Explore some of the best bootable USB software that simplifies the creation of reliable recovery drives, OS installers, and diagnostic tools for both Windows and Linux systems. Whether you’re setting up a new operating system, running live Linux from a flash drive, or preparing a backup and recovery solution, these tools provide fast, flexible, and portable options for all your USB booting needs. From effortlessly creating a bootable Windows installer to configuring advanced system repair utilities, this category features essential free software tailored for users of all levels.
Use Win32 Disk Imager to write images to USB drives. This USB Imaging utility uses low-level raw read and write functions to directly copy data to or from a device. For example, it can be used to copy an ISO or IMG file to a USB flash drive or create a backup image of a device.
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer), is a Multiboot Live USB bootable Windows media creation tool or MultiBoot ISOs utility. This software can also be used to create a USB Installer for Windows or Linux. It helps automate the process of building custom Live bootable Linux USB sticks containing multiple ISO files of your choosing.
USBImager is an open source ISO to USB imaging tool. A GUI application designed for writing compressed disk images to USB drives. It can also be used for creating backup images of USB flash drives. This free portable image ISO to USB utility is available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux requiring no installation to the computer.
XBOOT is a Windows based Multiboot USB ISO Creator utility. It can be used to quickly create Live Bootable USB flash drives from ISO files. This application can also create a Multiboot CD or Multiboot DVD from an ISO file.
UUI - Universal USB Installer for Windows is a bootable USB maker. It can be used to quickly and easily create a Live Linux USB flash drive. Simply pick your favorite distribution, select its corresponding ISO file, choose your flash drive, and then click Create. Once the utility has finished, restart your computer and USB boot from that portable operating system.
Unetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) is a Live USB boot maker tool that can be used to quickly and easily make a Bootable USB flash drive from a single Linux ISO file. It is a cross platform Live USB generation tool supporting Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems.
Balena Etcher is a software utility you can easily write an ISO to USB or clone USB drives. Aside from USB Cloning, this simple and intuitive free tool can also be used to flash OS images to an SD card. Resulting in a bootable USB that can be run from any computer that supports BIOS or UEFI booting from the removable device.
ImageUSB is a free USB image tool that allows a user to create and clone images of USB drives. Similar to using dd, the tool works by creating an exact bit-level copy of the data. It can work with a wide range of USB drives, including flash drives, sd cards, and other removable portable storage devices.
Ventoy is another neat and intuitive bootable USB creation software tool. It enables users to quickly create a Multiboot flash drive via a simple drag and drop interface. This tool supports both BIOS and UEFI boot. It can also Run ISO files in Live Mode or as Installation media.
Install Windows from USB. WinToFlash, created by Novicorp, is a tool that can be used to copy your existing Windows XP, 2003, 2008, WinPE, or Windows 7 CD/DVD Install Disk to a USB Flash Drive. Upon completion, you should be able to Install Windows XP, 2003, 2008, Vista, or 7 using a USB Flash Drive (Windows Live USB Installer). Very useful if you own a Netbook or Notebook PC that can boot from USB but does not have an optical drive.
SARDU (Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility), is a MultiBoot Builder created by Davide Costa. It can be used to create a Live MultiBoot USB CD or DVD containing Antivirus Tools, Live Linux Distros, Diagnostics Tools, Windows PE, Windows Vista,7 and even Windows XP Installers.
LiLi - Linux Live USB Creator is another nice and simple live ISO to USB builder. Similar to UUI, this app can be used to make a Live Linux bootable USB flash drive from an ISO file of your favorite Linux distribution. You can then boot and run the portable operating system from the removable device, instead of using a CD or DVD.
