Bootloader equivalent to Rufus

tombruzzo@lemm.ee to Linux@lemmy.ml – 43 points –

I've been trying to find a linux programming similar to Rufus to flash images of OSes on a thumb drive.

Nothing from the listicles on the internet or the programs in flatpak have worked for me as well as Rufus on Windows.

What have you used that's worked well? Or, could I run Rufus on my linux machine with WINE?

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One of these should do what you're looking for. Each has a slightly different approach.

https://etcher.balena.io/

https://unetbootin.github.io/

https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

+1 for ventoy. With that you can just flash ventoy on it once, then copy iso's over to the usb drive without reformatting or reflashing anything.

I've had issues with Ventoy on multiple computers with multiple isos. +1 for convenience, -1 for not working 3/4 of the time (for me, I'm sure there are numerous factors).

I could never get Ventoy to work. From Windows ISO's to several versions of Linux, it never got detected as a bootable drive. YMMV

I like the idea, but it would be great if it was more compatible with different setups.

Your machine is UEFI, which means your usb stick must be formatted in gpt. Ventoy defaults to mbr which means lagacy bios. It is just 3 mouse click setup.

Try again. Because it is the best method. I just updated 2,5 years old Ventoy stick without any issues without re-formatting.

Hey, thanks! I'll give that a try. I really like the idea of having a one stick to rule them all, so hopefully that works

I've found some thumb drives don't like to boot.

Ventoy has worked for almost everything. Proxmox doesn't like it.

To be fair, I seem to have a not-so-super superpower to blind pick the USB devices that have the least support for Linux stuff (the aforementioned drives, a WiFi module, etc.).

Hahahaha, sorry to hear (but I empathize). I can be a cheap bastard, so I have some shitty thumb drives around. I figure they eventually die anyway, so this stuff isn't permanent.

I keep a folder on my server with the tools and noted to rebuild each one. Sometimes I even make an image with the tools, and only leave the ISOs out.

I maintain older hardware at work. We have a platform based on a Biostar motherboard with no USB3 ports, and it will not boot from any USB3 drive I've tried. Any USB2 drives work fine. Picky, picky! 🤷

From this list, only Unetbootin can create Windows installation disk. For this, there is also WoeUSB but it's CLI only.

Ventoy can do windows installations as well

Ventoy kicks ass for a multi-boot drive. Just drop the ISO on the drive and Ventoy sees it. Slick