UNetbootin (Universal Netbook Installer) is a utility used to create live USB drives that can install Linux or BSD distributions to a partition or USB drive without a CD.
This software can use an existing disk image/kernel/initrd file, or download a supported distro or system utility (such as Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Slackware, FreeBSD, PartedMagic, etc).
UNetboot supports many different distros.
Key Features
- Non-destructive install using Syslinux.
- Wide support for mainstream Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, openSUSE, Gentoo, Linux Mint, Arch Linux, Mandriva, MEPIS, Slackware as well as FreeBSD, NetBSD, and FreeDOS.
- Has the ability to load various system utilities, such as Parted Magic, SystemRescueCD, Super Grub Disk, Backtrack, Ophcrack, Gujin, Smart Boot Manager and more.
- Other operating systems can be loaded via pre-downloaded ISO image or floppy/hard drive disk image files.
- Automatically detects all removable devices.
- Supports LiveUSB persistence (preserving files across reboots; this feature applies to Ubuntu only).
- Rebrand and adapt to a specific distribution using a plugin system or a series of #define statements.
Website: unetbootin.github.io
Support: FAQs
Developer: UNetbootin Team
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
UNetbootin is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Boot Utilities | |
|---|---|
| Ventoy | Create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files |
| rEFInd | EFI boot manager |
| Plymouth | Boot splash and boot logger |
| UNetbootin | Universal Netbook installer |
| Grub Customizer | Graphical interface to configure the grub2/burg settings |
| bootchart2 | Merge of bootchart-collector and pybootchartgui |
| OProfile | Low-overhead, transparent system-wide profiler |
| e4rat | Ext4 - Reducing Access Times; toolset to accelerate the boot process |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Flash OS Images | |
|---|---|
| Ventoy | Create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files |
| USBWriter | Cross-platform disk image writer |
| Etcher | Image burner with multi-platform support |
| UNetbootin | Create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu and other distros |
| Imagewriter | Write RAW images and ISO images to USB keys |
| MultiBootUSB | Create multi boot live Linux on a removable USB disk |
| Impression | Create bootable drives |
| dd | Convert and copy files |
| GNOME Disks | View, modify and configure disks and media |
| MultiWriter | Write an ISO file to multiple USB devices at once |
| JustDD | USB image writer |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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