How to Convert Bootable USB to Normal [Windows 10 & Mac]

Want to Convert bootable USB to Normal?

If yes, then you are in the right place.

Converting iso to USB is very easy.

But have you ever thought, that after converting it you also need to restore it back to its normal state?

The same thing happened to me, I thought never of it.

But Last week, when I used my bootable pen drive on other devices it wasn’t working properly.

I don’t know why. It was only showing the error “USB not detected“.

Then I searched on the internet and realized that I need to restore my USB drive to the original state back and make it normal.

And I got my answer, which I am going to show you.

Let’s see How it works…

How to Convert Bootable USB to Normal

In this tutorial, I will show you 3 Methods to restore USB drive to original state for Windows 10, Mac OS & other third-party tools.

So Let’s get started.

Method 1: Format Bootable USB in Windows 10

This is the most common step taken by every user to restore their USB drive back to the normal state. Let’s see how it works…

1. Click on Start and Search for “This PC” & Press Enter.

This PC

2. Now select the bootable USB Flash Drive. Right Click on it and Select Format

Format Bootable USB

3. Now select the File system as NTFS or FAT32 and Allocation unit size (as per your need). Also, you can also click on Restore device defaults.

Restore USB Device Defaults

Finally Click on Start, then OK and Close.

And your USB disk is formatted now.

You can also perform this same using Disk Management.

Unboot USB Using Disk Management System

Just follow these steps…

1. Click on Start and Search for “diskmgmt.msc” & Press Enter.

Disk Management

2. Now locate your bootable USB drive. Right Click on it and Select option Format

Format Bootable Pendrive

3. Select the Filesystem and allocation unit size as Default. And Click OK.

Filesystem

This method is a quick fix but does not work always in making USB drive Unbootable. And that’s why we use Diskpart cmd.

Method 2: Convert Bootable USB to Normal using Diskpart CMD

I hope you have already inserted your bootable USB drive in your PC before performing these steps…

1. Click on Start and Search for “CMD” & Press Enter. And the Command Prompt dialog box will open up.

CMD Command Prompt

2. Now type “diskpart” command & Press Enter. And it will open up DISKPART

Diskpart

3. Now type “disk list” & Press Enter. It will list all your hard drives present on your Computer.

Disk List

4. Now type “select disk 1” & Press Enter. Here you have to select the right bootable USB device, like in my case disk 1 of 16gb is for USB.

select disk 1 USB

Note:- Please be careful while selecting the disk as you may end up losing your data by selecting the wrong hard disk.

Now the major steps to convert the bootable USB to normal one.

5. Now type the “clean” command & Press Enter. And it will wipe/clean all your Bios boot files present on USB.

Clean BIOS Boot Files

6. Next type “create partition primary” & Press Enter. I will help you to create a partition on your drive.

Create Partition Primary

Now the imp. command to format bootable USB to make it normal.

7. Now type “format fs=fat32 quick” & Press Enter. You can also use the “format fs=ntfs quick” command but fat32 is standard for USBs.

Format a Bootable USB Drive

8. And Done! You have successfully converted your bootable USB to a normal pen drive. Now type “exit” command & close cmd.

Exit CMD

Now the next method…

Method 3: Restore USB drive to Original State Using Third-Party Tools

If you don’t like command-line methods like the above one, then you can also use other third parties tools like:

1. EaseUS Partition Manager
2. Minitool Partition Wizard
3. AOMEI Partition Assistant

And EaseUS Partition Manager works great to convert bootable USB to normal pendrive. Just you have to follow some steps…

Restore USB drive to Original State

1. Insert the USB drive, Open partition wizard.

2. Now Select the USB, Right Click on it and select Format.

3. Now Select the File system and Done!

Format File System Partition

Now the next part…

Convert Bootable USB to Normal in Mac

By using Disk Utility program, you can easily format or restore your USB drive to the original state in MacOS.

Just you have to follow some steps…

Convert Bootable USB to Normal in Mac

1. Open Disk Utility program. You can easily open by pressing Command+Space to open the search bar and then type Disk Utility & Press Enter.

Another way to open it, is that click on Launchpad, then Other and then Disk Utility.

2. Now select the USB Flash Drive from the left-hand sidebar and then Click on Erase. Now select the Format as MS-DOS (FAT) & Click on Erase.

That’s it… Now you actually know how to format USB on mac for making it Unbootable to its original state.

Some FAQs

Can I turn a bootable USB back to normal?

Yes! you can easily turn a bootable USB to normal, just you have to format the drive with the Restore device defaults option.

How do I convert a bootable pen drive to a normal one?

Converting a bootable pendrive to normal is pretty easy if follow the instruction correctly. First, run CMD as administrator > type diskpart > list disk > select disk 1 > clean > create partition primary and then format it with FAT32 filesystem.

How do I reset a bootable USB?

Resetting a bootable USB flash drive in Windows 10 is very easy, just navigate to the USB, then right-click on it & select Format or Erase, and then select FAT32 or HFS+ filesystem to format it.

Can you Unboot a bootable USB?

Yes! you can easily unboot a bootable USB drive by following these instructions. First, go to This PC and then format the drive with the FAT32 (Default) filesystem option.

That’s it for now…

Conclusion

So this is how by following these simple steps you can easily un boot your bootable USB having Operating system on it & make it normal.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and use these simple steps to make all your USB drives unbootable & restore it to original states.

Stay tuned for the next posts on how to format bootable Pendrive in Ubuntu Linux.

Feel free to share your thoughts and also tell us if you know any better way to Convert Bootable USB to Normal in Windows 10 & macOS.

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