The Best UNetbootin Alternatives for Creating Bootable USB Drives
UNetbootin makes it super easy to create live USB drives for Linux distributions, even allowing you to download various distributions right from within the app. However, some users have unfortunately reported issues running it on modern systems, making the exploration of reliable UNetbootin alternatives essential. While UNetbootin focuses on creating ISOs, some alternatives excel at direct copying. You can easily filter those out if you need full ISO burning capabilities. Since creating a live USB drive is typically a one-time affair, installing a full application just for a single use isn't always optimal. Many of the best alternatives offer portable versions, eliminating the need for installation. These apps are overwhelmingly free, with most being open-source, and are available as desktop applications for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Top UNetbootin Alternatives
Whether you're looking for simplicity, advanced features, or cross-platform compatibility, these UNetbootin alternatives offer robust solutions for all your bootable USB creation needs.
Rufus
Rufus is a popular, free, and open-source utility for Windows and PortableApps.com that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. It's a fantastic UNetbootin alternative due to its lightweight nature, excellent performance, and a wide array of features including creating bootable USBs, Windows To Go drives, burning ISOs, and supporting both BIOS and UEFI bootable drives.
balenaEtcher
balenaEtcher is a free and open-source image burner with a beautiful, user-friendly interface, making it an excellent UNetbootin alternative for Mac, Windows, and Linux users. It simplifies USB and SD card image burning with features like validated burning (preventing writes to corrupted cards), a hard drive-friendly selection process, and support for creating bootable images and persistent storage.
YUMI
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) is a free, open-source UNetbootin alternative for Windows, PortableApps.com, and Wine users, designed to create Multiboot USB Flash Drives. It supports multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, and diagnostic tools on a single drive, making it ideal for those needing a versatile boot solution with UEFI support and persistent storage capabilities.
Universal USB Installer
Universal USB Installer is a free and open-source Live Linux USB Creator for Windows that serves as a straightforward UNetbootin alternative. It's incredibly easy to use: simply choose a Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your flash drive, and click install. Features include persistent storage for Linux distributions and the ability to FAT32 format the drive for a clean installation, making it highly portable.
dd
dd, or 'data duplicator,' is a free and open-source command-line utility for Mac, Linux, and BSD. While not a graphical tool like UNetbootin, it's a powerful and flexible UNetbootin alternative for tech-savvy users, capable of copying and converting data, creating raw disk images, backing up partitions, and burning ISOs directly to SD cards, offering precise control over disk operations.
LinuxLive USB Creator
LinuxLive USB Creator (LiLi USB Creator) is a free and open-source UNetbootin alternative specifically for Windows. It allows you to create a bootable Live USB key with a Linux distribution and offers an exclusive option for automatic virtualization, enabling you to run Linux directly in Windows without configuration. It supports creating UEFI bootable drives and portable Linux installations.
MultiBootUSB
MultiBootUSB is a free and open-source UNetbootin alternative available for Windows and Linux. It allows the creation of multi-boot live Linux on a removable media, supporting the installation of numerous distributions as long as there's enough disk space. Unique features include the ability to uninstall specific distributions at any time and support for both GUI and command-line interfaces.
Win32 Disk Imager
Win32 Disk Imager is a free and open-source UNetbootin alternative for Windows, primarily designed to write raw disk images to removable devices (like SD cards or USB drives) or backup removable devices to image files. It's highly valuable for embedded development and Arm projects, offering reliable disk imaging and the ability to create bootable USB drives.
MultiSystem
MultiSystem is a freemium UNetbootin alternative created for Linux users, similar to MultiBootISOs. It uses Grub2 to create custom Multiboot USB Flash Drives containing your favorite Bootable Live Linux Distributions. Key features include creating multiple OS bootable drives, extensive multi-image handling, and support for multiple languages, providing a comprehensive solution for Linux environments.
WinSetupFromUSB
WinSetupFromUSB is a free UNetbootin alternative for Windows, designed to prepare multiboot USB flash drives or fixed disks. It can install any Windows versions since 2000/XP, boot various Linux and *BSD flavors, and numerous other utilities. This portable tool supports both (U)EFI and Legacy BIOS modes for Windows versions supporting (U)EFI, making it a powerful and versatile option.
With a diverse range of UNetbootin alternatives available, you're sure to find a tool that perfectly fits your specific needs for creating bootable USB drives. Consider factors like operating system compatibility, ease of use, and specific features like multi-boot support or persistence when making your choice.