balena etcher https://www.balena.io/etcher/ Answer from Deleted User on reddit.com
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linuxquestions › rufus equivalent for ubuntu?
r/linuxquestions on Reddit: Rufus equivalent for Ubuntu?
June 12, 2021 -

One of the cool things I like about Rufus is the fact it creates bootable usbs as read-write, so I can edit them after creation (mainly to add efi files). Startup Disk Creator, the DD command, and others do not work like that, they merely create the drive as read-only.

Are there any apps similar to Rufus in that sense? (GUI heavily preferred)

balena etcher https://www.balena.io/etcher/ Answer from Deleted User on reddit.com
🌐
Ubuntu
ubuntu.com › tutorials › create-a-usb-stick-on-windows
Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows | Ubuntu
This tutorial will show you how to create a bootable USB stick on Microsoft Windows using Rufus. For most users we recommend balenaEtcher instead of Rufus which is simpler to use and also available on MacOS and Ubuntu.
🌐
Rufus
rufus.ie
Rufus - The Official Website (Download, New Releases)
Rufus is a small application that creates bootable USB drives, which can then be used to install or run Microsoft Windows, Linux or DOS. In just a few minutes, and with very few clicks, Rufus can help you run a new Operating System on your computer...
🌐
DEV Community
dev.to › pinky057 › rufus-bootable-usb-to-install-ubuntu-2204-lts-g7c
Rufus Bootable USB to install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - DEV Community
February 6, 2024 - Download the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS ISO file from the official Ubuntu website. ... Download Rufus from its official website. ... Insert your USB drive into the computer. Make sure to backup any important data on the USB drive, as the process will ...
🌐
Linux Hint
linuxhint.com › rufus_bootable_usb_install_ubuntu_18-04_lts
Rufus Bootable USB to Install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS – Linux Hint
In this article, I will show you how to use Rufus to make a bootable USB drive from Windows and use it to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on your computer.
🌐
It's FOSS
itsfoss.com › live-usb-creator-linux
Rufus for Linux? Here are the Best Live USB Creating Tools
August 2, 2023 - Unfortunately, Rufus is not available for Linux; it is only exclusive to Windows.
Find elsewhere
🌐
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › linux-unix › how-to-install-rufus-on-ubuntu-mate
How to Install Rufus on Ubuntu Mate? - GeeksforGeeks
September 18, 2024 - ... At this point, you will have a USB drive ready to be used as a live installation medium. In this article, we state that there is no Rufus utility for Linux distributions; it is only available for Windows systems.
🌐
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
How to Use Rufus to Create Bootable USB for Ubuntu 22.04/Linux 🔥 - YouTube
🚀 In this video, you’ll learn how to use Rufus to create a bootable USB for Linux, including Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Fedora, and Linux Mint. Whether you...
Published   April 24, 2025
🌐
Linux Genie
linuxgenie.net › home › how to get rufus for ubuntu 22.04?
How to Get Rufus For Ubuntu 22.04? - Linux Genie
January 18, 2024 - Although Rufus is widely used but it is not a cross-platform utility and is not available for Ubuntu (on any other Linux distro). Have you ever thought of using Rufus on Ubuntu?
🌐
Ubuntu Docs
ubuntudocs.com › create-bootable-ubuntu-usb-with-rufus-uefi
Create Bootable Ubuntu USB with Rufus (UEFI) – Ubuntu Docs!
You can choose any application that works for you. Among all of them, RUFUS is the most popular choice software for Windows 10 as well as OSX bootable USB tool. In this article, we aim to guide you through the steps for creating a Bootable USB Media for Linux OS using Rufus.
🌐
Nsnam
nsnam.com › 2025 › 05 › how-to-create-ubuntu-2404-bootable-usb.html
How to Create Ubuntu 24.04 Bootable USB Using Rufus [Step-by-Step Guide]
Visit the official Ubuntu website and download the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ISO file. Head to Rufus official site and download the latest version. Open the executable file (no installation required).
🌐
Quora
quora.com › How-do-I-run-Rufus-on-Ubuntu
How to run Rufus on Ubuntu - Quora
So, if you have WINE installed then there some chance you can run Rufus on Ubuntu with help of WINE. WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) works as a compatibility layer for windows application which you want to run...
🌐
Ubuntu Community Hub
discourse.ubuntu.com › tutorials
Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows - Tutorials - Ubuntu Community Hub
November 26, 2025 - Key Value Summary How to write a USB stick with Windows. Categories desktop Difficulty 2 Author [email protected] Overview Duration: 1:00 :warning: New version available This tutorial has been…
🌐
TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › 3-ways-to-create-bootable-ubuntu-usb-startup-disk
3 Ways to Create Bootable Ubuntu USB Startup Disk
It is known for its security, ... we will discuss three ways to create a bootable Ubuntu USB startup disk. Rufus is a free and open-source tool that can be used to create bootable USB disks....
🌐
Medium
lucasjellema.medium.com › booting-up-even-quite-senior-laptops-with-ubuntu-linux-os-using-rufus-bc497beb17e4
Booting up-even quite senior — laptops with Ubuntu Linux OS using Rufus | by Lucas Jellema | Medium
September 26, 2022 - download Ubuntu installation disk image — an ISO image file of over 3GB — and save locally. Ubuntu Downloads Page. arrange for a 4GB (or more) flashdrive — I got that from yet another colleague (Mark) run Rufus to have it create a “bootable USB device” : make Ubunutu bootable (startuppable) from the flashdrive using the Ubuntu ISO image
Top answer
1 of 2
7

CDs and DVDs use ISO-9660 or UDF, not FAT32 or ext4, otherwise most non-Linux platforms can't read them. But modern Linux installation discs are also isohybrid so they can also boot directly if the image was written into a normal non-optical disk. That's the dd method and most other Linux distros suggest to use dd mode to create a bootable USB installation drive. There are also some other methods such as copy the whole ISO file into the data partition and map it then use the boot-from-mapped-ISO feature of Grub, or copy all the files of the installer into the FAT32 partition and use syslinux to boot

Rufus also supports the dd mode but its author already states why it doesn't use that mode by default in the FAQ in its Github repo. The reason is very long, see the full in the above link or below. But in summary it's simpler for the average users, is less astonishing and users can use the pen drive for data normally. With the dd method users would need to delete the partition and reinitialize the disk whereas this method only requires a simple format or deletion of the files

Rufus' author also has an excellent answer on SuperUser that I just saw from Kamil Maciorowski's comment after posting this answer

Here's the full reason on Github:

Why doesn't Rufus recommend DD mode over ISO mode for ISOHybrid images? Surely DD is better!

Congratulations. If you are coming to this FAQ with the idea that DD mode has no drawbacks, then you have drunk the ISOhybrid kool aid, which has been a massive plague for people who are effectively trying to ensure that users can actually create a bootable drive in the best possible condition, without being constrained to the shortcomings of a "one method to rule them all" fallacy.

And here, I hear you protesting: "But dd is a lot faster than copying individual files, and it enables the use of a native Linux file system as well as an ESP, plus it makes sure that the resulting drive is a bit for bit copy of the one created by the person who produced the ISO. How could this not objectively be the better option???"

Well, unfortunately for you, it is very easy to disprove that dd mode is the better option for users (and that's not even counting the similar reports I get through e-mail). The fact that Windows cannot natively mount the usual Linux partition that follows the ESP is EXCEEDINGLY CONFUSING FOR MANY USERS. So, writing an ISOHybrid in dd mode will usually break the principle of least astonishment, which Linux maintainers, who are less tuned to hearing reports from Windows users, tend to disregard as a non issue, when it most certainly is an issue.

Furthermore, whereas pretty much any OS provides native tools to easily create a FAT32 partition onto a USB drive, and extract ISO content onto it (which, if you have a UEFI system, should be more than enough to create a bootable drive, provided that the image creators did their job properly), so that you shouldn't even have to use a utility like Rufus, using dd for copying an image requires a little more involvement and, if you are using it manually, can lead to dramatic mishaps (dd is not also called Disk Destroyer by mistake), which are a lot less likely to happen when using file extraction mode.

There is also the problem of restricting the media you create to UEFI boot only, which can be very desireable to do (to prevent installing your OS in BIOS/Legacy/CSM mode when you wanted to install it in UEFI mode), but that can only be accomplished if you can set the partition scheme to GPT... whereas most ISOHybrid media is designed to boot from either BIOS or UEFI and therefore uses MBR.

Oh, and you can of course forget about adding any extra content (such as, say, proprietary Wifi firmware binaries, which you may need to load in order for your platform to have connectivity during installation) or using a bootable drive for data on Windows, if it was written in DD mode. For instance, one can't simply use DD mode to install a generic Linux distribution on the Raspberry Pi, whereas, when that same distribution supports ISO mode, one can just take the vanilla ISO, add the handful of extra files that are required for Pi boot (which of course would be impossible to accomplish in DD mode) and install that OS in the same manner as you would do on a PC.

Finally, when using GPT as a partition scheme, using dd to write an ISOhybrid image will imediately result in a "broken" drive, on account that the backup GPT table will not be written where it should (in the very last 33 sectors of the drive) unless you use a drive that is the exact same size as the image, which is never ever the case. This means that, should a UEFI firmware be pedantic (and some are!), it may very well choose not to boot the drive altogether, on account that the GPT is broken. So much for DD mode being a panacea!

The above often results in a first time experience, for Windows users who are trying to try or transition to Linux, that can be very subpar and it is very unfortunate, though not entirely surprising, that a lot of Linux maintainers have so far been turning a deaf ear to the plight of said users, by disimissing these issues as something unfamiliar users should just "plow through", on account of treating ISOHybrids as a mere DD image (which is what the Manjaro and PopOS maintainers currently do) making their own lives so much easier...

Still, because we do believe that Windows users should have the best experience when creating a bootable drive, and not be confronted with something very unexpected that will leave them, at best, inconvenienced, or, at worst, believing that their drive is "broken", where possible, Rufus will continue to recommend ISO mode over DD mode (while obviously still giving the choice, for users who wish to do so, to write their ISOHybrid in DD mode).

2 of 2
3

There are many things to unpack here. First, how does a Live Linux boot anyway? Unlike a regular installed-to-disk Linux, it does not use an ext4 (or similar) file system on a disk partition. Instead, the root filesystem (containing directories like /bin, /usr etc) is stored in an compressed image file (Squashfs). Squashfs supports all the features required for a Linux root fs like permissions, ACLs, hard links etc. At runtime, this read-only image is made to appear writable by overlaying a tmpfs RAM filesystem.

By storing the root filesystem in an image format, it can then be placed on any old filesystem—including FAT32, ISO 9660 (CDs) and UDF (DVDs).

For whatever reason, Linux distributions still create CD/DVD images for all their installation media. So they use an ISO 9660 filesystem (with Joliet and sometimes Rock Ridge extensions). Because of some peculiarities, only certain filesystems are practical on optical media.

The Live Linux has to boot. Bootable CDs/DVDs have to use the “El Torito” standard—they boot in a different way from regular mass storage like USB drives or internal HDDs/SSDs. So the Linux images have to follow this standard. It has since been adapted to also support UEFI boot.

However, you can also write (dd) the image to a USB flash drive and it works there too. This is accomplished by smuggling bootcode and a MBR or GPT partition table into gaps that ISO 9660 does not use. And then, by tacking on an EFI System Partition (located at the end of the image, after the ISO 9660 filesystem), this monstrosity is also UEFI-bootable.

The problem with all this? The flash drive is mostly unusable until wiped. Rufus can (optionally) solve this by copying the contents of the EFI System Partition and the contents of the ISO 9660 filesystem to a single FAT32 filesystem that is then bootable for both BIOS and UEFI as well as usable by Windows.

🌐
Ask Ubuntu
askubuntu.com › questions › tagged › rufus
Newest 'rufus' Questions - Ask Ubuntu
For questions about using the Rufus Windows application that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. Rufus is recommended at the official Ubuntu website as a way to create a bootable Ubuntu USB stick on Windows.
🌐
OMG! Ubuntu
omgubuntu.co.uk › home › news › rufus fixes creation of persistent ubuntu 24.04 usbs
Rufus Fixes Creation of Persistent Ubuntu 24.04 USBs - OMG! Ubuntu
May 26, 2024 - Rufus, a popular open-source tool for making bootable USB drives on Windows, just released an update that includes a ‘fix’ for working with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ISOs.
🌐
Ubuntu Community Hub
discourse.ubuntu.com › tutorials
Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows - Page 2 - Tutorials - Ubuntu Community Hub
February 23, 2021 - Key Value Summary How to write a USB stick with Windows. Categories desktop Difficulty 2 Author [email protected] Overview Duration: 1:00 With a bootable Ubuntu USB stick, you can: Install or …