rufus software Usage

Download the executable and run it – no. installation is necessary.

The executable is digitally signed and the signature should state:

• “Akeo Consulting” (v1.3.0 or later)
• “Pete Batard – Open Source Developer” (v1.2.0 or earlier)

Notes on DOS support:

If you create a DOS bootable drive and use a non-US keyboard, Rufus will attempt to select a keyboard layout according to the locale of your system.

Notes on ISO Support:

All versions of Rufus since v1.1.0 allow the creation of a bootable USB from an ISO image (.iso).

Creating an ISO image from a physical disc or from a set of files is very easy to do however, through the use of a CD burning application, such as the freely available InfraRecorder or CDBurnerXP.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A Rufus FAQ is available HERE.

To provide feedback, report a bug or request an enhancement, please use the GitHub issue tracker. Or you can send an e-mail.

License

GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later.
You are free to distribute, modify or even sell the software, insofar as you respect the GPLv3 license.

Rufus is produced in a 100% transparent manner, from its public source, using a MinGW32 environment.

Changelog

• Version 4.3 (2023.10.19)
  
  • Add support for Rock Ridge symbolic links preservation when NTFS is used
  • Add an exception to enforce NTFS for Linux Mint’s LMDE
  • Add an expert feature to restrict a Windows installation to S Mode rufus software
  • Fix persistence support for Debian 12 when booted in BIOS mode
  • Fix a regression that prevented the opening of .vhd images
  • Update UEFI:NTFS to report a more explicit error on bootmgr security issues
  • Improve the search for conflicting processes by running it in a background thread
  • Improve support for Slax Linux
• Other versions

Source Code

• Rufus 4.3 (6.1 MB)
• Alternatively, you can clone the git repository using:
  

  $ git clone https://github.com/pbatard/rufus

• For more information, see the GitHub project.

If you are a developer, you are very much encouraged to tinker with Rufus and submit patches.

Donations

Since I’m getting asked about this on regular basis, there is no donation button on this page.

The main reason is that I feel that the donation system doesn’t actually help software development and worse, can be guilt-inducing for users who choose not to donate.

Instead, I think that “mécénat“; or developer patronage, from companies which benefit most from a healthy FLOSS ecosystem, is what we should be aiming for. This is because, unless they are backed by a company, developers who want to provide quality Open Source software cannot realistically sustain full time development, no matter how generous their software users are.

Also, unless you are blocking them (hint, hint), you’ll notice that there are ads on this page, which I consider sufficient revenue enough.

Finally the fact that I have the freedom to develop Free Software in my spare time should indicate that I’m well-off enough, and therefore that you should direct your generosity towards people who need it a lot more than I do. If you really insist, you can always make a donation to the Free Software Foundation, as they are the main reason software like Rufus is possible.

At any rate, I’ll take this opportunity to say thank you for your continuing support and enthusiasm about this little program: it is much appreciated!

But please continue to feel free to use Rufus without any guilt about not contributing for it financially – you should never have to!

(1) Non exhaustive list of ISOs Rufus is known to work with