Create a Bootable USB Drive on Windows

 

Create a Bootable USB Drive on Windows

There are many tools that can do this job for you, but we recommend a free program called Rufus—it’s faster and more reliable than many of the other tools you’ll see recommended, including UNetbootin.

Download Rufus and run it on your Windows PC. The tool will open immediately—you don’t even have to install it.

Connect a USB drive with at least 2GB of free space to your Windows PC (this may vary depending on your distribution of choice). The contents of this drive will be erased, so back up any important files on the drive first. Click the “Device” box in Rufus and ensure your connected drive is selected.

If the “Create a bootable disk using” option is grayed out, click the “File System” box and select “FAT32”.

Activate the “Create a bootable disk using” checkbox, click the button to the right of it, and select your downloaded ISO file.

Once you’ve selected the correct options, click the “Start” button to begin creating the bootable drive.

You may be told you need newer SysLinux files. Just click the “Yes” button and Rufus will automatically download them for you.

Rufus will ask how you want to write the image. Just select the default option—“Write in ISO Image Mode (Recommended)”—and click “OK”.

You’ll be warned that all data on the USB drive will be erased. Click “OK” to continue if the drive has no important data on it. (If you forgot to back up your data, click “Cancel”, back up the data on the USB drive, and then run Rufus again.)

Rufus will create the bootable USB drive. You can click “Close” to close Rufus when it’s done.

Next, restart your computer and boot from the USB drive.