List of tools to create bootable USB

This is a list of utilities for creating a live USB. Only those listed on Wikipedia are included.

Overview

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  • "Multiboot" means that the tool allows multiple systems on the USB stick, as well as a bootloader on the USB flash drive to choose which system to load at boot time. Multiboot is environmental technology since it requires only a single storage device to boot multiple files.
  • "Persistence" is the ability, for a Linux Live distribution, to save the changes (to e.g. software, documents, parameters, etc) in the live USB across reboots.
Name Developer Licensing Maintained? Multiboot Persistence support for Linux distributions Runs on (OS) Target OS
balenaEtcher Balena Apache License 2.0 Yes No[1] Linux, macOS, Windows Anything
DasBoot SubRosaSoft Freeware No No macOS macOS
dd Various developers Free software (most vendors) Yes No Unix-like Anything
Fedora Media Writer The Fedora Project GNU GPL v2 Yes No Linux, macOS, Windows Fedora
GNOME Disks Gnome disks contributors GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No Linux Anything
LinuxLive USB Creator (LiLi) Thibaut Lauzière GNU GPL v3 No No Windows Linux
remastersys Tony Brijeski GNU GPL v2 No[2] No Debian, Linux Mint, Ubuntu Debian and derivatives
Rufus Pete Batard GNU GPL v3 Yes No Windows Anything
SliTaz TazUSB SliTaz GNU GPL v3 Yes No SliTaz GNU/Linux SliTaz GNU/Linux
Ubuntu Live USB creator Canonical Ltd GNU GPL v3 Yes No Ubuntu, Windows Ubuntu
UNetbootin Geza Kovacs GNU GPL v2+[3] Yes No Linux, macOS, Windows Anything
Universal USB Installer (UUI) Pendrivelinux GNU GPL Yes Yes[4] Yes Windows Linux
Ventoy longpanda GNU GPL v3+[5] Yes Yes Yes Linux, Windows Anything
Windows To Go Microsoft Proprietary No No Windows Windows
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Integrator) Pendrivelinux GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes Windows Linux

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Multiple ISO on one USB". balenaForums. 2021-11-15. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  2. ^ "remastersys web page". remastersys.com.
  3. ^ "UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads". unetbootin.github.io.
  4. ^ "Universal USB Installer – Boot From USB". 8 February 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2023. ...inherits YUMI's Multiboot bootable USB features.
  5. ^ "Ventoy". www.ventoy.net.