Ventoy

Ventoy is a FREE open-source boot management utility that enables Windows PC users of all knowledge levels to create bootable USB sticks, SSD, NVMe, and SD Cards carrying any operating system ISO container, without the need to format the drive beforehand.

By using this approach, the creators of Ventoy have enabled PC users from all around the world to simplify the process of creation of bootable USB drives and make them perfectly usable outside of the booting procedure for regular USB use.

Even better, this app allows users to select as many ISO files they want to add to the USB drive, making them all instantly accessible on boot after a simple reset of a home, school, or work computer. Instead of automatically booting just a single ISO file like almost all other boot managers force users to do, Ventoy will first showcase a list of available ISO files, enabling users to pick which one is to be loaded!

Ventoy is distributed online not as an automated installer, but as a compressed ZIP archive that users have to manually unpack anywhere on their local or external storage. With this approach, Ventoy has embraced portability over the ease of use, enabling seasoned PC users and technicians to have easy access to this valuable app on portable drives when moving from one PC to another. The procedure of getting Ventoy up and running on an external USB drive is simple.

Instead of infusing the ISO into the drive by formatting it and creating the bootable header, this app only transfers the custom boot micro app on the drive. This enables users to simply transfer ISO files on the drive at their own convenience, filling it up with all bootable OS versions they desire. Upon booting the computer using the USB drive, users will be welcomed with the Ventoy boot listing, asking them which of the found ISO files user wish to load.

The app supports ISO files that are over 4GB in size and can work flawlessly even both on Legacy BIOS and newer UEFI motherboards. As of the time of writing this review, developers have tested over 800 various ISOs carrying operating systems of all types.

Features and Highlights

• Very simple to use
• Fast (limited only by the speed of copying iso file)
• Can be installed in USB/Local Disk/SSD/NVMe/SD Card
• Directly boot from ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files, no extraction is needed
• Support to browse and boot ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files on local disk
• No need to be continuous in disk for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files
• Both MBR and GPT partition styles are supported
• x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI, MIPS64EL UEFI supported
• IA32/x86_64 UEFI Secure Boot supported
• Persistence supported
• Windows auto installation supported
• RHEL7/8/CentOS7/8/SUSE/Ubuntu Server ... auto installation supported
• FAT32/exFAT/NTFS/UDF/XFS/Ext2(3)(4) supported for main partition
• ISO files larger than 4GB supported
• Native boot menu style for Legacy & UEFI
• Most types of OS supported, 850+ iso files tested
• Linux vDisk(vhd/vdi/raw...) boot solution
• Not only boot but also complete the installation process
• Menu dynamically switchable between ListView and TreeView mode
• "Ventoy Compatible" concept
• Plugin Framework and GUI plugin configurator
• Injection files to a runtime environment
• Boot configuration file dynamically replacement
• Highly customizable theme and menu style
• USB drive write-protected support
• USB normal use unaffected
• Data nondestructive during a version upgrade
• No need to update Ventoy when a new distro is released

Ventoy is 100% FREE and can be used on both legacy and modern versions of Windows OS.

If you are looking for Ventoy alternatives, we recommend you to download YUMI or Easy2Boot.