Rufus: The Reliable USB Formatting Utility

Rufus is my "GoTo", John. I've been using it for years and years . . .

How does Rufus compare to Ventoy?

I see Rufus now has 4.0x. I've last used Rufus 3.2xx. Been using Rufus for many years. Looks like the new Rufus 4.0 no longer supports Windows 7 or Windows 8.

wabbit said:

I see Rufus now has 4.0x. I've last used Rufus 3.2xx. Been using Rufus for many years. Looks like the new Rufus 4.0 no longer supports Windows 7 or Windows 8.

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It does show that it supports Win 8.

"

System Requirements:​

Windows 8 or later. Once downloaded, the application is ready to use."

Haydon said:

How does Rufus compare to Ventoy?

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They are two completely different tools, as Ventoy lets you pick from a list of bootable image files (not just ISO files, but other bootable filetypes also, and WIM files are supported if you also use the Wimboot plugin for Ventoy) that makes it function like a multi-boot selection screen after which it boots straight into that bootable image file. So no need to unpack/extract the contents of the bootable image file in question, and also no need to keep reformatting your USB flash drive each time when you want to boot something else. So basically, collecting a whole box full of USB flash drives is a thing of the past. Losing all data stored on the USB flash drive each time (due to reformatting it each time) is a thing of the past also. AFAIK there aren't too many things that you can boot that aren't compatible with Ventoy. Ventoy also is portable and extremely lightweight, in fact the bootable FAT32 partition that Ventoy creates on the USB flash drive is only 32 Megabytes in size. The remaining space on the USB flash drive can be partitioned using popular filesystems like NTFS or exFAT, it also is possible to make multiple partitions (so you also get the option to choose multiple different filesystems if needed). Another optional benefit is that when you use (a) custom WinPE file(s) you could decide to put your extra files/folders directly on the USB flash drive like normal so it's possible to skip this step:
Doing this lets you avoid having to rebuild your custom WinPE file(s) each time after something needed to be updated in these added files, and also lets you avoid all these added files being loaded into your RAM (the X: drive you get after you boot into the custom WinPE) when you don't need/want them to be. Those who are into Linux distros very often use a whole plethora of them, with Rufus it could easily mean keeping another boatload or two (or three or four or five) of USB flash drives with polka dotted sticky labels on them to be able to tell them apart... Just to give only some examples of how it can be possible to use Ventoy as a replacement for Rufus. We choose to go to the Ventoy. We choose to go to the Ventoy, not because it is hard. lol

Can Rufus or Ventoy be used to create a USB stick to boot from a Linux distro that is designed to run hardware diagnostics? Easy GUI please!

Haydon said:

Can Rufus or Ventoy be used to create a USB stick to boot from a Linux distro that is designed to run hardware diagnostics? Easy GUI please!

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Of course.

LOL, help poor me with specifics

Ventoy is a lot more like RMPrepUSB and it's sister app, Easy2Boot. Ventoy in and of itself is not hard to set up, and neither is Easy2boot. E2B is mostly automated, so you extract the contents to a USB, place your .ISO file somewhere where it needs to be, run a script and poof it's bootable.

I haven't used Ventoy, but it shold be very similar, from the documentation that got on it as well.

OK, thanks! I think I need to ask our Linux experts for a distro that is designed to run hardware diagnostics for Windows computers.

Some background info: If Windows already runs, then I can run the hardware diagnostic tools built into Windows. But if Windows does not run, then I thought a tool like in the previous paragraph would be handy > replace a part > Windows runs again.

Rufus does no do anything that you cannot do with a knowledge of windows command files. Never need it at all.

johnlgalt said:

Ventoy is a lot more like RMPrepUSB and it's sister app, Easy2Boot. Ventoy in and of itself is not hard to set up, and neither is Easy2boot. E2B is mostly automated, so you extract the contents to a USB, place your .ISO file somewhere where it needs to be, run a script and poof it's bootable.

I haven't used Ventoy, but it shold be very similar, from the documentation that got on it as well.

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Even it chooses to go to the Ventoy also. lol

From: Easy2Boot The USB multiboot solution (legacy, UEFI, Secure Boot)
Easy2Boot (E2B) includes 3 different multiboot menu systems based on grub4dos, grubfm and Ventoy.
...
Easy2Boot also includes both the Ventoy and agFM/grubfm multiboot menu systems.
...
You can also add Easy2Boot to an existing Ventoy USB drive for better Legacy boot compatibility (DOS, Install XP, Linux ISOs, etc.).

wabbit said:

I see Rufus now has 4.0x. I've last used Rufus 3.2xx. Been using Rufus for many years. Looks like the new Rufus 4.0 no longer supports Windows 7 or Windows 8.

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The previous version 3.22 (2023.03.25) has a note at the end of the ChangeLog.

Note: This is the last version of Rufus that can run on Windows 7.

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hdmi said:

Even it chooses to go to the Ventoy also. lol

From: Easy2Boot The USB multiboot solution (legacy, UEFI, Secure Boot)
Easy2Boot (E2B) includes 3 different multiboot menu systems based on grub4dos, grubfm and Ventoy.
...
Easy2Boot also includes both the Ventoy and agFM/grubfm multiboot menu systems.
...
You can also add Easy2Boot to an existing Ventoy USB drive for better Legacy boot compatibility (DOS, Install XP, Linux ISOs, etc.).

147 – HOW TO PATCH AND COMPILE VENTOY - RMPrepUSB

INTRODUCTION This article contains some brief notes on how to download, change and compile Ventoy so that it will work on E2B USB drives. Ventoy v1.0.28 and later versions will only run on a USB drive which has been prepared by using the official Ventoy USB tool. This means that official...

rmprepusb.com

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I had not realized it, as I haven't built a bootable USB in a while now.

cereberus said:

Rufus does no do anything that you cannot do with a knowledge of windows command files. Never need it at all.

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The same could be said about Windows built-in disk management too

johnlgalt said:

I had not realized it, as I haven't built a bootable USB in a while now.

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Me neither. I had to google RMPrepUSB to find that link to Easy2Boot and read up on it, from what I gather it can still be useful in some (few) situations where Ventoy falls short─like some legacy stuff that relates mostly to Linux and adding more customizations to the multiboot selection menu.

NavyLCDR said:

The same could be said about Windows built-in disk management too

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Nah. Compared to the built-in command line tools, Disk Management confuses people more so that's what it does extra. lol

PowerISO is also a great utility for creating bootable and Windows To Go UFDs.
PowerISO is my ISO utility of choice.

cereberus said:

Rufus does no do anything that you cannot do with a knowledge of windows command files. Never need it at all.

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Speaking for myself, I'm at that stage in my life that I'll take the easiest way to get something done when possible.