Rufus
Hacker ApprovedBootable USB tool in Computers
Free tool that writes bootable Windows USB installers and can skip Microsoft account setup and hardware checks. Critics mostly dislike the separate Amazon Rufus shopping chatbot, which shares the name.
Free tool that writes bootable Windows USB installers and can skip Microsoft account setup and hardware checks. Critics mostly dislike the separate Amazon Rufus shopping chatbot, which shares the name.
41 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple, reliable USB installer creation
“Rufus handles so many different kinds of ISO, it's well-established for years that if a download fails to make the ideal USB”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Rufus blames Microsoft for allegedly blocking latest Windows 11 ISO downloads” “Or just use Rufus[1] to create a bootable USB installer from the ISO.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “YouTube Removes Windows 11 Bypass Tutorials, Claims 'Risk of Physical Harm'” “Just use Rufus and a USB stick to do the upgrade.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone” - Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Windows: Microsoft broke the only thing that mattered”
- Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2”
- Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “Windows 11's built-in Weather app wastes more than 1 GB of RAM”
- Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “Windows 11's built-in Weather app wastes more than 1 GB of RAM”
Skips Microsoft account and online sign-in
“Set up local account during creating Win bootable install device via Rufus. During actual Win install it skips all steps about crating local account.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything” “Toss your Windows 11 ISO into Rufus and disabling things like Microsoft account requirements is a trivial process.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything” “It also lets you skip the first time install dialogue by setting defaults and add a local-only account.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone” - Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone”
- Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything”
- Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux”
- Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Since Linux 6.9, LUKS suspend stopped wiping disk-encryption keys from memory”
Bypasses Windows 11 hardware checks
“I used Rufus to make a Windows 11 installer USB drive that bypasses the TPM check”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone” “Those running a Rufus-patched Windows 11 are living proof of this.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “VS Code deactivates IntelliCode in favor of the paid Copilot” “Use Rufus it'll disable hardware requirements, without hassle.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone” - Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID”
- Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account”
Edits Windows install ISOs
“especially with the combination of official Rufus + MAS to install from official ISOs”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates” “found that Rufus out of the box allows you to modify the installer, game changer.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops” “Rufus could edit my arm64 windows 11 install media without problem”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Putting Linux on my RTX Spark laptop because I don't have a Microsoft account” - Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates”
- Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Pushes Ask Rufus chatbot on users
“It's incredibly annoying, and they love directing you to an 'Ask Rufus' page”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “Amazon blocks Meta’s new Muse AI agent from shopping on amazon.com” “a stranger that I'm sure most people have no interest in using”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “'That's so AI ' What gen Alpha's biggest insult tells us” “when they pop open Rufus and start spewing text at me”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT” - Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Qwen 3.8 follows GPT-5.5 Pro reasoning prefills”
Shallow, unhelpful chatbot answers
“it does all sorts of SQL queries into my account, but it can't be bothered to give me the link to the actual charges”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Furiosa: 3.5x efficiency over H100s” “Rufus does not write any python for me. Just directs me to buy books on python.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Anthropic taps IPO lawyers as it races OpenAI to go public” “the quality was so bad that so I stopped wasting my time there”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Chipotlai Max” - Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Sixty percent of US consumers say 'AI' in brand messaging is a turnoff”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RufusThis page | 30 | 11 | 73% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Ventoy | 12 | 6 | 67% | 6 | 4 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 49 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Rufus could edit my arm64 windows 11 install media without problem”
“a stranger that I'm sure most people have no interest in using”
“It's incredibly annoying, and they love directing you to an 'Ask Rufus' page”
“that monstrosity would have made me consider it”
“disarming Win11 TPM/Drive-boobytrap/BS-encryption/Spam is easy with Rufus, O&O ShutUp10, and Copilot removal”
“It takes zero effort to bypass that with Rufus”
“Rufus which has never failed me”
“is excellent for writing USB disks”
“a nearly effortless way to get an ad-free, local only Win 11 install”
“especially with the combination of official Rufus + MAS to install from official ISOs”
“You can just use the official iso with Rufus”
“I want human experience! I want specifics!”
“Toss your Windows 11 ISO into Rufus and disabling things like Microsoft account requirements is a trivial process.”
“Rufus has options to make the Windows installer skip the Microsoft account login. Worked great!”
“Set up local account during creating Win bootable install device via Rufus. During actual Win install it skips all steps about crating local account.”
“I can at least use Rufus to turn off the worst stuff”
“the quality was so bad that so I stopped wasting my time there”
“Rufus can mod the ISO for it”
“allows me to use 11 on my PC I built in 2015”
“create a USB stick from the ISO using Rufus”
“Rufus handles so many different kinds of ISO, it's well-established for years that if a download fails to make the ideal USB”
“Windows 10 and 11 can have all local accounts by using RUFUS to create the install media”
“found that Rufus out of the box allows you to modify the installer, game changer.”
“when they pop open Rufus and start spewing text at me”
“it does all sorts of SQL queries into my account, but it can't be bothered to give me the link to the actual charges”
“Rufus does a couple of other tweaks automatically.”
“if you install the IoT version using Rufus”
“they seem not to be offering Just Another LLM but a handful of purpose driven ones”
“the rufus workaround can work for these”
“I used Rufus to make a Windows 11 installer USB drive that bypasses the TPM check”
“when they know Rufus boot exists which disables TPM and online only accounts during the install”
“It also lets you skip the first time install dialogue by setting defaults and add a local-only account.”
“Just use Rufus and a USB stick to do the upgrade.”
“Use Rufus it'll disable hardware requirements, without hassle.”
“Those running a Rufus-patched Windows 11 are living proof of this.”
“Native apps like Rufus do it in a few megabytes.”
“Rufus does not write any python for me. Just directs me to buy books on python.”
“it had some option to remove a bunch of frustrating behavior”
“Or just use Rufus[1] to create a bootable USB installer from the ISO.”
“using Rufus is super simple for the install”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.