We have recommended it to exhaustion, and to be honest, we are not the only ones: any user who needs to create a bootable USB drive based on a Linux distro or an official Windows 7/8.x/10 image should download a copy of Rufus to do the heavy lifting. In the specific case of Windows, the only inconvenience was obtaining the ISO images, but the team behind Rufus decided to add an open-source PowerShell script called Fido that automates the process.
In general, it is the last piece of the puzzle. You have a computer (whether new, used, pre-assembled, or built from scratch) and you need to install Windows. The era of "installation discs" has left us, and now the whole process is done with a USB drive and an ISO image. The question is: where do we get that image? Previously we talked about a portal called Adguard, which offered (and still offers) direct links to images on Microsoft's servers. Then there is the Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool for those who prefer a more independent solution, but today it's time to add a third player, and it's none other than Rufus itself. The same bootable USB creator that transfers Windows ISO images to our USB drives can now download them.
How exactly does it do it? Its latest version 3.5.1497 from March 28 incorporates Fido, a PowerShell script that automates downloads of Windows 8.x and Windows 10. The script was designed for use in Rufus, but since it has an open-source profile, nothing prevents us from running it outside the application or integrating its function elsewhere. The first step is to confirm that the option to receive updates is enabled, otherwise Rufus will never download the script. Then we click the arrow next to the Select button and change the command to Download. When we click download, a new menu will open that allows us to choose the version of Windows, the build, the edition, the language, and finally the architecture. Rufus can download the ISO by itself or send the link to the default browser.
This last option is very useful for two reasons: Rufus doesn't have a parameter to modify the available bandwidth for the download (some connections could end up "drowned" by an ISO image), and it also doesn't show the estimated time. Anyway, this makes Rufus more complete than ever, and we definitely welcome it.
Official site and download: Click here
