Rufus Errors and How to Fix Them

Computer owners can’t do without a bootable USB drive. Rufus is a free utility for creating bootable media from various OS images. The application works almost flawlessly thanks to its tiny size and algorithms refined over the years. However, issues can still arise while using the program. Let’s take a look at why Rufus fails to launch, what errors it produces, and how to fix them using our instructions.

Rufus Features

Rufus formats a flash drive, a portable HDD (hard disk drive), or a fixed drive and writes the contents of an image with a bootable area to the storage device. This turns the device into bootable media. If you’ve downloaded a working ISO (an original from the developer’s website or a build) without errors and are using an intact flash drive, problems are ruled out. In other cases, and through the user’s own fault, the “tambourine dancing” begins: Rufus either won’t launch on Windows or can’t format the drive.

Why Errors Occur While Using the Utility

Sources of problems: the condition of the flash drive, the image, and the operating system. Sometimes they depend on how careful the user is.

Errors when writing images and formatting a flash drive in Rufus are mostly caused by:

The drive being used by other applications (a file located on the device is open);
Damaged memory cells or other issues with the device;
A non-bootable or corrupted image;
The use of cheap Chinese USB hubs and extension cables;
Antivirus software that blocks the program from working.

Flash Drive Malfunctions

Rufus is unlikely to write the image contents to a damaged flash drive. Even if it does copy the files, they may later be unreadable. To fix errors with non-working sectors:

Open the device properties via File Explorer (Win + E).
Flash drive properties.
On the “Tools” tab, click “Check”.
Checking the disk for errors.
Start scanning the drive.
Disk check.

Formatting as a Way to Solve the Problem

If there are a large number of logical problems or physical damage on the USB drive, format it:

Right-click and select the corresponding command.
Formatting disks when errors occur.
Uncheck “Quick…” and click “Start”.
Confirm the deletion of files on the device, after first copying the information.

Sometimes you have to resort to advanced utilities for low-level formatting and recovery, such as HDD Regenerator.

File System Errors

Rufus works with seven file systems:

FAT – outdated, no longer in use.
FAT32 – the successor to FAT. Used for GPT and UEFI partitions. Does not support writing files larger than 4 GB.
NTFS – free of a number of FAT32’s drawbacks, created by default for MBR and BIOS partitions. Not supported by DOS (FreeDOS).
UDF – a specification for optical drives, rare on flash drives.
exFAT (sometimes called FAT64) – a file system with an increased number of sector rewrites, larger cluster size, and access rights support. Resource-intensive.
Ext2, ext3 – file systems for various Linux distributions, with ext3 outperforming ext2. Ext2 is barely used; choose the latter for creating bootable Linux flash drives.

ISO Image Errors

When you get a notification that the image is corrupted:

you’ll have to download it again;
re-hash it if you downloaded it via torrent, and re-download the few megabytes containing the error;
find an alternative, undamaged image;
check the partition holding the image for bad sectors — the ISO file may be stored in damaged areas of the hard drive.

Conflict with Antivirus Software

Add the utility to your antivirus exclusions, or shut down the security software while Rufus is running.

Unable to Patch the Installation Files for Rufus Boot

Run the utility with administrator privileges — right-click and select the corresponding option.

You need the appropriate privileges in Windows. You must be logged in to the OS as an administrator.

Then replace the flash drive and download a different image.

“BOOTMGR is missing” Error

No bootloader was found on the drive. First use the Rufus feature to create a bootable drive based on the appropriate image.

Error [0x00000015] The device is not ready

This error before formatting a flash drive in Rufus occurs when automatic mounting is disabled.

Fix instructions:

Launch Command Prompt with administrator rights via Win + X.
Launching Command Prompt.
Run the command “mountvol /e”.

Close the window and try performing the actions again.

“Device eliminated because it appears to contain no media” Error

The flash drive’s lifespan is nearing or has reached its end. Buy or use a different one.

Rufus Won’t Let You Select FAT32

Why do you need FAT32? The application automatically selects the file system based on the image contents. If NTFS is set for a disk with MBR partitions, don’t change it.

Errors in Rufus and How to Fix Them — File system selection with no choice.

Unable to Mount GUID Volume

Try a different drive. Scan the current one for damage.

Error [0x00000005] Access is denied

Some program is preventing Rufus from accessing the memory card. Often it’s antivirus software.

“Unable to read the media. It may be in use by another process” Error

Similar to the previous case: close your antivirus and shut down third-party applications using the flash drive. Scan the disks for viruses. Try booting in Safe Mode.

“Error: Legacy boot of UEFI media. This drive can only boot in UEFI mode” Error

Create the drive correctly. Check the BIOS mode with the “msinfo32” command run in the Win+R window.

Error When Creating Partitions in Rufus

Make sure the flash drive isn’t being used by other programs, the image isn’t corrupted, and it takes up less space than the drive’s capacity.

Error 0x80070032 “such request is not supported”

Shut down your antivirus.

“This drive was created by Rufus” Error

The drive was created in Rufus for UEFI, and you’re trying to boot it in BIOS mode (or CSM). Go to the UEFI settings and disable Legacy Mode (CSM). Recreate the bootable flash drive for BIOS and MBR.

“Another Rufus application” Error

The application is already running: switch to its window or close it. You may need to end the task via Task Manager.

ISO Image Extraction Error

An ISO image extraction error in Rufus is fixed quickly. If you downloaded the file via torrent, open your peer-to-peer client (uTorrent, BitTorrent, qBittorrent), right-click, and select “Force recheck” or a similar option. Otherwise, download the ISO again or find a different image on another tracker.

“Delayed Write Failed” Error

Format the flash drive. If that doesn’t help, reset it via Rufus — press Alt+Z and confirm the operation.

Then format the drive using the Disk Management utility (opened via Win+X).

Unable to Assign a Drive Letter in Rufus

The solution is in the section above.

The “START” Button Is Unavailable

Check the settings. Something was done incorrectly, possibly:

No flash drive was detected (see the first drop-down list).
No ISO was specified — click “Select” and choose the file.
A corrupted or non-bootable image was selected (with an unsupported bootloader). Try a different one.

Linux Image Writing Error

Agree to download the missing (updated) files from the internet. This is no longer an error — Rufus is offering to download updated libraries for creating the bootable image.

Errors in Rufus and How to Fix Them