Need to extract files from an ISO image without burning it to a USB drive? Rufus, known for bootable USB creation, can help! While not its primary function, you can use Rufus in a clever workaround.
**Here's how, step-by-step:**
1. **Open Rufus:** Launch the Rufus application.
2. **Device Selection:** Choose a physical USB drive in the "Device" dropdown. This step is **crucial**. Rufus needs a target device to 'prepare' for writing.
3. **Boot Selection:** Change 'Boot selection' to **Disk or ISO image (Please select)**.
4. **Select Your ISO:** Click the **SELECT** button and browse to your ISO image file.
5. **Start:** Click the **START** button. Rufus will warn about data loss on the selected USB drive. Don't worry, we won't actually write anything.
6. **Identify Mount Point:** When the 'Format' window appears, click **Cancel** immediately. If you proceed to start the process, this will format your USB Drive, and you will lose all of the data.
7. **Explore Temporary Folder:** Rufus has temporarily mounted the ISO image. The drive letter or mount path is sometimes displayed in the cancel prompt. If not, look for a recently created virtual drive in your file explorer.
8. **Copy Files:** Now, simply browse the virtual drive and copy the files you need to your desired location.
That's it! You've successfully extracted files from your ISO image using Rufus. Remember to safely eject the virtual drive afterward. For direct extraction, consider dedicated ISO extraction tools for simpler operation.
