joshf JO
@joshf
Linux Oct 12, 2026

Ubuntu USB made with Rufus won't boot

Made the stick with Rufus, GPT, default settings. The laptop's boot menu lists the USB but picking it just drops me back at the menu. Secure boot is on. Wrong partition scheme maybe?
rufus ubuntu install
2

Leave A Reply

Log in to post an answer.

2 Answers

J
johnny_gadget Nov 12, 2026
joshf
Try a USB 2.0 port if the machine has one, and turn off Fast Boot in the BIOS for the test. On some laptops fast boot skips initialising USB, so the stick never gets a chance.
Reply
N
nikhil_gadget Oct 19, 2026
joshf
Nine times out of ten it's the partition scheme. In Rufus, GPT is for UEFI machines (pretty much anything from the last ten years) and MBR is for old BIOS/legacy boot. If you picked the wrong one the stick just gets skipped. When Rufus asks ISO mode or DD mode, try ISO first, and if that stick won't boot, redo it in DD mode. Then use the one-time boot menu key at power on (F12, F9, Esc, depends on the brand) instead of changing the boot order. If it still fails, check the ISO download wasn't corrupted - a bad download looks exactly like this.
Reply