If you’re looking to install Windows on a new hard drive, but don’t want to use the disk that came with your computer, there’s an easy way to do it. All you need is a USB drive and some free time. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Plug in your USB drive and turn on your computer.
  2. When the Windows logo appears, press R to open the Recovery Console (Windows 8 and 10) or F8 to open the boot menu (Windows 7).
  3. Type “diskpart” into the console window and press Enter.
  4. In the diskpart window, type “list disk” and press Enter.
  5. Under “Disk 0,” click on the letter that corresponds to your USB drive (in my case, it was Disk 1).
  6. Under “Partition 1,” click on the number that corresponds to your USB drive’s size in MB (mine was 100).
  7. Type “create partition primary” and press Enter.
  8. Type “active” into the partition table window and press Enter twice (this makes sure that this partition will be used when you install Windows).
  9. Type “exit” into diskpart and press Enter twice to close it out of sight (you’ll need this window later). ..