About this release
Rufus is the small tool that does one thing better than anything its size has a right to, turning an installation image into a bootable USB drive. It is a single portable executable barely over a megabyte, it launches instantly, and it writes a bootable stick faster than most alternatives while giving you real control over how the media is built. For anyone who installs operating systems, it lives on a USB stick and gets used constantly.
The control is what sets it apart from a plain image writer. You choose the partition scheme and the target firmware, so a stick can be built to boot a UEFI machine or an older legacy one exactly as needed, and it detects sensible defaults from the image you give it. It writes Windows images, the various flavours of the common free operating systems, and low level utility and diagnostic images that other tools stumble on.
For Windows installers it adds shortcuts people find hard to live without. It can prepare a stick that skips the account sign in requirement, the hardware checks and other setup nags, so the install proceeds straight to a usable desktop. It is free and open source, it keeps nothing resident, and it asks for nothing beyond the image and the stick you point it at.
What it does
- Writes bootable USB drives from installation images
- Choice of partition scheme and target firmware for UEFI or legacy
- Sensible defaults detected from the image you provide
- Supports Windows, common free operating systems and utility images
- Setup shortcuts for Windows that skip account and hardware check nags
- Bad block check on the target stick before writing
- Single portable executable with nothing to install
- Very fast writing compared with most alternatives
- Over forty interface languages
- Free and open source with no activation
Changes in this version
- Updated Windows setup bypass options for the latest installer
- Faster writing on high speed USB sticks
- Improved detection of image type and sensible defaults
- Better handling of very large images
- Refreshed interface with clearer option grouping
What the package contains
- Rufus portable executable
- Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds
- All interface languages
- Windows setup shortcut options
- Readme with the install order written out step by step
Installation notes
Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.
- Extract the executable to any folder, it is portable and needs no install.
- Insert the USB stick you want to make bootable, it will be erased.
- Run the executable, it needs no activation, this one is free and open source.
- Select your image, then set the partition scheme and target firmware.
- Choose any Windows setup shortcuts you want, then start the write.
- Wait for it to finish, then boot the target machine from the stick.
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 7 or newer, 32-bit or 64-bit |
| Processor | Any processor |
| Memory | No meaningful requirement |
| Graphics | No requirement |
| Storage | 2 MB for the tool |
| Media | A USB stick large enough for the image |
Things worth knowing
- Writing to a stick erases it completely, make sure it holds nothing you need first.
- This one is genuinely free and open source, there is no activation and nothing to bypass in the tool itself.
- Match the partition scheme and firmware to the target machine, the wrong pairing produces a stick it will not boot from.
Questions about this title
Do I need to install it?
What are the Windows setup shortcuts?
Which partition scheme should I pick?
Is it really free?
What people are saying
Fastest way to make an install stick, full stop. Under two megabytes and it just works.
The setup shortcuts for skipping the account and checks are worth it alone. Straight to desktop.
Keep it on the same stick I image. Run it in place, no install. Perfect.
Listing information
This entry is catalogued under Utilities & Tools and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, over 40 interface languages, and the supported platform list is Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 4.15.2396 is the current catalogued build, last checked 1 week ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 3 years ago.