Rufus writes one image to a drive at a time, while Ventoy lets you copy many images to the same USB stick and pick one at boot. This page covers version 1.1.18 for Windows, a 15.9 MB download released on October 9, 2026. The developer is Ventoy, the licence is GPL-3.0 and the app is free.
Who needs a multiboot stick instead of a single-image writer
Ventoy suits people who keep several operating systems at hand, such as a Windows installer, a Linux live image and a rescue disk. Supported systems include Windows, WinPE, Linux, Unix, ChromeOS, VMware and Xen.
The developer says over 1100 ISO files have been tested and that more than 90% of distros on distrowatch.com are supported.
Copy the image, then boot from the menu
After the drive is prepared, you do not format it again. You copy image files onto it, and Ventoy shows a boot menu listing them. It handles ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x) and EFI files, and it can also browse and boot those files from a local disk.
Boot modes covered are x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI and MIPS64EL UEFI. Both MBR and GPT partition styles work the same way. The project also points to iVentoy, a separate PXE and HTTPBoot server for network installs.
Limits: one experimental feature
The new SteamOS recovery image support is marked as experimental. Since Ventoy prepares boot media, you will need a spare USB drive and an image file of your own to try it.
What's new in 1.1.18
Version 1.1.18 adds experimental support for SteamOS recovery images and custom Syslinux-based ISOs. It also fixes a Fedora 45 beta boot issue and a Windows/WinPE secure boot version check failure.
Ventoy pros and cons
Pros
- Free under GPL-3.0
- Many image files can share one USB drive behind a boot menu
- Supports ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x) and EFI files
- Covers Legacy BIOS and several UEFI types, including ARM64
- Small download of 15.9 MB
Cons
- SteamOS recovery image support is still experimental
- SteamOS recovery support is experimental in this release
- Network booting needs the separate iVentoy project
Is Ventoy safe?
Ventoy is developed by the Ventoy project and released as open source under GPL-3.0. The release notes for 1.1.18 give a SHA256 value for ventoy-1.1.18-windows.zip (082c478e8c432e1ac653899fcf50e3a4077a2851bc6112b5ddd30545962164a9), so you can hash your download and compare the result before running anything. We have no independent scan result to point to.
How to install Ventoy
- Press the download button to get the official file.
- Run the installer you saved and confirm the Windows security prompt if the publisher matches.
- Follow the setup steps, then start Ventoy from the Start menu.
