Ubuntu live USB Creators allow us to flash Pen drives using the ISO image of Linux operating systems that support Live environment. Here we will list and talk about how to use those.
Live Environment is not just limited to Ubuntu only, most of the Linux operating system comes with Live support. This means we can use them and perform all computing tasks, however without actually installing that particular Linux operating system. For example Ubuntu Live, Kali Linux, Pop OS, Linux Mint, Fedora, etc. all of them come with two options one is to use them as a LIVE OS, and if you like then use the installation one as well…
H0wever, few distributions offer there Live Linux as a separate ISO file besides the standard such as Kali, where Ubuntu’s standard version whether it is Ubuntu 20.04/20.10/18.10 or others all of them come with a “Try Ubuntu” option which is basically to try Ubuntu as Live CD or USB.
What is a Live USB?
Ubuntu has a live USB creator tool installed already but Etcher is a better application for this task. It is also available for Windows and macOS. Download the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, for desktop PCs and laptops. LTS stands for long-term support — which means five years, until April 2025, of free security and maintenance updates, guaranteed. Universal USB Installer aka UUI is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive. The Universal USB Installer is easy to use. Simply choose a Live Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your Flash Drive and, Click Install. Ubuntu's own Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator-gtk and usb-creator-kde also works well, particularly now that a nasty bug has been squashed so usb-creator- gtk is much more reliable. And some people like tools by Pendrivelinux (described in the opening post). This is a step by step tutorial shows you how to install the real Ubuntu OS on USB stick to create a ‘Windows To Go’ style USB drive. Tested with Ubuntu 14.04. Requirements: Before getting started, you need to prepare something: A 8GB+ USB Drive. A Ubuntu Live CD/DVD/USB. In the case below, I created a bootable Ubuntu Live USB from the.iso.
A Live USB is a USB drive containing OS files to give full access to the operating system that further can be booted with or without any internal hard drive in the computer system. It allows us to perform all the functions that an installed OS lets us such as installing programs, accessing all system hardware, writing storage devices, and more. Most of the Linux OS can be run and used from a USB flash drive including modern Windows 10. Know more about it on Wikipedia.
In this article, we will let you know the few tools that can help us to create a bootable Live Ubuntu USB drive.
Note: Before using any of the below-given tools to create Live Ubuntu Linux USB, you should have its ISO file, which is available on the official website of it.
Here is the link to download Ubuntu LIVE CD:
Comparison Table for Ubuntu USB creator tools
Contents
- 6. Ventoy- For multi ISO USB
- 7. Fedora Media Writer
1. Ubuntu Startup Disk creator
- Ubuntu Official Software
- No need to perform any installation
- Available for all Debian based OS.
- Two-step process
Startup Disk Creator (USB-creator) is the official Ubuntu Live USB creator, thus if you have a system that already has an Ubuntu or its based operating systems then you don’t need to install any other software since you already have one. On the latest versions of Ubuntu, the users can simply search for Startup DiskCreator in all Applications. It is available by default in all releases of Ubuntu from 8.04 to 18.04 or 20.04…
In case you don’t have then you can get this Startup application then we can install it using a simple command:
If you are using KDE front end then use:
This application is meant to create a bootable USB disk using Ubuntu CD or ISO file. Startup Disk USB creator’s interface is quite easy to understand with only a few options.
- Click on the Other button and select the ISO file
- Plug the USB drive and select that when it shows in the software.
- Finally, click on the Make Startup Disk button.
2. Rufus – Live Linux USB Creator for Windows
- Free and opensource
- Lightweight portable software
- Only available for Windows
- Easy to understand interface to create a bootable USB drive
Rufus is the best open-source software to use on Windows 10/8/7 running systems to create Ubuntu Live USB in just a few clicks. It is portable software, thus, we don’t need to install it on our system.
It has an extremely simple graphical user interface from where we can easily create a bootable USB of any mainstream operating system that has an ISO file. Not only Linux distros but also Windows ISO files are supported by the Rufus. Apart from the ISO, raw disk image files can be used in this bootable USB creator tool including the compressed one.
To ensure the USB drive boots in a correct way Rufus can automatically download Syslinux or GRUB bootloader for the Linux we are flashing.
Furthermore, would you like to use live Windows 10 from USB, I mean Windows 10, runs directly from the Pen drive, then Rufus comes with an option to create i.e Windows To Go bootable media plus MS-DOS or FreeDOS installation is also possible. To know more see– How to install Windows 10 on USB using Rufus
However, the limitation of this software is it is available only for Windows operating systems.
Create Ubuntu Live USB using Rufus
- Get the ISO file, link has been given at the beginning of this article
- Select the USB drive from the Device section. It supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, UDF, or ReFS filesystems
- Click on the SELECT button, from file explorer select Ubuntu Live ISO file
- And then click on the START button.
3. balenaEtcher
- Very easy to use bootable USB creator
- Works on almost for most of Live Linux ISO files including Ubuntu
- Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS
balenaEtcher which is a cross-platform bootable Live USB creator application not only for Ubuntu but also for other Linux distros. It is also known as Etcher for Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives. We can use it on Windows, macOS, and Linux OS to create a Live Ubuntu USB.
The best part of this USB creator is its interface that comprises three steps to flash any USB drive.
- Get a Linux ISO file, for Ubuntu you can use the link given at the beginning of this article.
- Install and run balenaEtcher
- Click on the Select Image, file explorer will open, choose the ISO,IMG, or compressed ZIP file of Linux, Windows, or any other OS.
- Select the USB stick, external hard drive, or memory card. Internal Hard drives will be hidden to prevent the wrong selection of drives.
- And hit the flash button
It can support both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Operating system. Etcher installation is not only super easy on Windows OS but also for Linux as well. Double-click on its downloaded setup and that’s it. Know more about balenaEtcher installation on Linux.
Apart from the files, we can also use the URL option of this tool. It will automatically fetch the ISO image and then flash the same on the Pen drive.
In addition to all, its Copy Drive function allows users to copy any existing drive to another drive, whether it is external, internal, or USB.
4. UNetbootin- Ubuntu Live USB creator
- Allows directly Linux OS Live image downloading
- Also supports offline ISO images
- Cross-platform
- Portable
Unetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) is another open-source software that has the ability to download the ISO files of various Linux distros directly from its interface. That makes it very easy to create a LIVE USB system without leaving the software, however, if you already have the bootable ISO then using that is also possible on UNetbootin.
Just like Etcher, UNetbootin is also a cross-platform utility that makes it a nice option to create live USB sticks with Linux.
It is very light in weight and portable thus doesn’t require any installation. The program offers a selection of various Linux distributions and other tools such as Parted Magic, Dr. Web Antivirus, or SystemRescueCD in a drop-down menu under “Distribution”.
Create an Ubuntu Live USB with the latest version using Untebootin
- First, get the Ubetbootin and run it.
- Now, if you already have an Ubuntu ISO file then select the Disk option otherwise select the Distribution.
- If you have selected the Distribution option, select Ubuntu from the drop-down box and the latest version for it in the next one. For example, currently, the latest LTS version it has is 20.04.
- After that choose the Flash drive and click the OK button.
Once the process is done, operating systems can be run directly from a USB stick. Furthermore, existing Windows ISO images can also be loaded very easily. In short, if you want to use Linux without installation or reinstall Windows using an existing ISO file, you should take a closer look at this program.
5. Universal USB Installer
The portable and free tool supports a variety of Linux-based operating systems, tools for cloning hard drives and data recovery or Windows data carriers, and also helps to download the appropriate ISO files. Yes, this one is also available only for Windows running operating systems and portable in nature that can be used without installing it at all. Thus, Universal USB Installer can be started directly after the download on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (32-bit / 64-bit) must be available for use.
By downloading the Universal USB Installer, USB sticks can be made bootable and used as an installation medium as well as for living operating systems. For that:
- Run Universal USB Installer
- Select the operating system type, for example, here we are using Ubuntu.
- Click on the Browse button, a file explore will open select the ISO image.
- From drop select the connected USB drive
- Finally, click on the Create button.
For most of the Linux systems, the Universal USB Installer also offers download links if the appropriate ISO file is not yet available.
Moreover, after clicking on “Create“, the little program does its work automatically. Just like any other LIVE USB creator, the user must select the bootable USB drive in the boot sequence as a priority via the BIOS to run the LIVE Ubuntu or any other OS.
6. Ventoy- For multi ISO USB
Ventoy has a different concept when running a Live Ubuntu system, well, not only Linux but also to install ISO file of any OS. Where all other above Live USB creators allow flashing one operating system at a time, Ventoy can be used to boot a single USB drive for multiple operating systems.
Instead of flashing the USB drive, again and again, to install OS or for Live USB; Ventoy only does this one time. It means flash your Pen drive with Ventoy once and then simply copy ISO files of the various OS just directly to that USB drive.
Ventoy offers a booting environment that will show a boot menu when we boot our system with a USB drive flashed with it, and in that menu, it will list all the ISO files available in that particular USB stick. It supports x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64, and UEFI.
You can an idea from the below screenshot.
How to use Ventoy
If you are a Windows user, then simply download its setup, run it, select the USB drive, and format it using Ventoy. After that open the USB drive and transfer the ISO file of the Linux or Windows that you want to run LIVE or install on your system.
For Linux users:
- Download the Ventoy Linux tar file
- Extract it
- Right-click and select Terminal to from the extracted folder
- Run script:
sh Ventoy2Disk.sh i /dev/XXX
Note: replace the XXX with the USB device, for example, /dev/sdb.
Alternatively, we can use the ISO file of Ventoy that is also available on the Github page. Simply flash that ISO file using any of the above-mentioned tools such as Rufus and Etcher. After that move your ISO file to that flashed USB drive.
7. Fedora Media Writer
Fedora Media Writer is another option to create Ubuntu Live USB, however, officially it is promoted as a tool that allows users to create LIVE USB using Fedora image but using its custom image option, the user can also use the Ubuntu and other Linux ISO files to write on their portable drives.
It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux (as a flatpak image).
Conclusion
So, these were some best Ubuntu Live USB creators that one can easily download and start working with. They all are free to download. However, if you are on Windows operating system then we recommend using Rufus, and Linux users can go for BalenaEtcher and Ubuntu Startup Disk.
Have you ever tried using a live USB drive to run Linux OS? It is a simple and easy way to learn how Ubuntu works and to become familiar with the user interface (UI) and layout. Using a live USB, you can boot up the system, install programs, save items, and make configurations without altering your computer’s configuration. However, take note that once you reboot the system, all saved items and changes will be wiped away. This is not a problem if you are just trying out the operating system for one time only. If you want to save your files and settings so that you do not have to start from scratch, you can create a persistent USB drive by installing the OS on it.This article will explain how to run Ubuntu 20.04 from a USB stick. The article will also explain how to install Ubuntu on a USB drive to make the drive persistent. The primary topics covered in this article include the following:
- How to Prepare a Live USB
- How to try Ubuntu from a USB stick (without installing the OS)
- How to install Ubuntu on a USB stick
Requirements
- An ISO image of Ubuntu 20.04
- 2 USB drives
- A computer system
Note: We have performed the procedure discussed in this article on a system running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
Prepare Live USB
Follow the steps below to prepare a live USB drive:
1. Download the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ISO file from the Ubuntu official Downloads page.
2. Insert the USB drive into your system. The USB drive must be a minimum of 4GB.
3. To make a Live USB in your Ubuntu system, open the Startup Disk creator application. If you are using a Windows system, use Rufus, and for macOS, use the Disk utility. In this example, we are working on an Ubuntu system, so we will use the Startup Disk creator application.
2. Insert the USB drive into your system. The USB drive must be a minimum of 4GB.
3. To make a Live USB in your Ubuntu system, open the Startup Disk creator application. If you are using a Windows system, use Rufus, and for macOS, use the Disk utility. In this example, we are working on an Ubuntu system, so we will use the Startup Disk creator application.
To launch the Startup Disk creator, hit the super key on your keyboard and search for the application using the search bar that appears. When the search result appears, click on the Startup Disk creator icon to launch the application. Under the Source disc image(.iso) section in the Startup Disk creator application, click on the Other button to insert the Ubuntu .iso file. The Disk to use section will automatically detect and add your plugged-in USB drive.
4. Click the Make Startup Disk button to start creating a bootable USB drive.
Wait for a little while, and the bootable media will be created. You will see the following message. Click the Quit button to close the notification.
Run Ubuntu from USB
Once you have a bootable USB, you can take it with you anywhere and run the OS from it without installation. However, remember that you cannot store files and data on the USB live image. If you want to save files and data on the USB drive, you will first need to install Ubuntu on the USB and create persistent storage.
Note: If the system you are using already has an OS installed, you should be sure to make a backup of all your data.
Try Ubuntu
If you want to just try out Ubuntu OS without installing it, follow the steps below:
- Insert the bootable USB on your system and boot your system from it.
- After the boot is finished, the following window will appear.
- Select the Try Ubuntu option, after which the Ubuntu live session will be started.
Now, you can try using Ubuntu from the USB drive and get more familiar with its GUI layout and appearance.
Install Ubuntu
If you want to keep files and data persistent in the Ubuntu OS, you will need to install it on your USB drive. The following are the steps required to do so:
1. Insert the bootable USB on your system and boot your system from it.
2. After the boot is finished, the following window will appear. Select the Install Ubuntu option.
2. After the boot is finished, the following window will appear. Select the Install Ubuntu option.
3. Once you have selected the Install Ubuntu option, you will see the following window. Select the keyboard layout and click Continue.
4. Select the Normal Installation or Minimal Installation option, based on whether you want the fully-featured Ubuntu OS, or you just want the basic features, respectively.
Uncheck the Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats check box. Then, click the Continue button. You can choose to download the updates during installation of the OS by checking the Download updates while installing Ubuntu box.
5. Next, in the Installation type window, choose the Something else option and click the Install Now button.
6. Identify the USB drive on which you want to install Ubuntu. In my case, it is /dev/sdb with one partition, as the size of my USB drive is 32 GB. We will delete the old partition and create new ones.
Select the USB drive from the Device list at the top and click the New Partition Table button. Then, click the + button to open the Edit partition window and create three partitions, one by one:
1. A swap partition of a size slightly larger than the system’s RAM. Choose the “swap” selection in the Use as option.
2. A FAT32 partition with any size greater than 512 MB.
3. A root partition of a size not less than the 4 GB minimum. You can use all the remaining space on your USB drive for the root partition. Choose the “ext4” selection in the Use as option and set the mount point to “/.”
2. A FAT32 partition with any size greater than 512 MB.
3. A root partition of a size not less than the 4 GB minimum. You can use all the remaining space on your USB drive for the root partition. Choose the “ext4” selection in the Use as option and set the mount point to “/.”
Under the Device for boot loader installation, make sure that you have selected the USB drive. Then, click the Install Now button.
4. A window will appear asking you to confirm the changes. Click Continue to proceed with the installation process.
5. Select the region where you live and click Continue.
6. The system will ask you to create a username, system name, and password. Provide the required information and click Continue.
Ubuntu Copy Iso To Usb
Now, the installation will be started. Once the installation is completed, you will see the following message.
Ubuntu Usb Tool
Click the Restart Now button to restart the system.
Conclusion
Install Ubuntu To Usb Stick
That is all you need to know to run Ubuntu 20.04 from a USB stick. Now, you will no longer need to tie to a specific machine to run Ubuntu OS. Simply plug the USB drive into any machine, boot from it, and enjoy the entire Ubuntu OS from the USB. I hope you liked the article and find it helpful for your needs.