Make a bootable flash drive from an ISO image
We all know that installing an operating system from a USB drive is much faster than installing from DVD. In this article we will look at several ways to create a bootable USB drive.
Before describing how to create a bootable USB drive read the article How to correctly format the USB stick in Linux Mint. In some cases described below, it is desirable to have already formatted the USB flash drive in FAT32 format.
1. LinuxLive USB Creator (only for Windows users)
If you are a user of the Windows operating system and want to make a bootable USB flash drive with a Linux distribution – this program is for you.
It is very simple, select the USB flash drive, please specify the iso image will be copied, turn on the option to format the USB stick and click on the lightning.
You can download the program on the official developer’s website http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download.
Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable Flash/Pen/Key drives, memory cards, etc.
Rufus will be especially useful in cases where:
-you need to create a bootable USB disk from a bootable ISO image (Windows, Linux, UEFI, and others)
-need to work on systems that have no OS installed
-you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
-you need to run a low-level utility
-Despite its small size, Rufus knows how to do everything!
3. UNetbootin (for Linux, Windows, Mac users)
A very common program. The principle of operation is the same as the previous program. Select the image, select the flash drive, and click OK. For details, see the screenshots below.
Installation latest version into Linux Mint 14/15/16/17/17.1:
4. LiveUSB MultiSystem (for Linux users) -To create a bootable USB flash drive with multiple operating systems (windows or linux) read article Create your LiveUSB MultiBoot very simple in Linux Mint.
5. Either – program to burn the iso image with the distro on a USB flash drive or micro SD card (Windows, MacOS and Linux) read article Either – program to record the iso image on a USB flash drive
6. YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (for Linux, Windows users)
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Integrator), is the successor to our MultibootISOs. It can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more. Contrary to MultiBootISOs which used grub to boot ISO files directly from USB, YUMI uses syslinux to boot extracted distributions stored on the USB device, and reverts to using grub toBoot Multiple ISO files from USB, if necessary.
Important Note : YUMI was intended to be used to try to run various “LIVE Linux” Operating Systems from USB. Installing Linux from the YUMI created USB Drive to a Hard Drive is not officially supported. If the installer portion of any Live Linux distro does work, consider it a bonus.
Installation latest version into Linux Mint 14/15/16/17/17.1:
Download DEB package “YUMI for Ubuntu Linux” from website
7. USB image writer (for Linux users)
Linux Mint have default utility USB image writer. One time I used this program, but personally I have not always made a bootable USB flash drive.
Locate menu, the program will run. Select the image, select the USB drive and click Write.
Multiboot USB flash drive designed for loading and installing operating systems Windows/Linux and restoration-resuscitation tools directly from the USB drive.
9. WinUSB – Create Windows Usb stick
is a simple tool that allows you to create your own Windows installation on USB stick from an ISO image or DVD disk in Linux Mint.
10. Using the terminal (in my opinion the best 100% of the way)
As is known, the terminal is installed in any Linux distribution by default, so install additional software is not required.
The terminal command to write the iso image, the distribution is as follows:
Where instead of /home/USER/linuxmint.iso you need to specify the path to the iso file. sdb in the end, it’s a stick on which is written the way.
To determine your flash drive, run in terminal:
And if you stick decided differently, change in the command.
To be entered correctly in the command path to the file, open the folder with the file, open next to the terminal and drag the file into the terminal:
Now we are ready to start. I got the command:
The cursor of the terminal is blinking and it seems that nothing happens, but actually being recorded. Wait for the image capture and at the end you should see in the terminal like this:
The site has moved to a new engine, help me fix bugs, send me your notify by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
How to Create a Bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux
Brief: This tutorial shows you how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux with and without a GUI tool called WoeUSB.
I have talked a lot about creating bootable USB of Linux in Windows. How about the other way round? How about creating a bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux?
If you are uninstalling Linux from dual boot or if you want to reinstall Windows completely or you simply want to have a Windows installation disk ready, you’ll need a bootable Windows 10 USB or DVD.
In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a Windows 10 bootable USB in Linux. I am using Ubuntu for this tutorial but the steps should be valid for other Linux distributions as well.
If you want to use WoeUSB graphical tool for creating Windows bootable USB, you can jump to that section directly. Personally, I don’t recommend WoeUSB.
Creating a Bootable Windows 10 USB in Linux
Prerequisite: Get Microsoft Windows 10 ISO and a USB of at least 8 GB in size
You can download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft’s website. You have to specify the Windows 10 version, language and then you should see the link to download Windows 10.
Note that the Windows 10 ISO download link is valid for 24 hours only. So use a download manager in Linux to download the
5.6 GB file and finish it within 24 hours only.
Since the ISO and its content are more than 4 GB in size, I recommend a USB of at least 8 GB in size.
I have also made a video of this tutorial so that you can see the steps in action.
Step 2: Properly format the USB for creating bootable Windows USB
Insert your USB. You have to format it so make sure that you don’t have important data on the USB key.
In Ubuntu, press Super key (Windows key) and search for ‘Disks’. You have to use this tool to format the USB key.
In the Disks tool, make sure to select your USB drive and hit format.
It will ask to choose a partitioning scheme. It could be either MBR or GPT. Select one of them and hit Format.
It will show you a warning that you data will be erased.
Format the USB
The formatting of USB is not over yet. Now, you need to create a partition on the newly formatted USB.
Select the entire USB disk as the partition size.
Give a name to your USB and hit Create button.
Once done, your USB should be automatically mounted. It is now ready for creating bootable Windows 10 USB disk.
Files larger than 4 GB?
Newer Windows 10 ISO might have files larger than 4GB. In that case, FAT filesystem won’t work as it doesn’t allow a single file of size greater than 4 GB.
You should then format the USB in ExFAT format. This newer format allows files bigger than 4 GB.
Step 3: Copy the content of the ISO to USB
Now it’s time to copy the content of the Windows 10 ISO to the newly formatted USB.
You may ask, Abhishek, there is only one file and that is the ISO file itself. What are you talking about?
ISO is basically an archive format and you can see it’s content like any zip file in Linux. But to do that, you need to use ‘Disk Image Mounter’ tool that is installed by default in Ubuntu.
Go to your Windows 10 ISO, select it and right click on it. Now select ‘Open with other application’.
In the applications list, select Disk Image Mounter:
The ISO will be mounted. You may not see it in the left sidebar but if you click on the Other Locations, you should see it. Click on it to enter this mounted ISO folder.
You’ll see its content. All you need to do is to select all the files (Ctrl+A), copy it (Ctrl+C) and paste it in the USB drive (Ctrl+V).
Wait for the copying process to finish as it may take some time in copying 4-5 GB of data. Once it’s done, you have a bootable Windows 10 USB in your hand. Take out the USB and use it to any system you want, restart the system and change the boot settings to boot from the USB.
Alternate Method: Creating Windows 10 bootable USB in Linux using WoeUSB
You can also use a Graphical tool called WoeUSB for creating a bootable Windows USB in Linux. However, this tool might not work perfectly all the time. This is why I prefer the first method of mounting the Windows 10 ISO and copying its content to the USB.
If you are interesting in using WoeUSB, you can click on the next section to expand it and follow the steps.
You can also watch a video of creating Windows 10 bootable USB. Do subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux videos:
Let’s see how to create a bootable Windows 10 USB in Ubuntu and other Linux distribution.
Step 1: Install WoeUSB application
WoeUSB is a free and open source application for creating Windows 10 bootable USB. It is actually a fork of WinUSB tool that has been discontinued now.
Ubuntu and other Ubuntu-based Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, elementary OS etc have a PPA available. You can use the command below to install WoeUSB:
For other Linux distributions, you can check out the source code from the GitHub repository:
Step 2: Format USB drive
Now, plug in your USB key. You’ll have to format it first. I presume you know how to format a USB key in your Linux distribution.
Ubuntu users can simply right click on the USB and click format.
The important part here is that you should format it in NTFS:
Note: If you use Fat 32 file system for formatting, you may encounter the error below later on:
Step 3: Using WoeUSB to create bootable Windows 10
We have everything ready for us now. Start WoeUSB program.
Browse to the downloaded Windows 10 ISO file and select the USB drive on which you want to install it. Just click on Install to begin the process.
Note that it may take up to 15 minutes in creating the Windows 10 USB. Don’t get fooled by the ‘done’ on the screen.
That’s it. You should see a success message.
Step 4: Using Windows 10 bootable USB
Once the bootable USB is ready, restart your system. At boot time, press F2 or F10 or F12 repeatedly to go to the boot settings. In here, select to boot from USB.
You’ll see that Windows 10 is being booted and it gives you the option to install or repair your system. You know what to do now from here.
I hope you find this tutorial useful for creating bootable USB of Windows 10 in Linux . If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free leave a comment.
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