YUMI Multiboot USB Creator

YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) is a free, open source tool for building a multiboot USB drive: one flash drive that can hold and boot multiple operating systems, Windows installers, Linux distributions, antivirus rescue disks, and recovery utilities, all selectable from a single boot menu.

Which version should you use? YUMI Py is the current recommended build - it runs on both Windows and Linux from the same Python codebase and is where active development is focused. YUMI exFAT remains a fully supported, Windows native alternative if you'd rather run a standalone .exe with no Python involved. Older Legacy and UEFI-only builds are archived and kept online for compatibility with older systems only.

Which YUMI Should I Use?

Four variants of YUMI exist for different needs. If you're not sure which one applies to you, this table will tell you in a few seconds:

Short version: I'd start with YUMI Py. If you're on Linux and specifically need to create a new Windows-To-Go style VHD/VHDX install - that guided flow currently requires Windows (either YUMI Py for Windows or YUMI exFAT). See the FAQ below for details.

YUMI Py: The Recommended Multiboot USB Creator

YUMI Py is a standalone Python build of YUMI that runs natively on both Windows and Linux from the same underlying codebase. It supports exFAT formatting, files larger than 4GB, multiboot menu generation, ISO/IMG/WIM/EFI/VHD(x) drag-and-drop support, and persistence for compatible Arch, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu based live systems - everything YUMI exFAT does, with one platform-specific exception: on Linux, YUMI Py can't run the guided Windows-On-VHD install (that needs diskpart/DISM, which are Windows-only tools). You can still drag and drop an existing VHD/VHDX file onto a Linux-prepared drive and boot it - you just can't build a brand new one from Linux. See the FAQ below for more detail.

Beyond matching YUMI exFAT's core feature set, YUMI Py adds several capabilities that go further than the original exFAT build:

• Test Boot without rebooting your PC - boot your prepared drive directly in a throwaway VirtualBox VM (using VirtualBox's raw-disk support so it exercises your drive's actual partition table and bootloader), or boot a single ISO directly in QEMU for a quick live preview, with automatic WHPX (Windows) or KVM (Linux) hardware acceleration.
• Install to VM - install a distro into a persistent virtual disk (.vm.qcow2) stored right on the USB drive next to the ISO. Unlike Test Boot's throwaway preview, this disk keeps your changes between sessions, so you get a real installed VM that travels with the drive.
• Backup, Restore & Clone - back up an entire prepared drive to a single image file, restore from that image later, or clone one physical drive directly onto another, with an optional verify pass.
• Auto Download & Install - queue up distros to be downloaded and installed automatically, without manually tracking down ISOs yourself first.

Going forward, YUMI Py is where new features and fixes land first.

Get YUMI Py

• 07/14/2026 - yumi_py-1.0.2.exe: Added Portable qemu boot support and Qcow image creation. Installed ISO files can be booted from VM with persistence where applicable and or installed to and booted from VM HD images.
• Prior - 1.0.1: Added Auto Download Feature, Advanced Options, Backup/Restore/Clone Disk.

Run YUMI Py on Linux

Note: The Linux version only runs on modern Linux kernels. For example, Ubuntu 18.04 and up.

1. Open a terminal: Ctrl+Alt+T
2. Change to your Desktop directory:

   cd Desktop

3. Download the build with wget:

   wget https://yumiusb.com/downloads/YUMI/yumi_py-1.0.2

4. Make it executable:

   chmod +x yumi_py*

5. Run it as root:

   sudo ./yumi_py-1.0.2

Using YUMI Py

Run YUMI Py for Windows or Linux: Launch the downloaded yumi_py-1.0.2.exe or the binary for Linux. It follows the same familiar workflow:

1. Select your drive, click prepare to format and prepare it
2. Then, select from the list of available distributions (download the ISO if needed)
3. Browse to the related ISO file and set up persistence for supported distributions
4. Click Add to USB Drive;

   

5. Reboot your PC and set it to boot from your USB drive (you should be presented with a YUMI boot menu);

   

   Alternately, you can simply navigate to the installed tab and select Run in QEMU to run the ISO from USB in Windows without even rebooting;

   

More YUMI Py Options

You can batch auto download and install from a select list of distros. But note that some links aren't working yet.
(please let me know of automatic ISO downloads that don't resolve);

Or batch drag and drop multiple ISO files from a folder, setup persistence and let it do it's thing;

To Remove items, simply navigate to the installed tab and click Remove;

Note: The same user interface and most options are shared across both Windows and Linux platforms.

YUMI exFAT: The Windows Native Alternative

YUMI exFAT is the original standalone Windows .exe build of YUMI, built on Ventoy's boot process. It remains fully supported and, alongside the Windows build of YUMI Py, can create bootable Windows VHD/VHDX installer images. If you're on Windows and don't need a Python environment, this is the build for you.

YUMI exFAT Download

WARNING Backup Data: You must back up any data you wish to keep before using the "Prepare this Device" option. While preparing the drive, ALL volumes/partitions on the selected (Disk #), even if hidden, will be wiped clean.

YUMI exFAT Changelog

• 07/13/2026 - YUMI-exFAT-1.0.4.1.exe:
  Updated to use Ventoy version 1.1.16 bootloader, fixing boot issues with old UEFI version firmware when secure boot is disabled. Fixed a bug where prepare/update reported success on the wrong disk num, though the correct disk was prepared/updated.

How to Create a Multiboot USB Drive

Both YUMI Py and YUMI exFAT follow the same core workflow, whichever build you're using:

What You Need

• 4GB+ flash drive (128GB-1TB SSD works well) - see our recommended fast USB flash drives
• A computer that can boot from USB
• Windows 11/10/8, or Linux (YUMI Py only) - YUMI exFAT can also run under WINE on Linux
• Your Windows and Linux ISO files

Creating the Drive

1. Launch YUMI Py or YUMI exFAT and follow the on-screen steps:
   1. Select your disk (prepare disk)
   2. Select an ISO
   3. Browse to the ISO file
   4. Optionally set a persistent storage size (if supported for that distro)
   5. Click Create
2. Re-run the tool anytime to add more ISOs to the same drive.

Booting from Your YUMI USB Drive

1. Restart your PC and, during POST (before any loading logo appears), use the hotkey to access your boot menu. Common keys: F1, F2, F9, F10, F12, or Esc.
2. Set your boot menu to bypass the Windows boot manager and boot from the USB drive, then save changes (usually F10).
3. Select a distribution or tool from the YUMI boot menu to launch it.

Test Boot & Install to VM (YUMI Py)

One of YUMI Py's newer capabilities is testing your work without rebooting your PC into it. There are two related but different tools:

Test Boot

Test Boot gives you a throwaway preview and discards everything on exit - nothing you do inside it is saved.

• VirtualBox Test Boot boots your actual prepared physical drive in a temporary VirtualBox VM, using VirtualBox's raw-disk support to point straight at the real device. This is the most accurate test since it exercises the real partition table and bootloader chain YUMI just wrote - not just the ISO in isolation. Requires your own existing VirtualBox install.
• QEMU Test Boot boots a single installed ISO directly, with any matching persistence file attached, using automatic WHPX (Windows) or KVM (Linux) hardware acceleration when available. If QEMU isn't found, YUMI Py handles it differently per platform: on Windows, it offers to download a self-contained portable QEMU build (~150MB) straight to PortableEMU\qemu-windows\ on the drive; on Linux, it suggests the exact install command for your distro's package manager (apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, or apk). The same portable QEMU install also powers Install to VM below.

Install to VM

Install to VM is different from Test Boot: instead of a disposable preview, it installs a distro into a persistent virtual disk (a .vm.qcow2 file) stored directly on the USB drive, right alongside the ISO. The first run creates the disk and boots the installer from the ISO; every run after that boots straight from the installed disk itself, so your changes persist between sessions - effectively a portable installed VM that travels with the drive.

Note: Test Boot and Install to VM depend on your hardware's virtualization support (WHPX on Windows, KVM on Linux) and, for VirtualBox Test Boot, a working VirtualBox install. Results can vary by distro and by host system.

Backup, Restore & Clone Your Drive (YUMI Py)

YUMI Py can also manage your prepared drive at the physical disk level, on both Windows and Linux:

• Backup - copies an entire prepared drive to a single image file, with an optional verify pass after the copy completes.
• Restore - writes a previously created backup image back onto a drive.
• Clone - copies one physical drive directly onto another, with no image file step in between.

This is useful for keeping a master copy of a drive you've spent time customizing, or for quickly duplicating the same multiboot drive across multiple flash drives.

Auto Download & Install (YUMI Py)

Instead of hunting down ISO files yourself, Auto Download lets you pick distros from a built-in list and queue them for automatic download straight onto your drive.

• Streams directly to the drive - each ISO downloads straight onto the selected USB drive, with no separate local copy kept on your computer.
• Per-drive queues - each connected drive has its own queue, so downloading to one drive doesn't affect what's queued for another.
• Automatic resume - if a download is interrupted (app closed, connection dropped), YUMI Py picks up right where it left off next time - it even scans for leftover partial downloads from a previous session and re-queues them for you automatically.
• Adjustable concurrency - download 1 to 4 distros at once. More is faster on a good connection, but since everything writes to the same physical drive, try 1 if downloads feel slow on an older USB stick.
• Skips what you already have - won't re-offer a distro that's already installed on the selected drive.

Note: Auto Download doesn't verify downloaded ISOs against a published checksum - it relies on standard HTTP transfer integrity. If you need to confirm an ISO's authenticity for security-sensitive use, verify it against the checksum published on the distribution's own site after downloading.

Drive Preparation Options

Format Options

• GPT Partition Style - for modern systems. (Currently greyed out)
• Disable Secure Boot Support - bypass Secure Boot checks
• Non Destructive Install - keep existing files on the drive. (Currently greyed out)

Note: Greyed-out options aren't implemented yet - YUMI applies default settings automatically in those cases.

Filesystem Options

• exFAT - cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), the default and recommended choice
• NTFS - supports large files, Windows-compatible
• FAT32 - works on older systems, 4GB max file size (can't hold large ISOs)

Reserve Space at End of Disk

Optionally specify free space to leave at the end of the drive for a separate partition later. You'll need to partition and format that space yourself afterward.

Persistent Storage Support

Persistence lets a live Linux system save changes (files, settings) back to the USB drive between reboots. It works on most Arch Linux, Fedora, and Ubuntu based live systems, and several Debian based systems including Kali Linux, when supported by the distribution. YUMI automatically manages persistence via preconfigured loopback images on the drive.

About newer Debian Live persistence: recent official Debian Live releases changed how persistence works upstream, requiring:

• Storage named/labeled persistence instead of live-rw
• A persistence.conf file inside that storage
• That file must contain the line / union

YUMI 1.0.3.4 and later handles this automatically. For manual setup or larger custom persistence images, see: Setting up Debian Persistence.

Drag-and-Drop ISO Support

Create your own storage folders inside the YUMI folder on the drive, then drag and drop ISO, IMG, WIM, VHD(x), VDI.vtoy, or EFI files directly in. YUMI detects and adds boot entries for them automatically at startup. Files can exceed 4GB.

Is USB Secure Boot Supported?

Yes - both YUMI Py and YUMI exFAT use upstream Ventoy Secure Boot. Select VTOYEFI and enroll ENROLL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer into the MOK database.

Troubleshooting: What to Do If an ISO Won't Boot

If one boot method fails, try another - this is normal across different hardware and ISOs.

Normal Mode (Default): Uses the ISO's own built-in startup code. Works most of the time.

GRUB2 Mode: Try this if Normal Mode fails. Uses GRUB2 to start the system instead - works especially well for many Linux distributions.

MEMDISK Mode: Loads the ISO fully into RAM before booting. Ideal for small live systems and rescue/WinPE tools; the drive can sometimes be removed after boot if persistence isn't used.

UEFI Error: "No bootfile found for UEFI"

This means your system booted in UEFI mode, but the ISO lacks a compatible UEFI bootloader (typically expected at /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI).

Common causes:

• The ISO is legacy BIOS only
• The ISO only supports 32-bit UEFI
• The ISO was built for optical media, not USB UEFI boot
• Secure Boot is on and the bootloader is unsigned

Fixes: confirm the ISO supports x64 UEFI, disable Secure Boot temporarily, or enable Legacy/CSM boot in firmware if the ISO is legacy-only.

Supported Operating Systems and Utilities

This list isn't exhaustive:

Let us know about any missing free Live Linux distributions or version revisions, and we'll add support as time allows. Open source developers wanting their distro added can reach out with a link to try it.

FAQ and Known Issues

Is YUMI free?

Yes. YUMI is free and open source, for all variants (Py, exFAT, Legacy, and UEFI).

Does YUMI Py replace YUMI exFAT?

Not entirely, yet. YUMI Py is the recommended build going forward and receives new features and fixes first, and on Windows both builds can create new Windows-To-Go VHD/VHDX installs via the guided Windows-On-VHD flow. The one gap is on Linux: YUMI Py there can add an existing VHD/VHDX file but can't create a new one, since that requires Windows' diskpart and DISM tools. If you don't need to build a new VHD/VHDX from Linux, YUMI Py is the better default - especially if you work across both Windows and Linux.

Can I test my USB drive without rebooting my PC?

Yes, in YUMI Py. Use Test Boot to preview your drive or a single ISO in a throwaway VirtualBox or QEMU VM (nothing is saved), or Install to VM to install a distro into a persistent virtual disk stored on the drive itself, so your changes stick around between sessions. See Test Boot & Install to VM above.

Persistent Storage Issues on Newer Debian Based Live Systems

Persistent storage works on most Arch Linux, Fedora, Ubuntu, and several Debian based live distributions, including Kali Linux releases.

The persistent feature on newer official Debian live images works differently due to upstream changes in how persistence is handled. Recent Debian releases require a different persistence layout than many other live systems. Specifically:

• The persistent storage must be named and labeled persistence rather than live-rw
• The persistence volume or file must contain a persistence.conf file
• The persistence.conf file must include the line / union
• The persistence boot parameter must be manually added before booting

A fix was released in YUMI version 1.0.3.4 which should resolve the previous Debian Live Persistence not working.

Excluding a Drive from Being Detected

To exclude a drive from being detected by YUMI, create a blank text file named excludedrive.txt and place it at the root of the drive to be excluded.

ISO File Not Detected? Force an ISO

You can try to force the selection of an ISO file for ISO filenames that do not appear when you browse for a select distribution. This is useful in situations where you know that a distribution is based on another existing distro, but an installable entry or option for it does not yet exist.

For example: To force a Cinnamon ISO file while using Ubuntu as the select distribution:

1. Select Ubuntu for the distribution, during step 2.
2. During step 3, when browsing to the ISO file, begin to type ubuntucin into the file name: box.
3. Click to select the filename from the drop down as its name is being detected.
4. Then click Open to override and force the new file name selection.

 

Can't Boot from USB but BIOS/UEFI Supports USB Booting

Some flash drives ship formatted without a partition, but this USB boot tool requires the drive to contain a partition with an MBR (Master Boot Record). To ensure compatibility, the installer will format your device during preparation.

Troubleshooting USB Boot Errors

When booting Linux distributions from some laptops such as the Lenovo Yoga with a touchscreen, the acpi=off boot parameter might be necessary in order to successfully boot.

If you don't have a floppy drive and get fd0 errors while booting, simply add floppy.allowed_drive_mask=0 to the append line for the troubled entry. The best fix is to simply disable floppy in BIOS.

Persistently Saving Changes

The casper-rw persistence feature is used for some (but not all) Debian and Ubuntu based distributions. You can also have multiple persistent distributions, as each distro utilizes its own block file.

Ophcrack Tables

In order to load Ophcrack tables, the tables folder needs to exist at the root directory of the USB device (example F:\tables\vista_free). You can get Ophcrack Tables from the Official Ophcrack site. Once downloaded, simply unzip them to the root of the USB. Because you're using this method, you can have your Windows 11/10/8/XP tables all working together on the same device.

TAILS USB Drive Detection Issue

If your USB drive is detected as a "fixed" hard drive and not a "removable" disk (a few of the larger AXE and SanDisk drives have the removable bit flipped this way), you'll need to remove occurrences of the boot parameter live-media=removable, or TAILS will fail to find the live filesystem.

How Do You Pronounce YUMI?

YUMI is commonly pronounced "YUMMY" (Yŭh-Mēē). Because the name is an acronym for "Your Universal Multiboot Installer," some users also pronounce it as "YOU-ME."

Common misspellings include:

• YUMMI
• YUUMI
• YUMY
• YUME

Regardless of pronunciation, all refer to the same YUMI multiboot USB creation tool.

How Are YUMI and Ventoy Related?

YUMI was among the first tools to pioneer the creation of multi-system bootable USB drives, designed for the purpose of booting multiple operating systems and tools from a single USB device. It originated as our Windows based USB multi-boot software developed back in 2010 and was publicly released as open source bootable USB software on March 13, 2011. Both YUMI exFAT and YUMI Py are current builds, running on Windows and/or Linux respectively.

The exFAT variant is an iteration that utilizes the newer Ventoy boot process in place of its older USB multi-booting methods while retaining YUMI's familiar frontend and popular features. These features include user-defined automated persistence file creation, the ability to create VHD containers for running Windows from USB, and a means of providing users with categorized information, website links, and download links for each bootable distribution or tool.

Key features, such as A1ive's (AGFM) Grub File Manager-based Boot Menu, were already integrated into the exFAT variant before the existence of Ventoy. At its inception, Ventoy also adopted AGFM along with Rufus partitioning methods to use separate partitions for boot and storage. This setup allows for NTFS or exFAT large file storage, along with a small FAT partition for BIOS boot support. This feature, originally pioneered by Pete Batard (the developer of Rufus), eventually became a standard across these utilities, providing a method for all of them to natively support both BIOS and UEFI USB booting.

Ventoy works by modifying the boot sector of the USB drive (based on characteristics of the ISO file being booted) to implement its unique boot method. Doing so allows it to be compatible with a wide range of bootable ISO files, operating systems, and utilities, eliminating the need to extract or physically manipulate the contents of an ISO file. This ability to modify the boot sector is the main feature that LongPanda's project brought to the table.

All of these open source projects have their place in the ongoing cycle of software development and provide a feedback loop that each developer can draw from, allowing for the expansion into the creation of ever evolving boot pendrive software.