How to Create a Windows Bootable USB using Rufus, and an Even Easier Alternative

What is Rufus?

Rufus is likely no stranger to those who are tech-savvy and have a good understanding of their computers and operating systems. Essentially, Rufus is a free and open-source, lightweight portable application for Microsoft Windows. It offers experienced users almost everything they need, including two highly sought-after features. One is the ability to low-level format a USB flash drive or memory stick, and the other is to create USB installation media from bootable ISO files of Windows, Linux, UEFI, and more.

关于Rufus可引导USB

The Rufus bootable USB feature is utilized to create bootable USB drives, enabling the installation of a fresh Windows operating system on a non-bootable computer requiring repair or upgrade to a newer OS like Windows 11.

The standard process for creating a Windows USB drive using Rufus involves having an empty, clean USB flash drive with a capacity of 8GB or more, as well as a downloaded ISO file of Windows 11 or Windows 10. Essentially, the USB drive's size should be equal to or greater than the ISO file. Converting a regular USB drive to a bootable one will erase all existing data, so if the flash drive contains any, ensure you have backed up that data to another drive to keep it safe, especially if the USB drive is being reused.

How to Create a Bootable USB using Rufus

As we mentioned, you can resort to using the Rufus bootable USB option when dealing with the following scenarios:

• You need to burn a Windows 11 or Windows 10 ISO file to a USB drive
• You need to create USB installation media for Windows 11 or Windows 10
• You need to work with a computer experiencing startup issues
• You need to boot a computer without any operating system installed

With that in mind, it's useful to create a bootable USB drive so that you can install any supported Windows operating system (Windows 7 and later, both 32-bit and 64-bit) to be able to repair a computer, reinstall the OS, or perform a manual Windows upgrade.

* You might be interested in Upgrading to Windows 11 for free from Windows 10

Refer to the Rufus interface and follow this 4-step guide to create a bootable Windows USB drive:

Step 1. Insert a USB drive (greater than 8GB) into your PC and launch Rufus.

Step 2. Set the Device to your USB drive and click SELECT to choose the Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 installation media.

Step 3. To format, set the Volume label and leave the File system and Cluster size at their default settings.

Step 4. Click START and wait for Rufus to create the specific Windows installation media USB for you.

Bonus Tip: Bootable Windows USB vs. Portable Windows USB 额外提示：可启动Windows USB与便携式Windows USB

After spending some time with Rufus, you likely understand that a Windows bootable USB drive contains a Windows installation file (ISO) to help you set up a brand new, functional, and stable Windows operating system on your computer or laptop. However, there may be times when your goal for creating a bootable USB isn't for Windows installation but rather to have a portable version of a preferred operating system for various purposes.

If your need for a bootable Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 USB drive pertains to any of the following scenarios, you should consider using tool OS2Go rather than Rufus:

• You wish to continue using a customized Windows OS on another computer.
• You want to play Windows games on a Mac without installing Windows OS on your Mac.
• You desire to run the Windows OS used in your office computer on your personal computer at home.

In short, when you want to create a copy of a Windows computer on a USB drive and use that drive on any other Windows computer or a Mac without taking the time to install, a portable USB creator tool can make it happen seamlessly.

The method of creating a portable Windows OS on a USB drive involves迁移整个Windows OS安装，包括程序、数据、首选项和计算机上的用户账户到USB驱动器。因此，对USB驱动器容量的要求基于系统驱动器的已使用空间。你可以首先检查Windows系统驱动器（C:）的磁盘空间，然后找到合适的USB驱动器，按照以下指南使用工具OS2Go来创建便携式Windows 11或Windows 10 USB驱动器。

Step 1. Install OS2Go on your Windows computer, which will show you the used space on your system drive. Insert a USB drive with a capacity greater than the used space on your system drive. Select the target USB drive and click Next to proceed.

Step 2. OS2Go will warn you that the following action will erase all data on your drive. Make sure you've backed up all important data. Click Continue to proceed.

Step 3. Adjust disk layout. The default disk layout on the target drive will be identical to the source drive. You can also edit the layout to suit your requirements. Check the option if you're using a Solid State Drive as the Windows boot drive. Then, click Proceed.

Step 4. Then OS2Go will begin creating the portable USB drive. This process may take a while, depending on your operating system and network conditions. Once the progress reaches 100%, the USB drive should be bootable.

Step 5. Insert the portable Windows USB and start your computer. Press the necessary key (F2, DEL, F10, etc.) to access BIOS. Select to boot from the USB drive.

注意: 请确保便携式USB和目标计算机的启动模式（UEFI或Legacy）相同，否则可能无法启动。