What is the best software for creating Live USB (from ISO files)?

Question

14

Options
Considered

229

User
Recs.

1 hr

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Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 13 OptionsWhy?

Best software for creating Live USB (from ISO files)	Price	Platforms	License
92 Rufus	Free	Windows10	GNU General Public License v3
89 Etcher	-	-	Apache License 2.0
-- Linux Live USB Creator	-	-	-
-- ROSA Image Writer	-	-	-
-- Easy2Boot	FREE	-	-

See Full List

12 Other Options Considered

Etcher

Top Pro

Cross platform

Supports Linux, Windows and Mac. See More

Top Con

Lacking in settings

Compared to its competitors, while trying to keep the software as user-friendly and clean as possible, it also lacks the ability to perform more advanced tweaking, available in something like Rufus. See More

SuccessfulPthinoporon's Experience

No explanation in case of error.. Not even a log .. a few hundred MB.. is it a joke.. Electron bloatware for 3 choices in UI ? no way See More

Specs

License:Apache License 2.0

Dev platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux

Top Pro

Polished GUI

The gui looks great and is easy to use. See More

Top Con

Sends data to balena by default

It is enabled by default, hidden in the settings and you have to turn it manually off. See More

DeterminedBieggagallis's Experience

It looks beautiful, first of all. It will automatically detect your usb and burn an ISO image lightning quick onto it. Available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, so this beats Rufus on platform availability. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Free to use and modify. Apache license. Repository link: https://github.com/resin-io/etcher See More

Top Con

Large file size

Much larger file size in comparison to something like Rufus. See More

PioneeringSuadela's Experience

done nicely supports all os and also very large files See More

Top Pro

Relatively fast

Flashes/burns images relatively fast. See More

Holo Deck's Experience

Sends data to balena by default... See More

Top Pro

Extremely user friendly

By far, the most user friendly and straight-forward UI I've ever seen in an application like this See More

echopy's Experience

1 click away from flashing your img! See More

CourageousKladeos's Experience

Fast and reliable. See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

See All

Linux Live USB Creator

Top Pro

Simple, well Designed UI

Has a very intuitive UI for those who haven't used Live usb creators. See More

Top Con

Only for Windows

Not cross platform. See More

SuccessfulNuliajuk's Experience

One of the best tools I've used in windows, Pretty much universal. See More

Top Pro

Download Linux

Download Linux variations from a list if they are not currently downloaded and even has a build in DL manager that doesn't require opening a browser. See More

Top Con

Primarily centered upon Linux

Top Pro

Universally supported OS ISOs

Although it only runs on Windows the program supports several operating systems for building a live drive. See More

See All

Easy2Boot

Top Pro

Supports multiple Secure Boot UEFI by 'switching-in' different image files

Top Con

Not Open Source.

Author amalgamates his content with the content of others. It's not Open Source and may well have closed source and copyright restricted content. See More

HonestSabazios's Experience

Latest version supports UEFI booting See More

Top Pro

Easy2Boot is a multiboot USB drive

Rufus and Etcher are single-boot. See More

LoyalMictlanpachecatl's Experience

Easy to use, highly configurable, supports Secure UEFI boot of multiple OS's. See More

Top Pro

Direct UEFI-booting from ISOs, WIM files, Win Install ISOs, VHDs, .imgPTN files

Secure Boot works for most payloads. See More

See All

GNOME Disks

Top Pro

Free and Open Source

Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. See More

Top Con

No Windows or Mac binary

While the source is freely available, no public binary has been made or endorsed for use on Windows or Mac devices. See More

FlagCourier's Experience

If you're already on a Linux system with the GNOME Desktop, you can't go wrong with GNOME Disks. It's simple and intuitive, and is likely already installed. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, *BSD

License:GNU General Public License version 2 or later

Top Pro

Included by default in many Linux distributions

If it uses the GNOME Desktop, it very likely has GNOME Disks installed by default. If not, you will see it in the distribution's package manager. See More

Top Con

Some File System Formats require extra packages to modify

A common file system may require extra packages. For example, exfat will require exfat-utils and either a fuse-based userland driver or a kernel module. This isn't an issue when writing a disk image, but can be an issue when formatting a USB or SD card after using it. See More

See All

dd

Top Pro

Many features

It can do anything. See More

Top Con

Highly Volitile

User-error can lead to multiple bad outcomes, from overwriting the wrong drive to bricking a disk. It's not nicknamed the "Data Destroyer" without reason. See More

FlagCourier's Experience

dd has saved my bacon numerous times before, but it can also be as bad as running rm -Rf /. With the wrong keystroke, you can end up nuking the wrong drive. That NVMe SSD with your /home partition? Congrats, that's now an Ubuntu installation disk. Though, this can be useful when intentionally bricking your storage drives. In all seriousness, the tool is simple and powerful - but it has no guard rails. Use at your own risk. See More

Specs

Platforms:macOS, Linux, *BSD, Unix

Top Pro

Available to the whole Unix family tree.

dd was written for Bell Lab's Version 5 Unix distribution, and is a POSIX standardized tool. As such, point to a Unix-based platform, and there will be dd (or an interchangeable replacement; ex.: GNU dd, dc3dd) on it. See More

Top Con

No official graphical user interface

dd is a command-line tool dating back to 1974. While graphical wrappers do exist (many are based on top of dd), there is no official GUI. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support (most) optical media formats

dd is intended to work on tape and disk storage systems. Due to the ways CDs and DVDs work, with the probable exception of DVD-RAM discs, dd will not work as intended (and may not warn you about it...) If you wish to use a CLI tool to burn an iso to a disc, see growisofs instead. See More

Top Con

Easy to completely nuke an unrelated hard disk by accident

It is a cli app and there are no safety features to prevent a complete data loss if the user adds a wrong syntax. See More

See All

UNetbootin

Top Con

There's a chance it will destroy your USB

Not only is the performance of the software subpar, there is a high likelihood that it will corrupt your USB in the process. See More

Top Pro

Supports most common distros for download

Although you can override this setting by selecting any ISO file of your choice, UNetbootin offers a simple interface in which you can choose to automatically download almost any mainstream operating system. This can save users the hassle of browsing through web pages in search of a download. See More

Top Con

Uninstaller Not Supported

Top Pro

Cross-platform

The fact that UNetbootin is cross platform means it can be used on any computer one has lying around, to create a bootable USB stick from a proper ISO file. It also makes it more viable as a tool since it can be recommended to anyone without having to worry about what operating system they are running. See More

Top Con

Have issues on autorun.inf when install more than one distributions

Top Pro

Automatically detects USB flash drives

UNetbootin automatically detects all the USB drives in the computer, this helps the interface be much more fluid, and protects inexperienced users from accidentally corrupting their hard drive. See More

Top Con

Might not work sometimes

For example UNetbootin has some troubles with the Hiren's Boot CD ISO file. See More

See All

Fedora Media Writer

Top Pro

Helps discover Fedora Spins and Fedora Labs images

Makes it easy to obtain niche software packages, such as Sugar On A Stick (SOAS), and Fedora Design Suite. See More

Top Con

Heavily Fedora-centric

Aside from you providing and using a custom image, the only other options present are for Fedora distributions. You won't find RedHat Enterprise Linux, or CentOS, or even Fedora Silverblue. Nor will you find any outside of the RedHat family, like Arch, Debian, or Ubuntu. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux (Flatpak)

License:GNU General Public License v2

Top Pro

Supports ARM v7 and AArch64 images of Fedora

Makes it easy for using Fedora Workstation or Fedora Server with Raspberry Pi or other hobby SOC boards. See More

Top Pro

Uses dd, prevents nuking system disks.

While it uses dd as a backend, it only shows SD cards and USB devices. This helps prevent accidentally nuking system disks. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 See More

Top Pro

Cross Platform

Binaries for Windows, macOS, and Flatpak are available. A traditional RPM package is also available in the Fedora repositories. See More

Top Pro

Not limited to Fedora - Any ISO can be writen to a usb.

If you have an IMG or ISO, it can be writen to a disk. You are not forced to use any of the Fedora options. See More

Top Pro

Automatic Live Disk Detection

Can automatically detect disks which already are formatted with live system images, and prompts you to see if you would like to restore it to factory default settings. See More

See All

in Windows there is a standard utility that allows you to do this! and quite simply

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Rufus

Top Pro

Automatic USB detection

Rufus finds your USB drive automatically. This minimizes the risk that you will accidentally format your hard drive. See More

Top Con

Only runs on Windows

Although it can install all flavors of imaginable distros on a key, the software itself only has one official Windows version, effectively excluding Mac and Linux users. See More

Mohammad H. Sattarian's Experience

Fast, free and easy to use. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows10

License:GNU General Public License v3

Top Pro

Simple but advanced

Has many options. See More

Top Con

Only can install 1 distro / USB

There is no way to install more than one distro on USB See More

Ahad's Experience

the best thing of Rufus is small in size and portable. See More

Top Pro

GPT/UEFI Support with NTFS UEFI Support

Top Pro

Open source

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus See More

Top Pro

Very fast

Rufus is one of the fastest utilities in the category to complete create a bootable USB. Twice as fast as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer and Windows 7 USB download tool. See More

Top Pro

Safe

Zero ways to screw up. See More

Top Pro

Size

Rufus is small in size. See More

Top Pro

Multi-language support

See All

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The Best 1 of 13 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for Rufus

My Recommendation for Rufus

Automatic USB detection

Only runs on Windows

Simple but advanced

Only can install 1 distro / USB

GPT/UEFI Support with NTFS UEFI Support

Open source

Very fast

Safe

Size

Multi-language support

12 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Etcher

My Recommendation for Etcher

Cross platform

Lacking in settings

Polished GUI

Sends data to balena by default

Open source

Large file size

Relatively fast

Extremely user friendly

My Recommendation for Linux Live USB Creator

My Recommendation for Linux Live USB Creator

Simple, well Designed UI

Only for Windows

Download Linux

Primarily centered upon Linux

Universally supported OS ISOs

My Recommendation for ROSA Image Writer

My Recommendation for ROSA Image Writer

Simple

Easy-to-use interface

Faster processing

multiplatform

My Recommendation for Easy2Boot

My Recommendation for Easy2Boot

Supports multiple Secure Boot UEFI by 'switching-in' different image files

Not Open Source.

Easy2Boot is a multiboot USB drive

Direct UEFI-booting from ISOs, WIM files, Win Install ISOs, VHDs, .imgPTN files

My Recommendation for YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator

My Recommendation for YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator

Free

UEFI version

Multi Distro supported

No support

uninstaller supported

Multiple ways to boot

ISO Windows

ISO images with download links

GPT/UEFI Support with FAT32 UEFI

My Recommendation for GNOME Disks

My Recommendation for GNOME Disks

Free and Open Source

No Windows or Mac binary

Included by default in many Linux distributions

Some File System Formats require extra packages to modify

My Recommendation for dd

My Recommendation for dd

Many features

Highly Volitile

Available to the whole Unix family tree.

No official graphical user interface

Doesn't support (most) optical media formats

Easy to completely nuke an unrelated hard disk by accident

My Recommendation for MultiBootUSB

My Recommendation for MultiBootUSB

Allows "persistance" for select ISO's

Stuck on Windows Logo

My Recommendation for UNetbootin

My Recommendation for UNetbootin

There's a chance it will destroy your USB

Supports most common distros for download

Uninstaller Not Supported

Cross-platform

Have issues on autorun.inf when install more than one distributions

Automatically detects USB flash drives