Best Free Tools for Creating a Bootable Windows or Linux USB Driv

The Best Free Tools for Creating a Bootable Windows or Linux USB Drive




If you need to install Windows or Linux and you don’t have access to a CD/DVD drive, a bootable USB drive is the solution. You can boot to the USB drive, using it to run the OS setup program, just like a CD or DVD.

We have collected some links to free programs that allow you to easily setup a USB drive to install Windows or Linux on a computer.

NOTE: If you have problems getting the BIOS on your computer to let you boot from a USB drive, see our article about booting from a USB drive even if your BIOS won’t let you.

Windows USB/DVD Download Tool

Editor’s Note: if you want to create a bootable Windows install USB, this is the tool you should choose.

The Windows USB/DVD Download Tool is an official, freeware tool from Microsoft that allows you to install Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Windows 10 without having to first run an existing operating system on your computer. You can change the boot order of the drives in your computer’s BIOS so the Windows installation on your USB drive runs automatically when you turn on your computer. Please see the documentation for your computer for information about how to access BIOS and change the boot order of drives.



UNetbootin

UNetbootin is a free program for both Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X that allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions instead of burning a CD. It runs on both Windows and Linux. Either use UNetbootin to download one of the many Linux distributions it supports or provide the location of your own Linux ISO file.

NOTE: The resulting USB drive is only bootable on PCs, not Macs.


Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator

The Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator allows you to convert a USB flash drive or SD card into a drive from which you can run your Ubuntu system. You don’t have to dedicate the whole drive to the Ubuntu system. You can store other files in the remaining space.

The program also allows you to create a drive for Debian, or any other Debian-based OS for which you have a CD or .iso image.


Universal USB Installer

Universal USB Installer is a program that allows you to choose from several Linux distributions to install on a USB flash drive. Select the Linux distribution, provide a location for the appropriate ISO file, select your USB flash drive, and click Create.

NOTE: The USB flash drive must be formatted as a Fat16, Fat32, or NTFS drive.


Rufus

Rufus is a small, portable program that allows you to create bootable USB drives for Windows and Linux. It also allows you to check the USB device for bad blocks, using up to four passes. Rufus runs in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. You can create bootable USB drives for the listed versions of Windows, as well as almost all popular Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSUSE.

Rufus is very easy to use and the program looks like the default format window shown in Windows when you format a hard disk partition, USB drive, or other external drive.

In addition to Windows and Linux systems, you can also use Rufus to put utilities on USB drives, such as Parted Magic, Ultimate Boot CD, and BartPE.


WiNToBootic

WiNToBootic is another free tool that allows you to create a bootable USB flash drive for installing Windows 7 or Windows 8. It supports an ISO file, a DVD, or a folder as the boot disk source. It’s a standalone tool that doesn’t require installation and it operates very fast.

Note: this tool doesn’t appear to be developed anymore.


Windows Bootable Image (WBI) Creator

Update: this tool doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

WBI Creator is a free program that allows you to create a bootable ISO image from Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 setup files. It’s a portable tool that’s easy to use. Simply tell the tool where the Windows setup files are and select a target folder for the new ISO file that will get created. Then, you can use one of the other tools mentioned in this article to setup a bootable USB flash drive or CD/DVD for use in setting up a Windows system.


WinToFlash

Update: we’ve been told by our readers that this application has a lot of adware so we’re removing the link.

WinToFlash is a free, portable tool that allows you to create a bootable USB flash drive from a Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2003, or Server 2008 installation CD or DVD. It will also transfer a Windows pre-install environments (WinPE), which are handy for troubleshooting and repairs, to a USB flash drive. You can even use WinToFlash to create a MSDOS bootable USB drive.


XBoot

Update: this tool hasn’t been updated in a very long time.

XBoot is a free utility for creating multiboot USB flash drives or ISO image files. This allows you to combine multiple ISO files (Linux, utilities, and antivirus rescue CDs) onto one USB drive or ISO file, allowing you to create a handy utility drive. Simply drag and drop the ISO files onto the XBoot window and click Create ISO or Create USB.

NOTE: XBoot requires .NET Framework 4.0 (Standalone installer or Web installer) to be installed on your system to run.



If there are any other free tools you’ve found useful for creating bootable USB flash drives, let us know.

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ISO to USB

ISO to USB
Program Information

ISO to USB is a free and small software that can burn the ISO image file directly to the USB drives, these USB drives include USB flash drives, memory sticks and other USB storage devices, it also supports to create a bootable USB disk with Windows operating systems. Freeware.


Click the image to view full size screenshot.



DownloadThe software license is Freeware, feel free to use it, but do so at your own risk.
Get it from a file mirror

Burn ISO to USB disks with ease

The ISO image file is a popular image of the CD/DVD discs, an ISO file can include all the content on the disc, this software can easily burn these ISO files to a USB flash disk, makes it easy to carry and use. The program's interface is very simple, you only need select the ISO file you want to burn and the target USB drive, then click "Burn" button, an USB disk that includes all ISO image data will be created. There do not have any complicated settings, it is easy to use very much.
Bootable USB flash disks

This software currently only support Windows bootable disk, can work with both BOOTMGR and NTLDR boot mode, can create USB disk with FAT, FAT32, exFAT or NTFS file system. (When you are making a bootable USB disk, suggest you choose the FAT32 file system.)

This program have be tested with Win8/Win7 PE and WinXP PE bootable ISO image files, it can work fine, the generated USB disk can normally boot the computers. Only a small part of the machines can boot Win8/Win7, but can not boot WinXP, these machines will display "NTLDR is missing", for this problem there is no good solution currently.
If create bootable USB disk failed, sometimes the USB disk will be unusable, you can try the following steps to recover it:
Insert your USB disk.
(a) For Win8, press keyboard "Windows key" + X together to open the Quick Access Menu, select "Disk Management". (Or, from Windows 8.1, users can right-click on the Start button to bring up this quick access menu).
(b) For Win7/Vista, click "Start", and then click "Control Panel", in the "System and Security", click "Administrative Tools", and then double-click "Computer Management". In "Computer Management" console tree, expand "Storage", click "Disk Management".
(c) For WinXP, click "Start", and then click "Control Panel", in the "Performance and Maintenance", click "Administrative Tools", and then double-click "Computer Management". In "Computer Management" console tree, expand "Storage", click "Disk Management".
In "Disk Management", right-click your USB disk (unallocated space), and then click "New Simple Volume", the "New Simple Volume Wizard" should appear, step-by-step, that is all.

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windows 7 bootable usb iso download

Step1: Create Bootable USB Drive:

Start PowerISO (v4.8 or newer version, download here).


Insert the USB drive you intend to boot from.


Choose the menu "Tools > Create Bootable USB Drive". The "Create Bootable USB Drive" dialog will popup. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 / 8 operating system, you need confirm the UAC dialog to continue.


In "Create Bootable USB Drive" dialog, click "..." button to open the iso file of Windows 7 or Windows 8.


Select the correct USB drive from the "Destination USB Drive" list if multiple USB drives are connected to the computer.


Choose the proper writing method. "USB-HDD" is recommended.


Click "Start" button to start creating windows 7 / 8 bootable USB drive.

If no errors occurred in the above process, you should now be all set to setup Windows 7 / 8 from USB drive!



Step 2: Configuring the BIOS:

You should now reboot and go into the BIOS configuration to boot from USB. Instructions for doing so wildly from system to system, but generally entail the following:


Reboot the system.


While booting (before Windows starts loading), get into the BIOS configuration screen by hitting something like F1, F2, Delete or Escape. Hotkey instructions are generally provided on the screen.


Go to the section that contains your boot devices.


With your USB drive plugged in, the USB drive should be listed. If it isn’t, your system might not support booting from USB. Assuming that it is supported (as is the case with virtually all modern hardware), promote your USB drive to the primary boot device.


Exit from the BIOS configuration, saving all changes.

If you’re completely new to BIOS configuration, BIOS for Beginners over at Tom’s Hardware might be a good primer. Be aware though, that you can seriously screw up your system by providing incorrect settings!



Step 3: Booting and setup windows 7 / Windows 8 from USB drive:

Assuming that you properly configured your BIOS and your USB drive supports booting, Windows 7 / 8 setup should now load. Depending on the speed of your USB drive, this may take a while.

If it isn’t working, then double-check the following before making a scene:


Is your BIOS properly configured for booting from the USB device? (Is the USB device listed and does it have top priority?)


Have you correctly prepared the USB drive in step one? (Restart the procedure.)


Does your USB drive properly support being booted from? (Try another one!)

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