Learn how to make a USB bootable Windows & Linux on Windows. Easily Boot from USB with our simplified tutorials. Learn to create Windows installation media, set up Linux Live USBs, troubleshoot and repair PCs, or build portable Windows To Go drives. Our guides cover the best tools like YUMI and Universal USB Installer, simplifying the process for creating Windows USB boot drives, memory sticks, and SD cards.
Easily Boot Windows 11 from USB with a VHDx Image. Want to run Windows 11 from a USB drive, without installation? This guide shows you how to create a portable Windows setup using a Virtual Hard Disk (VHDx) file, so you can take Windows 10 or 11 anywhere. It’s the perfect Windows To Go alternative, allowing you to bypass system requirements and run Windows portably on any computer that supports USB booting.
GalliumOS is often heralded as the best Linux distribution for Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. Designed specifically for ChromeOS devices, this lightweight operating system is optimized for performance, compatibility, and efficiency. By combining the speed of Xubuntu with Chromebook-specific tweaks, it offers a seamless experience for users looking to repurpose their Chromebook hardware.
Easily create a bootable Live KNOPPIX USB flash drive using the Universal USB Installer. KNOPPIX is a free, open-source, Debian-based Live Linux distribution. It’s well known for its portability, automatic hardware detection, and usefulness in system recovery, diagnostics, and hardware testing.
Boot from a USB Ubuntu Live with Persistence: Learn how to create a bootable USB stick that not only runs Ubuntu Live but also remembers your settings and files. This guide shows how to use YUMI from Windows (or Linux via WINE), as well as other tools like Etcher and the dd command for advanced users.
Want to try a Live USB Kubuntu without installing it on your hard drive? A bootable USB lets you test it in live mode. With persistence enabled, you can save files, settings, and installed software for future sessions. This guide shows how to create a Kubuntu live USB using tools like YUMI, Etcher, and dd — on Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Easily create a bootable USB drive for Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) using tools like YUMI, dd for Windows, or the dd command on Linux or macOS. UBCD is a widely respected diagnostics tool that consolidates over 100 essential system utilities into a single ISO image.
Create a DBAN bootable USB flash drive containing a secure disk erasure tool using the YUMI Multiboot USB Creator. This tutorial covers how to run Darik’s Boot and Nuke from a USB stick using Windows, Linux, or macOS. The utility is designed to thoroughly wipe traditional hard drives (HDDs) through multiple overwrite passes, ensuring permanent data destruction.
System Rescue (formerly known as System Rescue CD) is a Linux-based live system toolkit designed for troubleshooting, repairing, and recovering computers. It helps fix unbootable or damaged systems, restore operating systems, repair filesystems, and recover data after crashes.
Create a Puppy Linux Live USB from Windows, Linux, or MacOS. In the following section, I will show you several methods to install, boot, and run a Live Puppy Linux system from a bootable USB flash drive. You can use the Universal USB Installer (UUI) from within Windows or the dd command from Linux or MacOS. Although packed with popular features, this Live Linux distribution aims to remain lightweight and small, allowing it to run exceptionally well on older computer hardware.
Creating a Bitdefender Rescue USB: The Bitdefender Rescue CD is a free bootable antivirus and malware removal utility created by Bitdefender, a leading name in cybersecurity. Designed for emergency virus recovery, it allows users to scan and clean infected systems that can no longer boot into Windows. You can create a portable rescue environment by running it directly from a USB flash drive, eliminating threats from outside the compromised system.
How to Effortlessly Make a USB bootable KALI Linux with persistence using YUMI from within Windows. KALI Linux, based on Debian, is designed specifically for penetration testing. It includes a vast selection of security tools such as network analyzers, password crackers, wireless tools, and fuzzers, making it ideal for cybersecurity.
Can you boot from an exFAT USB? Yes, but not directly using a single exFAT partition. To make a USB flash drive bootable in UEFI mode with exFAT, you must create two partitions: one exFAT for storing ISOs and one FAT32 for booting. Grub2 is then installed to the FAT32 partition, enabling boot support for both UEFI and BIOS systems.
Install Grub2 on USB from Windows: Need a reliable way to create a USB stick that boots from both BIOS and UEFI? In this guide we will show you how to install the Grub2 bootloader onto a USB flash drive directly from Windows. Using the grub-install.exe utility, you'll prepare a highly compatible bootable USB device.
How to make Clonezilla USB bootable flash drive from Windows. Clonezilla software is a free partition or disk clone tool that works similar to Norton Ghost and Partition Image. It can be used to backup (clone) information from media to media.
How to Install Gentoo on USB: The following step-by-step guide explains how to create a Gentoo Live USB bootable flash drive using Windows, a Gentoo Live DVD, and the Universal USB Installer tool. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a portable version of Gentoo Linux that you can boot directly from a USB drive.
How to Install Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) to a USB Drive: Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) is a lightweight version of Ubuntu Linux developed by Canonical Ltd. for netbooks and other low-powered computers. Though officially discontinued, it remains an excellent operating system for reviving old netbooks and laptops.
How to create a bootable USB Debian Live flash drive from Windows by using Etcher by Balena, YUMI Multiboot USB tool, DD for Windows or the Linux DD command. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Debian to a USB drive from within Windows, Linux, or macOS. Resulting in a Live bootable USB with optional persistence. Upon completion, you can also use the resulting device to install Debian from USB to an internal hard drive.
Want to create a USB bootable Linux Mint with persistence? This how to tutorial shows you how to create a Linux Mint Live USB with persistence so you can run Linux Mint directly from a USB drive and save your changes between sessions. You'll also learn how to use that same drive to install Mint to your computer's hard drive.
Install Xubuntu on USB: Create a bootable Xubuntu Live USB drive using Windows or Linux. In this guide, you'll learn how to easily install Xubuntu onto a USB flash drive using YUMI Multiboot software, Etcher, or the dd command. The YUMI USB boot method also supports persistence—allowing you to save changes between sessions by selecting a persistent file size during setup.
Effortlessly make an OpenSUSE Bootable USB drive. This tutorial demonstrates methods for creating a bootable OpenSUSE USB drive using YUMI or Etcher. Depending on your needs, you can choose to boot from USB a simple live portable OS environment or use the setup to install to another USB stick or internal hard drive.
Create a xPUD Persistent USB Flash Drive from Windows. xPUD is an intuitive minimal Linux Operating system. It was created by Penk and functions like a Kiosk. It ships with the Firefox Browser, Gnome Media Player, Transmission Bit torrent Client, Geany Text Editor, Gpicview Picture Viewer, EPDFView and Xterm Terminal Emulator. More apps can be installed for other tasks.
Making a Damn Small Linux Live USB (DSL). This is a revisit of my Windows DSL bootable USB installation tutorial: "Putting Damn Small Linux on a USB". Based on the 2.4 kernel, this tiny distribution is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or thumb drives as small as 64 MB.
In the following tutorial, I cover how to create a Parted Magic bootable USB flash drive from within Windows. This fully functional portable Operating System doubles as a disk management utility to help you perform disk editing, disk imaging, and partitioning tasks with ease.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to install the Puppy Arcade retro gaming Linux distro to a bootable USB flash drive using Windows. Puppy Arcade is a remastered version of Puppy Linux, designed specifically for Linux-based game console emulation. Originally developed by Scott Jarvis, it features a collection of built-in emulators for classic gaming systems.
Easily create a bootable GParted Live USB flash drive from Windows using YUMI, or using dd in Linux or on macOS. GParted, a popular graphical partition editor developed by Curtis Gedak, is a powerful open source USB partition tool for managing disk partitions. It allows you to create, resize, delete, and reorganize partitions with ease. Additional features include managing boot flags, formatting drives, cloning partitions, and more.
The following covers one way to make a MCNLive bootable USB flash pen drive in just a few steps from within Windows. By using this method, you don't need to burn the ISO to a CD and then run the USB installer from Linux. Instead, the Universal USB installer is used to automatically create the MCNLive USB flash drive for you.
How to Create a PCLinuxOS Bootable USB Drive: PCLinuxOS is a clean, compact, and visually appealing Live Linux CD compilation developed by Texstar. Originally derived from Mandriva Linux, it has grown into a standalone Linux distribution known for its stability, rolling release model, and user-friendly design. This Live Linux OS is a versatile option for creating a portable operating system you can carry on a USB flash drive.
How to create a Lubuntu bootable USB flash thumb drive using Windows. Lubuntu Linux is essentially Ubuntu with an LXQt desktop environment. LXQt is a lightweight X11 desktop environment. It makes for an optimal Linux operating system choice for older or slower computers and netbooks because it requires less processing power and RAM.
Make a USB bootable Sugar on a Stick flash drive; Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) is a compressed version of Fedora Linux. It was created as a portable Linux for kids; as an alternative to using Fedora's office style desktop. It essentially consists of a learning platform for children that promotes collaborative learning through activities that encourage critical thinking.
Creating a USB Bootable RUNT Linux; This walk through illustrates how to install, boot, and run RUNT Linux from a USB flash drive. RUNT is a super super tiny and very basic Linux distro. It is recommended for intermediate to advanced users who prefer to do work without using a graphical interface like X. Beware that by default it does not feature a GUI, it uses a text only based interface.
Create a USB Recovery Is Possible (RIP) Linux bootable flash drive using YUMI from within Windows, or use dd on Linux/macOS. RIPLinux is a lightweight, Slackware or Debian based distribution (depending on the version) that was originally created by Kent Robotti. Although it is no longer actively maintained, this once reputable well known rescue distribution is still useful for system recovery and maintenance.
The following detailed guide demonstrates how to install, boot, and run Feather Linux from a USB flash drive using either the Universal USB Installer on Windows or the dd command on Linux. Feather Linux is a compact (under 128MB), clean, and efficient Knoppix Linux remix, based on Debian. This minimalist Linux distribution is easy to set up, making it ideal for users looking for a lightweight operating system solution.
Run Ubuntu Server from USB; Easily create a Live USB Bootable Ubuntu Server using YUMI from within Windows. The following process covers one way to Install, Boot and Run Ubuntu Server from a USB Flash Drive. Upon completion, you can then use the portable version to Run Ubuntu Server Edition Live or install to an internal Hard Drive. This is very useful if your computer does not have a CD/DVD Drive, but can boot from a USB device.
How to Install MooLux Linux Live to a USB Flash Drive Using Windows: Looking for a portable Linux distribution that you can run from a USB stick? This tutorial will guide you through the step by step process of installing MooLux Linux Live to a USB flash drive using a Windows computer. This lightweight, Slackware based Linux distro runs the KDE desktop environment and comes preloaded with a suite of tools for programming, office productivity, multimedia, and more.
This guide walks you through how to run OpenMandriva Linux from a USB flash drive using tools like YUMI, Balena Etcher, or the dd command in Linux. With your portable Linux USB stick, you can try OpenMandriva Live or install it on your hard drive—no DVD required.
How to Install Easy Peasy to USB flash drive using Windows, Linux or macOS. EasyPeasy is a remix for Netbooks that is based on Ubuntu. It is a Linux Live portable operating system specifically designed and optimized for use on low resource netbooks.
Create a Bootable StartOS (YlmF OS) USB Drive on Windows, Linux, or macOS. Formerly known as YlmF OS, this tiny Linux distribution is modeled to look and feel like Microsoft Windows. Often described as the Linux that looks like Windows, it combines the visual familiarity of Windows with the performance, security, and freedom of open source software.
How to Create a Ubuntu Rescue Remix Bootable USB flash drive from within Windows. The following tutorial covers one method of installing and running (URR) Ubuntu Rescue Remix to a USB drive using a Windows PC and the Universal USB Installer to do the Boot creation. Upon completion, the distribution can then be booted and run from your removable device.
Learn how to create a bootable USB for Simply MEPIS Linux using YUMI (Windows), dd (Linux/Windows), or Terminal on macOS. Simply MEPIS was originally developed by Warren Woodford in 2002 as a user-friendly Debian-based Linux distribution.
Run Wolvix from a bootable USB flash drive: In the following section, I show you one way to quickly boot and run Wolvix Linux from a USB flash drive using YUMI. Wolvix is a Slackware based Linux distribution that was created by Kenneth 'Wolven' Granerud. It is derived from Slackware and the Linux Live scripts from (SLAX).
USB CentOS Installation: How to Create a Bootable CentOS USB Drive on Windows. The following tutorial covers the process of creating a CentOS bootable USB using Windows and the LiveUSB Creator. Once installed, the CentOS Live USB will operate like the Live CD, allowing you to test and install CentOS from USB to a hard drive. Note that a persistence feature is not included in this tutorial, so any changes made will not be saved on subsequent boots.
Ophcrack is a free and open source Windows password recovery tool that uses rainbow tables for efficient password cracking. It can be used to recover lost Windows login passwords from older versions of Windows by utilizing precomputed tables, making the process faster and more efficient. This guide explains how to create a bootable USB drive to recover forgotten passwords without installing the software on the target machine.
How to Install SliTaz to a USB flash drive Using Windows. This tiny Linux distribution is a very fast running, free operating system that can be run entirely from system memory. Founded by Christian Lincoln, it remains one of the smallest portable Linux distributions available and can be stored and run directly from a bootable USB key or other removable storage media.
How to Make a SLAX Bootable USB Drive: Running Linux from a flash drive gives you portability, flexibility, and a practical way to test or troubleshoot computers without affecting your primary system. In this walkthrough, you'll learn how to set up a SLAX live USB using YUMI Multiboot USB Creator on Windows, or on Linux via WINE. Methods are also provided to help do the same natively from Linux or a macOS.
How to Create a USB Kiwi Flash drive: In the following tutorial, I will explain how to quickly and easily install Kiwi Linux to a USB flash drive using Windows and UUI. Kiwi Linux is a minimal remix based on Ubuntu that includes Adobe Flash along with audio and video codecs for restricted formats and support for encrypted DVDs. This distribution is for English, Romanian, and Hungarian speaking users. This tutorial does support the persistence feature, enabling you to save and restore most of your changes on subsequent boots.
The following tutorial explains how to create a bootable gOS USB flash drive using Windows. You can use either the popular Universal USB Installer or the command-line utility dd for Windows to get the job done. Both methods allow you to run gOS directly from a USB flash drive.
This tutorial covers the process of installing CrunchBang Linux to a USB flash drive from within Windows. Originally based on Debian, this lightweight distribution featured the Openbox window manager along with GTK+ applications, offering a minimalistic and efficient computing experience.
This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create a bootable USB drive with Eeebuntu, a lightweight Linux distribution originally tailored for Asus EeePC netbooks. With persistence enabled, your portable operating system can save files, settings, and system changes between reboots—turning a basic flash drive into a powerful on the go portable Linux workstation.
