Rufus Download – Bootable USB Flash Drive 3.16

Rufus is a utility that helps format and Creates Bootable USB Flash Drives, such as USB keys or pen drives, memory sticks, etc. It can be especially useful for cases where you need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.), to work on a system that doesn’t have an OS installed, to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS, and to run a low-level utility.

Installing an operating system from a USB drive is much more convenient than from a disc, and a bootable drive even enables you to work from a system that does not have an OS installed. It is a small-sized app that enables users to format USB flash disks and create bootable drives rapidly. It provides standard and advanced options alike, to suit the preferences of all skill levels.

Format to the desired file system

The tool is wrapped in a user-friendly interface that resembles the format panel found in Windows built-in features. You can select a device, partition scheme, and target system type, file system type (FAT32, NTFS, UDF, exFAT), cluster size, and new volume label.

Connected devices are detected and selected from a drop-down menu. Be sure to save all important data, because the USB drive is formatted and everything is removed in the process.

Rufus USB is useful in the following scenarios:

• If you need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs for Windows, Linux, and UEFI.
• If you need to work on a system without an OS installed.
• If you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS.
• If you need to run a low-level utility.

For instance, it’s about twice as fast as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer or Windows 7 USB download tool, on the creation of a Windows 7 USB installation drive from an ISO. It is also marginally faster on the creation of Linux bootable USB from ISOs.

Rufus USB can work with the following* ISOs: Arch Linux, Archbang, BartPE/pebuilder, CentOS, Damn Small Linux, Fedora, FreeDOS, Gentoo, gNewSense, Hiren’s Boot CD, LiveXP, Knoppix, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, NT Password Registry Editor, OpenSUSE, Parted Magic, Slackware, Tails, Trinity Rescue Kit, Ubuntu, Ultimate Boot CD, Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.

*This list is not exhaustive.

Supported Languages include: Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Ceština, Dansk, Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Hrvatski, Italiano, Latviešu, Lietuviu, Magyar, Nederlands, Norsk, Polski, Português, Português do Brasil, Româna, Slovensky, Slovenšcina, Srpski, Suomi, Svenska.

Notes on DOS support:

If you create a DOS bootable drive and use a non-US keyboard, Rufus will attempt to select a keyboard layout according to the locale of your system. In that case, FreeDOS, which is the default selection, is recommended over MS-DOS, as it supports more keyboard layouts.

Notes on ISO Support:

All versions of Rufus since v1.1.0 allow the creation of a bootable USB from an ISO image (.iso).

Creating an ISO image from a physical disc or from a set of files is very easy to do, however, through the use of a CD burning application, such as Nero Burning ROM, Ashampoo Burning Studio.

Speed comparison between Rufus and other applications

The following tests were carried out on a Windows 7 x64 Core 2 duo/4 GB RAM platform, with a USB 3.0 controller and a 16 GB USB 3.0 ADATA S102 flash drive.

Windows 7 x64: en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618240.iso

ubuntu 11.10 x86: ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso

What’s New

Version 3.8

Bug Fix

• Fix regression where some ISOs (Debian) would produce a Syslinux error when booting in BIOS mode
• Fix potential 0xC0030057 errors when trying to create a persistent partition on a non-FIXED drive

Version 3.7

Finalize persistent partition support for Debian and Ubuntu:

• Debian with persistence should work out of the box with any recent Debian Live ISO.
• Ubuntu with persistence should also work IF using a post 2019.08.01 ISO (such as daily-live).
  Note that, because of bug #1489855, trying to use persistence with Ubuntu ISOs that were released before August 2019 will only result in rescue mode during boot – You have been warned!
• Other distros may work with persistence as long as they use a Debian-like or Ubuntu-like method, and, in the case of Ubuntu-like if they use Casper with the #1489855 bugfix.
• Add cheat mode (Alt) to switch between percent/speed/ETA on Some operations [EXPERIMENTAL]

• 1. Report SuperSpeed+ devices in the log (Come on USB-IF, just add “Ludicrous Speed” already!)
  2. Fix UI checkboxes (Extended label, Fixes for old BIOSes) being cleared on START
  3. Fix Can’t mount GUID volume regression when creating Windows To Go drives
  4. Fix Volume label is an invalid error with empty labels on Windows 7
  5. Fix stale progress bar during standalone ext2/ext3 formatting
  6. Fix an extraction failure with R-Drive Image bootable ISOs
  7. Disable ISO mode for Pop!_OS
  8. Other cosmetic and internal improvements

System Requirements