How to create a Windows 11 bootable USB using Rufus

Rufus is a small and popular utility for creating bootable USB drives with various operating systems. Unlike the Microsoft Media Creation Tool (MCT) application, which only supports Windows 10 and 11, Rufus also works on Windows 7, 8.1, 10, 11, Linux, and other operating systems.

In addition to better operating system support, Rufus offers several quality-of-life improvements, especially for those looking to install Windows 11. For starters, Rufus can bypass TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements to create installation media compatible with older and officially unsupported hardware. Another benefit of using Rufus instead of MCT is the ability to skip the Microsoft account requirement and automatically disable data collection options during initial Windows 11 setup.

Users can use Rufus with the media creation tool when creating a Windows 11 bootable USB. For example, use MCT to download the official ISO, then use Rufus to flash the ISO. Alternatively, you can easily get the original ISO files of older Windows versions by downloading them directly in Rufus.

Creating a Windows 11 Installation USB with Rufus

1. Start by downloading Rufus from the app’s official website. Rufus is free and available in installable and portable variants.
2. Connect your USB drive (minimum requirement is 8 GB) and launch Rufus. If you need to change the language of the application, click the button with the globe icon.
3. Select the USB drive from the Device drop-down list.
4. If you already have a Windows 11 ISO, select Disk or ISO Image and click Select, then skip to step 9.
   

   

5. #If not, you can use Rufus to download the original Windows 11 ISO file. To do this, click the down arrow button next to the Select button and press Download.
6. Click the Download button again and wait a few seconds for Rufus to run the required script. Note: Rufus uses a third-party script to connect to Microsoft servers and download the raw ISO.
7. Select the version of Windows you require and click Continue. The application will prompt you to select the version, SKU (edition), language, and architecture.
8. Once everything is set up, click Download, specify where Rufus should save the ISO, and wait for the application to finish its work.
   

   

9. #Now you are ready to write the ISO to the USB drive. You can leave the Volume Label as is or rename it to something more user-friendly, such as Windows11_Install.
10. Click Start.
    

    

11. After clicking the Start button, Rufus will offer you the following options to customize the installation (put a check mark next to the option you want):
    • Remove 4GB RAM requirement - Check this option if you want to install Windows 11 on a computer with unsupported hardware.
    • Disable Data Collection - Windows 11 won't ask you to send diagnostic data, enable location, advertising ID, and other things that some users consider a privacy violation.
    • Set up a local account - Select this option to skip the Microsoft account requirement. During initial setup, Windows 11 won't ask you to sign in with a Microsoft account.
    • Set regional options with the same values ​​as for this user - Rufus will copy the current locale to the new installation.
12. Click OK and wait for Rufus to create the Windows 11 installation USB. You can view the progress in the Status section.

Now you can install Windows 11 from scratch using a USB drive.

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