating bootable media from the company's official website.

It should be noted that the download speed from the company's servers is quite decent, so the whole process is pretty fast. To complete the process, the user will need a USB drive with 8 or 10 gigabytes of free space. You can't do less.

DOWNLOAD

After the download process is complete, open Windows Explorer, go to the download directory and run the file "MediaCreationToolexe".

The installation wizard will immediately start and ask you to accept the terms of the license agreement. Click on the button "To accept".

At the next stage, mark the item Create Installation Media and press the button "Further".

Now we select the OS language, edition and architecture (32 bit or 64). After that, click on the button "Further".

At the next stage, it is proposed to create a bootable drive immediately or create an ISO image for subsequent recording on uSB flash driveorDVD. It is better to choose the first option, since the installation image will require at least 8 gigabytes of space. And this is a two-layer DVD. So choose the first option and click "Further"... But before that, you need to insert the USB flash drive into the appropriate port.

The recording process will begin immediately. It should be noted that the wizard downloads the necessary files from Microsoft servers and writes them to the drive. Therefore, the operation can take quite a long time. Will have to wait. Progress will be displayed as a percentage.

After completing the media creation process, the wizard will run an image integrity check. It is necessary to wait for its completion.

As soon as the check is completed, the program will display a corresponding message stating that the image creation is complete. It remains only to press the button Done.

This method allows you to be sure that the installation process goes as it should. Creating a Windows 10 image using an official utility from Microsoft is the preferred option.

Before starting the process of creating an image using the official utility, you need to close all programs. Otherwise, recording may be interrupted due to an unknown error. Some utilities may block the actions of the Imaging Wizard. So it's best not to risk it.

2. Copy the necessary data to the USB flash drive

Read also: 3 ways to install Windows XP from a flash drive

As mentioned above, this method is available to owners of new PCs and laptops that have UEFI enabled and the hard disk partition table is of the GPT type. Other users shouldn't even try this method.

This method is sometimes used in Linux operating systems. There you can simply unpack the image and copy all the files to the USB flash drive, having previously made it bootable in the partition editor. However, the latter is not required on Windows.

Let's assume that the official Windows 10 image has already been downloaded from Microsoft servers. Now you need to mount the image using some program. Utilities such as Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% are capable of this. But even a regular Total Commander can open ISO. We will use it. Let's open the program, find the desired image and just click on it 2 times.

Now in the second panel, switch to the USB flash drive.

Now select all the files in the Windows 10 image and press the copy button (or hold down "F5").

The copying process starts immediately. As soon as it completes, you can restart your computer or laptop and select bootable media in UEFI. Everything should work. But only in UEFI on the GPT table.

3. We use third-party programs

Read also: 9 Easy Ways to Open Command Prompt in Windows 7-10

Now there are many utilities that allow you to burn a Windows 10 image to a USB drive or DVD in high quality. As a rule, these programs are easy to use and have Russian in the interface. Let's analyze the most popular ones.

Rufus

A small utility from independent developers. It is completely free and does not require installation. You can download it on the official website. And it's very easy to use. The program easily copes with recording Windows and Linux distributions.

DOWNLOAD

We go to the directory with the downloaded program and run the executable file with EXE resolution.

The main program window will start immediately. If the USB stick is already inserted into the port, the utility will detect it. Next, you need to select the desired image for recording by clicking on the button "Select".

Now select the previously downloaded Windows 10 image and click "Open".

The next step is to select recording options. You need to set the UEFI or BIOS options, and also select the type of partition table (MBR or GPT).

Everything is ready. It remains only to press the button "Start" and wait for the operation to complete.

The image is now written to the USB stick. You can reboot your PC or laptop and start installing the operating system on your hard drive. It is worth noting that for a correct entry "Tens" the latest version of Rufus is required.

Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool

Another very popular program for writing an image to a USB drive. Initially, it was created for recording on a USB flash drive Windows 7. But with "Top ten" the utility does an excellent job. And you can download it on the official Microsoft website.

DOWNLOAD

Download and install the application. Then we launch it using the appropriate shortcut and get to the main window. First you need to select an image using the button Browse.

Select the desired ISO image and click "Open".

Now press the button "Next".

Now the wizard will offer you to choose where to burn the image. If you planned to write to a USB flash drive, then click "USB device". If you need to write to disk, then choose "DVD".

Select the desired flash drive and press the button "Begin copying".

Creating and recording an image of Windows 10 to a disk or flash drive is the key to quickly restoring the system's performance in the event of a crash or incorrect settings that could not be canceled using standard Windows tools.

Why do you need a Windows 10 system image

The Windows 10 image is needed to burn the installation flash drive. With its help, it is possible to reinstall the system "from scratch" when the user is not satisfied with the update by standard means. The Windows image may also be required to fix problems with starting the OS, to reset it to its original settings, leading to the removal of all programs and unnecessary devices installed after the system recovery image was created.

The system image is created using the following applications:

using the Windows Backup Wizard;

3rd party applications: Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, Nero, UltraISO, etc.

To write an installation flash drive, you need a ready-made image. That is, you first need to prepare the ISO file itself with a copy of Windows 10.

Windows 10 imaging work

All methods are fairly easy and reliable. Doing any of them is unlikely to take you more than half an hour, especially if the PC or tablet on which you are creating the OS image is powerful enough.

It doesn't matter which of the latest versions of Windows you burn - 7, 8, 8.1, or 10. They are all easily created in ISO format.

Create a Windows Image Using the Backup Wizard

If you create not just a system image, but an image of the C disk (Windows system with installed PC hardware drivers), the following preparatory work is required:

reinstalling Windows "from scratch" from a ready-made installation flash drive or licensed DVD;

installation of chipset drivers and built-in peripherals (network adapters, video card, tuner, printer, scanner, sound card and other devices that you use);

installation (optional) of useful programs, for example, Microsoft Office, WinRAR, etc.

You should not install any extra applications. Otherwise, you will get an OS image that freezes due to dozens or even hundreds of installed applications, as a result of which the meaning of creating an image is lost. Such assemblies (for example, ZverDVD for the XP version) do exist, but they are rare.

Modern versions of Windows, in particular 8.1 and 10, already contain most of the drivers. So, network adapters and sound are integrated into the top ten, and you don't need to install outdated drivers. Thus, you will only disrupt the operation of modules and devices that Microsoft has already taken care of.

The backup wizard is not much different in Windows 7/8 / 8.1 / 10.

Find Windows Backup in the Start menu and launch it.
Backup and Restore Wizard lets you create a Windows disk image

Choose to create a system image.
System Image Creator helps you copy system and program files to an ISO image

Specify the disk or its partition where the image file will be saved.
Drive C may not be suitable for saving Windows archive

Select the drives whose contents will be backed up. At a minimum, this is a hidden (reserved) partition and system drive C.
For archiving, drive C is set by default

Click the start backup button.

Saving the contents of the system and program folders on drive C will take 20 to 40 minutes. After that, you will have a ready-made ISO image that can be burned to an external drive or USB flash drive using applications such as Media Creation Tool, Rufus, WinSetupFromUSB, Universal USB Installer, etc.

Video: How to Create a Windows 10 Image Using the Backup Wizard

Capturing Windows 10 Image Using Third Party Utilities

Third-party utilities, such as Nero, Daemon Tools and Alcohol, were actively used to create a Windows 10 image from a licensed DVD. However, you can write a Windows 10 image to a USB flash drive or to an external HDD / SSD drive. For this, both a ready-made assembly of Windows 10 in ISO format downloaded from a torrent tracker and your personal ISO archive created using the archive wizard (see the instructions above) are suitable. The latter method eliminates the need to reinstall hardware drivers and applications that you need to work with the system.

Burning an image to DVD is obsolete: modern ultrabooks, netbooks and tablets are shipped without a CD-ROM drive. All actions - recovering data after a Windows crash and reinstalling the system, fixing startup problems - are performed from a flash drive, memory card, or SSD drive. Therefore, you should not focus on burning a Windows image to DVD.

DAEMON Tools

To burn an image using DAEMON Tools do the following:

Launch DAEMON Tools and go to "Tools" - "Burn bootable image to USB".
Pay due attention to settings before capturing the image

Connect an external drive or flash drive and use the "Browse" button to select your medium.

Check the "Overwrite MBR" option. This will create a boot record, without which the media will not be detected as bootable by the computer or tablet.

Save all your valuable files on other drives before formatting the media.Select the NTFS file system and assign a name to the installation drive.

Check if your disk or flash drive is more than 4 GB. So, Windows 10 will not be written to a USB flash drive with less memory - its image takes at least 3 GB, depending on the build, not counting the rest copied from the C drive (if not a "clean" image was used, but the C drive archive).

Click the "Start" button.

That's it, the DAEMON Tools application will start burning the installation disc or flash drive. Creating a boot record takes up to several seconds, its volume does not exceed several megabytes, but it will take at least 20 minutes to wait for the image to be recorded.

Copying a Windows image may take 20 minutes or more

When the copy of Windows is finished burning, DAEMON Tools will report the success of the process.

All steps for copying a Windows image are described in detail by the program

Recording speed through the USB 2.0 interface, which has been used in all PCs and gadgets for 15 years, reaches 21 MB / s. Most modern PCs and laptops are equipped with USB 3.0, and using more modern storage media almost doubles the speed of USB 2.0. If a flash drive or external disk has been actively used for several years in a row and is worn out, the final write speed may drop several times. The newer the media, the faster all files will be written and there will be less problems when updating / reinstalling Windows from it - take this seriously. Another reason why you should not use CDs is that the read / write speed here is several times lower (in units of megabytes per second) than the speed of flash memory used on modern media.

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using DAEMON Tools

Alcohol 120% (57%)

Everything that has been said about the expediency of writing Windows 10 to a USB flash drive does not work with Alcohol brand software, which were created and updated mainly for working with "blanks" - CD / DVD / BD, and not with flash drives and memory cards. Therefore, alas, it is better to forget about flash drives here. For this reason, the Alcohol utility is being actively supplanted by competitors - WinSetupFromUSB, Rufus and other applications that work with electronic rather than optical media.

To create a system image using Alcohol 120%, follow these steps:

Download, install and run the latest version of Alcohol 120%.
Alcohol 120% application is paid, but you can use a light version

Go to the submenu "Burn images to discs".
Select the functionality of recording an image in Alcohol 120%

Select the pre-downloaded Windows 10 image file using the browse button.
Windows 10 image must be downloaded in advance to burn to disk

Select your DVD-RW drive and disc speed. It is recommended to choose a lower speed, make sure that the PC has backup power before starting recording, and do not save on disks - too cheap disks can fail prematurely.
Recording at 1x is ideal - this will reduce write errors to zero

Write speed affects Windows disk write errors. Do not forget that it is not a selection of music or photos that is recorded, but an image of the operating system. The requirements for the quality and error-free installation discs are very high: if a system error occurs during the Windows installation and the OS hangs in the same place, restart the recording. The best solution would be to use a 1x-12x disc from a multi-year firm like Verbatim, Sony, TDK or SKC.

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using Alcohol 120%

Alcohol 52%

The capabilities of the "younger" program Alcohol 52% are even more curtailed: it does not write images to DVD, although it is free compared to Alcohol 120%.

Mounting images on a virtual DVD will do nothing. The image is written to a separate object, information about which is stored on the built-in PC (local) disk, and not on external media. And flash drives and memory cards are identified by Windows as external drives, not local drives.

It is unlikely that you will be able to burn a Windows image to an external medium, be it a DVD or a USB flash drive, since Alcohol 52% simply does not know how to write images to external drives, as described in the application description. Launching Windows 10 from virtual media - except perhaps a LiveDVD / USB version taken from any drive - doesn't make sense. It is easier to set the BIOS / EFI to boot from this disk and start from it. Better to use more modern counterparts, in which there is recording of images to disk and USB flash drive, for example, UltraISO.

Nero

As with Alcohol, Nero's ability to burn to media other than all kinds of CD formats has been curtailed.

Download, install and run the most recent version of Nero (Burning ROM). Click the trial version button.
Click the button to continue using the trial version

Go to the path "New" - "DVD-ROM", select the option "No multisession" and click the "New" button.
Select the type of data disc for recording the Windows image

Click on the "Recorder" tab and select "Burn Image".
You must have a Windows 10 ISO image stored in advance

Find the ISO image in the Windows dialog box and click the "Open" button.

In the burn image window, select "DVD Image", set the speed and click the "Burn" button.
After pressing the start burning button, Nero will start copying the Windows image

Burning a disc can take up to an hour (depending on speed), after which the disc is ready to install Windows 10.

Video: How to Burn a System Image to Disc Using Nero

Other Windows imaging applications

You can write Windows to a USB flash drive using:

WinSetupFromUSB;

Universal USB Installer;

Rufus (works with writing EFI-compatible installation flash drives);

Sardu;

Easy2Boot;

Bootler;

XBoot;

Win2USB Free and a few others.

Some of them are suitable not only for recording Windows images, but also for other operating systems, as well as multiboot disks.

For burning to DVD, in addition to some of the above applications, the Windows USB / DVD Download Tool created by Microsoft is suitable.

Problems when capturing a Windows image

The following problems may occur when capturing Windows images:

the burned disc or flash drive does not work, the bootloader of the disc or flash drive reports an error starting the installation. This is due to a bug in the ISO file when it was created by a previous user. Replace the ISO image and overwrite the disc or USB flash drive again;

disk or flash drive is badly worn out, cannot be read. They may not be read either before the start of recording the Windows image, or they may refuse during the recording process. Replace the disk or flash drive and start the process again;

dVD drive or USB port is defective. Insert the USB flash drive into a different port, or the disk into another drive, or try to start recording on another PC;

the floppy cables and / or USB controllers were not reconnected while servicing the computer or laptop. Turn off the PC and check if these cables are in place, then restart Windows and repeat all the steps in the application in which you are going to burn the installation disc or USB flash drive;

writing a Windows image to preferred media does not work in one of the applications. Perhaps there is an error in the application itself, for example, the Alcohol 120% program does not work. Update it to the latest version or use another application such as UltraISO;

internet problems on the PC. For example, the Media Creation Tool requires a continuous connection - this program downloads a Windows image from the Microsoft website and then writes it. Troubleshoot network access problems and start the application again;

communication with the DVD drive has been lost and the application has reported an error. If the disc is rewritable (DVD-RW), you can try to clear it and start recording the Windows image again, the same applies to the loss of the USB connection to the flash drive, although "cutting off" the recording leads to the appearance of problem sectors on it. On the other hand, disposable DVD-R discs simply fail, since such a disc cannot be burned a second time. Do not use unreliable, "worn out" drives and USB ports, which often "fall off" at the most inopportune moment - replace them.

The choice of media for creating and recording a Windows image - disk or flash drive - is yours. Both are good, but they depend directly on what kind of PC you have, and whether it has a floppy drive or USB ports.