Long gone are the days when you had to have a CD or DVD to install Windows or any other operating system. DVD discs have a cost, moreover they are easily ruined, not to mention the fact that on many PCs there is no longer a DVD player or burner. Operating systems, today, can be installed and even run without installation using a trivial USB stick, which automatically loads as soon as the computer is turned on, using one of these programs to burn the ISO to a USB stick . Obviously, as I think everyone will object, the term " burn " in this article is absolutely incorrect, but it only serves to make it clear how easy it is to copy an ISO image, ie the installation file of an operating system such as Windows, on a USB stick, if you use one of these 4 software tools for Windows that work both with the ISO of Windows 7, 8 and 10, and with any Linux distribution ISO.
READ ALSO: Make a USB / SD pen bootable from ISO and IMG files
- Rufus is currently the best program ever to create bootable USB on computer boot. Using Rufus, just select the ISO file and the USB stick to burn it to obtain a USB stick that acts like a DVD. Rufus supports the ISO images of each Windows and Linux version, and also works with UEFI bios. Rufus is also available in a portable version, so you can use it without installation from any computer, to quickly create bootable USB drives. Rufus, in the latest version, also allows you to download the Windows 10 ISO images directly from the program.
- Etcher, easy to use program to burn ISO to USB with the guarantee of validation, capable of making the stick bootable at boot.
- WinToFlash is another free program that allows you to quickly create a USB stick to install Windows. Unlike Rufus, this software can only be used to burn Windows ISOs. The good thing is that it allows you to create bootable USB drives with Windows recovery console and emergency bootloader, becoming very useful when the PC no longer starts, to create a USB stick to repair a Windows installation without having to format.
- UNetbootin has always been the most popular tool for burning bootable USB drives to install Linux and Windows. The main advantage of UNetbootin is that it allows you to download the latest ISO of any Linux distribution and thus create bootable media immediately. I had talked about this program in the guide on how to install an ISO Linux on a USB stick
- YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator is a program for burning multiple operating systems to the same USB stick, in order to choose which one to start. This is a perfect tool for collecting recovery tools, antivirus and other tools that require booting at boot (basically they load instead of Windows).
I had already talked about Yumi in the guide to install multiple operating systems in a multiple boot USB stick.
With one of these programs any ISO image can be copied or transferred to a USB stick so that, by changing the startup of the PC, it can be loaded when the computer is turned on to run a program, install Windows or Linux or to start a live distribution (ie without installation).
Final note: Microsoft also provides a simple application called Windows USB / DVD Download Tool that converts ISO images into bootable USB drives.
However, this is a very simple and limited program that I personally do not recommend.
To install Windows 10, however, Microsoft provides a USB pen creation tool called Media Creation Tool which I speak in the guide on how to download each version of Windows for free.
