Encyclopedia
List of tools to create bootable USB
01Overview
- "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 | Linux, macOS, Windows | Anything | |
| DasBoot | SubRosaSoft | Freeware | No | No | , N/a | 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 | 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 | |
| Startup Disk Creator | Canonical Ltd | GNU GPL v3 | Yes | No | Ubuntu, Windows | Ubuntu | |
| UNetbootin | Geza Kovacs | GNU GPL v2+ | Yes | No | Linux, macOS, Windows | Anything | |
| Universal USB Installer (UUI) | Pendrivelinux | GNU GPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows | Linux |
| Ventoy | longpanda | GNU GPL v3+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Linux, Windows | Anything |
| Windows To Go | Microsoft | Proprietary | No | No | , N/a | Windows | Windows |
| YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Integrator) | Pendrivelinux | GNU GPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows | Linux |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “List of tools to create bootable USB”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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