Summary
You purchased a retail boxed version of Windows 10.
Microsoft’s licensing terms allow you to create a backup copy of the installation media, which you should do along with the product key for your own protection. See the end of this article for the actual licensing terms currently posted on the Internet.
Details
What’s inside the box:
Inside the box you will find a USB Flash drive that contains the software to install Windows 10 and your product key. The Flash drive is located in a recessed cutout in the inside removable center of the box.
Remove the plastic key card and flip it over to see your product key.
Instructions on how to create a backup of the Microsoft USB Flash Drive:
I will be using the free version of EaseUS Todo Backup which has an easy to use process to “Clone” the Microsoft USB Flash drive to another USB Flash drive of the same size or larger.
1) Start by downloading and installing the free version of EaseUS Todo Backup:
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
2) Insert your Windows 10 USB Flash / Thumb drive
3) Next, insert your new and unused 8GB USB flash drive
Note that Microsoft’s USB Flash drive is “Write protected” (Read only) and is 14.4GB (Binary) in size with 6.62GB used space and 7.79GB free (unused) space, whereas the 8GB USB Flash drive I will be using to create the backup is only 7.46GB (Binary) in size. So there is more than enough space on the new flash drive to hold all 6.62GB of the Windows 10 Home installation files. Please note that Windows 10 Pro will be slightly larger in size.
You will note that my USB Flash drive is formatted as “NTFS” whereas Microsoft’s Windows 10 USB Flash drive is formatted as “FAT32”. I formatted my flash drive as NTFS on purpose to see if the Cloning operation (steps #4 through 10) would fail or succeed.
4) Run EaseUS Todo Backup and select the ‘Clone’ option.
5) Next, select the ‘Source’ which would be the Microsoft Windows 10 installation USB Flash drive.
Click the ‘Next’ button in the lower right corner to continue.
6) Select the ‘Target’, which would be your USB Flash drive. Also select the Optimize for SSD option. Please note that what you see displayed for the “Target” drive will depend on the size of the size of your flash drive.
Click the next button to continue.
7) Review your Source and Destination settings. You will note that although my Kingston USB drive was formatted NTFS, during the cloning operation it will be change to FAT32 which matches the format of Microsoft’s Windows 10 USB Flash drive.
8) Click the ‘Proceed’ button in the lower right corner to start the cloning process. You will be given a warning that the data on the destination disk (your Flash drive) will be lost.
Since there is no data / files currently on your Flash drive, click ‘OK’ to continue.
9) The progress screen will be displayed. The amount of time remaining may go up and down several times before it finally settles out and displays a reasonably accurate time to complete.
10) When the cloning process has completed click on the ‘Finish’ button in the lower right corner and exit / close Todo Backup.
You will note that it took more than 21 minutes to complete but some of that amount of time is due to the fact that while Microsoft’s Windows 10 USB media is rated at USB 3.0 speed my Kingston Flash drive is only USB 2.0, no doubt a faster USB 3.0 Flash drive would take less time.
11) Disk Management now shows both Microsoft’s Windows 10 installation USB and the backup media I created, The Kingston USB has been renamed to match Microsoft’s USB and is also FAT32 which is the same a Microsoft’s USB installation media.
12) Eject both USB drives (one at a time) and you are done.
Keep the backup USB Flash drive in a safe place !!!
Also document your product key, print a hard copy and store it with the Flash drive.
---------------------------- Product key Letters and Numbers ------------------
Do not confuse the letter B with the number 8, the letter Q with the letter O.
the letter G and the number 6.
Not used letters: A, E, I, O U and L S U Z Numbers not used: 0 1 and 5
Microsoft License Terms
Read: Section 2 e. “Installation and Use Rights”.
“2. Installation and Use Rights.
e. Backup copy.You may make a single copy of the software for backup purposes, and may also use that backup copy to transfer the software if it was acquired as stand-alone software, as described in Section 4 below.”
And in Section 4:
“4. Transfer. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software as a consumer in Germany or in any of the countries listed on this site (aka.ms/transfer), in which case any transfer of the software to a third party, and the right to use it, must comply with applicable law.
a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device (and also if you upgraded from software preinstalled on a device), you may transfer the license to use the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Windows label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.
b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.”
For the full Windows 10 “MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS” Last updated July 2015” read:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm