Booting-In With Rufus

Rufus stands for: Reliable USB Formatting Utility (with Source). It is a very efficient utility that can be mainly used in formatting and creating a bootable flash drive from an ISO. It can be also useful in instances where:

·         creation of a USB installation media from bootable ISOs like Windows and Linux

·         working with systems without any OS installed

·         flashing a BIOS (or any firmware) from DOS

·         the usage of a low-level utility is much appreciated

Aside from its functionality, Rufus also lots of advantages over other similar utility products.

·         Its size doesn’t even exceed 1 MB. Current versions are still around 150 kb with full ISO support.

·         It has a simple but functional UI.

·         It doesn’t require installation.

·         Checks for bad blocks and detects fake drives

·         Supports more than 30 languages

·         It’s for free.

Speed comparison between Rufus and similar utilities running in Windows 7.

            Windows 7 x64: en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618240.iso

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool v1.0.30	00:08:10
Universal USB Installer v1.8.7.5	00:07:10
UNetbootin v1.1.1.1	00:06:20
RMPrepUSB v2.1.638	00:04:10
WiNToBootic v1.2	00:03:35
Rufus v1.1.1	00:03:25

                        Source:

System Requirement:

Windows XP or higher, 32 or 64-bit

Download:

Download links can be found here: rufus.akeo.ie and reboot.pro. After downloading the executable file, run it and it will be ready for use.

Creating Windows 7 bootable USB drive using Rufus:

What’s needed:

• USB drive (at least 4 gb)
• Windows 7 .iso file

1. Double click Rufus to open.

2. Select device drive volume

3. Click drive image to access Windows 7 .iso file stored in computer

4. No other changes necessary in the since the Windows .iso file would automatically adjust necessary settings.

5. Click Start. A warning will then appear that all your USB data will be formatted. Click OK to start formatting the USB drive.

6. The process will take at most 4 minutes (depending on the USB’s speed). Click close after the process is done. Your Windows 7 boot disk is now ready for use. 

FAQ

Other information about Rufus is available here.