Rufus is a small utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives (USB keys, memory cards, etc.). Despite its small size, Rufus provides everything you need to create a bootable USB device with bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.) or firmware from DOS.
Features:Rufus is a small utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives faster than its counterparts. According to the test results on the homepage, Rufus takes almost three times less time to write a Slackware distribution to a USB stick than the well-known UNetbootin.Users can choose to align partitions on the flash drive (under the "Add Fixes for Old BIOSes" option in the Format Options dropdown menu). If your machine is very old and does not recognize the bootable USB drive, enabling this option may help.
Capabilities:Checking the flash drive for bad blocks (data is written multiple times, from 1 to 4 passes, with a default of 2).As for creating bootable media, there are options available: MS-DOS / FreeDOS (built into the utility) or SysLinux (a set of "penguin" kernel loaders).Writing bootable ISO images.Keeping logs, which can be useful in particularly difficult cases.Portable version, works without installation on a computer.
Notes on DOS support:If you are creating a bootable DOS disk and using a non-US keyboard layout, Rufus will attempt to select the keyboard layout according to your system's localization. In this case, it is recommended to choose FreeDOS (which is the default), as it supports more keyboard layouts than MS-DOS.
Notes on UEFI/GPT support:Starting with version 1.3.2, Rufus supports UEFI/GPT installation media, meaning it will allow you to install Windows 7, Windows 8, or Linux in full UEFI/GPT mode. However, Windows Vista and later versions of Windows require full UEFI/GPT support. Due to Windows XP limitations, it restricts the creation of bootable disks in UEFI/MBR mode.
Rufus is useful when:You need to create a bootable USB device from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.).You need to work on a system without an installed OS.You need to flash BIOS or other firmware from DOS.You want to run low-level utilities.
List of ISOs supported by Rufus: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, Windows 8.1.
Features:Rufus is a small utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives faster than its counterparts. According to the test results on the homepage, Rufus takes almost three times less time to write a Slackware distribution to a USB stick than the well-known UNetbootin.Users can choose to align partitions on the flash drive (under the "Add Fixes for Old BIOSes" option in the Format Options dropdown menu). If your machine is very old and does not recognize the bootable USB drive, enabling this option may help.
Capabilities:Checking the flash drive for bad blocks (data is written multiple times, from 1 to 4 passes, with a default of 2).As for creating bootable media, there are options available: MS-DOS / FreeDOS (built into the utility) or SysLinux (a set of "penguin" kernel loaders).Writing bootable ISO images.Keeping logs, which can be useful in particularly difficult cases.Portable version, works without installation on a computer.
Notes on DOS support:If you are creating a bootable DOS disk and using a non-US keyboard layout, Rufus will attempt to select the keyboard layout according to your system's localization. In this case, it is recommended to choose FreeDOS (which is the default), as it supports more keyboard layouts than MS-DOS.
Notes on UEFI/GPT support:Starting with version 1.3.2, Rufus supports UEFI/GPT installation media, meaning it will allow you to install Windows 7, Windows 8, or Linux in full UEFI/GPT mode. However, Windows Vista and later versions of Windows require full UEFI/GPT support. Due to Windows XP limitations, it restricts the creation of bootable disks in UEFI/MBR mode.
Rufus is useful when:You need to create a bootable USB device from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.).You need to work on a system without an installed OS.You need to flash BIOS or other firmware from DOS.You want to run low-level utilities.
List of ISOs supported by Rufus: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, Windows 8.1.
