Preparing installation media can erase the wrong disk if you identify a USB drive by an example disk number. The original tutorial used a fixed DiskPart sequence. That is not a safe set of commands to copy onto an unfamiliar computer.
Use the installer tool for the Windows release#
Start at Microsoft's Windows software-download page and follow the media-creation instructions for the release you intend to install. Check its current USB capacity and system requirements there; an old four-gigabyte recommendation is not a reliable requirement today.
Back up the USB drive, remove unrelated removable drives if practical, and verify the selected device by its actual identity and capacity before allowing a tool to erase it.
Why a formatted USB is not the whole job#
Bootability depends on the installation files, partition layout, filesystem and the computer's firmware mode. Marking a partition active is associated with particular legacy boot arrangements; it is not a universal fix for UEFI systems.
DiskPart's clean command removes partition information from the selected disk. Microsoft documents that behavior in its DiskPart reference. This article deliberately does not supply a guessed disk number or promise that one layout boots every PC.
