There are myriad of ways to create a Linux Live/installation USB drive, but one of the best ways that I recommend is by using the Rufus utility. It is a free tool that has been around for several years and makes a reliable installation USB. I have personally tried and tested this on Windows 10.
Steps to create Linux Mint Live/installation USB drive
Step 1: Get an empty USB drive of at least 2 GB. I don’t recommend more than 8 GB because not all PCs can boot through USB drives of more than 8 GB capacity.
Step 2: Download Rufus utility for Windows – it is a free portable utility and so doesn’t need installation.
Step 3: Download the latest version of Linux Mint from its website. Again, this is also a 100% free operating system. The downloaded file will be in ISO format. As of today, they have Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon edition. You can grab the 64-bit version for the best performance.
Step 4: Right-click on the downloaded Rufus program and select ‘Run as Administrator.’
Step 5: Rufus Settings:
Click on the CD drive icon near the checkbox ‘Create a bootable disk using ISO Image.’ Select the Linux Mint ISO file that you downloaded. For example, mine says linuxmint-17.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso.
In the same interface, click on the drop-down list under the ‘Partition scheme and target system type,’ select the ‘MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI.’
Next select file system as ‘FAT32’ and finally click ‘Start.’
Step 6: Keep the ISO Image mode to write when prompted and click OK.
Step 7: Wait until Rufus writes the data to the USB flash drive. At the end of the process, you should see the structure similar to mine.
That’s it. Your Linux Mint Live USB / Installation is ready!
unfortunately, the USB stick (4GB) is not recognised. I get a message please insert appropriate media and reboot
unfortunately it does not work. the 4GB USB stick is not recognised. I get a message please insert appropriate media and reboot.
No luck here. The Sandisk 4GB USB stick is simply ignored.
No luck here. The USB stick is simply ignored.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I used a Sandisk Cruzer Switch 8 GB and everything worked perfectly. Your steps were easy to follow – clear and logical. I can finally now boot into my desktop computer which was stuck on grub rescue>. Hopefully I will now be able to resolve the issue. 🙂
Dear Kiran,
Thank you! I never though creating a live usb can be so simple. I used a Sandisk 16 gb USB to create Live USB. your steps were easy to follow and result was perfect.
how to add more software in the Linux mint OS. because less software only in the OS . I want to add education software in the linux mint 18.3 and also tamil fonts for government school teachers. pls guide me
Thank you very much!
It doesn’t work, it seems that Windows 1o on certain machines need a .ef extention to boot from a USB drive
Worked perfectly with 2Gb stick. Thanks!
Worked fine on 8GB stick. Very convenient, thanks.
i have no efi folder
I have a newer version of Rufus, and can’t figure it out at all.
can you tell me how i get software install on the usb disk?
under Linux mint 13.9
Open Rufus. You only need to do 2 thing. Chose the USB you want to install on. Then chose the ISO file you want to use or just drag and drop it in the rufus window. Press start. If you can’t figure out rufus, use etcher.
If you don’t find the USB when booting you have to disable fast boot/secure boot or change from UEFI to legacy. Google this part, a lot of people have problems with that.
This was the extra info I needed – thanks!! 🙂
And btw, this is how to install mint using usb, not a live cd(which is you can run the OS straight from the USB without installing it).
If you know where I can do that it would be great.
Don’t forget you may need to enable booting from usb in your bios
Using Balena Etcher should be even easier to create a bootable USB flash drive.
I tried it in ISO mode the first time, and the computer (or MobaLive) wouldn’t recognise it as bootable. I had better luck with DD mode.
Old and outdated instructions.
Rufus hasn’t been updated in nearly 3 years.
You guys need to turn off ‘SECURE BOOT’ from BIOS. Also enable UEFI booting.