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I'm trying to install Ubuntu 16.04 from a USB drive. I'm using Rufus to create a bootable stick, but everytime I click start, it starts, and then gives the error ISO image extraction failure. What can I do?

jimpix
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  • Rufus has a good reputation. Which version of Windows are you running? Did you check that your iso file is good.? - You can use md5summer in Windows to check it. An alternative, that works to install Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS (you should use the first point release with .1 in the file name) from all Windows versions including XP is Win32 Disk Imager, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb – sudodus Jan 18 '17 at 12:23
  • I run Windows 10. – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 13:05
  • Rufus should work for you in Windows 10. Did you check the iso file? – sudodus Jan 18 '17 at 13:08
  • @sudodus I downloaded the ISO from the Ubuntu website but it still doesn't work. What's going on? – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 13:43
  • It's either a corrupt download or the file gets corrupted when saved (faulty drive) or is somewhere Rufus can't read correctly from or an antivirus: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/289 –  Jan 18 '17 at 13:59
  • @CelticWarrior Ugh.. Even Win32 Disk Imager is stuck on 92% – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 14:06
  • @CelticWarrior Now it is completed! – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 14:10
  • If the same ISO and somehow corrupted it won't work anyway. Win32 Disk Imager seems to be a lot more "forgiving" than Rufus. –  Jan 18 '17 at 14:14
  • @CelticWarrior Ugh.. something happened to my USB. It went from 8GB to 2.25MB WTF happened?! – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 14:24
  • Relax, it's normal. Try booting from it an see what happens. –  Jan 18 '17 at 14:25
  • Please check the md5sum - the download process might fail. We just learned, that it is easy - use Rufus and check with the listed string at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes - It is a good idea to check the flash drive too, that the flash hardware and the internal programming work correctly. – sudodus Jan 18 '17 at 14:58
  • @sudodus What do I do after checking the md5sum? – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 15:03
  • @CelticWarrior And.... it's corrupt! What do I do now if I installed it from the official Ubuntu website? Should I use Mint instead? – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 15:17
  • You don't install from a website... You download from it and problems can happen, your internet service, the browser you're using or other software... –  Jan 18 '17 at 15:25
  • Oops! Yeah, the "install" thing. So what can I do now? Like I want Linux so should I try something else? – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 15:29
  • A lot of people on the internet are saying that Ubuntu 16.04 is corrupt. – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 15:32

10 Answers10

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What can I do?

  1. Check the MD5 of your ISO which too few people know you can ACTUALLY do using Rufus! Just click on the (✓) button next to SELECT (Rufus 3.0 or later) or the # button at the bottom of the Rufus interface (Rufus 2.18 or earlier) after selecting your ISO. There is no need to use another tool.
  2. Run a bad blocks check in Rufus, to make sure that the issue isn't with your flash drive.
  3. Report that issue in the official issue tracker for Rufus, along with your full log from Rufus, as this is the best place to get help with Rufus issues.
Akeo
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  • What do I do after checking the MD5 of my ISO? – jimpix Jan 18 '17 at 15:01
  • What do I do after checking the MD5 of my ISO Either there's a match (ISO is fine) or there isn't (ISO is corrupt). –  Jan 18 '17 at 15:27
  • Indeed, you need to check that the MD5 reported by Rufus matches the official MD5 of your ISO as provided by Ubuntu here. All Rufus (or any other MD5 generation tool) does is compute the checksum. It's up to you to confirm whether it matches. – Akeo Jan 18 '17 at 16:05
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    @CelticWarrior My MD5 matches, but Rufus fails to create a bootable stick. – jimpix Jan 25 '17 at 08:58
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for me the case was that I deleted the rufus_files folder rufus created when it's ran for the very first time. Actually, I keep a different folder for softwares, so i only copied .exe after i did my first iso extraction with rufus and deleted the folder (rufus_files).

so, just reinstall rufus and keep the folder.

peace

P.hunter
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    I only deleted the rufus.ini and it worked fine when I tried again. I had a rufus.ini from a previous version and it was causing the error. – DGaleano Jan 07 '21 at 14:57
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I was trying to create the bootable USB from my office laptop and got in to this issue. I have read many solutions and it didn't work out. From one answer they said it might be due to the anti-virus effect and i tried using my personal laptop and it did work out.

shanavascet
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If you are trying to use an ISO located on a network share, copy the file to a local hard drive.

He Shiming
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Mine was failing because my Front USB ports on my case was causing write failures to the thumb drive. Plugged in the back ports and all was good.

Friendly Neighborhood Spiderm.
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In my case, the USB drive was encrypted with BitLocker. I had to remove BitLocker from the drive before it worked. In Windows, just search for BitLocker from the start menu, and see if BitLocker-To-Go is enabled for your drive. Disabling it, then trying Rufus again to write Ubuntu to the drive worked.

Stephen Williams
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I have no idea why, but version 4.2 is giving me this error while 3.14 does not. Try earlier version.

Euri Pinhollow
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    If you see an alleged difference between Rufus versions, then please report your issue here and make sure to provide the full log from Rufus when creating the issue. Then the developers of Rufus should be able to answer your question if they can replicate your problem. But they can only do so if you provide enough data, and I'm afraid that the report above falls a bit short of that as it doesn't even mention the full name of the ISO you used (which I'm going to assume isn't 16.04 as OP was using)... – Akeo Aug 08 '23 at 08:59
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On Windows install the program PowerISO. Then:

  1. Open your ISO file.
  2. Delete autorun.inf.
  3. Save and exit (overwrite).

Done.

Eliah Kagan
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ffahwaz
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For me in Windows 10, it seems that MS denies rufus access to items in downloads and desktops, so am unable to actually choose/select the Ubuntu image to send to USB stick.

Sudutoo
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Just run rufus as administrator and it works on Windows 10. Otherwise it cannot find the iso file or downloads folder.

S.A. Ramakrishna
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