Make a Linux Mint Bootable USB with Rufus and Ventoy
A bootable USB is not a USB with an ISO copied onto it - the image has to be written so the PC firmware can start from it. Two tools do this well, and the choice between them is about how often you will do it again.
✍️ Technical Anshu🖥️ Windows Tool⏱️ 6 minute read
🎥 Watch the complete Linux Mint installation in the video - download, bootable USB and install, step-by-step
The video uses Rufus, and for a single install Rufus is all you need. This guide covers the exact settings, then shows Ventoy - the copy-and-boot alternative worth knowing if you install systems more than once.
Rufus - Writing the Mint ISO to USB
DeviceYour USB drive 8 GB+
Boot selectionlinuxmint-22.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso
Partition schemeGPT (UEFI) / MBR (old BIOS)
StatusREADY when the bar turns green
Warning
⚠ Everything on the USB drive is erased by this process
👆 The Rufus settings that matter - device, ISO, partition scheme - and the one warning to take seriously
1
Rufus - the Route the Video Uses
Rufus is a tiny free Windows tool that writes an ISO onto a USB drive so a PC can boot from it. It needs no installation - download it from rufus.ie and run the file.
Insert a USB drive of 8 GB or larger and select it in Rufus under Device
Click SELECT and point it at the Linux Mint ISO you downloaded and verified
Set the partition scheme to GPT if the target PC is a modern UEFI machine (roughly anything from the last decade), or MBR for an old BIOS-only machine
Click START. If Rufus asks, accept the recommended ISO mode. When it asks about downloading a bootloader component, say yes - it fetches a small standard file
Wait for the green READY bar, close Rufus, and eject the drive properly
2
Ventoy - the Better Tool If You Do This Often
If you regularly test or install systems, Ventoy is the smarter long-term answer - this channel has a full Ventoy guide. You install Ventoy onto the USB once, and from then on the drive works like a normal pen drive: just copy ISO files onto it - Mint, Windows, recovery tools, several at once - and a boot menu lets you pick which one to start. No rewriting for every new ISO.
For a one-time Mint install, Rufus is simpler. For a technician's pocket drive, Ventoy wins. Both produce the same result for Mint itself.
3
The Two Mistakes That Waste the Most Time
Wrong partition scheme. A USB written as MBR may simply not appear in the boot menu of a UEFI-only laptop, and a GPT stick can be invisible to an ancient BIOS machine. If the drive does not show up in the boot menu, rewrite it with the other scheme before suspecting anything else
Copying the ISO file onto the drive. Dragging the .iso into the USB folder in Explorer does nothing bootable - a tool like Rufus or Ventoy must write the image properly. If you can see the ISO sitting there as a file on a plain drive, it was not written, it was copied
🔴 The USB drive is erased completely by Rufus, Ventoy's installer, and every other writing tool. If that pen drive holds the only copy of anything - photos, office files, another tool you need - copy it off first. This is the step where the data loss in install stories usually happens, not in the installer itself.
🎥 Watch the Full Video Guide
Watch Rufus do the job in the video, start to finish - then the settings above will make complete sense.
My PC does not show the USB in the boot menu. What now?
Three usual causes: the drive was written with the wrong partition scheme for the machine (rewrite GPT as MBR or the reverse), USB boot is disabled in the BIOS settings, or the write itself failed. Also try a rear USB port on a desktop and a different pen drive - cheap drives fail silently more often than people expect.
Can I use the same USB for files after making it bootable?
With Rufus, treat the drive as dedicated to the installer until the install is done. With Ventoy, yes - the remaining space works as normal storage and you can keep files next to the ISOs. Either way, never store the only copy of important data on an installer drive.
Is an 8 GB pen drive really enough?
Yes. The Mint ISO is about 2.9 GB, so 8 GB leaves comfortable room. Bigger is only useful with Ventoy, where one 32 or 64 GB drive can hold Mint, a Windows installer and recovery tools together.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu Linux Mint installation video • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments - you will get a reply 🙏