If you have taken the plunge and decided to install a Linux distribution on your machine, you should ensure your installation arsenal is ready for use.

The first thing you need is an ISO image of your favorite Linux distro, which you can boot onto a flash drive and use to install the OS on your machine. Unfortunately, creating a bootable USB to install Linux without the right tools and applications is challenging.

You can use these top seven USB Linux boot creator tools to create a bootable USB from an ISO image.

1. Startup Disk Creator

Startup Disk Graphical Tool on Ubuntu's desktop screen

Startup Disk Creator is an excellent bootable USB Linux application. It’s an Ubuntu native app specializing in making Ubuntu's installation process seamless and hassle-free. With Startup Disk Creator in tow, you can do the following:

  1. Install Ubuntu on your machine
  2. Try Ubuntu’s features before installing the OS

With the benefits out of the way, here are some things you need to run Startup Disk Creator successfully:

  1. A USB drive with 4GB or higher storage space
  2. The latest Ubuntu ISO image (you can use any version you want)
  3. Ubuntu Desktop 14.04 or higher

Since Startup Disk Creator is a bootable USB creator application, it offers plenty of ways to help you boot an ISO image. You can use its native graphical interface or create the boot via the terminal commands with the dd command.

Post installation, if your Ubuntu Linux PC still doesn't boot, you can try a few basic fixes to rectify the underlying issues.

2. Fedora Media Writer

Fedora Media Writer dialog box on a Fedora desktop

All Fedora enthusiasts can rejoice, for you can download and write your favorite Fedora distribution on a USB using a small, compact USB Linux boot creator application known as Fedora Media Writer. Once you write the ISO to a USB drive, you can easily use it to boot up any system.

Fedora Media Writer differs from its competitors, as it downloads and writes the ISO image. Using Fedora Media Writer, you can boot Fedora Server and Workstation, Fedora Labs, and even Fedora spin-off distros.

While this application works with other bootable ISOs, it’s best to restrict your usage to Fedora and its related versions for the best results.

You can download Fedora Media Writer via Flatpak or from the terminal on an RPM-based distribution with the following command:

        sudo dnf install liveusb-creator
    

Download: Fedora Media Writer

3. balenaEtcher

balenaEtcher flash screen on a grey background

balenaEtcher is a standalone bootable USB creator and an SD card flashing app that offers scores of features to the end users. With its free and paid versions, you get plenty of action in a few easy clicks.

Some notable features include:

  1. Warnings to avoid overwriting or deleting your hard drives
  2. An intuitive interface to keep you engaged during the entire process
  3. Since it is an open-source and cross-platform tool, it works well with different OSes such as Windows, macOS, and Linux
  4. With balenaEtcher’s Pro (paid) version, you can even flash up to 16 drives simultaneously to save time and effort

Different versions of balenaEtcher are available for download, depending on the OS you want to use to write the ISOs.

Download: balenaEtcher

4. UNetbootin

UNetbootin download screen on a grey background

Like balenaEtcher, UNetbootin downloads your ISO images before writing them to a flash drive. You can create bootable USB Linux drives to install Ubuntu and other Linux distributions. You get the choice to download the ISO via the tool directly or write a pre-existing ISO image to your USB drive.

UNetbootin supports almost all major Linux distributions, including the following:

  • Ubuntu/Debian
  • Kubuntu/Lubuntu/Xubuntu
  • Linux Mint
  • Fedora
  • openSUSE
  • CentOS
  • Puppy Linux
  • PCLinuxOS
  • FreeBSD

Download: UNetbootin

5. Ventoy

Ventoy is an open-source tool that helps you create bootable USB drives to write various images and file formats, including ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI. You can use Ventoy to create a multi-boot USB drive in a few easy steps.

Some mentionable features include:

  • It supports Windows/Linux auto-installation
  • You can write ISO files that are greater than 4GB in size
  • Ongoing support for almost 1100 ISO files
  • Ventoy offers a graphical tool for enabling and using plug-in configuration

Download: Ventoy

6. Popsicle

Popsicle dialog box on Pop!_OS desktop

Popsicle is another Linux-friendly USB booting tool that works well within the Pop!_OS ecosystem. In short, if you want to write multiple ISOs simultaneously, you can head over to the Popsicle app and start creating bootable flash drives immediately.

While this app is available only on Pop!_OS by default, you can still download it on other Linux OSes via Flatpak. Here’s how you can install it with Flatpak:

        sudo flatpak install popsicle
    

This lightweight USB booter for Linux will make your booting experience memorable since it can handle multiple ISOs in one go.

Download: Popsicle

7. Universal USB Installer

Universal USB Installer dialog box on a grey background

Universal USB Installer is another well-known name in the world of USB booters for Linux. Its multi-faceted feature set, easy-to-use functionality, and close resemblance to other USB booters make it an excellent fit for people looking to map their ISO images to flash drives.

It works seamlessly on Windows and Linux OSes but has no compatibility with macOS. You can use the in-built USB formatting tool to free up storage before writing your ISO image to the drive. With prior formatting, not only can you free up space but also get rid of any prevalent virus attacks.

It would be best if you met the following pre-requisites before using Universal USB Installer on your Linux machine:

  1. A Linux ISO image
  2. A Windows operating system or WINE
  3. A flash drive with 2GB or higher space

Download: Universal USB Installer

Creating Bootable USB Drives for Linux Distros

Linux distributions offer plenty of options to users, especially when you can download and use them on virtual machines. However, when booting a flash drive and installing the distribution onto your system directly, working with a trustworthy tool is essential to make the entire downloading and writing process seamless.

Irrespective of the tool you use, it's important to follow the correct steps to ensure your image gets written without errors so that you don't face any errors later during the booting process.