How to create a bootable Windows USB using Rufus

July 8, 2015 By thegift73 26 Comments

A few years ago, creating a bootable USB drive used to be a somewhat daunting exercise for many people as it meant using the command prompt to access DiskPart which is a great little command-line utility. Luckily for us, there are now far simpler ways of achieving this, by using free software like Rufus to do the hard work instead. Please note though that Rufus is a Windows only utility.

Rufus can easily create bootable USB’s for most bootable ISO, including among others:

Windows XP (SP2) (not Windows XP x64)
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
Windows 10
Hiren’s Boot CD
NT Password Registry Editor
Ultimate Boot CD
GParted
Partition Magic
Debian
….plus many more

In this tutorial we will be creating a bootable Windows 7 Ultimate x64 USB.

Things you will need:

Your bootable ISO of choice. I will be using a Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ISO (If you have a Windows 7 disk, then you can create your own bootable ISO easily using ImgBurn)
Latest version of Rufus (I am using version 2.2)
A spare USB stick (The size of the USB required will vary depending on the size of the ISO you are using. For this exercise I need an 8GB USB)

Once you have the required items, you can start by opening up Rufus. Don’t worry about any of the settings here as Rufus will automatically do this for you depending on the type of ISO you are using.

By default, it will appear to have many of the options blank until you connect your USB. Once you connect the USB, these fields will be automatically filled for you.

Next, connect your USB to your computer.

Now we need to select our ISO. (in my case the Windows 7 ISO) Select the icon highlighted as shown below, which will let you browse for the required ISO file.

Select the file by left clicking on it once and then clicking on Open.

Rufus will now have filled out the fields for you. All you have to do now is hit Start.

Note, if you are using a USB stick that is too small, like using a 4GB USB for an ISO that is larger than 4GB you will get the following error:

If your USB is the correct size then you will get a standard warning telling you that any data/partitions that was on the USB before starting the process will be permanently deleted

Click OK, to start.

How long the process will take to complete will depend on the specs of your computer, the USB (read/write speeds) and the size of the ISO you are using.

That’s it. You now have a bootable USB.

Fennikusu Raito

I always get an error stating that access to the device is denied when i hit start in rufus
… Help?
- TheGift73
  
  Hi @FFennikusu Raito
  
  I have just tested this on the latest build of Windows 10 (v.10586.63) and had no issue using Rufus to create a 32-bit bootable Windows 10 USB.
  
  However, a couple of things to check would be:
  
  1. Make sure that there is no physical lock/switch on the USB that locks the device from being used. Some USB’s have this. Example of this:
  
  http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/54—how-to-fix-write-protected-disks
  
  2. In My Computer/Computer, right-click on the USB and go Properties>Security and check that it has all the permissions granted for the device.
  
  Upon further reading, some users (not all) have also found that they are having the same issue as reported here:
  
  https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/605
  
  With Rufus open and ready to start, try pressing Alt+, (the ALT Tab plus the Comma at the same time and then release) which will enable/disable drive locking on the USB.
- Akshat
  
  You just need to run Rufus as an admin
Sumit Paswan

Hi.. I got 2 win7 ISO one is 32 bit and other is 64 bit. The problem is when I create 32 bit bootable it success while When I create 64 bit it shows File extraction failed.. I can’t Understand why ?? Can u help? I’m using 8gb pendrive and my ISO size is 32bit = 2.38 GB, 64bit = 3.09 GB !! pls Help !!
- TheGift73
  
  It could be the 64-bit ISO was corrupted during download, so Rufus is having issues extracting the required data from the image.
  
  Can you try re-downloading the 64-bit version for your version of Windows 7 again. Images can be found below:
  
  http://www.techfleece.com/2015/12/23/download-official-isos-of-windows-7-windows-8-1-or-windows-10-legally-and-for-free/
Slayer Hellas

NO ia did many times,,,,,,,IT NOT creates autorun inf………!!!
It just loads the files into the iso……….but the SAME iso when i load it from virtual drive it starts with autorun…..!!!
THAT”S CRAP man……..RUFUS MY ASS…..!!!
- Zoldan
  
  The file autorun.inf probably was not created because of your anti virus scanner.
  I had one that prevented creating or copying .inf files. Rufus is innocent.
  Deactivate the anti virus scanner and try again.
  Perhaps it would be a good idea if Rufus could warn the user apropriate if such an error has occured.
  - Slayer Hellas
    
    SHUT UP MAN………..YOU”RE KNOWLESS……!!!
    If you dont know SHIT about software DONT FUCKING SPEAK……!!!
    -_-
  - Notyourmom
    
    He was just trying to help you, you clueless fart.
  - Slayer Hellas
    
    GO DIE YOU FUCK/….!!!
  - Akēlā Tārā
    
    Grow up men. Not everything is perfect in software/apps.
Courtney King

Thank you.
Israel Torres

Is it possible that using Rufus too many times on the same drive will cause is to fail? I used Rufus for Windows 32-bit this last time and it now will not recognize it in boot for any computer. My other flash drive works fine which I only did once. How can I fix this?
- TheGift73
  
  I don’t think that Rufus will have been the cause as I have used the program on the same USB’s multiple times without issue. However, USB’s will start to have issues after a certain amount of read/writes depending on the USB make and/or how old it is.
  
  Can you give me the make of USB so I can have a look round for you. Some USB’s can, if unable to be fixed using software from the manufactures site, be fixed be performing a low-level format on the USB itself.
Weed

Hi!!
What is the proper config to make booteable a windows 8 iso image? I’ve tried a bunch but my samsung chronos 7 series doesnt recognize it.

Any hep will be apreciated
Raghu Nath

excellent tutorial very easy to follow
taistier8162

after i do all of that it also says that i need the right drivers anyone know how to get that all together?
Elo Karl

Hi! Is it possible to create a bootable partition in an external hard drive? Just wondering. Thanks!
Mitch Trott

simples!
Tributary House Ltd.

I get it, this is old, but NO RUFUS DOES NOT WORK. No, No, No, No, No,

And fuck you useless fucking computer assholes – your FIRST reaction is always to ignore the user and blame them.

Fuck Rufus, and fuck this useless webpage
- TheGift73
  
  Hi @tributaryhouseltd:disqus Can you let me know what the problem was and I may be able to help you, or walk you through the process. The above tutorial still works exactly the same as when I wrote it in 2015.
  
  1. What is the error/issue you are seeing?
  2. What version of Windows are you trying to place on the USB?
  3. Can you post any screenshots (or just a picture from your mobile phone) showing where the issue shows (error message on screen etc)
  
  If I can help, I will.
  - Tributary House Ltd.
    
    Putting XP Black on a NUC5i7RYH. The bootstick made by Rufus leads to just a blinking cursor. I got a bootstick made with another program. It bots now, but I get a complaint about the Bios and APID (or something like that) – going to have to try to update the NUC bios.
    I ought not to have been so mean in my first comment – binary drives me mad sometimes.
    Sorry,
    
    I miss Dos 🙁
  - TheGift73
    
    No worries. Looking at the supported operating systems for the Intel NUC5i7RYH, it says that Windows XP isn’t supported. However, I have installed Windows 7 in the past on systems that only supported XP and earlier, even though there were no drivers for the operating system and it still worked OK. I think you can get lucky with some hardware when installing OS’s that aren’t supported, so keep trying or have a Google around as other people will have asked the same question somewhere online.
    
    I also couldn’t find a BIOS update (official Intel one) that would allow a Windows XP boot on the NUC5i7RYH.
    
    I have read though that some people have had a lot of issues trying to install the 64bit version Windows XP, so is the Windows XP Black version ISO that you have 32bit (x32) or 64bit (x64)?
    
    Another thing to try is to try changing the partition mode to ‘MBR for BIOS only’, in Rufus. Also, and I guess you may have already checked this, but in your BIOS set up, make sure that the ability to boot from USB is turned on as this may be turned off on older hardware. Although given that that model was released in Q2 2015 and had a Core i7 processor, the MoBo may have it already turned on by default, but it’s worth checking.
    
    Also remember that Windows XP didn’t have support for USB 3.0 due to how old Windows XP is, so when installing, use a USB 2.0 port. If you don’t have any USB 2.0 ports then head into BIOS and enable Legacy Mode, or enable EHCI on USB Ports.
    
    Another thing you mentioned was that you had a blinking cursor when trying to boot via USB. This indicates that the machine is unable to read any data from the USB. So another thing to try is to use another USB stick and/or try creating the bootable USB again with Rufus as something may have gone wrong with the writing of the ISO information to the USB the first time round.
    
    Let me know how you get on.
  - Tributary House Ltd.
    
    Wow, you’re friendly 🙂
    
    I used wintoflash to make the stick, then had to change to RAID in the visual Bios to get the installer to see the partitions (I have no idea what it means, but it worked)
    
    I formatted a partition and it’s copying the files right now. I had originally put XP Black on my Aspire One, but that was stolen and someone gave me this NUC. The Aspire One ran Win 7 from the factory (bad idea, netbooks can’t do win 7 well) I had very little trouble with the XP black install on the Aspire.
    
    The idea in using Black is that it is the lightest version of windows that I’ve found. If Lbuntu could do things like make a desktop icon, run Unitrunker, ELM, or LCARSx32 I would use it, but the sudos got ridiculous.
    
    The whole idea is I’m building a system for my truck – it won’t be connected to very much (only my home network while parked) and it doesn’t do the standard stuff that would make it very vulnerable (email, surfing, etc…) I am looking to make my truck more like the Starship Enterprise 🙂
    
    Anyways, as long as I can get the touchscreen driver, ELM driver, and SDR drivers to work (with the LCARS shell) I’ll be happy.
    
    Black is very system light – not as important on the NUC as it was on the Aspire – and I don’t have any other windows ISO.
    
    I wish windows weren’t so bloated. I used to make a 386 do cool stuff – there is no excuse for modern processors to run slow or buggy (or even lock up).
    
    I’ll let you know what happens when the install says its done.
    
    Thanks again brother
  - stepedes
    
    “And fuck you useless fucking computer assholes – your FIRST reaction is always to ignore the user and blame them.
    
    Fuck Rufus, and fuck this useless webpage”
  - TheGift73
    
    Just a heads up that WinToFlash version 1.12.0000 was released today. I know you said that you were already using it, but wasn’t sure how you got on. I will post the link for the latest version (via Major Geeks mirror) as well as the Change Log link:
    
    1. WinToFlash latest version: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wintoflash.html
    
    2. Change Log: http://en.wiki.wintoflash.com/index.php?title=Change_Log