Rufus 4.12 Released: Major Upgrade for Bootable USB Creation with a Beginner‑Friendly Guide

Rufus 4.12 changes

Version 4.12 adds stability and security fixes aimed at developers and power users.

Intelligent device detection

Windows 11 introduces Dev Drive, a ReFS‑based high‑performance volume that earlier Rufus releases listed as removable. Rufus 4.12 now distinguishes physical USB drives from virtual Dev Drives, preventing accidental formatting of Dev Drives.

ISO compatibility enhancements

The ISO parser was rewritten to handle non‑standard ISO structures and long file paths, increasing success when processing obscure Linux distributions or custom Windows images.

TOCTOU security fix

A Time‑of‑Check‑Time‑of‑Use vulnerability was patched. When Rufus runs with administrator rights, malicious software finds it harder to modify system files.

Step‑by‑step creation of a bootable USB

Preparation

USB drive ≥ 8 GB (Windows 10/11 images typically >5 GB).

System image (ISO) downloaded from the official Microsoft or Linux distribution site.

Rufus portable executable downloaded from rufus.ie.

Creating the drive

Launch Rufus and select the device – Insert the USB, double‑click Rufus. The program auto‑detects the drive; verify the correct drive letter (e.g., E: or F:) if multiple devices appear.

Select the ISO – Click “SELECT” and browse to the ISO file, e.g., ubuntu-24.04-desktop-amd64.iso or Windows11.iso.

Partition scheme – Rufus suggests a scheme:

GPT – recommended for most computers purchased within the last five years (UEFI boot).

MBR – required only for very old legacy BIOS machines.

Start the write process – Press “START”. For Windows images Rufus shows a “User Experience” dialog allowing optional skipping of Microsoft‑account login and TPM 2.0 detection. For Linux images, if the ISO is detected as hybrid, select “Write in ISO Image mode”.

Wait for completion – Writing typically takes 3–10 minutes depending on USB speed. When the progress bar turns fully green and displays “READY”, the USB can be removed.

Comparison with alternative tools

Compared with tools such as Ventoy, Rufus provides:

Near‑100 % boot compatibility because it uses the traditional extract‑and‑boot method.

Windows‑specific customizations (e.g., one‑click TPM bypass, local‑account creation).

Open‑source, ad‑free implementation with a binary size of just over 1 MB and no background services.