If you need to quickly create a bootable USB drive from a bootable ISO image of Windows (or Linux for that matter), my colleagues recommend you check out a free utility called Rufus:
http://www.wservernews.com/go/1402572961609
Rufus is great if you need to flash the BIOS or perform other low-level actions on a system that doesn’t have an operating system installed on it. And Rufus is twice as fast as the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool for creating Windows installation drives from an ISO.
Rufus can also be helpful when you accidentally brick your flash drive as it can allow you to see unmounted drives on your flash drive so you can reformat them. In short, if you screw up your USB flash drive, Rufus may be able to help you rescue it from the trashcan.
The above tip was previously published in an issue of WServerNews, a weekly newsletter from TechGenix that focuses on the administration, management and security of the Windows Server platform in particular and cloud solutions in general. Subscribe to WServerNews today by going to http://www.wservernews.com/subscribe.htm and join almost 100,000 other IT professionals around the world who read our newsletter!
Mitch Tulloch is a twelve-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and a widely recognized expert on Windows Server and cloud computing technologies. Mitch is also Senior Editor of WServerNews. For more information about him see http://www.mtit.com.
