How to Use DD to Clone Windows: Stepwise Guide & Alternative

Cloning a Windows drive with dd might sound like advanced territory, but it’s totally doable with the right guide. This article breaks down exactly how to use dd to clone a Windows system—from preparing your environment to executing the command safely. You’ll also find a smart alternative if dd isn’t your ideal fit. Let’s get started.

Preparing to Use DD to Clone a Windows Disk

Before you jump into using dd to clone your Windows drive, take a moment to go through this essential checklist:

✅ Back Up Your Data

Cloning with dd is inherently risky. If you misidentify a drive or get the command backward, you could permanently wipe your system. Back up important files to an external drive or cloud storage first.

✅ Check Disk Sizes

The target disk should be at least as large as the source. DD performs a bit-for-bit copy, so if the destination drive is smaller—even by a few megabytes—the clone will fail or result in data corruption.

✅ Ensure You’re Not Cloning a Live System

You can't reliably clone the system you're actively running. Files and partitions in use may not clone correctly. Instead, use a Linux live USB or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) if you know what you’re doing—but for full disk cloning, a live USB is safer.

How to Use DD to Clone a Windows Drive

In this part, you’ll learn how to use dd to clone Windows 10/11. DD performs raw, block-level copying, so it's crucial to execute the process with precision.

Step 1. Connect and Backup

1. Connect a USB drive and your target drive to your computer.

2. Backup files on your USB drive and target drive. Both drives will be overwritten during the following process.

Step 2. Boot into Linux Live Mode

1. Download a Linux ISO (Ubuntu, Debian, etc.). Use a tool like Rufus to create a Linux live USB.

2. Restart your computer and enter the BIOS/UEFI settings (usually by pressing F2, F12, DEL, or ESC at startup).

3. Set the boot order to prioritize the USB drive and boot into Linux Live Mode.

4. Select the “Try Linux” or “Live Session” option—don’t install it.

Step 3. Use DD to Clone Windows 10/11

1. Open a terminal once the desktop loads.

2. Type lsblk and press Enter to list your storage devices. Note the identifier of the source drive (your Windows disk) and target drive (the disk you want to clone to).

✍ Notes:
▶ Double-check the size, partitions, and mount points of your source and target drive. Choosing a wrong drive can destroy data.
▶ If any partitions from the source or target are mounted automatically, unmount them by running the sudo umount /dev/nvme0n1p1 command. Replace /dev/nvme0n1p1 with each mounted partition.

3. Type the following command and press Enter to start disk copy:

sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/dev/nvme0n2 bs=64K status=progress conv=noerror,sync

● if= is your source (input) drive (e.g., /dev/nvme0n1)
● of= is your destination (output) drive (e.g., /dev/nvme0n2)
● bs=64K sets block size for faster performance
● status=progress gives a real-time progress display
● conv=noerror,sync ensures dd keeps going if it hits a bad sector and pads blocks as needed

4. Once the clone completes, type sudo shutdown now and press Enter to shut down the system.

5. You can now physically swap the drives, or change boot order in BIOS to boot from the cloned target to test it.

✍ Note: If Windows doesn’t boot as expected, check this guide to fix it: cloned drive won’t boot.

Recommend: Clone Windows Drive with an Easier Tool

While the dd command gives you raw power and full control, it’s not exactly beginner-friendly—and even experienced users can make costly mistakes with a single mistyped command. If you're looking for a safer, faster, and easier way to clone your Windows drive, a tool like AOMEI Cloner is a solid choice.

Download AOMEI Cloner and follow the instructions below to clone a Windows drive easily:

1. Install and run AOMEI Cloner. From the main dashboard, go to Clone > Disk Clone.

2. Pick the drive that contains your Windows installation as Source Disk and choose the disk to receive the cloned data as Destination Disk.

3. On the Operation Summary page, check the information of the source and destination disks.

• If your source and destination disks use different partition schemes (e.g., MBR vs. GPT), click Edit Partitions > Convert the destination disk from MBR (GPT) to GPT (MBR). This ensures compatibility and prevents boot errors from BIOS/UEFI conflicts.
• If the destination disk is larger than the source disk, click Edit Partitions and choose Add unused space to all partitions or Manually adjust partition size to make full use of disk capacity.

4. If the destination disk is an SSD, enable SSD Alignment for peak SSD performance. Finally, click Start Clone and wait for the cloning process to complete.

5. Physically swap the drives or change boot order in BIOS to boot from the cloned drive.

To Sum Up

This guide shows you how to use dd to clone Windows step by step. The dd command gives you complete control and a true sector-by-sector copy, but it comes with risks and requires caution. For users who prefer a safer, more user-friendly approach, AOMEI Cloner is an excellent alternative with a graphical interface and fewer risks. It supports different partition styles (MBR & GPT) and disk brands (Samsung, Western Digital, Transcend, etc.). Don’t hesitate to try it out!