USB Installation Media Creation (Rufus)

Minimum flash drive size bump (as of 6/28/2026): I have increased the recommended minimum to 64GB. This is primarily due to Ubuntu's increasing ISO sizes and desire for the ISO size champion (e.g., 6.07GB for 26.04 LTS) and the fact that major retailers like Walmart have replaced 32GB name-brand stock with 64GB+ units. Furthermore, 32GB drives are now frequent targets for counterfeits and low-quality B-stock NAND that often fails during boot media creation. While 16-32GB drives remain technically viable for most other distros, 64GB+ is now the safest floor for new purchases.

If you need to write an ISO to a USB flash drive, this guide covers using Rufus. Because most modern computers lack optical drives, USB booting is the fastest way to install or run an operating system.

TL;DR: Buy a 64GB+ drive (USB 5Gbps, often listed as USB 3.0/3.1 or 3.2 Gen 1) preferred; USB 2.0 is slower but serviceable). IF BUDGET IS AN ISSUE, ERASE AND REUSE A PROVEN 16-32GB BRANDED DRIVE RATHER THAN BUYING NO-NAME JUNK!

Note on 8GB/16GB Drives: For mainstream OS installs, 8GB drives are effectively obsolete. While they remain viable for "minimalist" use—such as Arch Linux, Puppy Linux, or Debian NetInst images—they lack the capacity for the "standard" desktop installers most people need as they do not have the margins for formatting, drivers, packages and Linux firmware. Unless you are specifically building a lightweight tool, consider them too small for modern use. 16GB drives will still be viable for a few more years, but will eventually hit the same limits. 32GB drives are fine for now, but verify your source and test any "grey market" purchases.

AMAZON/eBay WARNING: If you buy the drive for this on Amazon or eBay and it has issues out of the box, it is probably counterfeit - get rid of it and buy another one in person. Test these with a tool like ValiDrive (GRC) or h2testw before you rely on these drives and send it back if it has problems.

• Important: OSes without explicit USB boot support are not guaranteed to work. While the risk is low with the right tools, I cannot guarantee anything. You are on your own if there are unforeseen issues with ancient operating systems.
• Used drives should ideally be erased before formatting in Rufus.
• This guide is at Revision 3. If you are using Rufus 2.x, refer to the archive for the previous version.