How To Burn an ISO File to a USB Drive

 

1. Download Rufus, a free tool that will correctly prepare the USB drive, automatically extract the contents of the ISO file you have, and properly copy the files contained within it to your USB device, including any files in the ISO needed to make it bootable. 
   Rufus is a portable program (does not install), works on Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP, and will "burn" an ISO image file to any type of USB storage device you happen to have. 
    
2. Double-click or double-tap on the rufus-1.4.12.exe file that you just downloaded. The Rufus program will start right away. 
   As I mentioned earlier, Rufus is a portable program, meaning that it just runs as is. This is a big reason why I prefer this ISO-to-USB program over some of the other options out there.
    
3. Insert the flash drive or other USB device you want to "burn" the ISO file to into your computer, assuming it's not already plugged in. 
   Important: Burning an ISO image to a USB drive will erase everything on the drive! Check that the USB drive is empty or that you have backed up any files you want to keep before continuing.
    
4. From the Device drop-down at the top of the Rufus program screen, choose the USB storage device you want to burn the ISO file to.