Why can't I create a bootable medium from my USB stick?

We all know and fear it, even if it hasn't happened to us yet, the moment of shock when the system won't start. The PC won't boot, the operating system is down, everything just won't work. Immediately you think of all the data you could lose, the huge effort involved in setting up a new computer, and, and, and.

But you are on the safe side if you have created an image backup with Langmeier Backup. Thanks to the existing hard disk image, we are able to restore the operating system. An important part of being able to do this is the bootable emergency medium.

Since Langmeier Backup 8, our customers can create the bootable media themselves. With our backup software, you can choose between a bootable USB stick and a bootable CD. Once you have created this boot medium, you can start Langmeier Backup in the boot environment and restore the operating system.

But what if you want to create a bootable USB stick, but it is not displayed among the options? This could have the following reason:

Langmeier Backup only displays external drives when creating a bootable USB stick, but it could well be that your USB stick is displayed by Windows as an internal drive. These are deliberately not displayed for security reasons, so that someone does not overwrite an internal drive, otherwise this could have fatal consequences.

How do I know whether my USB flash drive is displayed as an internal or external drive?

You can see this in the following image:

The upper drives are displayed as hard disks / internal drives, the lower ones as external hard disks that can also be ejected.

Why is my USB stick displayed as an external drive?

This has to do with the "Removable Bit". If this is set incorrectly, it could be that a USB stick is displayed as an internal drive. You can find a way to fix this here.