Rufus is one of several programs that allow you to create an “ISO image” on a USB stick. To create a bootable USB using Rufus, all you need is:
Once you’ve got these ready, just follow these steps to make your own bootable USB:
Step 1: Open up Rufus and plug your clean USB stick into your computer.
Step 2: Rufus will automatically detect your USB. Click on Device and choose the USB you want to use from the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Make sure the Boot Selection option is set to Disk or ISO image then click Select. Rufus will open a file explorer browser window; locate the ISO image you want to burn onto the USB and select it.
Note: In the latest version of Rufus (3.5), there’s now an option to download the ISO image for Windows 8.1 or 10 directly through Rufus, if you don’t already have a copy saved. Just click on the drop-down arrow next to the Select button and choose Download instead. This will open a dialogue box where you can choose which Windows version you want to download.
Step 4: You’ll generally want to create a Standard Windows installation, and Rufus will automatically detect the correct Partition Scheme based on your device, so keep the default settings as they are. However, you can also change these if you want.
Step 5: Give the Volume label a name of your choice, or leave it as it is, and once again leave the default settings for File system and Cluster size. Now click Start
Note: if the USB you’re using isn’t large enough, you’ll get an error message you letting you know. In this case, you’ll need to start again with a different larger USB.
Step 6: You’ll get a warning saying that any data on the USB will be destroyed (this is normal). Click OK and Rufus will start creating the ISO image on the USB.
Step 7: Once Rufus has finished creating the ISO image on the USB, you can close it and your bootable USB is ready to go!