Discover how to make a USB bootable on Windows with our easy-to-follow tutorials. Learn to create Windows installation media, set up Linux Live USBs, troubleshoot and repair PCs, or build portable Windows To Go drives. Our guides cover the best tools like YUMI and Universal USB Installer, simplifying the process for USB drives, memory sticks, and SD cards.
Easily Boot Windows 11 from USB with a VHDx Image. Want to run Windows 11 from a USB drive, without installation? This guide shows you how to create a portable Windows setup using a Virtual Hard Disk (VHDx) file, so you can take Windows 10 or 11 anywhere. It’s the perfect Windows To Go alternative, allowing you to bypass system requirements and run Windows portably on any computer that supports USB booting.
GalliumOS is often heralded as the best Linux distribution for Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. Designed specifically for ChromeOS devices, this lightweight operating system is optimized for performance, compatibility, and efficiency. By combining the speed of Xubuntu with Chromebook-specific tweaks, it offers a seamless experience for users looking to repurpose their Chromebook hardware.
Easily make a bootable Live KNOPPIX USB flash drive using the Universal USB Installer. KNOPPIX is another popular free and Open Source Live Linux distribution. It was one of the earliest Live Linux distributions ever made. This Live distro is based on Debian GNU/Linux and utilizes a lightweight LXDE desktop environment.
Boot Ubuntu from USB with persistence: Easily create a bootable Ubuntu USB with persistence for saving changes. The following segment covers how to use YUMI as an Ubuntu bootable USB media creator tool from within Windows or in Linux via WINE. Once finished, you should be able to successfully boot from the Live Ubuntu Persistent USB. You can also use the removable device to install Ubuntu to a hard drive.
Make a Bootable USB Kubuntu Drive on Windows. Kubuntu is a popular Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, featuring the KDE Plasma desktop environment. It's often preferred for its modern appearance and extensive customization options. Using a USB flash drive, you can create a live bootable version of Kubuntu to run on any computer or even install it on a hard drive.
Easily create an Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) bootable USB flash drive from Windows using YUMI, dd for Windows or dd from Linux. UBCD is a widely used computer diagnostics tool that consolidates over 100 essential system diagnostics and hardware troubleshooting utilities into a single ISO file.
Create a DBAN bootable USB using the YUMI Multiboot tool. Easily run DBAN from a USB flash drive using Windows or WINE from within Linux. Darik's Boot and Nuke is a simple bootable data destruction tool. It can be used to securely wipe an entire hard drive or an attached external disk (IDE or SCSI). It works by completely deleting all contents of the disk.
System Rescue (formerly known as System Rescue CD) is a Linux based live system toolkit designed for troubleshooting, repairing, and recovering computers. It’s primarily used to fix unbootable or damaged systems, helping users restore their operating system, filesystem, or hardware components after a system crash or failure.
Create a Puppy Linux Live USB from Windows, Linux, or MacOS. In the following section I show you ways to install, boot and then run a Live Puppy Linux from a bootable USB flash drive using the Universal USB Installer (UUI) from within Windows or dd from within Linux or MacOS. Although cram packed with popular features, this Live Linux distribution aims to remain lightweight and small, allowing it to run very well on older computer hardware.
Creating a Bitdefender Rescue USB: The Bitdefender Rescue CD is a free bootable antivirus and malware removal utility created by Bitdefender, a leading name in cybersecurity. Designed for emergency virus recovery, it allows users to scan and clean infected systems that can no longer boot into Windows. You can create a portable rescue environment by running it directly from a USB flash drive, eliminating threats from outside the compromised system.
How to Effortlessly Make a USB bootable KALI Linux with persistence using YUMI from within Windows. KALI Linux, based on Debian, is designed specifically for penetration testing. It includes a vast selection of security tools such as network analyzers, password crackers, wireless tools, and fuzzers, making it ideal for cybersecurity.
Can you boot from an exFAT USB? Absolutely, but not by using one partition for USB booting. In order to make an exFAT bootable USB flash drive boot in UEFI mode, you will need to format the USB with multiple partitions. Then, install Grub2 on the boot partition. And finally, set your computer system BIOS or UEFI to boot from the flash drive to confirm that it boots.
Install Grub2 on USB from Windows: Need a reliable way to create a USB stick that boots from both BIOS and UEFI? In this guide we will show you how to install the Grub2 bootloader onto a USB flash drive directly from Windows. Using the grub-install.exe utility, you'll prepare a highly compatible bootable USB device.
How to make Clonezilla USB bootable flash drive from Windows. Clonezilla software is a free partition or disk clone tool that works similar to Norton Ghost and Partition Image. It can be used to backup (clone) information from media to media.
How to Install Gentoo on USB: The following step-by-step guide explains how to create a Gentoo Live USB bootable flash drive using Windows, a Gentoo Live DVD, and the Universal USB Installer tool. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a portable version of Gentoo Linux that you can boot directly from a USB drive.
Install Ubuntu NetBook Remix to USB: Ubuntu NetBook Remix (UNR) is a netbook oriented Linux distribution created by Canonical Ltd. It is based on Ubuntu. By installing UNR to a thumb drive, your Live portable UNR operating system can then be run directly from the removable drive. Or alternately you can use the bootable USB to perform a full install to your computer's internal hard drive.
How to create a bootable USB Debian Live flash drive from Windows by using Etcher by Balena, YUMI Multiboot USB tool, DD for Windows or the Linux DD command. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Debian to a USB drive from within Windows or Linux. Resulting in a Live bootable USB with optional persistence. Upon completion, you can also use the resulting device to Install Debian from USB to an internal hard drive.
Make a USB Bootable Linux Mint Flash Drive with Persistence: Run Linux Mint from USB and also use it to install Linux Mint from USB to a hard drive. In the following tutorial, I cover one way to use YUMI to create your own portable version of this distribution from Windows. Additionally, I’ll include instructions for using the dd command to create a bootable USB with persistence.
Create an Xubuntu Live Bootable USB flash drive with Windows. In the following section, I will show you a simple method to put Xubuntu on USB flash thumb drive using Windows and YUMI Multiboot USB Boot creation software. This process does allow for running the Xubuntu Live USB with persistence. Simply choose a persistent file size to use for storing changes during step 4.
Effortlessly make an OpenSUSE Bootable USB drive. This tutorial demonstrates methods for creating a bootable OpenSUSE USB drive using YUMI or Etcher. Depending on your needs, you can choose to boot from USB a simple live portable OS environment or use the setup to install to another USB stick or internal hard drive.
Create a xPUD Persistent USB Flash Drive from Windows. xPUD is an intuitive minimal Linux Operating system. It was created by Penk and functions like a Kiosk. It ships with the Firefox Browser, Gnome Media Player, Transmission Bit torrent Client, Geany Text Editor, Gpicview Picture Viewer, EPDFView and Xterm Terminal Emulator. More apps can be installed for other tasks.
Making a Damn Small Linux Live USB (DSL). This is a revisit of my Windows DSL bootable USB installation tutorial: "Putting Damn Small Linux on a USB". Based on the 2.4 kernel, this tiny distribution is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or thumb drives as small as 64 MB.
In the following tutorial, I cover how to create a Parted Magic bootable USB flash drive from within Windows. This fully functional portable Operating System doubles as a disk management utility to help you perform disk editing, disk imaging, and partitioning tasks with ease.
In this step by step tutorial, you'll learn how to install the Puppy Arcade retro gaming Linux distro to a bootable USB flash drive using Windows. Puppy Arcade is a remastered version of Puppy Linux, designed specifically for Linux based game console emulation. Originally developed by Scott Jarvis, it features a collection of built in Linux console emulators for classic gaming systems.
Easily Create a GParted Live USB flash drive from Windows using YUMI to perform the task. A popular graphical partition editor headed by Curtis Gedak, this free and powerful open source USB partition tool can be used to create, reorganize, and or delete disk partitions. Other notable features include the ability to create multiple partitions, enable or disable the boot flag, resize a partition, format a drive, and more.
The following covers one way to make a MCNLive bootable USB flash pen drive in just a few steps from within Windows. By using this method, you don't need to burn the ISO to a CD and then run the USB installer from Linux. Instead, the Universal USB installer is used to automatically create the MCNLive USB flash drive for you.
How to Create a PCLinuxOS Bootable USB Drive: PCLinuxOS is a clean, compact, and visually appealing Live Linux CD compilation developed by Texstar. Originally derived from Mandriva Linux, it has grown into a standalone Linux distribution known for its stability, rolling release model, and user-friendly design. This Live Linux OS is a versatile option for creating a portable operating system you can carry on a USB flash drive.
How to create a Lubuntu bootable USB flash thumb drive using Windows. Lubuntu Linux is essentially Ubuntu with an LXQt desktop environment. LXQt is a lightweight X11 desktop environment. It makes for an optimal Linux operating system choice for older or slower computers and netbooks because it requires less processing power and RAM.
Make a USB bootable Sugar on a Stick flash drive; Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) is a compressed version of Fedora Linux. It was created as a portable Linux for kids; as an alternative to using Fedora's office style desktop. It essentially consists of a learning platform for children that promotes collaborative learning through activities that encourage critical thinking.
Creating a USB Bootable RUNT Linux; This walk through illustrates how to install, boot, and run RUNT Linux from a USB flash drive. RUNT is a super super tiny and very basic Linux distro. It is recommended for intermediate to advanced users who prefer to do work without using a graphical interface like X. Beware that by default it does not feature a GUI, it uses a text only based interface.
Create a USB Recovery Is Possible (RIP) Linux bootable flash drive using YUMI from within Windows. RIP Linux is a Slackware based distribution created by Kent Robotti. This well known distribution can be used for USB recovery and system maintenance.
The following detailed guide demonstrates how to install, boot, and run Feather Linux from a USB flash drive using either the Universal USB Installer on Windows or the dd command on Linux. Feather Linux is a compact (under 128MB), clean, and efficient Knoppix Linux remix, based on Debian. This minimalist Linux distribution is easy to set up, making it ideal for users looking for a lightweight operating system solution.
Run Ubuntu Server from USB; Easily create a Live USB Bootable Ubuntu Server using YUMI from within Windows. The following process covers one way to Install, Boot and Run Ubuntu Server from a USB Flash Drive. Upon completion, you can then use the portable version to Run Ubuntu Server Edition Live or install to an internal Hard Drive. This is very useful if your computer does not have a CD/DVD Drive, but can boot from a USB device.
The following tutorial covers the process of installing MooLux Linux Live to a USB flash drive using Windows. It is a Live USB Linux distribution based on Slackware that utilizes the KDE desktop environment. This portable operating system can be taken with you containing tools for Internet browsing, email, chat, multimedia, office and software for C, Python, Perl programming tasks.
This simple tutorial explains how to put OpenMandriva on a USB flash drive from within Windows using either YUMI or Balena Etcher or using the dd command from Linux. Upon completion, the resulting Bootable USB can be used to try out OpenMandriva Live on USB or install it to your hard drive, instead of using a traditional CD/DVD ROM for installation.
How to Install EasyPeasy to USB flash drive using Windows and the Universal USB Installer. Easy Peasy is a remix for Netbooks that is based on Ubuntu. It is an operating system optimized for netbooks.
How to Create a Ubuntu Rescue Remix Bootable USB flash drive from within Windows. The following tutorial covers one method of installing and running (URR) Ubuntu Rescue Remix to a USB drive using a Windows PC and the Universal USB Installer to do the Boot creation. Upon completion, the distribution can then be booted and run from your removable device.
Create a Bootable Simply MEPIS USB by using YUMI or dd while running from Windows or Linux. MEPIS Linux was first founded by Warren Woodford in November 2002. Warren didn't like how current Linux desktops worked, so he decided to create his own. It is based upon the popular Debian Linux.
Run Wolvix from a bootable USB flash drive: In the following section, I show you one way to quickly boot and run Wolvix Linux from a USB flash drive using YUMI. Wolvix is a Slackware based Linux distribution that was created by Kenneth 'Wolven' Granerud. It is derived from Slackware and the Linux Live scripts from (SLAX).
USB CentOS Installation: How to Create a Bootable CentOS USB Drive on Windows. The following tutorial covers the process of creating a CentOS bootable USB using Windows and the LiveUSB Creator. Once installed, the CentOS Live USB will operate like the Live CD, allowing you to test and install CentOS from USB to a hard drive. Note that a persistence feature is not included in this tutorial, so any changes made will not be saved on subsequent boots.
Ophcrack is a free and open source Windows password recovery tool that uses rainbow tables for efficient password cracking. It can be used to recover lost Windows login passwords from older versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 7) by utilizing precomputed tables, making the process faster and more efficient. This guide will explain how to create a bootable USB drive with Ophcrack to recover forgotten passwords without needing to install the software on the target machine.
How to Install SliTaz to a USB flash drive Using Windows. This tiny Linux distribution is a very fast running, free operating system that can be run entirely from system memory. Founded by Christian Lincoln, it remains one of the smallest portable Linux distributions available and can be stored and run directly from a bootable USB key or other removable storage media.
How to make a SLAX Bootable USB. Running Linux from a USB drive provides flexibility, portability, and a great way to test or troubleshoot systems without altering your hard drive. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a SLAX bootable USB using YUMI from Windows or in Linux (via WINE).
How to Create a USB Kiwi Flash drive: In the following tutorial, I will explain how to quickly and easily install Kiwi Linux to a USB flash drive using Windows and UUI. Kiwi Linux is a minimal remix based on Ubuntu that includes Adobe Flash along with audio and video codecs for restricted formats and support for encrypted DVDs. This distribution is for English, Romanian, and Hungarian speaking users. This tutorial does support the persistence feature, enabling you to save and restore most of your changes on subsequent boots.
Create a Bootable gOS USB Flash Drive using Windows. The following tutorial explains how to create a bootable gOS USB flash drive using Windows, either by utilizing the popular Universal USB Installer or by using the dd command in Windows.
Create a CrunchBang Linux Bootable USB drive using Windows. The following tutorial covers the process of installing CrunchBang to a USB flash drive from within Windows. This small distribution was originally a remix based on Debian. It featured a lightweight Open box window manager along with GTK+ applications.
This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating a bootable, persistent USB drive for Eeebuntu, allowing you to save settings, files, and changes across sessions. Eeebuntu is a specialized, lightweight operating system based on Ubuntu, designed to optimize performance on Asus EeePC netbooks. With its tailored interface and low resource requirements, this small Linux distro is a great choice for users seeking an efficient, portable OS.
