A bootable USB lets you start a computer from a USB drive, which is extremely handy for repairing a machine or installing Windows. In an earlier article, Quan Tri Mang showed you how to create a Windows install USB with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. In this article, we introduce one more tool for making a bootable USB: Rufus. Despite its tiny file size, Rufus can handle almost everything you need. In terms of speed, Rufus is twice as fast as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer and the Windows 7 USB download tool.
What Is a Bootable USB?
A bootable USB is an ordinary storage device (such as a USB flash drive or an external hard drive) that holds an "ISO image" of an operating system.
An ISO image is an archive file containing all the information found on an optical disc, such as a CD or DVD. For example, it could be a Windows installation CD.
Normally, whenever you start your computer, it boots from the operating system stored on its internal drive. However, by running a bootable USB, you can start your computer from the ISO image on the USB drive.
This can be useful if you need to recover, repair or install an operating system on your computer.
Creating a Bootable USB With Rufus
To create a Windows install USB with Rufus, you need:
- The ISO file of the Windows installer you want to boot
- An empty USB drive with a capacity of more than 4GB
- The Rufus utility
After downloading Rufus, just open it. Since this is a portable bootable USB tool, it needs no installation and can be used right away.
The steps to create a bootable USB with Rufus are as follows:
Step 1: Open Rufus and set the parameters for the bootable USB
In the Rufus interface, choose your USB drive under Device. Under Boot selection, choose Disk or ISO image, then click SELECT to browse for and pick the ISO file.
Under Image option, choose Standard Windows installation. Under Partition scheme, choose MBR or GPT depending on whether your computer supports BIOS or UEFI. Leave File System set to NTFS, then click Start to begin.
Step 2: Confirm erasing the old data on the USB
A dialog box warns that the USB drive will be formatted. If it holds important data, copy it to your computer first. Otherwise, click OK to continue.
Step 3: The Windows install USB is created
Step 4: Finish creating the bootable USB
When the program shows the Ready button, the process is done. Click Close to finish. You can now start using your USB drive.
And that is how to create a Windows install/bootable USB with Rufus. As you can see, making a bootable USB with Rufus is pretty simple, isn't it?
To avoid errors when creating a bootable USB with Rufus, make sure you download the ISO file that matches your computer (32-bit or 64-bit). Beyond that, the chance of an error is quite low.
Note:
While creating a bootable USB with Rufus, you may run into a few errors, such as a failure to extract the ISO file (ISO image extraction failure), a USB that cannot be formatted because it is reported as write protected (Write Potected). Quantrimang.com already has fairly detailed guides on how to solve these errors, so take a look.
You also need to pick the right system type and file system so that the finished bootable USB works on your computer. You can read how to check a bootable USB after creating it to see whether it was created correctly and works.
We hope this article helps.
Source: Quan tri mang
