Download rufus latest version. Rufus program: instructions for creating a bootable flash drive

For a long time we could not find a useful note about the creation bootable flash drive? There is a program called Rufus, we’ll look at how to use it now - everything else is superfluous. At one time, it was difficult to imagine that bootable flash drives would completely replace their optical counterparts. USB drives have dropped so much in price that they are available to absolutely any user and do not represent an unprecedented luxury. When flash drives were just gaining popularity, it was not so easy to create a bootable drive based on it; you've probably come across notes on the Internet about ways to command line and other difficulties for the average user. Technologies do not stand still, and to write any ISO image to a flash drive, we just need to learn how to use the Rufus program - in my opinion, nothing better has been invented for these tasks and I can’t even imagine what other functionality might be useful to us.

I want to clarify one point, Rufus is a program for creating a bootable USB flash drive from a ready-made ISO image. To configure such an image yourself is the topic of a whole series of notes and Rufus is not your help here, this application completely different purpose.

Just recently, a popular and relevant article was published on the blog about how from the official Microsoft website. This image we can slaughter to a flash drive using a monitored program. Look at the chain that is being built, we have the legal opportunity to download Windows 10 and you will learn how to make a bootable installation media from this ISO image - we will look at all this in detail in new articles.

Note: let the article, and in general on the blog, mainly describe Windows or Android applications, then to write to a flash drive with using Rufus you can burn any correct image, be it Ubuntu or any other Linux distribution

Any free application For Windows, I strongly recommend that you download only from official sites. You never know which version is posted on a third-party resource, or whether it is there at all. The Rufus developers did not add any additional programs like a mail agent or Amigo browser - everything is as clean as possible. Just follow the link below:

To our delight, the download page on the website is entirely in Russian and it’s quite easy to navigate. We are offered 2 versions of the program to choose from:

• Rufus is the most common distribution of the program;
• Rufus Portable - portable version that does not require installation, download and use.

There is also a section “Other versions”, but they are of no interest to us. It is interesting that the size of the application is very small and several times smaller than its direct competitors, although the program has much more capabilities and is more stable than its analogues.

Remember I promised 2 download methods? — you can download the Rufus program from my blog by clicking on the button below. A portable version is included in the archive.

Dear friends: unfortunately due to false positives of antiviruses on useful files This blog is suffering, so you have to use a password on the archive - itshnegcom

Now we have figured out where to get a valuable application, the simplest thing left is to figure out how to work with the Rufus program.

Rufus: how to use the program

In fact, everything here is quite simple, the program has only one window and there is nothing special to configure. To be brief, we just need to select the recording medium, decide on the ISO image to be recorded and click “Start” - wait for the recording to finish. The default parameters are quite sufficient for 99% of users, and now we’ll talk to you about each menu item in more detail and try to burn a bootable USB flash drive in practice.

Features Overview

Rufus is a project that is constantly developing and acquiring support for new ISO images and increasing its functionality. I remember for the firmware Motherboard BIOS Gigabyte boards I've been looking for a clean bootable USB flash drive with MS-DOS for a very long time, and Rufus can create one in a couple of clicks (To activate the mode for creating a flash drive with MS-DOS, the FAT32 file system must be selected)

All the inscriptions are in Russian - all the points are logical, what else does an inexperienced user need?

1. We need to select the flash drive from which we plan to create bootable media
2. MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI - this is suitable for the vast majority of motherboards; usually this parameter is set automatically with the selection of the desired ISO image.
3. By checking the “Create bootable disk” option, we can select our ISO image (by the way, the ability to add VHD or IMG has now been added)

IN new version Rufus 2.0 appeared one very interesting and useful feature, with which you can create not only installation media, but also Windows flash drive To Go, from which you can boot and work directly from it without installing it on HDD (apparently Windows PE from many multiboot flash drive builders work on a similar principle)

If you activate this item, then be prepared for a long wait - in fact, not only will the image be written, but a full-fledged Windows will be installed on your flash drive. By the way, this function is active only if you run Rufus in Windows 8 and higher, and it does not work with any flash drives - unfortunately, I cannot explain why this is the case.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive in practice

Now we will look at the step-by-step process of writing an image to a flash drive. If you look into it, it will become clear that this instruction redundant and there is no urgent need for it. Click on the button with the disk image and select the ISO image of the operating system distribution. If you want to make some changes, please do so, but usually they are not required. Just click “Start” and wait for the recording to the flash drive to finish. Usually for recording Windows distribution 10 takes about 5 minutes; in the case of Windows To Go, the process can take significantly longer (as you remember, in fact you are doing a clean installation of Windows on a USB flash drive)

After completion, you will have a working bootable USB flash drive from which you can install it on your computer operating system (as it is fashionable to say here - through the BIOS). Please note that all data from the flash drive will be destroyed without the possibility of recovery.

In this simple way we were able to create a bootable flash drive, but why did Rufus win popular recognition? — we’ll talk about this in the concluding part of the article.

Why Rufus - what's good about it?

The most important advantage of Rufus is that it is absolutely free. I know that UltraISO is very often recommended for recording (I used it myself at one time), but this is a commercial product and costs real money. Why should you look for activators and keygens when all this is available in a free alternative?

If you rely on tests on the official website and my experience, Rufus really writes an image onto a flash drive faster than its competitors, and it won’t be difficult to figure everything out - after all, it’s in Russian.

P.S. Have you downloaded Rufus and don’t know how to use it? In this article, we analyzed in as much detail as possible all the functionality and advantages of this program, in practice we recorded an ISO image on a flash drive to install Windows from it, what else might we need from it? — I hope I answered all your questions as thoroughly as possible.

Probably many users associated with the creation bootable media, have heard of a program like Rufus. The instructions for using it are quite simple. However, there are several key points and nuances that should be mentioned separately. For the Rufus 2.7 program, instructions for use will be considered (although today this particular modification is not relevant).

What is Rufus for?

The application is a universal tool for quick creation bootable media, which are USB devices. For the Rufus application, the instructions for use directly indicate that regular flash drives, external USB hard drives, and even removable cards memory (their file system is supported).

Let us immediately note that this program is focused exclusively on USB devices, so create bootable media in the form optical disk or other hard drive will not work.

Main features of the application

For Rufus, the instructions for indicate one interesting point, associated with some non-standard application capabilities.

The program itself is designed to work in the operating systems Windows, Linux, etc. (Windows supports modifications from XP to 10). But the most amazing thing is that the application is capable of creating firmware for BIOS and UEFI or recording system images for working on computers that do not have any OS.

You can't refuse BIOS support either. For the Rufus application, the instructions indicate that both are supported. outdated versions, and the newest ones in the form of UEFI.

The scope of the program is quite wide. You can create bootable media not only for cases where you need to install an operating system from scratch (or reinstallation). It is actively used to recover OS and passwords. In addition, when writing to media, the application can find bad or problematic sectors and format or restore USB drives.

Released versions

Today there are two main modifications of the program: stationary and portable. Both versions take up little space, and the difference is that all the settings for the stationary modification are written in the system registry keys, while for the portable version a specially created settings file is used.

Rufus program: instructions. Beginning of work

It makes no difference whether the user launched a portable or stationary version, the first step is to make the initial setup.

The default application interface is configured to use in English. Therefore, first you need to click on the globe icon located at the top right, and select Russian from the menu that appears.

Please note that the program interface (for Rufus the instructions directly indicate this, and the user can see it with his own eyes) contains only one window in which all actions will be performed. This completely eliminates the possibility of pressing the wrong button or selecting the wrong option.

Selecting a partition scheme

So, the program is running (until the flash drive is inserted, the main fields will be empty). As soon as the user inserts the device, the application detects the drive and fills in all fields automatically!

If several devices are connected, you can select the one you need from the list. For the uninitiated person, this is just a godsend, because in most cases the parameters set in the main fields do not need to be changed. The only exception is the recording method, but more on that later. But if you still need to make changes, we will consider each parameter separately.

On initial stage you need to select the partition type. There are three options here:

• MBR ( boot record) for BIOS or UEFI;
• MBR for UEFI only;
• GPT for UEFI.

What to choose from all this? The first option is universal. The second is intended for computers exclusively with UEFI systems. The third option should only be chosen if computer system A hard drive with a capacity of more than 2 GB is used.

File system definition

For Rufus, the instructions in the next step involve selecting file system. Usually NTFS is offered by default.

But in principle, if the boot distribution (image) of the system being installed is less than 4 GB in size, you can install FAT32. The default cluster size set by the program itself can be left unchanged.

Volume label and formatting options

Next, you will need to specify the volume label (but this is not required) and go to the formatting options. To save time, you can leave quick formatting, however, if there is doubt that the media may have been damaged, you can use the full one. In this case, you must leave a checkmark in the field for creating bootable media.

Now the most important thing. In most cases, from the drop-down menu you should select Create a disk from ISO image, after which, using the browse button, you will need to specify the path to the source in the form of a pre-loaded or saved image of the future system.

Activate recording

Finally everything preliminary actions completed. Just in case, we check the set parameters again, simply press the start button and agree with the notification that all data on the device will be destroyed during the formatting process.

Then all you have to do is wait for the recording process to complete. According to the developers themselves, the process, for example, for a Windows 7 image, can take approximately 5-10 minutes, no more. This figure is believed to be the minimum among all programs that can be used to create bootable USB drives.

Rufus: instructions (Windows 10). Using Windows To Go

Version 2.0 and higher, used in Windows systems 8 and 10. When using it, you can see a special Windows string To Go, which you want to use instead standard installation systems.

What it is? It turns out that this method of creating bootable media is designed to burn onto it in such a way that when you boot from it, you can run a full-fledged Windows Enterprise OS and work with it like a regular OS!

However, during the recording process, some important conditions must be met. First of all, as stated, it is required to use exclusively USB drives recommended by Microsoft (if Windows is needed as the working OS). The second condition is that the drive must have a capacity of at least 32 GB. Otherwise, the entire process is completely identical to the steps described above. The only thing you should pay attention to is setting the NTFS standard as the file system (in no case FAT).

Conclusion

As a kind of afterword, it remains to say that the program really looks very convenient and fast. This is confirmed not only by many users, but also by professional experts. In addition, understanding the application will not be difficult even for a person who has never created bootable media in his life and is about to do it for the first time. The presence of only one window (workspace) and almost complete automation speak only in favor of this application. It's no surprise that it has earned so many rave reviews.

By the way, the recording speed is especially noted. Even the portable version works so quickly that many similar heavy packages could not even dream of this. And if you consider that you can also use the USB 3.0 standard, the recording speed increases incredibly. In addition, the creation of media with full working system In general, it evokes genuine admiration.

A small program for creating bootable USB drives. Supports BIOS and UEFI boot methods. Compatible with MBR and GPT partition structures.

Description of the Rufus program

Rufus is one of the most popular software solutions to format a USB drive and create a bootable area. The program is widely used to create bootable flash drives for installing an operating system using an ISO image file.

The main advantages of the program are high speed and stability, as well as a simple, intuitive interface that combines the selection of all options in one window.

Creating a Bootable Windows USB Media

After starting the program, you need to select the desired USB drive. In addition to ordinary flash drives, the program supports external hard disks operating via a USB interface. (To be able to prepare a bootable external HDD or SSD, you need to enable the "List of USB drives" option in the "Advanced disk options" section).

Further, depending on your goals bootable usb-device requires specifying "Boot Method". For example, "MS-DOS" and "FreeDOS" are used to prepare a boot device for software updates motherboard or for running console applications. To create a Windows/Linux installation USB disk, use a DVD, CD or ISO image file. (You can legally download the image of the original Windows editions from the Microsoft server using the "Windows ISO Download Tool" utility).

Then indicate in the “Target system” section the boot type of your system on which you plan to use the created bootable USB device. Legacy "BIOS" or modern "UEFI" mechanism.

The next step is to select the file system type of your boot external drive or flash drive. Optionally, you can specify the volume label for the USB device to be provisioned. The remaining options are purely individual and, as a rule, remain by default. By clicking on the "Start" button, the formatting process will begin, followed by copying (if necessary) files to form your bootable flash drive or USB-HDD.

The Rufus utility has a minimum of its own parameters. They are responsible for the rules automatic update programs.

The program developer (Pete Batard) provides each new release of Rufus with an additional portable version "Portable".

Rufus is free, simple program to create a bootable USB flash drive from ISO images. Of course, if you have an ISO image, you can simply burn it to a CD or DVD. This won't help you if your target system doesn't have an optical drive. USB is also easier to carry and protects against damage.

Rufus requires no installation and is generally very easy to set up. For example, it will automatically detect your USB drive, so you may not have to select that. Getting started can be as simple as browsing your ISO image and clicking the Start button: the program will then walk you through everything it needs to know. However, if you want more control, you can customize how the USB drive is formatted (file system, cluster size, etc.). Both UEFI and GPT support are currently supported. And the program even includes some advanced formatting options that may help recognize your drive on older PCs, although this is usually not necessary. And if this is a task you need to perform frequently, then you'll be pleased to hear that Rufus is quite fast.

Rufus - how to use?

Let's start with the fact that you can download Rufus for free in Russian here. After you download the free program, run it. In the window that appears you will see several options. Select your device where you want to install the new operating system. Then select the partition scheme and system interface type, depending on what system you want to record. The file system is always FAT by default, but you can choose the one you need. For example, for Windows the file system will be NTFS. Set the cluster size to "default". It's worth mentioning that you can also choose the boot disk type, such as FreeDos, MS-DOS or ISO Image. Don't forget to choose yourself ISO file operating system that we want to write to USB. All other options can be left untouched, that is, by default. Now you can press the "Start" button and wait until Rufus writes all the necessary files to the USB drive. As soon as the recording ends, you will be able to use your

Once you have downloaded Rufus for free, created a bootable USB drive, you can now safely keep your operating system even in your pocket. This is very convenient as you can turn on your operating system whenever you want, as long as you have access to any computer or laptop. Creating a bootable USB is very easy, as you can see, literally created in a few clicks using the Rufus program.

We will tell you about the most quick way make a bootable USB flash drive with almost any operating system.

Spent time: 37min. Flash drive with USB interface 2.0 doesn't show very well high speed. with USB 3.0 it would be at least twice as fast. Image Windows 10 x86-x64.iso weight 6.62GB downloaded in advance.

Rufus weighs 945 KB, but despite its weight it is very useful program intended for:

• creating a bootable USB disk from a bootable ISO image (Windows, Linux, UEFI, LiveCD, etc.)
• firmware from under DOS, For example BIOS,
• launch low-level utilities, such as MemtestVictoria and so on.

For correct operation Rufus, requires Windows XP or later Windows version. The program also does not require installation; after launching the application is ready to work.

An incomplete list of ISO images that Rufus can work with.

Where can I download?

On this moment current version - 2.18 .

Or from the official website -> http://rufus.akeo.ie/ (Fig. 1)

Fig.1 - Rufus official website. Download Rufus.

We downloaded regular version according to the first link, not Portable. I used both versions and I can say that the only difference is the appearance of the configuration file - rufus.ini in the Portable version, and the ability to enable automatic checking for updates, NO!

Creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 x86-x64.

Run the downloaded executable file rufus-2.18.exe.

We are asked to select our USB drive from which we want to make a bootable USB flash drive. The number of detected devices is written at the bottom of the window. (Fig.2)

Click on the disk icon (Fig. 3) and select boot image, in our case it is - Windows 10 x86-x64.iso.

Rufus will automatically set the recommended parameters, I personally only changed volume label With "ESD ISO" on "Windows 10 x86-x64", h so as not to forget what is stored on this flash drive. (Fig. 4)

And so the flash drive and iso image are selected, click " Start " .

Rufus warns us about the destruction of all data from our flash drive. Click "OK ".(Fig.5)

The process of creating a bootable flash drive has begun. Green line - image loading progress. The procedure currently being performed is described below. In the lower right corner you can see the time spent. (Fig.6)

The creation of a bootable USB flash drive is complete. We take out the flash drive, you can use it. (Fig. 7)

You can also open the log, here you can see what actions are taking place in the process. For example, if creating a flash drive fails with an error, then you can track the problem and maybe, if you are a more experienced user, solve it. (Fig. 8)

Meticulous overview of parameters.

Sometimes, before downloading a program, we want to be sure that it has the functions we need. let's quickly go through key parameters which can be changed manually.

"Device" - Selecting connected USB devices.

"Partition scheme and system interface type"- We are asked to choose one of three points. (Fig. 9)

• MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI (Option for most computers with BIOS or UEFI interface)
• MBR for computers with UEFI (Option for computers with UEFI interface. When Windows installation XP with USB access)
• GTP for computers with UEFI (Option for computers with UEFI interface. When installing Windows XP without access to USB)

"File system"- Select the required file system. You are asked to choose one of four points. (Fig. 10)

• Fat32 (default)
• NTFS
• exFAT

"Cluster size" - Selecting the minimum cluster size that occupies each data block. (Fig. 10)

• 2048 bytes
• 4096 bytes (default)
• 8192 bytes
• 16 KB
• 32 KB
• 64 KB

"New volume label" - Give the flash drive a name.

Available checkboxes and lists in the "Format Options" section.(Fig.11)

"Check for bad blocks" + "Select the number of passes from 1 to 4- Checking the device for bad (damaged) blocks using a byte table.

"Quick format" - Quick/Full Format.

"Create boot disk" + "Boot method" selection list- Apparently you can uncheck the checkbox and remove the function " Boot disk"... Why? Some kind of nonsense...

• Load Method List
• ISO image
• DD image
• Syslinux 4.07
• Syslinux 6.03
• ReactOS
• Grub 2.02
• Grub4DOS 0.4.6a
• UEFI:NTFS

"Create an extended label and device icon" - Allow display of labels with international characters and set the device icon.(Created autorun.inf)

Available checkboxes and lists in the "Advanced options" section.

Extra options can be opened by clicking on the down arrow to the right of Formatting options.

"Show external USB drives"- I don’t understand why this is a function, I don’t see where they are shown.

"Add fixes for older BIOSes" - Add additional hidden section and align the partition boundaries. This will help improve bootloader detection in older BIOS versions.

"Use MBR with BIOS ID" + "List of IDs" - Use an MBR that allows bootloader selection and can disguise itself as a device identifier in the BIOS. Try disguising the first bootable USB drive (usually 0x80) as another drive. This is required to install Windows XP only. - I personally have never encountered this.

The review is over! I can say that in 99.9% of cases you are unlikely to need what is described in Meticulous review, Rufus for all popular systems will automatically select the necessary parameters.