Rufus is a program that allows you to create bootable USB drives (flash drives) from an.iso file, which is very useful when you need to install the program and the operating system on a Windows computer that does not have an optical disc drive. Read our article to find out all the details of working with Rufus.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Working with Rufus
Step 1. Go to the official Rufus website
Step 2. Scroll down to the "Download" section and download the latest version of the program to your Windows computer
Step 3. When the file is downloaded, double-click on it with the left mouse button to start the installation
No further action is required.
Step 4. Insert the flash drive required to work with Rufus into an available USB port on your computer
Step 5. Before starting the program, transfer all personal data from the USB flash drive to your computer hard drive
Rufus will format and erase all data from the flash drive.
Step 6. Select the USB flash drive in the drop-down menu "Device"
Typically, a flash drive has no name ("No_title").
Step 7. Check the box next to the "Create bootable disc" option and select "ISO image" from the drop-down menu
An.iso file is an image of a file that contains all the content of a specific file system, like an operating system.
Step 8. Click on the disk icon next to the "ISO image" option and select the.iso file you want to write to the USB flash drive
Step 9. Click on the "Start" button and then "OK" to erase and format the USB stick to work with Rufus
The program will start copying the contents of the.iso file to the USB flash drive. The whole process can take up to 5 minutes.
Step 10. When the program finishes preparing the USB drive, click Close
Step 11. Remove the USB flash drive from the computer
Step 12. Make sure that the computer on which you want to install the.iso file is turned off and insert the USB flash drive into an available USB port
Step 13. Turn on your computer
The computer will automatically boot from the USB flash drive and you will have the opportunity to install the desired program or operating system.
If your computer won't boot from the USB stick, follow these steps to change the BIOS settings and boot from the USB stick
Part 2 of 2: Troubleshooting Rufus
Step 1. Check the box next to the option "Show external USB drives" if the program does not recognize your flash drive
Some USB drivers may not be compatible with Rufus.
Click the arrow next to the Formatting Options option to display a panel with additional program options
Step 2. Try using a different flash drive if you get the message “The device has been deleted because it does not contain media” while working with Rufus
This error usually means that the USB stick no longer recognizes the device memory or that it can no longer be overwritten.
Step 3. If the message "Error: [0x00000015] The device is not ready" appears, try disabling and then re-enabling automatic device mounting on the computer
This error can occur if you have disabled auto-mount.
- Go to the "Start" or "Explorer" menu and enter "cmd" in the search box.
- Right-click the "cmd.exe" file and select "Run as administrator".
- Type mountvol / e in the dialog box and press Enter.
- Close the Command Prompt window and try starting Rufus again.