No PC? 😳 Make Bootable USB Using Phone (Emergency Fix!)

Gather What You Need

You need four things: an Android phone that supports USB OTG (most modern phones do), an OTG adapter that matches your phone's port (USB-C or micro-USB), a USB pendrive of 8 GB or larger, and enough free space on the phone for the ISO file — several GB. Keep the phone charged or plugged in, because downloading and writing take time and battery.

Download the ISO on the Phone

Download the ISO straight onto the phone, from the official source only. Microsoft's Windows download page offers the ISO file directly when it is opened in a phone browser, and Linux or rescue images come from the maker's own official site. Let the download finish completely — a half-downloaded ISO will not boot.

Install EtchDroid, the Free Writer App

EtchDroid is the free, open-source app made for exactly this job: it writes an ISO image to a USB drive from an Android phone, and it needs no root. Install it from the Google Play Store (its source is also on GitHub) — and nowhere else.

Connect the Pendrive Through the OTG Adapter

Plug the pendrive into the OTG adapter and the adapter into the phone. The phone should detect the USB drive. EtchDroid works with USB flash drives and USB SD-card adapters; USB hard drives, SSDs and hubs are not supported, so use a plain pendrive.

If the drive never appears, check that OTG is switched on (some phones have an OTG toggle in Settings) and try another adapter — a faulty adapter is the most common reason this step fails.

Write the Image to the Pendrive

Open EtchDroid and tap Write raw image or ISO. Select the ISO file you downloaded, then select the connected USB drive. Check the Ready to write screen, confirm the erase warning, and start the write — progress is shown in the notification area.

Do not unplug anything while it writes. When the write finishes, wait a few moments and then eject the drive safely before removing it, so the last data is fully flushed to the pendrive.

Boot the Dead PC from the USB

Insert the pendrive into the dead PC and switch it on. Open the boot menu — commonly F12, F8 or Esc depending on the brand — or enter the BIOS/UEFI setup and put USB first. Choose the USB drive (pick its UEFI entry when one is shown).

The installer or rescue environment loads from the pendrive, and from here the repair or installation proceeds exactly as it would with a USB made on a computer.

Know the Limits — the Windows ISO Catch

What this emergency method is genuinely good for: Linux installers and other bootable images made for raw USB writing — enough to get a dead PC into a working environment, recover your files, or start a repair. If you specifically need a Windows Setup USB and the phone write does not boot, the dependable routes are to borrow any working PC for a few minutes and use Microsoft's Media Creation Tool or Rufus, or to write a rescue image that supports this method instead.