How to create Windows installer USB stick using WinUSB

A USB thumb drive with Windows ISO on it can be used to install Windows newly or repair an existing installation of Windows. Such a bootable USB stick can be created easily on Ubuntu:

• Prepare the ISO of the version of Windows you want to install or use. For example, the Windows 10 ISO can be obtained here. If you are upgrading from a Windows 7 or 8, you can find out which version you are allowed to upgrade to here (check the Upgrade Editions section).

• Note that common tools like Startup Disk Creator or UNetBootIn can only create installer USB sticks for Linux operating systems. They cannot be used for installing Windows.

• An easy tool to create an installer USB thumb drive for booting Windows is WinUSB. It can be installed from a PPA:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
$ sudo apt-get update  
$ sudo apt-get install winusb

• Plug in your USB stick and use this command to make it a Windows installer:

$ sudo winusb --format /path/to/windows.iso /dev/sdc

Use the path to your ISO file and the device name of your USB drive instead of /dev/sdc in the above command.

You should be able to boot up and install Windows using this USB stick.

Tried with: Ubuntu 16.04