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 |
| Limine | Multiprotocol bootloader and boot manager |
| rEFInd | EFI boot manager |
| Plymouth | Boot splash and boot logger |
| UNetbootin | Universal Netbook installer |
| sbctl | Create, enroll and manage Secure Boot keys |
| 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 |
| USB Imager | Lightweight cross-platform utility for writing and verifying disk images |
| Raspberry Pi Imager | Create bootable media. Not only useful for the Raspberry Pi |
| Imagewriter | Write RAW images and ISO images to USB keys |
| Fedora Media Writer | Creates bootable Fedora USB media and supports custom ISOs |
| Caligula | Terminal-based tool for flashing disk images to removable media |
| Impression | Create bootable drives |
| MultiBootUSB | Create multi boot live Linux on a removable USB disk |
| 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 |
| Mintstick | Tool for creating bootable USB media and formatting sticks |
| JustDD | USB image writer |
| KDE ISO Image Writer | Simple KDE utility for writing ISO files to USB drives |
| MajUSB | USB bootable drive creator with a GTK4 GUI |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
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