Ventoy: How to Create a Multiboot USB Drive with Multiple ISO Files

With Ventoy, you don’t need to format the USB drive for each new installation. Instead, copy the ISO file to the USB drive and boot it.
Ventoy: How to Create a Multiboot USB Drive with Multiple ISO Files

Whenever you want to try a new Linux distribution, you download the ISO image from the distributions website and write this to your USB flash drive using the dd command or with the help of some other tool, such as Balena Etcher.

But now, a software tool called Ventoy changes all that.

Ventoy is an open-source tool for creating bootable USB drives. It can be used to create a bootable and permanent drive that can even contain more than one distribution at a time.

The USB drive does not need to be formatted, and you can copy as many ISO files as you want. Ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them.

In addition, Ventoy provides Legacy and UEFI Secure Boot support, supports ISO files larger than 4GB, and can be updated without reformatting the USB device.

How to Create Bootable USB Drive with Ventoy

Launch the Ventoy app. If you haven’t already, you need to connect your USB stick to your computer. If it’s not showing up in the device box, click the Refresh button.

You can see that we’ve got a 16 GB Kingston USB stick. So plenty of room for multiple operating systems. With that selected, click on Install.

Install Ventoy on USB Drive

So be aware that this will wipe any existing data on the flash drive. Make sure you don’t have any critical data and click OK to proceed. Ventoy will ask you to confirm the step twice, so click OK again.

Wipe Data on the Flash Drive

And that’s it. We’ve successfully set up our USB stick. Click on the OK button to close the message. You can also close the application by clicking the Close button on the title bar.

The Application Has Been Successfully Instaled

If you open up File manager, you can see that the USB stick now shows up as Ventoy. This will be the drive you copy and paste your ISO files onto.

Finally, copy and paste all ISO file(s) into your USB drive.

Copy the ISO files into Ventoy USB Drive

Now your Ventoy bootable USB drive is ready to use. First, boot your system with the newly created bootable USB drive. The images will then be listed on your boot menu, and you will choose the one you wish to use.

Ventoy Boot Menu

Select the OS you wish to install, then proceed with the installation.

Conclusion

You know how to create a multiboot USB drive using the Ventoy tool. This helps to use a single USB for multiple operating system installations.

Now you are ready to boot up multiple Linux or Windows installations from a single USB drive.

For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Ventoy website.

Bobby Borisov

Bobby Borisov

Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies.

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