Linux boot usb tool

UNetbootin

UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions without burning a CD.

You can either let UNetbootin download one of the many distributions supported out-of-the-box for you, or supply your own Linux .iso file.

Features

UNetbootin can create a bootable Live USB drive

It loads distributions either by downloading a ISO (CD image) files for you, or by using an ISO file you’ve already downloaded.

Using UNetbootin

Select an ISO file or a distribution to download, select a target drive (USB Drive or Hard Disk), then reboot once done. If your USB drive doesn’t show up, reformat it as FAT32.

If you used the «USB Drive» install mode: After rebooting, boot from the USB drive. On PCs, this usually involves pressing a button such as Esc or F12 immediately after you turn on your computer, while on Macs, you should hold the Option key before OSX boots.

If you used the «Hard Disk» install mode: After rebooting, select the UNetbootin entry from the Windows Boot Menu.

Supported Distributions

UNetbootin has built-in support for automatically downloading and loading the following distributions, though installing other distributions is also supported:

UNetbootin can also be used to load various system utilities, including:

Installing Other Distributions Using UNetbootin

Download and run UNetbootin, then select the «disk image» option and supply it with an ISO (CD image).

UNetbootin doesn’t use distribution-specific rules for making your live USB drive, so most Linux ISO files should load correctly using this option. However, not all distributions support booting from USB, and some others require extra boot options or other modifications before they can boot from USB drives, so these ISO files will not work as-is. Also, ISO files for non-Linux operating systems have a different boot mechanism, so don’t expect them to work either.

Distribution X isn’t on the list of supported distributions, will it work?

UNetbootin isn’t able to download the distribution, what should I do?

Download the ISO straight from the website, then provide it to UNetbootin via the diskimage option.

My USB stick isn’t booting, what should I do?

Reformat the USB drive as FAT32, then use UNetbootin again to put your distribution on the USB stick.

My USB stick/hard drive isn’t detected, what should I do?

Reformat the USB drive as FAT32, then use UNetbootin again. If it still isn’t showing up, use the targetdrive command line option.

How do I use UNetbootin from the command line?

How does UNetbootin work, and what does it do?

Where can I report bugs, submit patches, etc?

First, make sure you are using the latest version available on this website.

» See Github Issues to file a bug report.

» See Github Pull Requests to submit a patch.

Does UNetbootin have any spyware, viruses, trojans, or other malware?

No; though some anti-virus products may raise «Trojan.generic» warnings due to the auto-uninstall feature, these are false positives. Just make sure you obtain UNetbootin from this site, not some shady third-party source. If you’re absolutely paranoid, you can check the source code and compile it yourself.

What translations are available, and how can I use them?

A number of translations are included in the latest UNetbootin release. See the Translations Page for the status of each.

If a translation corresponding to your system’s native language has already been included into UNetbootin, it should automatically load the corresponding translation. Alternatively, you can force the language to use via the lang=es command-line option, where you substitute es with the the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code for your language.

Can I help translate?

If you’d like to help translate this website, join the project on Transifex, then edit translations either on this website or on Transifex.

If you’d like to help translate the UNetbootin program itself, please use Launchpad Translations. If you are new to Launchpad, you will first have to join the corresponding Ubuntu Translators group for the language you intend to translate. For information on using the Launchpad Translations system, see the translations help page.

Removal Instructions (Applicable only to Hard Disk installs)

If using Windows, UNetbootin should prompt you to remove it the next time you boot into Windows. Alternatively, you can remove it via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

If using Linux, re-run the UNetbootin executable (with root priveledges), and press OK when prompted to uninstall.

Removal is only required if you used the «Hard Drive» installation mode; to remove the bootloader from a USB drive, back up its contents and reformat it.

Uninstalling UNetbootin simply removes the UNetbootin entry from your boot menu; if you installed an operating system to a partition using UNetbootin, removing UNetbootin will not remove the OS.

To manually remove a Linux installation, you will have to restore the Windows bootloader using «fixmbr» from a recovery CD, and use Parted Magic to delete the Linux partition and expand the Windows partition.

Where’s the source code, and how can I compile or modify it?

Source code is on Github, though you may prefer a tarball of the latest release.

License

UNetbootin was created and written by Geza Kovacs (Github: gkovacs, Launchpad: gezakovacs, contact info).

Translators are listed on the translations page.

UNetbootin is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2 or above. Site materials, documentation, screenshots, and logos are licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 3.0.

Other open-source projects from the creators of UNetbootin

HabitLab

A Chrome extension to help you waste less time online (on sites like Facebook, Youtube, etc) by experimenting with different interventions (news feed blockers, comment hiders, and more) to find the ones that work best for you.

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5 Apps to Create Multiboot USB – Linux & Windows ISOs Supported

This article will be showing you 5 applications you can use to create a multiboot USB. All of them can write multiple Linux distribution ISOs to USB flash drive and most of them can even write both Windows and Linux ISOs into the same USB flash drive. These 5 apps are:

1. SARDU MultiBoot USB and DVD Creator
2. MultiBootUSB
3. MultiSystem
4. YUMI (Your Universal MultBoot Installer)
5. WinSetupFromUSB

If you have created a bootable USB with another tool, it’s recommended that you reformat the USB flash drive with FAT32 or NTFS file system before you use the tools mentioned in this article.

1. SARDU MultiBoot USB and DVD Creator

SARDU is a freemium software that can be used to create multiboot USB and DVD.

• Runs on Linux and Windows.
• Can create a bootable USB containing both Linux and Windows ISO images (Windows 7, 8 and 10)
• A multitude of ISO images for you to select and download directly from the SARDU application.
• You can add additional ISO images to your USB without destroying previous ISO images in the USB flash drive.
• Supports persistent files for Linux distributions
• It can also be used to burn multiple ISO images to DVD.
• Supports both BIOS and UEFI firmware
• Test your USB with QEMU.
• SARDU uses the SYSLINUX boot loader by default, but can chainload to GRUB2 (premium feature)

• The Linux version of SARDU doesn’t support Windows ISOs. To add Windows ISO image to your bootable USB flash drive, you need to use the Windows version of SARDU.
• The persistent files function can cause the program to become unresponsive when using the Linux version. The Windows version works perfectly fine.

SARDU is a portable application. To use SARDU, go to the official download page and download the Linux version or Windows version, depending on your OS. I downloaded the Linux version.

Once downloaded, open your file manager and go to the downloads directory. Extract the gzip archive.

Go to the extracted directory and double click the sardu_3 binary. The SARDU software will start.

First, agree to the license.

Then it will tell you to register an account. Registered users can download updated ISOs from SARDU database. If you prefer to use your own downloaded ISO files, then choose No.

At the left sidebar, there are 4 categories of ISO images

• Anti-virus
• Utility
• Linux distributions
• Windows

For example, you can click the penguin icon and right-click on an OS name and select search ISO . This will allow you to select an ISO image from your hard drive.

After that, tick on the OS name so that the ISO image will be written to USB flash drive.

It will also ask you if you want to enable persistent files. I found that if I choose Yes, the program would become unresponsive, so I choose No.

Then you can continue this process with another Linux distribution. After you select all your Linux distributions, insert your USB flash drive and click the USB icon on the upper-right corner to detect and select your USB flash drive.

Next, click the big USB icon to create bootable USB.

This process can take some time if you selected several ISO images.

To add Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 ISO images to your USB flash drive, you need to use the SARDU Windows version. Click the Windows icon on the left bar, and select the first item in the list. Choose the ISO path, then tick on the name.

Please note that if your computer uses UEFI firmware, then you need to enable the legacy BIOS support in order to boot your computer from the SARDU USB flash drive. As you can see from the screenshot below, I can boot Linux or Windows ISOs from the SARDU boot menu.

2. MultiBootUSB

MultiBootUSB is an advanced cross-platform application for installing/uninstalling Linux operating systems onto a single USB flash drive.

MultiBootUSB Pros:

• Runs on Linux and Windows.
• Free and open Source. Released under General Public Licence (GPL).
• You can add additional ISO images to your USB without destroying previous ISO images in the USB flash drive.
• You can remove an ISO image from your bootable USB flash drive.
• Syslinux is used the default boot loader for making your USB Flash Drive bootable, can also chain load to GRUB2 if UEFI firmware is used.
• Supports both BIOS and UEFI firmware.
• Supports persistent files for distros that are based on Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora.
• Test your ISO and USB with QEMU.
• Has a command-line interface.

• You need to write ISO images to your USB flash drive one by one.
• It doesn’t support writing Windows ISO image to USB flash drive.

To use MultiBootUSB, go to the official download page and select the installer package according to your OS.

• Debian, Ubuntu users select the .deb package.
• Fedora, Redhat, OpenSUSE users select the .rpm package.
• Windows users select the .exe package.

Once downloaded, open your file manager and go to the download directory and install the package.

After it’s installed, open it from your application menu. To create a multiboot usb, first insert your USB flash drive. Next, click the Detect Drives button in MultiBootUSB and select a partition on the USB flash drive.

Then select a Linux distro ISO image from your hard drive. After that, you can specify the persistent file size.

Finally, click the Install distro button to write the ISO image to your USB flash drive.

Once that’s done, you can click the Browse button again to select another Linux distro ISO image and click the Install distro button to write it to USB flash drive.

3 MultiSystem

MultiSystem is Linux-only application that allows you to create a multiboot Linux live USB.

• A multitude of ISO images for you to select and download directly from the application.
• Supports persistent files
• Can create a bootable USB containing both Linux and Windows ISO images.
• Test your live USB in QEMU or VirtualBox

• Only works in Debian and Ubuntu-based Linux distros.
• You need to write ISO images to your USB flash drive one by one.
• The Linux distro ISO images written to the USB flash drive can’t be booted in UEFI mode, you need to enable legacy BIOS support in order to boot them.

To install MultiSystem on Debian and Ubuntu-based Linux distros, open up a terminal and run the following command.

Import the repository public key.

Then add the official software repository to your system.

Update software repository index and install MultiSystem.

Once installed, open it from your application menu. Then insert your USB flash drive and click the refresh button in MultiSystem for it to detect your drive. (Make sure the USB flash drive is mounted). Once it finds your USB flash drive, select the device and click confirm button.

It will ask you to enter your password.

Then it will ask you if it’s Ok to install the Grub2 boot loader to your USB flash drive. Click OK.

Once that’s done, click the DVD icon to select an ISO image from your hard drive.

Then enter your password to write the ISO image for your USB flash drive.

Repeat this process to add additional ISO images to your USB flash drive.

4 YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer)

YUMI can be used to create a Multiboot Bootable USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.

• Supports both BIOS and UEFI firmware.
• Can create a bootable USB containing both Linux and Windows ISO images (Windows 7, 8 and 10)
• A multitude of ISO images for you to select and download directly from the application.
• You can add additional ISO images to your USB without destroying previous ISO images in the USB flash drive.
• Supports persistent files for Linux distributions.
• You can remove an ISO from USB flash drive.

• There’s no Linux version, although you can try running YUMI on Linux through WINE.

YUMI can be downloaded from the official download page. There are two versions of YUMI: one is for BIOS system and the other is for UEFI system. YUMI is a portable application. Once the .exe file is downloaded, you can double click it to start the application. Insert your USB flash drive and select it in YUMI user interface.

Then select the name of the OS you want to put into the USB. Next, select the ISO image file from your hard drive. In step 4, you can choose the persistent file size.

After that, click the create button to write the ISO image file to your USB flash drive.

Once done, repeat the same process add additional ISO images files to your USB flash drive. You can also add Windows ISO images. The Windows ISO will be put in Other OS and Tools in the Grub boot menu.

5 WinSetupFromUSB

WinSetupFromUSB is a Windows program that can create a multiboot USB flash drive to install any Windows versions since 2000/XP, boot various Linux and *BSD flavors.

• Supports both BIOS and UEFI firmware.
• Can create a bootable USB containing both Linux and Windows ISO images (Windows 7, 8 and 10)
• You can add additional ISO images to your USB without destroying previous ISO images in the USB flash drive.
• Supports persistent mode
• Test your live USB in QEMU.

• There’s no Linux version, although you can try running WinSetupFromUSB on Linux through WINE.

WinSetupFromUSB can be downloaded from the official download page. Once it’s downloaded and installed, start it from the start menu. Insert your USB flash drive. WinSetupFromUSB will automatically select it.

Then you can choose to format it with FBinst. Next, select your Windows and Linux ISO image files.

In the advanced options window, you can choose the persistent file size for Linux distributions.

Once you are ready, click the Go button to start creating the multiboot USB. After all your ISO images are written to USB flash drive. Restart your computer and boot from the USB drive.

Booting ISO Files Without a USB stick or DVD

Ever wondered if you can boot an ISO file without creating a live USB or live CD? Please read the following tutorial:

Wrapping Up

That’s it! I hope this tutorial helped you create a multiboot USB flash drive. As always, if you found this post useful, then subscribe to our free newsletter to get more tips and tricks. Take care 🙂

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