If you have long been looking for a high-quality and simple program with which you can create bootable and multiboot usb-flash, and even in Russian, then now you can breathe a sigh of relief, since an updated version of the program was released this year Butler, which is just such a tool. With its help, you can create multi-boot flash drives with the Grub4DOS bootloader, with which you can easily install operating systems from Windows 2000 and higher!
The Butler program is very easy to use thanks to the Russian-language interface! After all, previously, in order to understand programs of this type, you had to translate the names of the tools manually or follow not always clear instructions in order to create a bootable flash drive. And in Butler everything is clear and precise. In addition to creating a bootable USB flash drive with various Windows operating systems and updates for them, you can also create and load onto a USB flash drive images of programs for system recovery or maintenance, such as ERDC Commander, Acronis, Kaspersky Resque Disk Partition Magic, Paragon and others.
Download Butler in Russian via torrent
You can download the Butler program to create a multiboot flash drive in our project by following the link below. If you are trying to create such a usb-flash for the first time, then do not be afraid that something may not work out for you, because, as mentioned above, the Butler program is really very easy to use, you just need to perform three simple steps: specify image type, path to it, select the media type and also indicate the path to it. And - voila! - bootable flash drive is ready for use!
INSTALLING THE BUTLER PROGRAM
- Run the installation file for the Butler 2.5 program setup.msi.
- Install the program following the prompts of the installation wizard.
- Go to the folder C:\Program Files\nikmam\Butler 2.5
- Right-click the “start.exe” file and select the “properties” menu
- In the "Start.exe Properties" window, on the compatibility tab, enable the "Run this program as an administrator" checkbox.
- Click “Apply” and “OK”. The program is ready to use.
WORKING WITH THE PROGRAM
- Format the USB drive by running the program
Start -> nikmam -> tools -> HPUSBFW
- Launch the Butler 2.5 program
Make sure that the program was launched as an administrator and did not generate any errors (Check the properties of the start.exe file in the folder with the program).
- Create a list of programs and OS to be added on the USB-Flash by filling out the list of download points as follows:
a) Select the folder with the Windows distribution by clicking the "browse folder" button on the "Folder" tab, or select the boot image by clicking the "browse files" button on the "Disk Image" tab
b) The program will automatically detect the contents of the folder or boot image.
The name of the distribution will appear in the "name" field. Edit the title or leave it as is
c) Click the add button to add to the list of download points
d) On the "Commands" tab you can select the desired command, also edit the name and add it to the list of loading points
- Check all added distributions to ensure there are no errors. If something happens, select the distribution you don’t need and click the delete button.
Attention! To install Windows, be sure to add the “Start HDD” command to the flash drive menu to start the hard drive from the flash drive after the first stage of installing Windows.
- Select the media on which we will install the added utilities.
- Click the next button and select the bootloader menu theme from the list. To preview a theme, double-click on an element.
- Click the start button to create a bootable USB flash drive.
- Wait until the bootable flash drive is created.
- Be sure to defragment your boot files. Boot images with the “Linux”, “KRD”, and “ESET” algorithm types will not work without defragmenting the files of these images on the USB drive.
Run the Start program -> nikmam -> tools -> WinContig and select the files on the flash drive and defragment them.
The flash drive is ready!!! Good luck!!!
P.S. It is recommended to choose a theme for the bootloader menu called “Text”, because... The graphical theme for the bootloader menu may not work on some motherboards and instead a text menu with “Crakozyabrs” will be displayed.
As sad as it may be for many, the era of CD/DVDs is slowly but surely coming to an end... Today, users are increasingly thinking about having an emergency bootable USB flash drive in case they suddenly have to reinstall the system.
And the point here is not only to pay tribute to fashion. The OS is installed faster from a flash drive than from a disk; such a flash drive can be used on a computer that does not have a CD/DVD drive (and all modern computers have USB), and you shouldn’t forget about the ease of transfer: a flash drive can easily fit into any pocket, unlike a disk.
1. What is needed to create a bootable USB flash drive?
1) The most important thing is a flash drive. For Windows 7, 8 OS, you will need a flash drive with a size of at least 4 GB, preferably 8 (some images may not fit into 4 GB).
2) An image of a Windows boot disk, most often an ISO file. If you have an installation disk, you can create such a file yourself. It is enough to use the program Clone CD, Alcohol 120%, UltraISO and others (see how to do this).
3) One of the programs for writing an image to a flash drive (they will be discussed below).
Important point! If your PC (netbook, laptop) has, in addition to USB 2.0, also USB 3.0, connect the flash drive to the USB 2.0 port during installation. This applies primarily to Windows 7 (and lower) operating systems, because... These OS do not support USB 3.0! The installation attempt will end with an OS error stating that it is impossible to read data from such media. By the way, they are quite easy to recognize, USB 3.0 is shown in blue, the connectors for it are the same color.
usb 3.0 on laptop
And one more thing... Make sure your Bios supports booting from USB media. If your PC is modern, then it should definitely have this function. For example, my old home computer, bought back in 2003. can boot from USB. How configure Bios to boot from a flash drive - .
2. Utilities for burning a bootable ISO disk to a USB flash drive
2.1 WinToFlash
Website: http://wintoflash.com/download/ru/
I would like to focus on this utility mainly because it allows you to burn bootable flash drives with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8. Probably the most universal! You can read about other functions and capabilities on the official website. Here I would like to look at how you can create a flash drive for installing the OS.
After launching the utility, by default, the wizard starts (see screenshot below). To proceed to creating a bootable USB flash drive, click on the green checkmark in the center.
The process of transferring Windows system files usually takes 5-10 minutes. At this time, it is better not to load your PC with unnecessary resource-intensive processes.
If the recording was successful, the wizard will notify you about this. To start the installation, you need to insert the USB flash drive and restart the computer.
One of the best programs for working with ISO images. It is possible to compress these images, create, unpack, etc. There are also functions for recording boot disks and flash drives (hard drives).
This program was mentioned quite often on the site, so here I will give only a couple of links:
2.3 USB/DVD Download Tool
A lightweight utility that allows you to burn flash drives with Windows 7 and 8. The only negative, perhaps, is that when writing, it may give an error of 4 GB. The flash drive supposedly doesn't have enough space. Although there is enough space for other utilities, on the same flash drive, with the same image...
By the way, the issue of recording a bootable USB flash drive in this utility for Windows 8 was considered.
2.4 WinToBootic
Website: http://www.wintobootic.com/
A very simple utility that will help you quickly and worry-free create a bootable USB drive with Windows Vista/7/8/2008/2012. The program takes up very little space - less than 1 MB.
At the first launch, it required Net Framework 3.5 installed; not everyone has such a package, and downloading and installing it is not a quick task...
But the process of creating bootable media is very fast and pleasant. First, insert the flash drive into the USB, then launch the utility. Now click on the green arrow and indicate the location of the image with the Windows installation disk. The program can directly record from an ISO image.
2.5 WinSetupFromUSB
A simple and main free program. With it you can quickly create bootable media. By the way, what’s interesting is that a flash drive can accommodate not only Windows OS, but also Gparted, SisLinux, a built-in virtual machine, etc.
To start creating a bootable USB flash drive, run the utility. By the way, please note that there is a special add-on for the x64 version!
Once launched you only need to specify 2 things:
- First, indicate the flash drive to which the recording will be made. Usually, it is determined automatically. By the way, under the line with the flash drive there is a checkbox: “Auto Format” - it is recommended to check the box and not touch anything else.
- In the “Add USB dick” section, select the line with the required OS and check the box. Next, indicate the location on your hard drive where the image with this ISO OS is located.
- The last thing you do is click on the “GO” button.
By the way! The program may behave as if it is frozen while recording. In fact, most often it works, just do not touch the PC for about 10 minutes. You can also pay attention to the lower part of the program window: messages about the recording process appear on the left and a green stripe is visible...
3. Conclusion
In this article, we looked at several ways to create bootable USB flash drives. A few tips when writing such flash drives:
- First of all, copy all the files from the media, in case you need something later. During recording, all information from the flash drive will be deleted!
- Do not load your computer with other processes during the recording process.
- Wait for a successful information message from the utilities with which you work with the flash drive.
- Disable antivirus software before creating bootable media.
- Do not edit the installation files on the flash drive after burning it.
That's all, happy OS installation everyone!
In articles on how to install Windows from a flash drive, I have already described some ways to create a bootable flash drive, but not all. Below in the list are individual instructions on this topic, but I recommend that you first read the article itself below the list - in it you will find new, simple and interesting ways to make a bootable USB flash drive, sometimes even unique ones.
This review will look at free utilities that allow you to create a bootable USB drive for installing Windows or Linux, as well as programs for burning a multiboot flash drive. Also presented are options for creating a USB drive to run Windows 10 and 8 without installing and using Linux in Live mode without rebooting the computer. All “download” links in the article lead to the official websites of the programs.
Update 2016. Since writing this review of programs for creating a bootable flash drive, several new options have appeared for preparing a USB drive for installing Windows, which I consider necessary to add here. The next two sections are these new methods, and then the “old” methods that have not lost their relevance are described (first about multiboot drives, then specifically about creating bootable Windows flash drives of various versions, as well as a description of several auxiliary useful programs).
Bootable USB flash drive Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 without programs
Those who have a modern computer equipped with a motherboard with UEFI software (a novice user can determine UEFI by the graphical interface when entering the “BIOS”), and who need to make a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 on this particular computer, can generally Do not use any third-party programs to create a bootable USB flash drive.
All you need to use this method: support for EFI boot, a USB drive formatted in FAT32 and preferably an original ISO image or a disk with the specified versions of Windows OS (for non-original ones it is more reliable to use the creation of a UEFI flash drive using the command line, which is described later in this material).
Microsoft Windows Installation Media Creation Tool
For a long time, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool was the only official Microsoft utility for creating a bootable USB flash drive (originally intended for Windows 7, described below in this same article).
More than a year after the release of Windows 8, the next official program was released - Windows Installation Media Creation Tool for burning an installation USB drive with the Windows 8.1 distribution of the version you need. And now a similar Microsoft utility has been released for burning a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 10.
With this free program, you can easily make a bootable USB or ISO image by choosing a professional, single-language or basic version of Windows 8.1, as well as the installation language, including Russian. In this case, the official distribution kit is downloaded from the Microsoft website, which may be important for those who require the original Windows.
Multiboot flash drives
First of all, I’ll tell you about two tools designed to create a multiboot flash drive - an indispensable tool for any computer repairman and, if you have the skills, an excellent thing for the average computer user. As the name suggests, a multiboot flash drive allows you to boot in different modes and for different purposes, for example, on one flash drive you can have:
- Installing Windows 8
- Kaspersky Rescue Disk
- Hiren's Boot CD
- Installing Ubuntu Linux
This is just an example; in fact, the set can be completely different, depending on the goals and preferences of the owner of such a flash drive.
WinSetupFromUSB
Main window WinsetupFromUSB 1.6
In my personal opinion, one of the most convenient utilities for creating a bootable flash drive. The functions of the program are wide - in the program you can prepare a USB drive for subsequent conversion into a bootable one, format it in a variety of ways and create the necessary boot record, check the bootable flash drive in QEMU.
The main function, which is also implemented quite simply and clearly, is to record a bootable USB flash drive from Linux installation images, disks with utilities, as well as installations of Windows 10, 8, Windows 7 and XP (Server versions are also supported). The use is not as simple as some of the other programs in this review, but, nevertheless, if you more or less understand how this kind of media is made, it will not be difficult for you to figure it out.
Free SARDU program for creating a multiboot flash drive
SARDU is one of the most functional and simple, despite the lack of a Russian-language interface, programs that make it easy to burn a multiboot flash drive with:
- Images of Windows 10, 8, Windows 7 and XP
- Win PE images
- Linux distributions
- Anti-virus boot disks and boot drives with utilities for resuscitating the system, setting up partitions on disks, etc.
Moreover, for many images the program has a built-in downloader from the Internet. If all the methods of creating a multi-boot flash drive that have been tried so far have not yet worked for you, I strongly recommend trying: Multi-boot flash drive in SARDU.
Easy2Boot and Butler (Boutler)
The programs for creating bootable and multiboot flash drives Easy2Boot and Butler are very similar in principle of operation. In general terms, this principle looks like this:
- You prepare the USB drive in a special way
- Copy bootable ISO images to the created folder structure on the flash drive
As a result, you get a bootable drive with images of Windows distributions (8.1, 8, 7 or XP), Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, utilities for computer recovery or virus treatment. Essentially, the number of ISOs you can use is limited only by the size of the drive, which is very convenient, especially for professionals who really need it.
The disadvantages of both programs for novice users include the need to understand what you are doing and be able to manually make changes to the disk if necessary (everything does not always work as desired by default). At the same time, Easy2Boot, given the availability of help only in English and the lack of a graphical interface, is somewhat more complicated than Boutler.
XBoot
XBoot is a free utility for creating a multiboot flash drive or ISO disk image with several versions of Linux, utilities, antivirus kits (for example, Kaspersky Rescue), Live CD (Hiren’s Boot CD). Windows is not supported. However, if we need a very functional multiboot flash drive, we can first create an ISO in XBoot, and then use the resulting image in the WinSetupFromUSB utility. Thus, by combining these two programs, we can get a multi-boot flash drive for Windows 8 (or 7), Windows XP, and everything that we recorded in XBoot. You can download on the official website https://sites.google.com/site/shamurxboot/
Creating bootable media in this program is done by simply dragging and dropping the desired ISO files into the main window. Then all you have to do is click “Create ISO” or “Create USB”.
Another opportunity provided in the program is to download the necessary disk images by selecting them from a fairly extensive list.
Bootable Windows flash drives
This part presents programs whose purpose is to transfer installation files of the Windows operating system to a flash drive for easy installation on netbooks or other computers that are not equipped with optical CD drives (does anyone say that?).
Microsoft Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is an official free program from Microsoft designed to burn a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 or Windows 8. Despite the fact that the program was released for the previous version of the operating system, it also works great with Windows 8 and Windows 10 . You can download it from the official Microsoft website
Selecting a Windows ISO image in a utility from Microsoft
Use does not present any difficulties - after installation, you will need to specify the path to the Windows disk image file (.iso), indicate which USB drive to write to (all data will be deleted) and wait for the operation to complete. That's all, the bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 is ready.
Bootable USB flash drive in Windows command line
If you need a flash drive to install Windows 8, 8.1 or Windows 7, then it is not necessary to use any third-party programs to create it. Moreover, some of these programs simply provide a graphical interface, doing everything that you can do yourself using the command line.
The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive in the Windows command line (including with UEFI support) looks like this:
- You prepare the flash drive using diskpart on the command line.
- Copy all operating system installation files to the drive.
- Make some changes as needed (for example, if you require UEFI support when installing Windows 7).
There is nothing complicated in this procedure, and even a novice user can handle it if you follow the instructions.
Flash drive with Windows 10 and 8 in WinToUSB Free
The WinToUSB Free program allows you to make a bootable USB flash drive not for installing Windows 10 and 8, but for directly launching them from a USB drive without installation. At the same time, in my experience, it copes with this task better than its analogues.
An ISO image, a CD with Windows, or even an OS already installed on the computer can be used as a source for a system written to USB (however, the latter option, if I'm not mistaken, is not available in the free version).
WiNToBootic
Another free and perfectly working utility for creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8 or Windows 7. Quite little known, but, in my opinion, a worthwhile program.
Advantages of WiNTBootic compared to Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool:
- Supports ISO images from Windows, unzipped OS folder or DVD
- No need to install on your computer
- High speed
Using the program is as simple as the previous utility - we indicate the location of the files for installing Windows and which flash drive to write them to, and then wait for the program to finish.
WinToFlash utility
This free portable program allows you to create a bootable USB flash drive from the installation CD of Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows Vista, as well as Windows Server 2003 and 2008. And not only that: if you needed a bootable USB flash drive for MS DOS or Win PE, you can also make one using WinToFlash. Another feature of the program is the creation of a flash drive for removing a banner from the desktop.
Rufus
Rufus is a free utility that allows you to create a bootable Windows or Linux USB flash drive. The program works on all current versions of Windows OS and, among its other functions, can check a flash drive for bad sectors and bad blocks. It is also possible to place various utilities on a flash drive, such as Hiren’s Boot CD, Win PE and others. Another important advantage of this program in its latest versions is the simple creation of a bootable UEFI GPT or MBR flash drive.
The program itself is very easy to use, and, in the latest versions, among other things, it can make a Windows To Go drive to run Windows from a flash drive without installation.
Considering the fact that many users in Russia do not really pay for programs, using UltraISO to create bootable flash drives is quite common. Unlike all the other programs described here, UltraISO costs money, and allows, among other functions available in the program, to create a bootable Windows USB flash drive. The creation process is not entirely obvious, so I will describe it here.
- With a flash drive connected to the computer, run UltraISO.
- Select the menu item (top) Bootstrapping.
- Specify the path to the bootable image of the distribution that you want to burn to the flash drive.
- If necessary, format the flash drive (this is done in the same window), then click “write”.
That's all, a bootable Windows or Linux flash drive created using the UltraISO program is ready.
Other utilities related to bootable flash drives
Below are additional programs that can help you create a bootable flash drive (including with Linux), and also offer some features that are missing in the utilities already mentioned.
Linux Live USB Creator
Distinctive features of the program for creating bootable USB flash drives Linux Live USB Creator are:
- The ability to download the required Linux image using the program itself from a fairly good list of distributions, including all the popular Ubuntu and Linux Mint variants.
- The ability to run Linux from a created USB drive in Live mode in a Windows environment using VirtualBox Portable, which is also automatically installed by Linux Live USB Creator on the drive.
Of course, the ability to simply boot a computer or laptop from a Linux Live USB Creator flash drive and install the system is also present.
Windows Bootable Image Creator - creating a bootable ISO
WBI Creator is somewhat different from the general range of programs. It does not create a bootable USB flash drive, but a bootable ISO disk image from the folder with files for installing Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows XP. All you need to do is select the folder in which the installation files are located, select the version of the operating system (for Windows 8, select Windows 7), indicate the desired DVD label (the disc label is present in the ISO file) and click the “Go” button. After this, you can create a bootable USB flash drive using other utilities from this list.
Universal USB Installer window
This program allows you to select one of several available Linux distributions (as well as download it) and create a flash drive with it on board. The process is very simple: select the distribution version, specify the path to the location of the file with this distribution, specify the path to a flash drive pre-formatted in FAT or NTFS and click Create. That's all, all you have to do is wait.
These are not all programs designed for these purposes; there are many others for different platforms and purposes. For most common and not so common tasks, the utilities listed should be sufficient. Let me remind you that it’s quite easy to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 without using any additional utilities - just using the command line, which I wrote about in detail in the relevant articles.
Rufus is a program for the Windows operating system designed to format and create bootable USB drives. Compared to other similar programs, Rufus is multifunctional, has a simple and intuitive interface, is translated into 30 languages and does not require installation.
You can use the program if you have the operating system Windows XP or a later version; the bit depth - 32 or 64 bits - does not matter.
Download the executable file to your computer. You can do this by following the link below. Once the download is complete, the application is ready to use.
The program is designed to create a bootable USB disk from a bootable ISO image for Windows, Linux, UEFI and other formats. It is also useful if you need to flash the BIOS or other firmware from DOS.
If you have saved the files for installing the operating system on a CD or DVD, then you can easily create an ISO image from them, for example, using the CD burning program - IntraRecorder. You can also use the UltraISO program to work with disk images.
Now let's begin to understand how the program works.
We connect the flash drive on which we will record the boot disk image to the computer. Be careful that the size of the USB drive is not smaller than the size of the ISO file. We run the program as administrator. To do this, right-click on it and select the item from the context menu "Run as administrator".
The Rufus program window opens. In the first field “Device”, from the drop-down menu, you need to select the flash drive that we plan to make bootable.
In the next field, if you have selected "MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI", nothing needs to be changed. UEFI is an interface that is installed between the operating system installed on a computer and the software that ensures the functioning of various hardware components of the computer. Its essence is the same as that of the BIOS, but there are still a few differences. Moreover, it is developed by Intel, and the BIOS is software supported by various brands.
Next you need to select a file system. If the image weighs more than 4 gigabytes or you plan to write movies to a flash drive after formatting, it is better to choose NTFS, since in the FAT format you will not be able to subsequently write files larger than 4 gigabytes to a flash drive.
Now let's move on to cluster size. A cluster is the minimum amount of space that can be allocated on disk for a file. If you plan to use a flash drive to store small files, choose a smaller cluster size. If you record movies or music on it, choose a higher value.
“Volume label” is the name of the flash drive after formatting.
In the parameters, check the boxes next to the item "Quick Format"– after formatting, you will have the opportunity, using special programs, to restore the necessary files from the flash drive; And "Create a boot disk"– select “ISO image” from the drop-down list, click on the optical drive icon and select the IOS image file on the computer.
After completing the creation of a bootable USB flash drive with an ISO image, you need to click on the “Close” button. That's all - program for creating a bootable USB flash drive Rufus She did an excellent job with her task, and most importantly it didn’t take much time.
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