Rufus is a small utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.

It can be especially useful for cases where:

  • you need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.)
  • you need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed
  • you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
  • you want to run a low-level utility

Despite its small size, Rufus provides everything you need!

Non exhaustive list of ISOs Rufus is known to work with:

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 10, Windows 11, etc.

Oh, and Rufus is fast. 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.

What's New

  • Added download link for Rufus 3.20 Beta
  • Add a new selection dialog for Windows 11 setup customization:
    • Secure Boot and TPM bypass have now been moved to this dialog
    • Also allows to bypass the mandatory requirement for a Microsoft account on Windows 11 22H2
    • (NB: Network MUST be temporarily disabled for the local account creation to be proposed)
    • Also add an option to skip all collection questions (Sets all answers to "Don't allow")
    • Also add an option for setting internal drives offline for Windows To Go
  • Note: These customization options are only proposed when using a Windows 11 image.
  • Add support for distros using a nonstandard GRUB 2.0 prefix directory (openSUSE Live, GeckoLinux)
  • Add the ability to ignore USBs (See here)
  • Change drive listing to always list in increasing order of size
  • Update exceptions needed by Red Hat and derivatives for the 9.x releases
  • Update UEFI:NTFS drivers to latest
  • Reassign a letter for drives written in DD mode that don't have an ESP (e.g. CoreELEC)
  • Fix Windows refusing to mount Linux MBR partitions on FIXED drives
  • Fix support for multiextent files when Joliet is in use

Previous release notes

  • Add a new selection dialog for Windows 11 setup customization:
    • Secure Boot and TPM bypass have now been moved to this dialog
    • Also allows to bypass the mandatory requirement for a Microsoft account with Windows 11 22H2
    • (NB: Network MUST be temporarily disabled or unplugged for the local account creation to be proposed)
    • Also add an option to skip all collection questions (Sets all answers to "Don't allow"/"Refuse")
    • Also add an option for setting internal drives offline with Windows To Go
    • Note: These customization options are only proposed when using a Windows 11 image.
  • Add support for distros using a nonstandard GRUB 2.0 prefix directory (openSUSE Live, GeckoLinux)
  • Add the ability to ignore USBs (See here for details)
  • Change drive listing to always list in increasing order of size
  • Update exceptions needed by Red Hat and derivatives for latest versions
  • Update UEFI:NTFS drivers to latest
  • Reassign a letter for drives written in DD mode that don't have an ESP (CoreELEC)
  • Fix Windows refusing to mount Linux MBR partitions on FIXED drives

Rufus 3.18 changelog

  • Fix DLL sideloading vulnerabilities
  • Fix ISO → ESP creation when running on Windows 11
  • Fix an issue when detecting network connectivity when the DHCP service is disabled
  • Update FreeDOS to version 1.3
  • Add bypass of Windows 11 restrictions for in-place upgrades
  • Add Miracle Linux 8 to the list of Red Hat exceptions
  • Other internal fixes and improvements
  • Fix DLL sideloading vulnerabilities (#1838, #1877)
  • Fix ISO → ESP creation when running on Windows 11 (#1855)
  • Fix an issue when detecting network connectivity when the DHCP service is disabled (#1801)
  • Update FreeDOS to version 1.3
  • Add bypass of Windows 11 restrictions for in-place upgrades
  • Add Miracle Linux 8 to the list of Red Hat exceptions (#1866)
  • Other internal fixes and improvements

Previous release notes

  • Fix ISO mode support for Red Hat 8.2+ and derivatives
  • Fix BIOS boot support for Arch derivatives
  • Fix removal of some boot entries for Ubuntu derivatives
  • Fix log not being saved on exit
  • Add Windows 11 "Extended" installation support (Disables TPM/Secure Boot/RAM requirements)
  • Add UEFI Shell ISO downloads
  • Add support for Intel NUC card readers
  • Improve Windows 11 support
  • Improve Windows version reporting
  • Speed up clearing of MBR/GPT