Some of you may be confused with Windows 10 installation disc and recovery disc. This post mainly talks about the differences between Windows installation disc and recovery disc. And you will also learn how to create a Windows 10 installation disc or recovery disc with step-by-step guide. To recover lost data from Windows 10 computer, MiniTool software offer free solutions.

Windows 10 installation disc and recovery disc both play an important role to repair Windows 10 problems when it can't function well. But which one to choose under different situations? Windows 10 installation disc vs recovery disc, what are their differences? How can I create a Windows 10 installation disc? Check the answers in this post.

Windows 10 Installation Disc vs Recovery Disc – Differences

A Windows installation disc is different from a recovery disc. They can be used to repair certain types of Windows failures.

Windows 10 Installation Disc vs Recovery Disc - Definition

Windows 10 installation disc:

A Windows 10 installation disc contains a copy of a Windows 10 which can be copied and installed on your Windows computer hard drive. And it doesn't need additional tools or information that exists on the computer hard drive.

Windows 10 recovery disc:

Differently, a Windows 10 recovery disc contains the tools and information that can be used to repair and restore Windows 10 by utilizing the information stored on your computer hard drive. Windows 10 recovery disc will use related information on your computer hard drive. And this is one of the key differences of Windows 10 installation disc and recovery disc.

Windows 10 Installation Disc vs Recovery Disc – Usages

Windows 10 recovery disc:

The recovery disc may be used to repair Windows 10 system corruptions or reinstall/repair Windows system using information stored on various places on the hard drive. It may be able to reinstall Windows 10 using a copy of Windows on a hidden partition on the hard drive.

You can also use it to access many Windows 10 recovery options like Startup Repair, Reset this PC, System Restore, start Windows 10 in Safe Mode, System Image Recovery, boot to Command Prompt Windows 10, etc. and use this tools to repair and restore your Windows 10 computer.

Windows 10 installation disc:

However, if the recovery disc can't help repair Windows 10 errors, then a Windows installation disc may be a solution. Windows 10 installation disc can reinstall Windows 10 operating system from a scratch.

Need to mention that many computer manufacturers don't provide you an installation CD/DVD. The following will introduces how to create a Windows 10 installation disc for free.

How to Create a Windows 10 Installation Disc – 5 Steps

To create a Windows 10 installation disc, you need to prepare a blank DVD-R disc beforehand. Then follow the 5 steps below to create a Windows 10 installation disc.

Step 1. Download and install Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation tool on your computer.

Step 2. Launch Microsoft Media Creation tool, and choose create installation media for another PC. Click Next.

create installation media for another PC

Step 3. Check the recommended language, edition, architecture of the installation and make sure the choices are correct. Then click Next.

Step 4. Select the type of installation media you want to create for your Windows 10. If you want to create a Windows 10 installation DVD disc, you should choose ISO file. If you'd like to create an installation USB drive, you should choose USB flash drive.

Here we choose ISO file and click Next. Choose a location to store the ISO file and click Next. The Media Creation tool will start to download and write the required installation files to an ISO file.

create Windows 10 installation ISO file

Step 5. When it finishes downloading, you can click Open DVD burner to open Windows Disc Image Burner window. Insert the blank DVD-R disc into DVD drive, and click Burn to burn the Windows ISO image file to DVD disc.

After that, you can use this Windows 10 installation disc to boot and reinstall your Windows 10 computer.

Conclusion

In case a sudden computer disaster occurs and cause huge data loss, it's advised that you set a regular automatic file backup for your Windows 10 computer. Creating a system backup image with MiniTool ShadowMaker is also a choice and use it restore Windows 10 system when it has problems.

To recover lost data or mistakenly deleted files (recover my files) on Windows 10/8/7 computer, MinITool Power Data Recovery - the best free data recovery software for Windows 10/8/7 - is the top choice.

About The Author

Alisa

Position: Columnist

Alisa is a professional English editor with 4-year experience. She loves writing and focuses on sharing detailed solutions and thoughts for computer problems, data recovery & backup, digital gadgets, tech news, etc. Through her articles, users can always easily get related problems solved and find what they want. In spare time, she likes basketball, badminton, tennis, cycling, running, and singing. She is very funny and energetic in life, and always brings friends lots of laughs.