Sometimes ago I wrote an article about freeware tools that can be used to create a bootable USB. There is a similar application that is portable and simple easy to use to create a bootable USB : Rufus.
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 be especially useful for cases where:
- You need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, 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
Rufus runs and work faster compared to other utility with same purpose such as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer or Windows 7 USB download tool. Rufus able to create a bootable Windows 7 two times faster compared to those utilities.
There are options that include a FreeDOS, its useful for example to upgrade or flashing BIOS. Despite its small in size, you can use it directly without installation process.
Rufus supports creating a bootable USB drive from various operating systems, such as Arch Linux, Archbang, CentOS, Damn Small Linux, Fedora, FreeDOS, Gentoo, gNewSense, Hiren’s Boot CD, Knoppix, Kubuntu, NT Password Registry Editor, OpenSUSE, Slackware, Tails, Ubuntu, Ultimate Boot CD, Windows 7, Windows 8 Developer Preview, Windows Vista, etc.
You can download two versions of Rufus (with FreeDOS or without FreeDOS) :
- Rufus v1.1.3 with FreeDOS support (407 KB)
- Rufus v1.1.3 without FreeDOS support (146 KB)
Screenshots :
