Can I do a fresh install of windows to a usb from the CD?
Win7
Win7
Spock (rhp)
won't work. your computer and Microsoft will not allow an o/s to be installed on a removable drive. Really, there's little reason to do so -- Win 10 allows you to make a thumb drive or DVD that will boot and repair the Windows system if it goes down. This blank thumb drive costs about 5 bucks at WalMart [16 Gb minimum size and get the name brand]. The CDs/DVDs supplied by Microsoft can be used to install on a new computer without a DVD drive if you use an external reader and set the BIOS/UEFI to boot from USB. [Yup. they're pretty restrictive about trying to install same licensed copy on more than one computer ... and there are other features designed to prevent this that I haven't mentioned.] -- grampa
Bill-M
No.
What you can do is use Microsoft Media Creation Tool (website) and download the tool.
Running the Tool will download the latest version of Windows 10 and place it on a USB Stick (bootable install files) so you can then Install Windows 10 on a computers hard drive.