Rufus is a popular software used to create bootable USB flash drivers to install Windows or another operating system on a computer. It is a free and open-source utility.

Need installation media to reinstall Windows? Here's how to create a bootable CD, USB, or DVD with an ISO from scratch!

Did you know that you can run Windows directly off a USB drive? Here is a simple guide on how to download, create, and run Windows 11 or 10 from a USB flash drive.

Here are Microsoft's own guides on building a Windows To Go drive, native booting from VHDs on a USB drive, as well as editing Windows boot files with BCDBoot and operating DISM via Command Prompt.

If Windows 11/10 is not installing from USB, download and install the Intel RST driver for storage, change USB format to FAT32, etc. to resolve the issue.

In short, installing software as large as Windows 10 from a USB drive is simply much faster than from a DVD (and of course the only viable option for PCs without an optical drive).

Update 2: If you’re trying to install Windows 7 on a netbook, Microsoft is making things even easier. Just use the Windows 7 USB tool.

Microsoft may no longer support Windows To Go, but you can still make a portable Windows 11 installation — and it actually works okay.

I was also able to boot to a GRUB setup on my flash drive, but I wasn't able to get the Windows 7 installation to start with that either, mostly because I have no idea how it works.