I live on Linux. I still need bootable USBs a lot. New installs. Rescue jobs. Little school labs. Rufus is great on Windows, but I don’t boot into Windows much. So I tested Linux tools that do the same job.
If I’m sizing up a new distro before I burn it to a stick, I usually skim the write-ups on Desktop Linux Reviews for a quick reality check.
For an even deeper dive into how several of these utilities stack up, the site’s own hands-on roundup—Rufus-like tools for Linux: what I actually use—is well worth bookmarking.
My setup (so you know I’m not guessing)
- Laptop: ThinkPad T480 (Ubuntu 22.04, kernel 6.8), and a Dell XPS 13 (Fedora 40)
- USB sticks: SanDisk Ultra Fit 32 GB, Kingston DataTraveler 64 GB
- Use cases: Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, Debian 12, Pop!_OS, Windows 10/11, Raspberry Pi OS
If you ever need those same ISOs to run inside ChromeOS, this straight-to-the-point guide on which Linux distros can actually be installed via Crostini will spare you a lot of trial and error.
I’ve used these in coffee shops, at my desk, and once on my neighbor’s porch. Not fancy, just real life.
Ventoy: one stick, many ISOs
If I could keep only one tool, I’d keep Ventoy.
I set it up once with Ventoy2Disk. Then I just copy ISO files onto the USB. No re-flash each time. It shows a menu at boot. I pick the ISO and go.
What I made with it:
- A “travel” USB with Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, and Windows 11 23H2 on one stick
- A backup stick with Clonezilla and GParted
What worked great:
- It booted on my ThinkPad and on a friend’s old HP tower
- Secure Boot was fine after I enrolled the key once
- Copying ISOs like files is so easy it feels like cheating
Where it got fussy:
- One niche Arch spin did not boot the first time. I updated Ventoy, then it worked.
- Some older BIOS machines don’t love the menu layout. I had to toggle Legacy.
Tip: Format the data part as exFAT if you want big Windows ISOs to sit there without a fight.
balenaEtcher: simple, friendly, a bit slow
When I’m tired and just want “point and click,” I use Etcher. It’s a clean GUI. Pick ISO. Pick drive. Flash. It also verifies, which helps catch bad sticks.
Real use:
- Flashed Raspberry Pi OS for my Pi 4
- Wrote Pop!_OS 22.04 for my nephew’s gaming laptop
Pros:
- The verify step saved me from a flaky USB once
- The AppImage runs on both my laptops
Cons:
- The verify step takes time; good, but slow
- Once it didn’t see my USB until I ran it with sudo
GNOME Disks: already there, fast and quiet
Sometimes less is more. GNOME Disks is built in on many distros. I click the USB, pick “Restore Disk Image,” and pick the ISO.
What I did with it:
- Wrote Debian netinst while half awake at 6 a.m.
- Flashed an Ubuntu live image to check a bad SSD
Good stuff:
- No extra install
- Very fast
Watch out:
- It will happily write over the wrong drive if you click the wrong one. I did that once. That hurt.
Fedora Media Writer: smooth with Fedora, fine with others
On my XPS with Fedora, this is butter. I wrote Fedora 40 Workstation, and it just worked. I also tried a custom image; Ubuntu 22.04 booted fine.
Nice touches:
- It downloads Fedora for you
- It can reformat the stick for reuse
Not perfect:
- It’s happiest with Fedora. With Windows ISOs, it’s not the tool I pick.
WoeUSB-ng: Windows from Linux without tears
This is my go-to for Windows 10/11 sticks made on Linux. Grab it from its official GitHub repository. It handles the big install.wim files and sets up the boot bits right.
Real fix:
sudo woeusb --target /dev/sdX --device /home/kayla/Downloads/Win11_23H2_English_x64.iso
Replace sdX with your USB (I check with lsblk). If Secure Boot blocks it, turn Secure Boot off, install Windows, then turn it back on.
Quirks:
- Some laptops won’t boot it with Secure Boot on
- It’s picky if the stick is weirdly partitioned; I wipe it first with Disks
mkusb: for live USBs with persistence
Need a live Ubuntu that saves files between boots? mkusb (the “dus” GUI) is my pick.
Real use:
- I made an Ubuntu 22.04 stick with 8 GB persistence for a road trip. I saved Wi-Fi, notes, and a couple photos. After a week, it still kept my stuff.
Good:
- Clear prompts that try to protect your hard drive
- Persistence slider is easy
Less good:
- The interface looks old school
- It’s Ubuntu-centric, though I also used it with Debian
Popsicle: write to many sticks at once
I helped set up a classroom lab. Popsicle (from System76) let me flash 10 USBs with the same ISO at the same time.
It did this well:
- Showed per-drive progress
- Verified each one
Tiny gripe:
- It sometimes slowed down on very mixed USB brands. Still fine.
If you’re playing with Chrome-based systems, the walkthrough on how to download and run Linux on FydeOS pairs nicely with a Popsicle-flashed stick and saves a ton of guess-and-check time.
UNetbootin: it still runs, but I use it less
I used UNetbootin for years. It still works with some ISOs.
But:
- It failed on me with a newer Arch ISO. The stick booted, then froze.
- It also tweaked boot files in ways I didn’t love.
I keep it as a backup, not my first pick now.
The “dd” hammer: powerful, so be careful
“dd” is fast and built in. But it will wipe the wrong drive if you mess up. I use it when I’m sure.
What I did:
- Wrote the Arch ISO and checked the sum first
Command I used:
sudo dd if=archlinux-2024.10.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync
Then I ran:
sync
Please triple-check sdX with lsblk. I say the name out loud before I hit Enter. Silly, but it helps.
A quick story that sold me
Last month, my neighbor’s laptop would not boot. We needed Windows 10, fast. I grabbed my ThinkPad, used WoeUSB to write a fresh Win10 ISO to a 32 GB SanDisk, and turned off Secure Boot on his Lenovo. It booted right away. While Windows installed, I made a Debian 12 stick with GNOME Disks for his old netbook. Two fixes. One porch. One cup of coffee that went cold. Worth it.
While a 15-minute Ventoy write is chewing through USB sectors, I’ll kill the downtime by checking out a lightweight browser-only social site such as Snapsext — it loads quickly, works perfectly in Linux browsers, and lets you chat or flirt without installing anything, so you stay entertained until the progress bar hits 100%.
If casual chat isn’t enough to fill the flashing wait time, you can also scroll through locally focused listings on Backpage Portsmouth where you’ll find quick-hit ads for meet-ups and services, giving you a real-time look at what’s happening around town until your USB stick is ready to boot.
My picks, plain and simple
- Ventoy when I want one USB that holds many ISOs
- Etcher when I want a clean GUI and a verify pass
- GNOME Disks when I want quick and already-installed
- WoeUSB-ng for Windows 10/11 from Linux
- mkusb for live USBs with persistence
- Popsicle for flashing lots of sticks at once
Could you get by with just one? Maybe Ventoy. But I like having a small toolkit. Different jobs, different tools. You know what? That mix keeps me calm when a machine won’t boot and someone is staring at me.
If you’re stuck, start simple: try GNOME Disks or Etcher. If you need Windows, go WoeUSB-ng. And if you’re like me and live out of a backpack