11/29/22, 5:29 PM How to Burn an ISO File to a USB Drive

TECH FOR HUMANS

COMPUTERS, LAPTOPS & TABLETS > ACCESSORIES & HARDWARE 769

How to Burn an ISO File to a

USB Drive
The free Rufus tool can be used to 'burn' an ISO
image to a USB flash drive
By Tim Fisher Updated on June 23, 2022

What to K now

Download and open Rufus tool. Insert a USB drive and

select a device. Select Disk or ISO image. Locate and
select ISO image to burn.
Under Image option, choose Standard Windows
installation. Leave other options alone and choose Start.
Wait for the status to say "Ready," then close Rufus and
remove the USB drive.

This article explains how to put an ISO image on a flash drive so you
can properly boot from it to install an operating system or run some
other bootable program.

Tip: This process also works to burn a Windows 11 ISO to USB.

However, doing so via Microsoft's Windows 11 media creation
tool is best.

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Time Required: "Burning" an ISO image file to a USB device,

like a flash drive, usually takes less than 20 minutes, but the
total time depends a lot on the size of the ISO file.

How to Burn an ISO to USB With the Rufus

Tool
So you have an ISO file that you want on a flash drive or some other
USB storage device. You also need to be able to boot from it. Sounds
straightforward, right? Copy the file over and you're done!
Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

Note: Properly burning an ISO to USB is different than copying

the file or burning it to a disc. With ISO burning, you're not
technically "burning" anything to a USB drive. Adding to the
complexity is that you plan on booting from the USB drive once
you're done getting the ISO image on there.

Related: The 10 Best USB Flash Drives for Easy, Reliable File Transfer

1. Download Rufus, a free tool that will correctly prepare the USB
drive, automatically extract the contents of the ISO file you have,
and properly copy the files contained within it to your USB device,
including any files in the ISO needed to make it bootable.

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Rufus is a portable program (doesn't install), works on Windows

11, 10, 8, and 7, and will "burn" an ISO image file to any type of
USB storage device you happen to have.

Note: If you'd prefer to use a different ISO-to-USB tool, some

other good ones include balenaEtcher, UNetbootin, and
Universal USB Installer. Of course, if you do choose another
program, you won't be able to follow the instructions we've
written here because they pertain specifically to Rufus.

2. Open the version of Rufus you downloaded. The program will start
right away.

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As we mentioned earlier, Rufus is a portable program, meaning

that it just runs as is. This is a big reason why we prefer this ISO-to-
USB program over some of the other options out there.

Note: When it first opens, you're asked whether the program

should occasionally check for updates. It's up to you whether
you want to enable this, but it's best to do so if you plan to
use it again in the future.

3. Insert the flash drive or other USB device into your computer that
you want to "burn" the ISO file to, assuming it's not already
plugged in.

Important: Using Rufus to put an ISO image to a USB drive

will erase everything on the drive! Before continuing, check
that the drive is empty or that you've backed up any files you
want to keep.

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4. From the Device drop-down at the top of the program, choose the
USB storage device you want to burn the ISO file to.

Rufus tells you the size of the USB device, as well as the drive
letter and current free space on the drive. Use this information to
double-check that you're choosing the correct device, assuming
you have more than one plugged in. Don't worry about the free
space that's indicated, since you'll be erasing the entire drive as
part of this process.

Tip: If no drive is listed, or you can't find the one you're

expecting to see, there might be an issue with the USB device
you're planning on using for the ISO image, or Windows is
having some sort of problem seeing the drive. Try another
device and/or another USB port on your computer, or close
and reopen Rufus.
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From the Boot selection drop-down, make sure Disk or ISO
5.
image (Please select) is chosen.

6. Choose SELECT.

Tip: If this button says DOWNLOAD instead, select the

arrow next to it to find SELECT.

7. Locate and select the ISO image you want to burn to the flash
drive, and then press Open to load it into Rufus.

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8. Wait while the software inspects the ISO file you chose. This might
take several seconds or may go by so quickly that you don't even
notice.

Note: If you get an Unsupported ISO message, the ISO you

chose isn't supported for burning to USB by Rufus. In this
case, try one of the other programs listed in Step 1 or check
with the maker of the ISO image for more help getting their
software to work from a USB drive.

9. Under the Image option area, pick Standard Windows

installation if you see this and if that's the case.
For example, if you're putting a Windows installation ISO image
onto the flash drive, and you get this option, you'd want to enable
it for sure.
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10. Leave the Partition scheme, Target system, File system, and
Cluster size options alone unless you know what you're doing or
you've been advised to set any of those parameters to something
else.
For example, maybe a bootable tool you downloaded in ISO
format advised on its website to make sure the file system is FAT32
instead of NTFS if you're burning to USB. In that case, make that
change before continuing.

11. You're welcome to enter a custom volume label in the Volume

label field, but leaving it at whatever the default happens to be, or
even blank, shouldn't have any impact on anything.

12. Inside the Show advanced format options menu, you'll see a
number of...yes, format options! You can leave all of them in their
default state, but you're welcome to select Check device for bad
block s if you have some concern that the flash drive or USB
device you're using may have an issue.

Tip: Choosing 1 pass is just fine in most cases but knock

that up to 2 or more if you've had issues with this drive
before.

13. Select START to start the "burning" of the ISO file to the USB
device you chose.

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Note: If you get an Image is too big message, you'll need to

use a larger USB device or choose a smaller ISO image.

14. Read any warning messages and address them appropriately.

For example, select OK to the WARNING: ALL DATA ON DEVICE

'XYZ' WILL BE DESTROYED message that appears next.

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Warning: Take this message seriously! Make sure the flash

drive or other USB device is empty or that you're fine with
erasing everything on it.

You might also see a Download required message if Rufus needs

some additional files to complete the burn process. Selecting Yes
will start that download.

15. Wait while Rufus properly formats the USB drive so it's bootable,
and then copies all the files to the drive that are contained in the
ISO image you selected earlier.

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The total time to do this depends very much on how large the ISO
file is that you're working with. Some small diagnostic tools take
under one minute, while larger images (like a 5 GB Windows 11
ISO) could take closer to 20 minutes. Your computer and USB
hardware speeds are a big factor here as well.

16. Once the status at the bottom of the Rufus program window says
READY, you can close Rufus and remove the USB drive.
How To Create a Windows 10 Bootable USB

Boot From the USB Drive

Now that the ISO file is properly "burned," you can boot from the
USB device and then continue with whatever it is you're using this
drive for.
For example, if you've put a memory testing program on a flash drive,
you can now boot from that flash drive and test your RAM with it. The
same goes for bootable hard drive testing programs, data wipe
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programs, antivirus tools, etc.

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Tip: Booting from a USB drive is often as easy as plugging the

drive in to any free USB port and then restarting your computer,
but it can sometimes be much more complicated. See the
tutorial linked above if you need help.

Use the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool

You're more than welcome to use the procedure we've outlined
above with Rufus for Windows ISO images, like those you might have
downloaded for Windows 11, Windows 10, etc. However, there is a
more "official" procedure that uses free software from Microsoft.
We've written complete tutorials on these procedures, which also
includes guidance on other aspects of installing Windows from a
USB stick. See How to Install Windows 8 From USB or How to Install
Windows 7 From USB, depending on the version of Windows you're
installing.

Extract ISO Images With a File Compression

Program
Rufus, and related ISO-to-USB tools, are great when you need to get
some sort of bootable program, or even an entire operating system,
onto a USB drive. However, what if you have an ISO image that you
want to "burn" to a USB drive that isn't intended to be booted from?
An ISO of Microsoft Office comes to mind as a common example.

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In these cases, think of the ISO image you're working with as just any
other compressed format, like a ZIP file. Use your favorite file
compression program—we often recommend the free 7-Zip tool, but
there are many others—to extract the contents of the ISO image
directly onto the previously-formatted flash drive. That's it!

FAQ
How do I burn an ISO file to a disc?
To burn an ISO image file to a DVD, put a blank disc in your drive,
right-click the ISO file, and choose the Burn disc image. Follow the
prompts to burn the ISO image to the disc.

Can I convert a Windows 10 ISO to USB?

Yes, you can! To make a copy of Windows 10 on a USB flash drive,
download and launch the Windows Media Creation tool, select Create
installation media and follow the prompts. Then download and install
Rufus to complete the process.

How would I burn an ISO file to a USB drive on a Mac?

To create a macOS boot device with a USB flash drive, download the
macOS version you want, connect your USB flash drive to your Mac,
and enter the appropriate command in Terminal.

How do I burn a Linux ISO to USB?

To burn a Linux ISO to USB, download the Linux ISO file and install the
UNetbootin tool. Run UNetbootin and follow the prompts.
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