Creating a bootable USB drive might come very handy when you don't have access to CD/DVD drive in a computer system or don't have the setup disk to install Windows or a Linux distro in your PC.
You can create a bootable USB pen drive for Windows or Linux setup and then boot your system using it and then you can install the OS without any worries. It also makes the installation a little bit faster compared to installing via setup CD/DVD.
Creating bootable USB is not an easy task. You need to run some DOS commands and copy the setup files from your hard disk to USB stick. There are many free software available which allow you to automatically and quickly create bootable USB drives to install Windows and Linux which can be found at following link:
Ultimate Collection of Best Freeware to Create Bootable USB Drive to Install Windows and Linux
Today we are going to share another free tool "Rufus" which allows you to format and create bootable USB drives for Windows and Linux which might come handy in following situations:
- Create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.)
- Need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed
- Need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
- Want to run a low-level utility
Rufus is portable so you don't need to install it. Just run its EXE file and you are ready to create bootable USB drive. Its very small in size and you can carry it on your USB drive.
The most impressive thing about this tool is its interface. It looks very close to default format window which is shown by Windows whenever you try to format a hard disk partition or a USB drive.
The developer claims that Rufus is very fast compared to other free software available for the same task such as UNetbootin, Windows 7 USB download tool, etc.
Also once formatted using this tool, your USB drive is still usable as before to transfer data. It doesn't have to be dedicated for DOS or installation only.
This small utility also allows you to check the device for bad blocks. Up to 4 passes can be selected to find out if your device is defected.
This free utility can be used in Windows XP and all later Windows versions such as Windows Vista, 7, and 8. It can be used in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows editions.
You can create bootable USB drive for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and almost all popular Linux distro such as Fedora, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSuse, Gentoo, Knoppix, etc.
Rufus comes with FreeDOS support. If you use a non-US keyboard, FreeDOS is recommended as it supports more keyboard layouts. In both cases, if you choose DOS, this freeware will try to set the keyboard locale for you.
You can download it using following link:
Thanks to our reader "Irving Prais" for sharing it...
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Software
vivek2893
its like an RmPrepUsb.
Ashish
Very useful and simple tool...Thanks a tonn VG
Suhail Shah
Doesn't work with the ISOs created with WBI creater.
NSDCars5
I'll try it with my Android 4.0 ICS x86 image!
Suhail Shah
Ultimate Crapware!
My WD-HDD drivers were missing and this has never been a case with WinToFlash.
Giovanni
You can also use the following 2 great FREE apps for this:
softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/WinUSB-Maker.shtml
wudt.codeplex.com
SMBR
Its Very Useful Thnx
NSDCars5
Wow, this works! Unetbootin didn't work, XBOOT didn't work, manual copying didn't work, Rufus worked!! I now have an Android netbook!
Xantes
Not quicker than WinToFlash whatsoever and certainly with a bug since my USB flash drive was already formatted and not only that but I also unticked "Qick-format" dial but the application started with formatting my flash drive although it was not supposed to!
Rtyh-C
Cool, will check it out if needed. Does it work on Linux?
In any case, we need more Linux articles.
Kamrul08
Very nice. Thanks VG.
hansip
i need more for windows7
Pete
Thanks again VG for listing Rufus on your page. Disclaimer: I am the author of this program.
FYI, the latest version (v1.1.6) should now supports BartPE, XP and Windows 2003 ISOs, along with the ISOs that were already supported.
@Suhail Shah: For safety reasons, Rufus is designed to work only with removable USB drives and won't list USB HDDs. If you really want USB HDDs listed, you can try Alt-F, but this is isn't a supported mode of operation.
@Xantes: Be mindful that the tool always formats the drive. Unchecking quick-format simply means that normal (slow) format will be used. The utility also gives a warning about formatting the drive before it starts.
If you have any issues with Rufus, please go to github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues and create a new request.
VG
^^ Nice update. Thanks.
john odum
I need a clean install of Win XP -
When start and run WinXP cd for new install -
I get the BSOD - after all files have loaded and ready to start new installation
(not repair) then the BSOD and connot continue ???
I expected to be able to totally remove the old version and re-partition the drive for the new install ????
Help ?? Please ??
VG
^^ Try to change hard disk mode from AHCI to IDE in your BIOS settings.
th
This software is a piece of sh*t, it doesn't even detect my USB drive. I've been searching for a software that would allow me to install windows from USB stick for some time now, and non of them had worked. This piece of junk just adds to my frustration.
Pete
th,
Can you try Rufus v1.2.0, which has been released yesterday (the link for the download is on the homepage)? It may have fixed your issue, and it also has an integrated log that should provide information about your drive detection and may help identify problems. Means of getting support with Rufus are also provided on the homepage (I only monitor this blog occasionally), but if you don't send a report, I cannot fix potential issues.
Also, VG, can you PLEASE update the 1.1.3 links and point to the 1.2.0 version instead? Or you can just point the download to github.com/downloads/pbatard/rufus/rufus.exe which is always updated to the latest version. Note that starting with v1.2.0, there's only one version, with FreeDOS always. As you may expect, each new version comes with fixes and improvements, but if the link is to the older versions, then people may run into issues that have long been fixed...
VG
^^ Done. Thanks. :)
Sharma
The Most Useful Application For "Creating A Bootable Usb Drive"