Ventoy 1.1.18 – Bootable USB Creator & Free ISO Software

A boot utility built for rapid multi-ISO loading, stable USB setup, smooth testing, plus a clean workflow

2026-10-10

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Ventoy - A bootable USB tool offering easy multi-ISO loading with smooth setup on Windows

Ventoy is an open-source tool for creating bootable USB drives with various image files, including ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI. It eliminates the need for repeated disk formatting: Copy the desired image files to the USB drive and boot directly from it.

Ventoy offers a versatile solution for creating multi-boot drives. Copy multiple image files onto the drive, and Ventoy provides a boot menu for easy selection. It is compatible with various UEFI and BIOS systems, including x86, ARM64, and MIPS, and works with operating systems such as Windows, Linux, macOS, and additional platforms.

Ventoy Features:

100% open source
Very simple to use
Fast (limited only by the speed of copying the iso file)
Can be installed in USB /Local Disk/ SSD/ NVMe /SD Card
Directly boot from ISO/ WIM/ IMG/ VHD(x)/ EFI files, no extraction needed
There is no need for continuous disk space for ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), or EFI files.
Supports both MBR and GPT partition styles
x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI, MIPS64EL UEFI supported
Supports IA32/x86_64 UEFI Secure Boot
Persistence supported
Supports Windows auto-installation
RHEL7/8/CentOS7/8/SUSE/Ubuntu Server … auto installation supported
FAT32/exFAT/NTFS/UDF/XFS/Ext2(3)(4) supported for main partition
Supports ISO files larger than 4GB
Native boot menu style for Legacy and UEFI
Most types of OS supported, 760+ iso files tested
Linux vDisk (vhd/vdi/raw…) boot solution
Not only the boot, but also the complete installation process
The menu is dynamically switchable between ListView and TreeView modes.
“Ventoy Compatible” concept
Plugin Framework
Injection of files into the runtime environment
Boot configuration file dynamic replacement
Highly customizable theme and menu style
USB drive write-protected support
Normal use of the USB drive remains unaffected
Data is nondestructive during the upgrade
No need to update Ventoy when a new distro is released

Ventoy utilizes several open-source projects and includes code I developed. All code I wrote is licensed under the GPLv3+ License. Some open-source projects have been modified, while others are used directly as libraries or binaries. The modified code adheres to the original project’s license. Ventoy itself is an open-source project.

Ventoy – Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
✓ Creates a multiboot USB drive that lets you boot multiple ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD, and EFI files from a single USB device.	✗ Some older or specialized ISO images may require additional configuration or compatibility plugins.
✓ Copies supported image files to the USB drive without reformatting it each time you add or remove operating systems.	✗ Advanced customization options, such as themes, plugins, and persistence, have a learning curve for beginners.
✓ Supports both Legacy BIOS and UEFI boot modes with Secure Boot compatibility.	✗ USB boot compatibility depends on the target computer’s firmware settings and Secure Boot configuration.
✓ Works with hundreds of operating systems, including Windows, Linux distributions, VMware images, and recovery tools.	✗ Incorrect USB selection during installation can overwrite existing data on the chosen drive.
✓ Completely free and open-source software with regular updates and broad hardware compatibility.	✗ Primarily designed for creating bootable USB drives rather than serving as a full disk imaging or backup solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ventoy used for?

Ventoy is a free, open-source tool for creating bootable USB drives that can launch operating system installers, recovery environments, and other disk images. Instead of writing a new image to the drive each time, you can copy supported files to the USB drive and select one from the boot menu.

Can Ventoy boot multiple ISO files from one USB drive?

Yes. You can store multiple ISO files on a single USB drive and select the one you want from Ventoy’s boot menu. After the initial installation, you can add or remove image files without reformatting the drive for each new image.

Which image formats does Ventoy support?

It supports ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD, VHDX, and EFI image files. It also supports ISO files larger than 4 GB, along with both MBR and GPT partition styles.

Does Ventoy support UEFI Secure Boot and persistent storage?

Yes. It supports Legacy BIOS and multiple UEFI architectures, including x86-64 and ARM64, as well as UEFI Secure Boot on supported x86 and x86-64 systems. Persistence is also supported, allowing compatible live Linux environments to retain selected data and settings across restarts.

What is the difference between Ventoy and Rufus?

Ventoy is designed for multiboot USB drives, letting you keep multiple image files on one drive and choose which one to boot. Rufus focuses on formatting USB drives and creating bootable installation media from an ISO image. Ventoy is convenient for maintaining a collection of installers and recovery tools, while Rufus is well suited to creating a dedicated bootable USB drive for a particular installation task.

What’s New in Ventoy 1.1.18:

Release Date 2026-10-09

Experimental support for SteamOS recovery images.
Improved the Linux remount feature to make the ISO partition mountable out of the box on mainstream desktop distros.
Suppress the duplicate disk icons in the sidebar on some Linux desktop distros.
Change the ISO partition dm name to the stable /dev/mapper/VentoyPart; please refer to the notes
Make the ISO partition mountable for CloneZilla.
Fix Fedora 45 beta boot issue.
Fix the Windows/WinPE secure boot version check failed issue.
Fix Persistence intermittently failing on Ubuntu desktop.
Fix the boot issue for GRML 2026.09.
Add support for custom Syslinux-based ISO.
Improvement for the latest LinuxConsole release.
Add a check for Boot Conf Replace entries in VentoyPlugson.