Best Bootable USB Software

Our pick of the best Linux bootable USB software and Windows media creation tools for making USB boot drives. Multiboot ISO files from one single flash drive. Install Windows 10 from USB, run a portable Live Linux OS, perform system diagnostics, scan for viruses and malware, backup hard drives, and much more—all while leaving no traces behind.

Universal USB Installer: Bootable USB Software

Universal USB Installer

The Universal USB Installer (UUI) is a powerful bootable USB software tool for creating USB boot drives from ISO files. This versatile ISO to USB software makes it easy to create Live USBs for Linux distributions, Windows setup installers, antivirus tools, and system diagnostics utilities. Whether you need a Windows Media Creation Tool, a Live USB Linux installer, or an all in one PC diagnostic toolkit, UUI offers a reliable and flexible bootable USB creator solution.

YUMI: Multiboot Windows and Linux from USB

YUMI Multiboot Bootable USB

YUMI (Your USB Multiboot Installer) is a powerful multiboot USB tool that allows you to create bootable flash drives for multiple operating systems. It serves as a USB Windows media creation tool, enabling you to quickly build a custom USB drive with multiple ISO files and system utilities.

Create a Fedora Live USB from Windows

Fedora Live USB

Create a Fedora Live USB. The following tutorial covers how to create and boot Fedora from a flash drive using Windows and the Fedora Media Writer. Fedora is a Linux distribution that is sponsored by Red Hat and is both driven and maintained by the community. It is comprised of open source software and will always remain free to use, study, modify and or redistribute.

Write Image ISO to USB: Win32 Disk Imager

Backup USB to Image Win32

Win32 Disk Imager is a tool that can be used to write Image ISO to USB drives, burn an IMG to USB, create backups, duplicate or clone a USB flash drive and more. This free disk imaging and cloning tool used to write raw disk images to a USB drive from Windows. As you might have guessed, this utility can also create a backup disk image of a flash drive. You can then use the backup image to clone a new USB drive or restore the original drive.

Balena Etcher: Burn ISO to USB or Clone USB Drives

Etcher Flash ISO to USB

Ever wondered how to burn an ISO file to create a bootable USB drive? Or perhaps you're looking for a simple tool to clone a USB drive? Balena Etcher, a freely available software utility, makes both of these tasks as straightforward as possible for users of all skill levels.

Ventoy Multiboot Bootable USB Maker Tool

Ventoy Boot Menu

Ventoy is another excellent open source media creation tool for creating a Multiboot USB drive, allowing you to copy, boot, and run multiple ISO files from one USB device. Its intuitive functionality makes it straightforward to use. To get started, simply format and prepare your flash drive using the GUI utility, then just drag and drop your ISO files onto the prepared drive. Each ISO is automatically added to the boot menu, creating a multisystem bootable USB.

UNetbootin: Create a Live Linux USB

UNetbootin Live USB Creation from an ISO

UNetbootin can be used to quickly create a Live Linux flash drive from an ISO file. There are versions of this cross platform Live USB generation utility for Windows, Linux, and MacOS X. The fact that this bootable USB creator works with every operating system is a benefit. The following guide provides a comprehensive setup process across Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms, making it easy for users on any system to get started.

How to Boot DOS from USB with Rufus

Boot DOS From USB

Creating a Bootable USB flash drive to Boot DOS from USB can be complicated. However, a tool called Rufus (Reliable USB Format Utility), created by Pete Batard, can make this task relatively simple. This utility can also be used to create a Bootable USB of a given distro from an ISO or image file.

SARDU: Multiboot USB Creator

SARDU   Multiboot USB Creator

SARDU (Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility) is another Windows and Linux based multiboot USB Creator. The utility can also be used to create a multiboot CD or DVD. It enables you to create a multiboot UFD containing your basic essential utilities, antivirus, Live Linux, and Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP Installers. On top of that, this bootable USB software offers the built in ability to defragment your USB Drive, and burn an ISO to CD or DVD.

LiveUSB Install - Live USB Creator

LinuxUSB Install

LiveUSB Install is another neat little third party Live Linux Bootable USB Creation tool. You can use it to easily put a Live Linux distribution of your choice on your flash drive. Enabling you to quickly Burn an ISO to USB. This software also allows you to select from an existing ISO and or use a CD/DVD as the source. Or you might want to use the internet download option to obtain a Linux ISO file.

XBOOT Multiboot ISO USB Creator Windows

XBOOT - Drag and Drop ISOs - Create USB

XBOOT is yet another neat little Multiboot ISO USB Creator for Windows. Similar to YUMI, this Windows based application can be used to create a Live Linux Multiboot Bootable USB. Additionally, the utility can also be used to create a Multiboot ISO file containing multiple distributions which can then be burnt to a CD/DVD.

Linux Live USB Creator (LiLi)

live linux usb creator

Linux Live USB Creator, also known as LiLi USB Creator, is a powerful tool for creating bootable USB flash drives loaded with various Linux distributions. With it, users can easily install different Linux versions to a USB, resulting in a bootable Live USB with optional persistence. LiLi enables users to create a Linux bootable USB flash drive from an ISO image, CD, or IMG file. The utility can even download the ISO or IMG file for you.