How To Create Multiboot USB Drive on Linux – Guide
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of active Linux distributions, and although many of the desktop distributions appear to be the same, with the same selection of programs or even desktop environments, there is still a lot that distinguishes them. That’s why, for most new Linux users, distro hopping — the habit of switching between Linux distributions regularly — is the only sensible way to find one you like. While many distributions now offer live installable images, which allow users to check out a distribution without having to install it, continuously formatting USB devices to create a place for the next distribution is inconvenient. You can simply make multi-boot USB devices with Ventoy in almost no time. Even better, the program is compatible with Windows and Linux. Ventoy is a browser-based graphical GUI released under the GPLv3 license, but it can also be run through the terminal if you wish.
How to install Ventoy
Ventoy is not offered in the software repositories of most distributions. But that doesn’t mean it’s hard to install. In that tutorial we are going to use the linux version, but there is also an installation candidate for windows.
- Go to Ventoy’s launch page and download the latest version for your operating system. Linux users will need to download the tar.gz file.
- Open a terminal and extract the downloaded tarball files. Change to the directory where you downloaded the tarball and run the following command.
- Navigate to the extracted ventilay-1.0.47 directory. Change the version number to match your download.
- Define the following two files as executables. There are two ways to use Ventoy. Through a browser window or terminal. We’ve detailed both for you. If you are new to this, the easiest way is through the browser.
How to use Ventoy through a web browser
- Connect the USB drive you want to use with Ventoy. If you have multiple USB devices or disks, we recommend that you run the following fdisk command to identify your USB device. You will need to go through the exit to locate your unit. In our case, the connected USB device is identified as / dev / sdb.
- To run Ventoy through a web browser, run this command.
- Open your browser window and enter the URL provided by Ventoy. The Ventoy server automatically identifies connected USB drives, so select the one where you want to install Ventoy from the Devices drop-down menu. You can configure various options, such as enabling secure boot, setting the partition type (MBR or GPT), and so on. in Options button in the upper left corner.
- Click install button to install Ventoy on the selected USB drive. The process will take a few minutes to complete and when it is finished, a new “Ventoy” drive will appear in the File Manager / Windows Explorer window.
- Download all ISO images for Linux distros and copy them to the Ventoy drive.
- Reboot your machine / power up a second machine with the Ventoy unit connected. You will need to press a key to enter your machine’s boot menu. For example, on Lenovo machines, we press F12.
- Select your USB device as the boot device and press Enter.
- Ventoy will boot and show a list of ISOs on the drive. Select an ISO and press Enter to boot.
Final note
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