What is Rufus?
Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.
It can be especially useful for cases where:
- You need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.)
- You need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed
- You need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
- You want to run a low-level utility
History
Rufus was initially created by Pete Batard in 2011 as a small utility to format and create bootable USB drives. Since then, it has grown to become one of the most popular tools for this purpose, with millions of downloads worldwide.
The name "Rufus" comes from the Latin word meaning "red-haired," chosen simply because the author liked the name.
Features
Rufus provides a number of features that make it stand out from similar utilities:
- Fast: Faster than most alternatives, especially when creating Windows bootable drives
- Small: The executable is less than 2MB
- Portable: No installation required
- Versatile: Supports a wide range of ISOs including Windows, Linux, UEFI, and more
- Open Source: Licensed under GPL v3
- Multilingual: Available in many languages
Technical Details
Rufus is written in C and uses the following technologies:
- Windows API for low-level USB access
- libwdi for USB driver installation when needed
- Various open source components for ISO extraction and bootloader handling
The source code is available on GitHub for those interested in contributing or learning how it works.
Contact Information
