Note that on the next screen, the box saying I want to help make the installation of Windows better is pre-ticked. When finished, navigate to the USB drive and double-click setup.exe to begin the Windows 10 upgrade process. Select your USB drive from the list and click Next. You’ll then need to wait while the Windows 10 update downloads, which can take a fair while, depending on your internet connection.

Choose the USB option (it's much more straightforward) and click Next. You'll be asked whether you want to create a USB flash drive (you’ll need to insert one with 4GB or more free space) or an ISO file, which you can turn into an installation DVD. Tick Create installation media for another PC then Next. Once downloaded, go to the folder you've saved it in (usually your Downloads folder), double-click the Media Creation Tool’s exe file. Not sure if your system is 32-bit or 64-bit? No problem – see our guide on how to check your system properties. Choose 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your system. See our guide to creating a backup of your PCĭownload Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool (which downloads Windows 10) from Microsoft's website. Find out more here.Īs ever with major system updates, it's worth performing a full file and system backup first, just in case anything goes wrong with the installation process. Want some more help with Windows? Our friendly tech team can help you with one-to-one support on a range of tech issues. The process requires a little patience, but it isn't too difficult to follow.

If you can't install major Windows 10 updates directly on to your PC - either because you don't have space for the large file, or because you're encountering errors in the installation process - then it's possible to install Windows 10 updates from a USB drive or from an SD memory card inserted into the card reader slot.

Not enough space on your hard drive or running into errors when you're trying to update Windows 10? Try this method instead

Windows onto usb