Tool to Convert ISO file to Bootable USB

I’m always open to using a new tool for the right occasion. Burning a system image .iso disk file to a bootable USB flash drive is such an occasion.

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 both come with the ability to burn an .iso file to a CD/DVD. However, many computers no longer come with a CD/DVD drive, and so the need to create a bootable USB stick is very necessary. Plus the size of the system image .iso files keep getting large. Both the Windows 10 and Windows 2012 R2 .iso images are over 5GB in size, and won’t fit on a standard 4.7GB DVD disk.

A tool I recently found that worked extremely well is called Rufus. Not only is it a free, simple and straight-forward utility to use, what I also like is that it does not need to be installed — it is a portable program (single .exe file). At the time of this blog post, Rufus is at version 2.4.

There is a full description on using Rufus at this link. I am simply including the easy 1-2-3 steps necessary.

  1. imageDownload Rufus here. I recommend downloading the portable version.
  2. Double click the executable you downloaded to start running  it. Everything you need to do is on the single window that opens up. –>
  3. Plug in the USB flash drive you want to use. Remember that this device will be completely reformatted!
  4. From the Device drop down at the top, browse and select the USB device.
  5. You may need to change the file system from NTFS to FAT32. I normally use FAT32,
  6. At the Create a bootable disk using option, select ISO Image, then click on the icon next to it, then browse and select the .iso file that you wish to burn.
  7. If burning a Windows system image O/S, be sure to select Standard Windows installation
  8. Click Start.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.