Ventoy Offers an Improved Approach to Creating Bootable Disks for PC and Linux Systems
Trying out different operating systems without installing them can be a fun experience, whether you're testing Linux or Windows. Format a hard drive for booting once and simply drag ISO files onto it with Ventoy, a tool that simplifies the process of creating a bootable drive. This way, you can quickly access and try out various OSes without having to write the image to the drive each time.
Owning an external hard drive or thumb drive filled with bootable operating systems is also practical for those who frequently fix computers. Ventoy not only makes it easy to manage and store installable systems, but it also allows you to keep them all on the same device.
After setting up the software, you'll find a partition where you can place ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI files. This should work with most bootable images (although macOS isn't supported, and booting on Mac devices is also not possible).
Credit: Justin Pot
To get started, download Ventoy for your operating system and launch it. Connect the drive you plan to use for booting operating systems. Ventoy will, by default, only show external drives to avoid accidentally rewriting your internal drives.
Choose the drive you want to write to, click Install, and let Ventoy reformat it. It will create two partitions: a small bootable partition and a larger partition for storing your image files.
Credit: Justin Pot
Drag any compatible images onto the larger partition, and you can even organize them into folders. Ventoy will automatically detect and display all compatible files, regardless of their location.
I tried adding a few common Linux distributions and a Windows 11 installer to my drive. Restarting my computer and booting from the drive allowed me to see all the ISO files as options. They booted just like they would if I'd written them directly to a drive. This is now my preferred method for testing Linux live environments and installing operating systems on PCs.
Credit: Justin Pot
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Using Ventoy, you can create a bootable drive that is compatible with both PC and Linux systems, allowing you to easily test various operating systems without having to format the drive each time. Furthermore, tech enthusiasts can store multiple bootable Linux distributions on a single drive, making it convenient for fixing computers or trying out different OSes. This process involves placing ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI files onto the drive's designated partition, ensuring that all bootable images are managed and accessible within a single device.
