windows - USB flash drive became Basic after installing BCD

TL;DR: Used "Install BCD" option and USB drive became "Basic" instead of "Removable".

I have a 64gb Sandisk flash drive, which was about 80% full. I wanted to install windows from it but didn't want to format it and lose data, so I googled if such a thing was possible, and came about an article saying to copy the .iso content onto flash drive and then use EasyBCD feature "Install BCD" to make it bootable.

I did this and clicked Yes in the dialog, but when booting from usb it gave an error. I decided to move the files to pc and then use Media Creation Tool to prepare the USB, but to my surprise it couldn't see the drive. I saw that it had changed from being "Removable" type to being "Basic",

so the windows doesn't see it as a flash drive anymore. I can read/write to it without a problem.

I reformatted, deleted partition and recreated it multiple times. I tried lexar bootit but I don't think it worked.

Answer

First, see a previous question on flipping the Removable Media Bit (RMB).

There is a good description of this process at Windows OS Hub. The site also suggests modifying the way Windows views the drive, if the bit cannot be flipped, using cfadisk.sys.

There are various tools to flip the RMB that controls drive type, such as one which works on Lexar flash drives. Another tool is for Alcor or Transcend drives.

Caveats: Note that the bit-flip utilities seem to be specific to a particular USB flash drive type, and I did not find one specifically for Sandisk. Also note that one utility showed as malware in VirusTotal -- be sure to check all downloiads.