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Author Topic: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?  (Read 7358 times)

Deozaan

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Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« on: August 21, 2020, 02:23 PM »
I just discovered Ventoy, which is free, open source (GPL 3.0) software you install on a USB drive to make it bootable. What makes it special is that it also acts like a normal USB storage drive, and you can just copy any multitude of ISOs onto it. When you boot it up it shows a menu where you can choose which ISO to finish booting into. It's like a bootloader for ISOs.

In other words, you can place your bootable Linux ISOs, Windows installation ISOs, etc., all on a single USB drive (assuming it has space for all of them) with no need to reformat or reflash the drive each time you want to change or update ISOs!

Here's a video showing it off:

Main website: https://www.ventoy.net/
Github repo: https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy
« Last Edit: August 24, 2020, 02:39 AM by Deozaan »

x16wda

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Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2020, 05:24 PM »
 :Thmbsup: Nice find, will have to try this out!
vi vi vi - editor of the beast

wraith808

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Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2020, 07:12 PM »
Thanks!  :Thmbsup:

Nod5

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Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2020, 05:50 AM »
Neat software! They have a list of tested ISOs here https://www.ventoy.net/en/isolist.html . The website also details how ISO creators can ensure compatibility. Though I'd hope support for something like what Ventoy does becomes standardized and not tied to this specific tool.

BGM

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Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2020, 10:29 AM »
+1 here - or +5, even!  For ages I tried different kinds of bootable usb software and always leaned toward multi-boots.  When I found Ventoy, I stopped looking.  No, I am not advertising - I am just another user, here.

  • Put as many bootable ISO files that you like on your flash drive.
  • You don't need to organize them - put them whereever you want - Ventoy will find them all and build the boot menu from them.
  • When you want to update them, simply replace the ISO file - there is nothing to configure with Ventoy.
  • You can boot Linux Mint, and Windows, too.

When you install Ventoy on your flash drive, it creates a hidden partition for Ventoy, and that's the part that actually gets booted when you boot from the flash drive - it's the part that creates the boot menu. 

And when you update Ventoy, you don't need to worry about doing anything with the ISO files.

This is an awesome program.

KodeZwerg

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Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2020, 05:07 AM »
    I just discovered Ventoy
    • You can boot Windows, too.
    Crazy find, will try out ASAP, very smart tool if it holds what it claim!  :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

    dluby

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #6 on: August 24, 2020, 05:26 AM »
    Nice find and thanks for sharing.

    anandcoral

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #7 on: August 24, 2020, 08:31 AM »
    WOW! I have bookmarked this message.

    I do not use multi-boot now but will come handy when I use.

    Regards,

    Anand

    ConstanceJill

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #8 on: August 24, 2020, 11:28 AM »
    Hey there,

    It's a very nice idea, but did you guys have any luck testing it on real hardware? I didn't :/

    Deozaan

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #9 on: August 24, 2020, 05:27 PM »
    It's a very nice idea, but did you guys have any luck testing it on real hardware? I didn't :/
    -ConstanceJill (August 24, 2020, 11:28 AM)

    Yes. I've already used it on a really old 8GB thumb drive and booted into a Linux Mint ISO a couple of times from it.

    BGM

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #10 on: August 24, 2020, 07:29 PM »
    I have used it several times.  I've booted to Linux Mint, Memdisk and Windows PE.  I love this.  I stopped looking for usb boot solutions.

    superboyac

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #11 on: August 24, 2020, 09:10 PM »
    whoa....this is handy.

    brahman

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #12 on: September 06, 2020, 02:36 PM »
    Woa! Great! I got sick of reformating USB stick. This may be the cure!
    Regards, Brahman

    brahman

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    Re: Ventoy - The Last Bootable USB Software You'll Need?
    « Reply #13 on: September 06, 2020, 08:30 PM »
    I was just checking my sticks and noticed, that I have used easy2boot.

    When I checked for upgrades on their website, I saw their claim: "More versatile and compatible than Ventoy."

    https://www.easy2boot.com/

    You can also upgrade eas2boot without reformat and upgrade easy2boot without a reformat too just like Ventoy.

    Has anybody used both and can give an opinion on Ventoy vs. easy2boot?
    Regards, Brahman