Rufus is one of the most popular tools when it comes to creating bootable external media to install or run operating systems, create rescue media, update firmware and in general for any use that involves “burning” images.
Note that Rufus is a software of open source, free, fast and reliable, which make it one of the best options of its kind. It works for software from various platforms (Windows, Linux, FreeDos…), but -in my opinion after a decade of use- it is unbeatable when we deal with Windows. and it is especially recommended if we are going to install the operating system on machines with the new UEFI and/or GPT partitions, because not all alternative tools are capable of performing the media correctly in this type of advanced formats.
But there is a problem. Microsoft did not like the new capabilities that developers were adding, such as bypassing the requirement to use Microsoft accounts (MSA) and bypassing the TPM and Secure Boot, the two most controversial hardware requirements of Windows 11. Since then , there have been problems in the use of some of its functions. Incomprehensibly, but you know how they spend with these issues in the Redmond barracks.
Clarify that Rufus can ‘burn’ images from local storage media that the user has previously downloaded or you can download them from the same application connecting to official Microsoft servers by installing a Fido script. This last function has been the one that Microsoft is blocking with each version.
The good thing is that the developers, in a game of cat and mouse, are finding solutions and the latest version of Fido 1.39 is capable of bypass Microsoft countermeasures. Rufus automatically updates the built-in Fido script, so users do not need to do anything to restore the ability to download Windows ISO files within the app. Of course, you can always download the image separately, but within the app it’s more convenient as ‘all in one’.
If you use Fido separately, you can download version 1.39 from the project repository on GitHub. If you want to know more about Rufus and in general about this type of software to create bootable external media, you can review our usage guide.
