6. Connect the USB flash drive to a new PC. The first Status you see will be Formatting, which will take anywhere from a few to several seconds, depending on how large the USB drive is that you're using. Unfortunately, simply copying them there won't do. The need to install Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 from a USB device, like a flash drive, is a common one these days. % of people told us that this article helped them. Windows will automatically restart your computer when finished. Locate, and then select your Windows 8 ISO file. 2. This will create a login similar to previous versions of Windows. Having this means you don’t have to worry about scratching your installation DVD, or trying to download the setup files every time. If you want to wipe your computer and install Windows 8.1 from scratch, do that by booting from a DVD or USB drive and running a clean install. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/e\/ef\/Install-Windows-8-from-USB-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Install-Windows-8-from-USB-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/e\/ef\/Install-Windows-8-from-USB-Step-1.jpg\/aid2653365-v4-728px-Install-Windows-8-from-USB-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"