USB Linux Boot - Ventoy

I have mostly been a sucker for bootable USB Stick. I find they come in handy for fixing partitions, recovering data and even virus scanning. They tend to be very useful for Windows Systems which are not recovering properly, which rarely happens (I am of course kidding).

I find that Linux helps save the day for these Windows Systems. I have to admit that I still use one Windows laptop on occasion.

To start you need to download the Ventoy program.

Downloading

You can start by going to www.ventoy.net to see any documentation or other information you may want to read. You can click on Downloads or go directly to https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html. On the ‘Downloads’ page you can click on the preferred download version.

Once you click on the desired file you should then be directed to the Github site, specifically to https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases. If you scroll down there should be a subsection called ‘Assets’. Under ‘Assets’ should be listed the various downloads of the current version. The listed files should be for Linux, Windows, Source for Linux and Source for Windows. Choose your file and once clicked it should open another page that should download the proper file. Extract the files from the compressed file you downloaded.

Open a Terminal into the extracted folder. From a Terminal prompt, you can type the command ‘sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i /dev/sdx’, where ‘sdx’ is replaced by the location of the USB Stick to which you want to erase and install Ventoy.

An example output is shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1

After clicking ‘y’ you will be prompted to verify that you do want to delete all of the data on the given drive. Click ‘y’ if you want to proceed or ‘n’ to stop. If you proceed then the USB Stick will be prepared for Ventoy. The process is shown in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2

By default, the USB Stick will be made with a Master Boot Record (MBR). To use a GUID Partition Table (GPT) you can include the ‘-g’ parameter when installing Ventoy. If you need Secure Boot then use the ‘-s’ parameter when running the script. If you want to completely overwrite the USB device and start over then use the ‘-I’ parameter.

Once the script is completed you should see that the USB Stick label should be ‘Ventoy’.

NOTE: If a new version of Ventoy is downloaded, you can run it the same way and the program will detect that the USB Stick is already a Ventoy drive. Once detected, you will be prompted to update the Ventoy files on the USB Stick. Any files already on the device will not be erased or changed.

Once the Ventoy install is completed then you only need to copy ISO files to the USB Stick.

There should be two partitions created. The smaller partition will contain the boot file needed by Ventoy and the main partition is for the ISO files. The smaller partition should be about 32 MB and formatted as FAT16. The remaining space, used for the ISO files, is formatted as exFAT by default. You can reformat the partition with one of the following: exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, UDF, XFS, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4.

By default 0 GB of unformatted space is left at the end of the USB Stick. You can format this space and use it as needed. If you want to reserve more space then you can use the ‘-r MB’ parameter, where MB is replaced with the size in MB to be reserved.

The ISO files which are compatible with Ventoy are as follows:

Debian
Ubuntu
CentOS
RHEL
Deepin
Fedora
SLES
openSUSE
MX Linux
Manjaro
Linux Mint
Elementary OS
Solus
Linx
Zorin
antiX
PclinuxOS
Arch
ArcoLinux
ArchLabs
BackArch
Obarun
Artix Linux
Puppy Linux
Tails
Slax
Kali
Mageia
Slackware
Q4OS
Archman
Gentoo
Pentoo
NixOS
Ubuntu Kylin
Lubuntu
Xubuntu
Kubuntu
Ubuntu MATE
Ubuntu Budgie
Ubuntu Studio
Bluestar
OpenMandriva
ExTiX
Netrunner
ALT Linux
Nitrux
Peppermint
KDE neon
Linux Lite
Parrot OS
Qubes
Pop OS
ROSA
Void Linux
Star Linux
EndeavourOS
MakuluLinux
Voyager
Feren
ArchBang
LXLE
Knoppix
Robolinux
Calculate Linux
Clear Linux
Pure OS
Oracle Linux
Trident
Septor
Porteus
Devuan
GoboLinux
4MLinux
Simplicity Linux
Zeroshell
Android-x86
netboot.xyz
Slitaz
SuperGrub2Disk
Proxmox VE
Kaspersky Rescue
SystemRescueCD
MemTest86
MiniTool Partition Wizard
Parted Magic
veket
Sabayon
Scientific
alpine
ClearOS
CloneZilla
Berry Linux
Trisquel
Ataraxia Linux
Minimal Linux Live
BackBox Linux
Emmabuntüs
ESET SysRescue Live
Nova Linux
AV Linux
RoboLinux
NuTyX
IPFire
SELKS
Zstack
Enso Linux
Security Onion
Network Security Toolkit
Absolute Linux
TinyCore
Springdale Linux
Frost Linux
Shark Linux
LinuxFX
Snail Linux
Astra Linux
Namib Linux
Resilient Linux
Virage Linux
Blackweb Security OS
R-DriveImage
O-O.DiskImage
Macrium
ToOpPy LINUX
GNU Guix
YunoHost
foxclone
Adelie Linux
Elive
PardusCDlinux
AcademiX
Zenwalk
Anarchy
DuZeru
BigLinux
OpenMediaVault
Ubuntu DP
Exe GNU/Linux
3CX Phone System
KANOTIX
Grml
Karoshi
PrimTux
ArchStrike
CAELinux
Refracta
Cucumber
Fatdog
ForLEx
Hanthana
Kwort
MiniNo
Redcore
Runtu
Asianux
Clu Linux Live
Uruk
OB2D
BlueOnyx
Finnix
HamoniKR
Parabola
LinHES
LinuxConsole
BEE free
Untangle
Pearl
Thinstation
TurnKey
tuxtrans
Neptune
HefftorLinux
GeckoLinux
Mabox Linux
Zentyal
Maui
Reborn OS
SereneLinux
SkyWave Linux
Kaisen Linux
Regata OS
TROM-Jaro
DRBL Linux
Chalet OS
Chapeau
Desa OS
BlankOn
OpenMamba
Frugalware
Kibojoe Linux
Revenge OS
Tsurugi Linux
Drauger OS
Hash Linux
gNewSense
Ikki Boot
Acronis
Active.Boot
AOMEI
Boot.Repair
CAINEDaRT
EasyUEFI
R-Drive

All you have to do is download any ISO image you want which is supported and also contains a LIVE image.

If you should use the Secure parameter (-s) for creating a bootable USB Stick then be prepared for an error message. The error message will only occur once per machine. As long as you go through these steps, you will be fine:

Select ‘OK’ at the initial error screen
Press any key to perform MOK Management
Select ‘Enroll key from disk’ and press Enter
Select EFI and press Enter
Arrow down to ‘Enroll this key in manager.cer’ then press Enter
Select ‘Continue’
Select ‘Yes’
Select ‘Reboot’ then click Enter
After the system reboots, start system to boot from USB and select the desired menu entry

You can fill the USB Stick up with as many ISO files as you require. Keep in mind that any changes made to the image will not be persistent. That is, the changes will be lost when the system is rebooted.

To add persistence you can return to the Ventoy folder and run the command CreatePersistentImg.sh. The default size is 1 GB. You can change it by using the ‘-s’ parameter followed by the persistence partition size in KB. For example, to generate a partition with a size of 2 GB the parameter would be ‘-s 2048’. The default format is EXT4. The other formats are ext2/ext3/ext4/xfs. To specify a different format use the ‘-t’ parameter followed by the format type. For example, to use a format of ‘xfs’ use the parameter ‘-t xfs’.

When you boot from the USB Stick you will be prompted to boot with persistence or without.

Conclusion

I have found Ventoy to be very easy and useful. My article to Multi-boot with full persistence (https://linux.org/threads/multi-boot-full-install-to-a-usb.23563/) can take some time and a little know-how.

If you require a USB Boot Stick then you may want to try this one out.