Rufus Updates

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Rufus 3.19 BETA

Add a new selection dialog for Windows 11 setup customization:

Secure Boot and TPM bypass have now been moved to this dialog

Also allows to bypass the mandatory requirement for a Microsoft account with Windows 11 22H2
(NB: Network MUST be temporarily disabled or unplugged for the local account creation to be proposed)

Also add an option to skip all collection questions (Sets all answers to “Don’t allow”/”Refuse”)

Also add an option for setting internal drives offline with Windows To Go

Note: These customization options are only proposed when using a Windows 11 image.

5 users thanked author for this post.

A1ex, NetDef, BobbyB, TechTango, madhatter

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I haven’t paid attention, does Rufus allow bypassing the Microsoft account setup?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Susan Bradley wrote:

I haven’t paid attention, does Rufus allow bypassing the Microsoft account setup?

Yes.

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I just had a chance to try this out for a new install of Windows 11 22H2, on a VM with networking disabled during setup, and am happy to report the bypass to allow creating a local account worked perfectly.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

3 users thanked author for this post.

Just another Forum Poster, Alex5723, Paul T

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Rufus 3.19 final

Version 3.19 (2022.07.01)
Add a new selection dialog for Windows 11 setup customization:

Secure Boot and TPM bypass have now been moved to this dialog

Also allows to bypass the mandatory requirement for a Microsoft account on Windows 11 22H2
(NB: Network MUST be temporarily disabled for the local account creation to be proposed)

Also add an option to skip all collection questions (Sets all answers to “Don’t allow”)

Also add an option for setting internal drives offline for Windows To Go

Note: These customization options are only proposed when using a Windows 11 image.

Add support for distros using a nonstandard GRUB 2.0 prefix directory (openSUSE Live, GeckoLinux)

Add the ability to ignore USBs (See here)

Change drive listing to always list in increasing order of size

Update exceptions needed by Red Hat and derivatives for the 9.x releases
Update UEFI:NTFS drivers to latest

Reassign a letter for drives written in DD mode that don’t have an ESP (e.g. CoreELEC)

Fix Windows refusing to mount Linux MBR partitions on FIXED drives

Fix support for multiextent files when Joliet is in use..

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RufusPortable_3.19

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Fred

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Why is there a “portable” version of Rufus

The “normal” version doesn’t use an installer, it’s a stand-alone program that runs just fine from a USB drive.

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Alex, I very much appreciate your announcements, especially those for the portable versions!

* _ ... _ *

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Alex5723

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Just another Forum Poster wrote:

Why is there a “portable” version of Rufus

Because Alex is obsessed with portable apps so he always tells us about the latest. 🙂

cheers, Paul

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Alex, as a rule, doesn’t install software on a Windows OS that can’t support install, uninstall.. properly.
Alex always prefer Portable apps were possible.

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That’s exactly why I asked the question.

The “normal” version of Rufus does not use an installer.

Just like portable versions of other programs, its a “standalone” program that can be run from anywhere and you can “uninstall” it by simply deleting it!

So what’s the point of a special “portable” version of it

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Just another Forum Poster wrote:

So what’s the point of a “portable” version of it

So that PortableApps.com can boost their download count?

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So that PortableApps.com can centrally manage your portable apps updates…

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The now useless rufus will not burn a bios image anymore thanks for nothing rufus. All I get is uefi for a burn type. Anything better out there?

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Just like Windows, the GPT partition scheme only supports a UEFI burn type.

To get the old BIOS burn type, change the Partition scheme to MBR.

Rufus 3.19.1911

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NetDef

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That was a source of confusion for a long time, as the tool allowed an invalid combination by accident that would not work . . .  Glad they fixed it finally!

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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a Rufus 3.20 beta is available from their github page – (use this one at your own risk because it’s a BETA, not stable/final release)

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RufusPortable 3.20 Final

https://portableapps.com/news/2022-08-03–rufus-portable-3.20-released

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Rufus 3.20 FINAL is available over on the Official website:
https://rufus.ie/en/

Changelog:
Version 3.20 (2022.08.03)

Enable applicable Windows User Experience options for Windows 10
Remember last Windows User Experience selection between sessions
Add automatic local account creation and regional options duplication
(NB: This is limited to creating an account with the same name as the current user and with an empty password that the user will be prompted to change after first reboot)
Add a workaround for ISOs that have a syslinux symbolic link to /isolinux/ (Knoppix)
Revert to offline insertion of registry keys for the TPM/SB/RAM bypass where possible
Remove storage bypass, since this is a bogus bypass that doesn’t do anything
Improve BIOS compatibility when displaying the “UEFI boot only” alert message
Fix Windows User Experience dialog appearing twice for Windows To Go
Fix Windows User Experience options not being applied for ARM64
Fix Microsoft Account bypass not being applied unless TPM/SB/RAM bypass is selected
Fix overeager detection of GRUB2 bootloaders with nonstandard prefixes

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Alex5723, Just another Forum Poster

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https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Allow the provision of an arbitrary local account username in the Windows User Experience dialog
Improve Windows version reporting from ISO/.wim
Update UEFI:NTFS’ NTFS drivers to v1.4 and exFAT drivers to v1.9
Switch to remote download for nonstandard GRUB (Fedora 37, openSUSE Live, GeckoLinux)
Fix UEFI:NTFS partition not being set in MBR mode for ISOs with a >4GB file (UwUntu)
Fix GRUB support for Arch and derivatives, when a non FAT compliant label is used (#2086)
Fix incorrect detection of GRUB with nonstandard prefixes
Fix tab order not working on the Windows User Experience dialog

https://www.neowin.net/software/rufus-3211949/

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Microfix, Just another Forum Poster

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I was reading the new posts about the site, and a suggestion to “drop by” which shows all of the sections, read a bit on fun stuff, but then went back to TOOLS and noticed Rufus. I have been running 3.3.1400 portable for years. Actually for a while, I didn’t realize that there were updates, but then I heard about updates and problems at the same time so just left it. It works for just about everything. I wonder if I’m about to be struck by lightening because it’s so old? 😉

(P15s, win10 22H2, current minus a month, WuMgr)

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a wrote:

It works for just about everything

The new builds of Rufus let you create local account vs mandatory Microsoft account when installing Windows 11.
The app also let you bypass Microsoft’s hardware blocks installing Widows 11.

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Fred

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Rufus updating Fido script fixed Microsoft blocking ISO downloads

Improve error handling and reporting when querying vlscppe.microsoft.com

Rufus will automatically update the built-in Fido script.

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Rufus 3.22

Add SHA-1 and SHA-256 x86 acceleration on CPUs that support it (#2090, courtesy of Jeffrey Walton)
Add an option to disable BitLocker device encryption in the Windows User Experience dialog (#2121)
Add a cheat mode (Ctrl-P) to preserve the log between sessions
Fix potential media creation errors by forcing the unmount of stale .wim images (#2199)
Fix potential access errors in ISO → ESP mode by forcing Large FAT32 formatting
Fix user-specified label not being preserved on error/cancel
Fix some large SSD devices being listed by default (#2164)
Fix processing of Rock Ridge CE fields
Work around the use of Rock Ridge symbolic links for Linux firmware packages (Debian)
Remove the ISO download feature on Windows 7
Note: This is the last version of Rufus that can run on Windows 7

4 users thanked author for this post.

Just another Forum Poster, SueW, A1ex, geekdom

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Rufus Portable 3.22

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I mount an ISO, then copy the contents to a USB drive if I want to transfer one of my Retail licensed Windows.  Even easier than that, just restore a full drive image to the new hardware platform.  If I want to upgrade, I just run Setup from the mounted ISO.  I’ve never found a use for Rufus, as creating a bootable USB is merely mount, drag & drop.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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RetiredGeek

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bbearren,

Cool! I just tried this using the Tiny11B2 ISO file and it worked. I booted to the USB I copied it to and it went right into the setup routine.

FYI: you can also do this with PowerShell:

PS> Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath '\\ComputerMentor2\CMShared\NAS-Downloads\Test\tiny11 b2.iso'

Attached          : True
BlockSize         : 0
DevicePath        : \\.\CDROM1
FileSize          : 3911450624
ImagePath         : \\ComputerMentor2\CMShared\NAS-Downloads\Test\tiny11 b2.iso
LogicalSectorSize : 2048
Number            : 1
Size              : 3911450624
StorageType       : 1
PSComputerName    : 

PS> DisMount-DiskImage -ImagePath '\\ComputerMentor2\CMShared\NAS-Downloads\Test\tiny11 b2.iso'

Attached          : False
BlockSize         : 0
DevicePath        : 
FileSize          : 3911450624
ImagePath         : \\ComputerMentor2\CMShared\NAS-Downloads\Test\tiny11 b2.iso
LogicalSectorSize : 2048
Number            : 
Size              : 3911450624
StorageType       : 1
PSComputerName    : 

FYI: The machine I tried to boot the USB drive on was set to UEFI Secure Boot ON (as was the machine I created it on) and it worked! I was sure I would have to change it to Legacy Boot Mode.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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bbearren wrote:

just restore a full drive image to the new hardware platform.

Rufus is (mostly) intended for people who want to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware skipping Secure Boot, TPM, Microsoft account…

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Alex5723 wrote:

Rufus is (mostly) intended for people who want to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware skipping Secure Boot, TPM, Microsoft account…

I beg to different.

Rufus has been around since 2011 and there are a lot of “standalone” utilities and/or portable apps out there for Linux/Windows that require a bootable USB and they always recommend Rufus to create it.

Being able to download a Windows ISO directly from MS and turn off/skip some of their requirements for installing it is simply “icing on the cake” for the many users of Rufus who’ve created bootable USB’s for non-Windows purposes since it was first released.

I currently have a total of 6 different bootable USB drives (created using Rufus) that contain various different standalone programs I regularly use and only one of them contains a Windows install ISO (a copy of Win10 22H2 with the current monthly update slipstreamed into it in case I need to do a repair and/or fresh install.)

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Rufus 4.0 released
More info and downloads directly from author:
https://rufus.ie/en/#

Changelog:

Version 4.0 (2023.04.26)
Fix persistent partition not working with Ubuntu 23.04
Fix out of range pointer error with Ubuntu 23.04 when booting in BIOS mode
Fix boot freeze with Ubuntu Studio when Secure Boot is enabled
Fix incorrect architecture detection when checking for updates
Fix a Windows Store application crash when processing GRUB bootloaders
Fix a Windows Store application crash when enumerating processes that contain a % sign
Fix a Windows Store application crash when using German localization

Note that the major version was bumped on account of:
New versions of Rufus requiring Windows 8 or later*
New versions of Rufus defaulting to a 64-bit executable
Old versions of Rufus potentially not being able to update properly.

* my bolding – NOTE: Rufus version 4 incompatible with Windows 7!

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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SueW, Just another Forum Poster, TechTango, Fred

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thanks I hope this will fix the boot problem in my very old asus cee laptop

* _ ... _ *

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Rufus 4.1.2045

Release notes

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Just another Forum Poster, A1ex, Fred

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Is it me or Rufus?

I have this wonderful computer Corsair One i300, 64 GB Ram, nVidia RTX 3080Ti, Windows 11 Pro 22H1, very fast indeed.

I wanted to format a USB stick as exFAT, with Rufus.
Only … Rufus 4.01 does NOT work, while Rufus 3.18 works flawlessly.
See attached screenshots.
This happens with both exFAT and NTFS (I didn’t try the other formats).
And there I always thought one should use software’s most recent update.

Any ideas?

 

1 Desktop Win 11
1 Laptop Win 10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95
(except for the marine blue desktop, rgb(0, 3, 98)

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Just tried this using Rufus 4.1.2045 on my PC and was able to successfully format Sandisk, PNY & DataStickPro USB sticks to exFAT with no problem.

That would seem to indicate it’s either a problem with the USB stick itself or maybe something with the USB port it was plugged into.

What make/model USB stick?

Did you try moving it to a different USB port?

I’d also suggest looking at the log after Rufus fails to see if it might indicate the cause.

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Pete Batard of Rufus gave me the crucial (for my Corsair) info with
https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ#user-content-Error_0x00000005_Access_is_denied .
Thanks Pete!

Under [Settings] >…> [Allow an app through Controlled folder access] I removed all entries referencing older (obsolete) Rufus versions. Also removed all enties referencing files in \TEMP folders and also old (long since uninstalled) software. OTOH I had to add nothing, Rufus 4.1 was already there.

That was the solution: Rufus 4.1.2045 now works as expected (just as 3.18.1877 did).

1 Desktop Win 11
1 Laptop Win 10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95
(except for the marine blue desktop, rgb(0, 3, 98)

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Rufus 4.2 Released 26th July 2023
Available for Windows 8 systems or later.

Changelog:

Version 4.2 (2023.07.26)

Add detection and warning for UEFI revoked bootloaders (including ones revoked through SkuSiPolicy.p7b)

Add ZIP64 support, to extract .zip images that are larger than 4 GB

Add saving and restoring current drive to/from compressed VHDX image

Add saving and restoring current drive to/from compressed FFU (Full Flash Update) image [EXPERIMENTAL]

Fix a crash when trying to open Windows ISOs, with the MinGW compiled x86 32-bit version

Fix an issue where ISOs that contain a boot image with an ‘EFI’ label are not detected as bootable

Increase the ISO → ESP limit for Debian 12 netinst images

Ensure that the main partition size is aligned to the cluster size

Originators webpage and download links:
https://rufus.ie/en/

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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E Pericoloso Sporgersi, Just another Forum Poster, Alex5723

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Rufus Portable 4.2

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RufusPortable_4.3

https://rufus.ie/en/

Changelog

Version 4.3 (2023.10.19)
Add support for Rock Ridge symbolic links preservation when NTFS is used
Add an exception to enforce NTFS for Linux Mint’s LMDE
Add an expert feature to restrict a Windows installation to S Mode
Fix persistence support for Debian 12 when booted in BIOS mode
Fix a regression that prevented the opening of .vhd images
Update UEFI:NTFS to report a more explicit error on bootmgr security issues
Improve the search for conflicting processes by running it in a background thread
Improve support for Slax Linux

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Rufus 4.4

Portable

Version 4.4 (2024.01.17)
Add workaround for distros that use broken symbolic links as their UEFI bootloaders (such as Mint 21.3)
Add support for GRUB 2.12
Fix a crash when saving .ffu images
Fix UEFI:NTFS partition not being added, in MBR mode, for some Linux ISOs
Prevent Microsoft Dev Drives from being listed
Improve support for SDXC card readers
Improve Large FAT32 formatting by aligning start of data regions to 1 MB (courtesy of Fred)

Other versions

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n0ads, Fred

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Version 4.4

Version 4.4 (2024.01.17)
Add workaround for distros that use broken symbolic links as their UEFI bootloaders (such as Mint 21.3)
Add support for GRUB 2.12
Fix a crash when saving .ffu images
Fix UEFI:NTFS partition not being added, in MBR mode, for some Linux ISOs
Prevent Microsoft Dev Drives from being listed
Improve support for SDXC card readers
Improve Large FAT32 formatting by aligning start of data regions to 1 MB (courtesy of Fred)

Rufus Portable_4.4

 

Moderator’s Note: This post is nearly identical to the post from last week, only the links are different!

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Rufus 4.5.2180

https://rufus.ie/en/

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Rufus Portable 4.5

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