Win32DiskImager | Write ISO Image to USB

Use Win32DiskImager to Write images to USB drives. This USB Imaging utility uses low level raw read and write functions to DD or 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. It might also be used to create a backup image of a device.

What is Win32DiskImager?

Win32DiskImager is an open source application that allows users to write raw disk images or ISO files to removable storage devices, such as USB drives or SD cards. It is primarily used for creating bootable USB drives or SD cards for operating systems like Linux or for burning disk images of various software distributions.

Here are some of its key features:

  1. Creating Bootable USB Media: Used to write bootable images of operating systems onto USB drives or SD cards. This is commonly done for installing or repairing operating systems.
  2. Cloning and Backing Up Drives: Users can create exact copies of removable storage devices, allowing for easy cloning or backing up of data.
  3. Open Source: It is also open sourced software, which means that its source code is freely available to the general public. This allows users to view and redistribute or even modify and contribute to its development.

This intuitive utility features a built in file checking option to check for file corruption before writing a file. The image writing software is available portably and standalone as a zipped file. So you can bring it with you on a removable device to then run from any available Windows Computer.

Win32 Disk Imager Specifications

  • Authors Website: Project Page
  • Developer: gruemaster
  • Release Date: First released November 22, 2010
  • License: Open Source
  • Extracted File Size: 43MB
  • Supported OS: Windows

Using Win32DiskImager to write Image to USB

Here's how to Write Image to USB using Win32DiskImager.

  1. Download Win32DiskImager as a zipped file.
  2. Extract (Unzip) the contents to a folder to your desktop.
  3. From within that extracted folder, right click the Win32DiskImager.exe file and select (Run as Administrator).
  4. Then once the program is up and running;
    (1.) Browse to and choose your ISO file. You may need to allow *.*
    (2.) Choose your destination device.
    (3.) Click Write.

    Write Image to USB - Win32DiskImager
    Win32DiskImager
  5. Upon completion, reboot from your USB drive to make sure it works as intended.

In this example, the ISO Image Writer was used to put a Rescatux Live ISO on a USB flash drive. Since a bootable ISO was written to USB, the drive should act just like it would booting from a CD-ROM and boot right into the Linux Live operating environment. Simply reboot the computer, set your BIOS or UEFI to boot from a USB drive, and then proceed to boot from the Live USB.

If you found this tool useful, you might also want to check out the Etcher ISO USB Imaging and Clone App, which works similarly.