How to Install Windows 10 from Command Prompt? (2 Methods)

If you want to upgrade Windows or get rid of system issues, installing Windows 10 from Command Prompt is a good solution. Let’s see how to do it, and don’t forget to backup your system just in case.

By AOMEI / Last Updated April 8, 2021

Content of this article:

Need to install Windows 10 from Command Prompt

Windows 7 has reaches its end of life January 14, 2020, thus it’s urgent for users toВ upgrade to Windows 10В . Because Microsoft will not provide any technical support and the Microsoft customer service, Related services and device will be disconnected in the near future by 2023 at the latest.В

Microsoft users are given many ways to perform a system upgrade, but these methods usually don’t work correctly, and they may bring unwanted files, settings and apps to the new system.

Just to be on the safe side, a clean installation can be your best choice. Additionally, when your computer is having system and other issues, you can quickly resolve them via a system installation, as it will remove everything from the hard drive and start from scratch. Meanwhile users can get rid of viruses and improve battery life.

How to install Windows 10 with Command Prompt?

For many users, system installation involves a complex process. However, Command Prompt makes your operations easier. The following two methods will show you how to use Command Prompt to install Windows 10.

Before you try any method below, please make some preparations in advance.

• DownloadВ Windows 10 ISO files from Microsoft.
• Mounted the ISO image and assign a drive letter for it, here take G: as an example. You can navigate to the ISO image file, then right click it andВ choose Mount from the drop-down menu.В

Method 1. Install Windows 10 directly from the ISO files

Step 1. Press Windows logo key + R at the same time. Type diskpart in the Run box and then click OK.

Step 2. Type list vol and then press Enter to find the partition containing the ISO files.

Step 3. Type G:\ISO_Files\setup.exe and then press Enter (G represents the number of the volume in which the ISO image is stored).

Step 4. The Windows Setup page appears. Make the selections you prefer and then click Next.

Step 5. Click Install now to continue.

Step 6. If you’re installing Windows 10 for the first time, you must enter a genuine product key. If you’re reinstalling Windows 10, just click I don’t have a product key. Then click Next.

Step 7. Select an edition of Windows 10. Then click Next.

Step 8. Tick the I accept the license terms checkbox and then click Next.

Step 9. Select Custom: Install Windows only (Advanced) from the list.

Step 10. You will be asked where you want to install Windows. Choose the drive or partition that you want to use for Windows 10.Then click Next.

Step 11. Once the installation is done, you need to restart your computer by clicking Restart now.

Method 2. Install Windows 10 from a bootable USB

Installing Windows 10 with a bootable USB can greatly reduce installation time. To create a bootable USB flash drive with the installation files, you can insert a USB (at least 4GB in size) to your computer and then follow these steps:

Step 1. Press Windows logo key + R at the same time. Type diskpart in the Run box and then click OK.

Step 2. Type the following commands one at a time and press Enter after each command:

list disk

select disk 1

cleanВ

create partition primary

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=fat32 quick)В

assign letter=X

Notes:
* The clean command marks all the data on the drive as deleted and it will become invisible. Please be sure you want to do this!В
* Remember to replace 1 with the number of the USB flash drive and change X for any available letter you want to use for your USB flash drive. They are just an example here.

Step 3. Type exit and then press Enter to quit the diskpart tool.

Step 4. Navigate to the boot folder of the Windows 10 ISO files and make it bootable. To do this, type the commands below one at a time and press Enter after each command:

G:

cd boot

bootsect /nt60 X:

xcopy G:\*.* X:\ /E /F /H

Notes:
*Replace G В with the drive letter of your mount drive as it appears in File Explorer. It contains the Windows 10 ISO image file.В
*ReplaceВ X with the correct drive letters forВ USB flash drive.

Step 5. Once that’s done, you can get a bootable USB flash drive.

Step 6. Then, plug the bootable USB flash drive into the device you wish to install Windows 10 and boot from it. As soon as the computer boots, press any key to get into the Windows Setup page.

Step 7. Repeat Step 4 to Step 11 mentioned in Method 1 to install Windows 10.

Note: The installation process will erase everything on the primary hard drive of your computer. If you have some important files on it, you’d better backup files to an external hard drive in advance.

Best time to backup your system for protectionВ

After installing Windows10В from Command Prompt, your computer is a complete fresh version, it only has the operating system and boot partition(s) or system files required to start Windows.В If you create a system image for it right now, it’sВ totally a factory image that can help you repair your computer at any time.

Also, if you don’t want to reinstall programs or lose your files in the event of a disaster, you can choose to install all the programs you will use in the near future first and sync files you want to protect to the fresh version of computer, then backup all of them together.

To make it, you need a Windows 10 backup utility. Many usersВ choose to use the built-in tool in the begining, but later they are disappointed to find that Windows Backup keeps failing. Thus, it’s suggested to use a third-party free backup software like AOMEI Backupper Standard, whichВ enables you to backup system to internal/external hard drives, cloud drives, NAS devices and network with ease.

And it has more advanced features such as schedule automaticВ backup based on daily, weekly and monthly, incremental and differential backup and so on. Windows 10/8.1/8/7Vista/XP are supported. Download this freeware now andВ follow the steps below to backup your system.

Step 1. Install and open this freeware.

Step 2. Click System Backup under Backup tab.

Step 3. The Task Name can be modified by your needs. The related system partitions are selected by default. Select the destination path (here is F:\) to store the system image.

Step 4. Click Schedule and OK to enable daily incremental backup(the default option), or change them per your needs. Confirm your operations and then click Start Backup.

Notes:
Options: click it to comment this backup task and enable email notification.
Schedule: set the backup task to run automatically. Daily, Weekly and Monthly are supported. To enjoy Event triggers, andВ USB plug inВ modes, you need to do an edition upgrade.
Scheme: it deletes the older backups automatically. This feature is available in AOMEI Backupper Professional.
You can visit Home > the system backup task > Restore to restore Windows 10 system image to new hard driveВ or other locations.

Verdict

Two efficient methods are described here to assist you to install Windows 10 from Command Prompt. You can choose one of them based on your own situations. After installing, don’t forget to protect your system by using AOMEI Backupper Standard.В

After a fresh install, it’s the best time to create a factory image and you can set a scheduled backup task to track changes you made later. In addition, you still can use this freeware to backup files, partition, or entire disk. Also, it’s a professional disk clone software, so you can clone disk to larger disk, clone larger HDD to smaller SSD, clone only OS, etc.В

Open Command Prompt at Boot in Windows 10

The command prompt in Windows 10 is the shell environment where you can run text-based console tools and utilities by typing commands. Using the built-in commands, you can perform various tasks on your computer directly without having to refer to the GUI. For maintenance and recovery, it is useful to open the command prompt at boot in Windows 10. Here is how.

Open Command Prompt at Boot using Windows 10’s setup media

1. Boot from the Windows installation disk/USB stick with Windows setup.
2. Wait for the «Windows Setup» screen:
   
3. Press Shift + F10 keys together on the keyboard. This will open the command prompt window:

Note: If you are not able to boot from DVD media, that is, your PC does not have an optical drive, you can create a bootable flash drive.
To create a bootable USB disk, see these articles:

Open Command Prompt at Boot using Advanced Startup Options

1. Open the Start menu and move your mouse pointer to the Shutdown button. Click it to open the Shutdown menu:
   
2. Press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard. Do not release the Shift key and click the Restart item:
3. Windows 10 will restart quickly and the Advanced Startup Options screen will appear.
   

An alternative way to access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10 is as follows:

1. Open the Start menu and click Settings.
2. Go to Update and recovery -> Recovery:
3. There you will find Advanced startup. Click the Restart now button.

Once Advanced Startup Options appear on the screen, do the following.

1. Click the Troubleshoot item.
2. Click Advanced Options on the next screen.
3. Finally, click the Command Prompt item.

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About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

3 thoughts on “ Open Command Prompt at Boot in Windows 10 ”

Thank You ! (in English)

Your post about open command prompt booting windows 10 was what I needed to complete my reinstall of windows 7 on a new laptop that was preloaded with windows 10.

You are most welcome.

Hi! Thanks for the post.
I have a huge problem though. I decided to install win7 and format my whole PC because it was running very slow and had some WEIRD software issue that made both of my shift keys on the keyboard stop working. Being that said, I made a mistake and formatted the hard drive while having UEFI issues for not making A GPT partition. Now, I should be able to open cmd from the win7 installer and make the gpt partitions from there but prpbñem is: the command to do it is SHIFT + F10 and I swear shift doesnt work. Is there any other way to open cmd with a command that doesnt involve shift keys? I really need help, my pc is dead at the moment and I work with it 🙁
Thanks