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Ventoy: The Fast Way to Create Bootable USB Drives

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Step-by-Step Guide to Using Ventoy for ISO BootingVentoy is a free, open-source tool that dramatically simplifies creating bootable USB drives. Instead of writing a single ISO to a USB device every time, Ventoy creates a bootable environment where you can simply copy multiple ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly. This guide walks you through everything from downloading Ventoy to advanced features like persistence, secure boot support, and plugins.

What is Ventoy and why use it?

Ventoy creates a minimal bootloader on the USB drive and leaves the rest of the space as a normal file system. When you boot from the USB, Ventoy displays a menu of the image files on the drive; choose one and it boots — no extraction or rewriting necessary. This makes managing multiple ISOs easy, saves time, and supports many file formats and boot modes (BIOS/Legacy and UEFI).

Key benefits

  • Copy-and-boot: Add or remove ISO files like normal files.
  • Multiboot: Keep many operating systems and utilities on one USB.
  • Wide format support: ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), EFI files, and more.
  • UEFI + Legacy: Works with both modern and older machines.
  • Persistence and plugins: Customizable behavior and persistent storage for some distros.

Before you start: requirements and precautions

  • A USB flash drive (recommended 8 GB or larger; larger for multiple ISOs).
  • A computer with administrative privileges to write to USB.
  • Backup any data currently on the USB drive — Ventoy’s install will erase the device.
  • Download Ventoy from the official project page to avoid tampered builds.

Step 1 — Download Ventoy

  1. Go to the official Ventoy release page.
  2. Download the latest package for your platform: Windows (ZIP) or Linux (tar.gz).
  3. Extract the downloaded archive to a folder.

Step 2 — Install Ventoy on the USB drive

Windows:

  1. Open the extracted folder and run Ventoy2Disk.exe as Administrator.
  2. Select the target USB device from the Device dropdown.
  3. (Optional) Click Options to enable Secure Boot support or set up persistence partitions.
  4. Click Install. Confirm prompts — this will format the USB drive.
  5. Wait for completion. The drive will have a Ventoy partition and an exFAT (or exFAT-like) data partition.

Linux:

  1. Extract the tarball, open a terminal in that folder.
  2. Run as root: 
    
sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i /dev/sdX

    Replace /dev/sdX with the correct USB device (not a partition).

  3. Confirm prompts; Ventoy formats the drive and installs the bootloader.

Step 3 — Copy ISO files to the Ventoy USB

  1. After installation, open the USB drive’s data partition in your file manager.
  2. Copy one or multiple ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files onto the drive. Folder organization is allowed — Ventoy recursively finds images.
  3. Optional: Rename files for clarity (e.g., ubuntu-24.04.iso, memtest86.img).

Step 4 — Boot from the Ventoy drive

  1. Insert the USB on the target machine.
  2. Enter the boot menu or change boot order in BIOS/UEFI (commonly F12, Esc, F2 keys).
  3. Select the USB device and boot. Ventoy’s menu will appear listing your image files.
  4. Choose an image and press Enter. The selected image will boot as if it were written to the USB.

Advanced features

Persistence (save changes on live distros)

Some Linux live ISOs support persistence so changes and installed packages survive reboots. Ventoy supports persistence via a persistence file/partition and a JSON configuration.

Quick steps:

  1. Create a persistence file (e.g., persistence.img) formatted and labeled per distro requirements.
  2. Place the persistence file on the Ventoy USB.
  3. Create or edit ventoy.json on the USB to map the ISO to the persistence file. Example snippet: 
    
{ "persistence": [ {   "image": "/ubuntu-24.04.iso",   "backend": "/persistence.img" } ] }
  4. Save ventoy.json at the root of the Ventoy partition. Boot the ISO and select the persistence option if available.

Ventoy’s docs include distribution-specific instructions and ready-made tools to generate persistence files.

Secure Boot

Ventoy provides built-in support for Secure Boot using its signed shim. To enable:

  • During installation choose Secure Boot enable option, or use the Ventoy2Disk Options in Windows or appropriate flags in Linux installer.
  • If your machine uses Secure Boot, you may need to enroll Ventoy’s certificate in firmware or use the provided shim which typically works on common firmware.

Plugins and customization

Ventoy supports plugins configured via ventoy.json to:

  • Hide files from the menu.
  • Set default timeouts and menu styles.
  • Add custom icons, banners, or background images.
  • Map ISOs to specific boot parameters (kernel cmdline).

Example plugin entry:

{   "control": [     { "VTOY_DEFAULT_MENU_MODE": "1" },     { "VTOY_TREE_VIEW_MENU_STYLE": "1" }   ],   "theme_legacy": {     "file": "/ventoy/theme.txt"   } }

Place ventoy.json and any theme assets at the USB root.

Troubleshooting common issues

  • USB not booting: Check boot order or try Legacy vs UEFI mode. Some firmwares need explicit selection of the Ventoy EFI entry.
  • ISO not listed: Ensure file extension is supported and file isn’t inside a compressed archive. Ventoy supports nested directories but file system corruption can hide files.
  • Persistence not working: Confirm the persistence file format and mapping in ventoy.json match distro expectations. Some ISOs require specific label names.
  • Secure Boot failures: Try enrolling Ventoy’s certificate or disable Secure Boot temporarily to test.

Tips and best practices

  • Keep a small “utility” folder with tools like memtest, Clonezilla, Rufus, and a few rescue ISOs.
  • Use clear ISO filenames and subfolders for organization.
  • Keep Ventoy updated: install the latest Ventoy version on the USB (Ventoy updates are non-destructive if you choose the upgrade option) to get new feature and format support.
  • For very large collections, consider multiple Ventoy sticks by use-case (repair, Linux distros, Windows installers).

Example workflow (Windows install + tools USB)

  1. Install Ventoy on a 64 GB USB.
  2. Copy Windows ⁄11 ISO, Ubuntu ISO, Memtest86, and a Clonezilla ISO.
  3. Add a persistence.img for Ubuntu and configure ventoy.json.
  4. Boot a machine, choose Windows ISO to install or Ubuntu with persistence for live work, or run Clonezilla for disk cloning.

Conclusion

Ventoy transforms USB boot management from repeatedly flashing images to a flexible, copy-and-boot workflow. It supports multiple formats, UEFI and Legacy boot, persistence for live systems, and customization through plugins and themes. After initial setup, adding or updating ISOs is as simple as copying files — ideal for technicians, sysadmins, and power users who work with multiple operating systems and utilities.

If you want, I can: provide a ready-to-use ventoy.json for persistence, show commands to create persistence.img for a specific distro, or produce a concise checklist for installing Ventoy on Windows or Linux.

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