How to create Linux bootable USB drive in Windows?

In this guide we will walk through the process of creation a bootable Linux USB drive in Windows.

After you will have created a bootable Linux USB drive you will be able to boot from it on any PC and install your Linux distro on that PC.

STEP 1. Download Linux distrubution of your choice.

You can download any Linux distribution you like, but for this guide I’m going to use Ubuntu 18.04. You may choose other Ubuntu version as well, for example 16.04 or 14.04.

Please, remember that the size of your USB drive should be larger than the size of ISO file, otherwise you will not be able to create a bootable USB drive, though nowadays most USB drives have at minimum 4GB of space which is enough.

Go to Ubuntu Download page and download the ISO file.

STEP 2. Download Rufus utility.

Rufus is a very compact utility and allows you to create bootable USB drives easily.

Get it from its Download page.

STEP 3. Create the bootable USB drive using Rufus.

1. Plug in your USB drive in your PC.
2. Rufus requires no installation, so just double click the downloaded file to run it.
3. Select your USB drive in Device dropdown list.
4. Click Select button and select your Linux ISO file.
5. Click Start button. You will be asked warned that all data on USB drive will be lost, click OK.

The settings should be similar to those shown below:

The copying of ISO file will take some time. After it is finished you will have your bootable USB drive.

STEP 4. Boot from USB drive.

The next step is to reload the computer you want to install Linux on with  bootable USB drive plugged in.

Then during boot process access boot menu by pressing F2 or F9 or F10 key (it depends on a system). In boot selection menu choose your USB drive and boot from it. After Linux boots from your pendrive you can either test it in Live mode or install it to your local HDD.