How to create an image of a bootable ultraiso flash drive. How to make a bootable flash drive image

Several times readers have asked how to create an image bootable flash drive, make an ISO image from it for subsequent recording on another flash drive or disk. This instruction is about creating such images, and not only in ISO format, but also in other formats, representing full copy USB storage(incl. empty space on it).

First of all, I want to draw your attention to the fact that you can create an image of a bootable flash drive and there are many tools for this, but usually this is not an ISO image. The reason for this is that ISO image files are images of CDs (but not any other drives) on which data is written in a certain way (although an ISO image can be written to a flash drive). So there is no "USB to ISO" type program or simple way creating an ISO image from any bootable USB flash drive and in most cases it is created IMG image, IMA or BIN. However, the option is how to create boot image ISO from the bootable flash drive is available, and it will be described first below.

Flash drive image using UltraISO

UltraISO is a very popular program in our latitudes for working with disk images, creating and burning them. Among other things, using UltraISO you can make an image of a flash drive, and there are two ways to do this. In the first method, we will create an ISO image from a bootable USB flash drive.

In UltraISO with a connected flash drive, drag the entire USB drive onto the window with a list of files (empty immediately after launch).

Confirm copying all files.

In the program menu, open the “Boot” item and click "Extract boot data from floppy disk / hard drive» and save the download file to your computer.

Then in the same section of the menu select "Load download file" and download the previously extracted download file.

The second way you can create a complete image USB flash drives, but already in the format ima, which is a byte-by-byte copy of the entire drive (i.e. the image is even empty flash drive 16 GB will take up all these 16 GB) is somewhat simpler.

In the “Samozgaruzka” menu, select “Create image of a tough disk" and follow the instructions (you just need to select the flash drive from which the image is taken and indicate the location where it will be saved). In the future, to burn the flash drive image created in this way, use the “Burn hard disk image” item in UltraISO.

Creating a full flash drive image using the USB Image Tool

The first, easiest way to create an image of a flash drive (not only bootable, but any other) is to use the free USB program Image Tool.

After launching the program, on the left side you will see a list of connected USB drives. Above it there is a switch: “Device Mode” and “Partition Mode”. The second point makes sense to use only when your drive has several partitions and you need to create an image of one of them.

After selecting a flash drive, just click the “Backup” button and indicate where to save the image in IMG format. Upon completion, you will receive a complete copy of your flash drive in this format. In the future, in order to write this image to a flash drive, you can use the same program: click “Restore” and indicate from which image it should be restored.

Note: this method is suitable if you need to make an image of some flash drive you have in order to someday restore the same flash drive in previous state. It may not be possible to write an image to another drive, even of exactly the same size, i.e. it's a kind of backup.

You can download the USB Image Tool from the official website http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/download/

Creating a flash drive image in PassMark ImageUSB

Another simple free program that does not require installation on your computer and allows you to easily create a complete USB image drive (in .bin format) and, if necessary, write it again to a flash drive - imageUSB by PassMark Software.

To create a flash drive image in the program, follow these steps:

Select the desired drive.
Select Create image from USB drive
Select a location to save the flash drive image
Click the Create button.

In the future, to write the previously created image to a USB flash drive, use the Write image to USB drive item. At the same time, to write images to a flash drive, the program supports not only the .bin format, but also ordinary images ISO.

You can download imageUSB from official page http://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html

How to create an ISO image of a flash drive in ImgBurn

Attention: Recently, the ImgBurn program described below may contain various additional unwanted programs. I do not recommend this option; it was described earlier when the program was clean.

In general, if necessary, you can make an ISO image of a bootable flash drive. True, depending on what exactly is on the USB, the process may not be as simple as it was in the previous paragraph. One way is to use the free ImgBurn program, which you can download on the official website http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

After launching the program, click “Create Image File from Files/Folders”, and in the next window, click the folder icon under the “plus”, select the source flash drive as the folder to use.

Image of a bootable flash drive in ImgBurn

But that's not all. The next step is to open the Advanced tab, and in it - Bootable Disk. This is where manipulations need to be made so that the future ISO image becomes bootable. Main point here - Boot Image. Using the Extract Boot Image field below you can extract boot entry from a flash drive, it will be saved as a BootImage.ima file in the location where you wish. After that, in the “main item” indicate the path to this file. In some cases, this will be enough to make a bootable image from a flash drive.

If something goes wrong, the program corrects some of the errors by independently determining the type of drive. In some cases, you will have to figure out what’s what on your own: as I already said, universal solution Unfortunately, there is no way to turn any USB into ISO, except for the method described at the beginning of the article using UltraISO programs.

All the best!

Quite often you need to record some image ISO disk to a flash drive, for example, when installing Windows, when creating an emergency flash drive, for a hard drive, etc.

Moreover, the same Windows installation from CD/DVD disc takes longer(and they fail more often than flash drives). Not to mention the fact that not every new PC/laptop has a disk drive installed. That is why using a flash drive is preferable (and more universal - it can be connected to any PC with a USB port).

In this article, I will look at a couple of programs that can easily and quickly burn any disk image in ISO format to a USB flash drive.

Note: ISO is the most popular disk image format. More than half of all possible images are distributed in it.

Burning an ISO image to a USB flash drive

Method No. 1 - PowerISO

PowerISO - very powerful program for working with ISO images. Allows you to open them, edit them, extract files from them, add files to ISO images, compress them, burn them to CD/DVD disks and flash drives, etc. Also in PowerISO you can make an image of any of your disks, test it, get checksum(to assess whether the file is broken...).

In general, how to write an image to a flash drive using PowerISO.

1) The first thing you do is open the image. To do this, click the button "Open", or open the file menu, and then specify the image file. You can also use keystrokes Ctrl+O.

2) If the image was opened and the program did not issue any warnings, go to the menu "Tools". Select a feature such as "Create bootable usb drive" (see arrows in the screenshot below).

3) In some cases, the program will ask you to give it administrator rights. We just agree: the program will restart and you will continue the recording process.

4) In the recording settings window, you need to:

in the column "USB drive" indicate your flash drive (Caution! Do not mix up the letters, because during the recording process, all data on the flash drive will be deleted;
burning method: if you are burning a bootable ISO image, select the burning method "USB - HDD"(for example, for recording images from Windows);
the file system column can be left as default;
next click "Start";
By the way, please note that at the bottom of the window there are links to instructions (several links, depending on the image being recorded).

Burn Settings // PowerISO

5) The program will warn you again that all data on the selected flash drive will be deleted!

loading your PC with extraneous tasks (I recommend turning off everything unnecessary: at least torrents, games, video editors, and other programs that put a lot of stress on your PC);
size of the recorded image;
speed of the USB drive and the flash drive itself.

7) If the recording went well and without errors: you will see a message "USB recording drive completed successfully" , as in the screenshot below.

Method number 2 - UltraISO

UltraISO is the most famous program for working with ISO image mi. It can do almost everything the same with them as the first one: open, mount, edit and change, write bootable flash drives, external hard drives, CD/DVD discs, etc.

It is as easy to use as the first one. Both, by the way, fully support the Russian language.

And so, let's start working in UltraISO

1) First, download (link above), install and run the program. There is nothing special to comment here, except for one thing - run the program as an administrator (otherwise the option to write a USB flash drive may not be available!).

Note! To run as administrator: just click on the UltraISO program icon - and in context menu select "Run as administrator" as shown in the screenshot below.

3) If the image has opened, open the menu (see screenshot below).

4) Then you need to set the recording settings:

disk drive: select the letter of your flash drive (the data on it will be deleted, so be careful and attentive!)
recording method: either USB-HDD+ or USB-HDD (this is for writing bootable media, which is what is required in most cases) . It’s quite difficult to say specifically what to choose; in most cases, USB-HDD+ works - but if suddenly your BIOS version will not see it, rewrite the flash drive in USB-HDD mode;
then click the button "Record" .

Note! IN normal mode UltraISO automatically formats the media to the FAT32 file system (even if the flash drive was previously NTFS). In order for NTFS to remain, you need to select ExpressBoot, then click on ExpressWrite. Bottom line: when you unpack the image onto a flash drive, the file system will remain unchanged.

6) If everything went well, you will see the following message in the program message: "Cache synchronization. Writing complete!" . Please note that there are no errors in the list of program messages, otherwise your boot image will simply give an error when installing Windows (for example).

An example of a successful recording is shown in the screenshot below.

After burning the flash drive, they usually proceed to install Windows...

All the best to everyone.

If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive or burn a distribution kit of some utility/program onto it, you need the appropriate software. This article will present several of the most convenient and easy-to-use programs and utilities. All that remains is to choose the most suitable one for yourself.

First solution - official program from Microsoft, called Media Creation Tool. Its functionality is small, and all it can do is update current version Windows up to the latest 10 and/or write its image to a USB flash drive.

The advantage is that it will save you from searching for a clean and working image, thanks to the fact that it will record the official distribution kit on a USB drive.

Rufus

This is a more serious program that has all the necessary functions to create a full-fledged bootable USB media. Firstly, Rufus suggests formatting before burning the distribution. Secondly, it carefully scans the flash drive for damaged sectors so that you can replace the media if necessary. Thirdly, it offers two types of formatting: quick and full. Of course, the second will delete information more efficiently.

Rufus supports all types file systems and is portable program. By the way, thanks Windows features To Go, you can burn Windows 8, 8.1, 10 to a flash drive and run this system on any PC.

WinSetupFromUSB

The next solution is Win Setup From USB. Unlike the previous program, this utility is capable of recording multiple images at once, creating multi-boot media.

Before starting use, she suggests making a backup copy of all information on the media, as well as setting up boot menu. However, the utility is not Russified, and the menu through which control takes place is quite complex.

SARDU

This program will save you from having to search for the necessary distributions on the Internet, since you can select the ones you need directly in its interface. She will download everything she needs from official websites and record it on the required media. The created image can be easily checked for functionality through the built-in QEMU emulator, which was also not the case in previous software solutions.

There were some downsides too. The fact is that most images can be downloaded via the SARDU interface for subsequent recording on media only after purchasing PRO versions, otherwise the choice is limited.

XBoot

This program is easy to use. All that is required to get started is using the mouse to drag the required distribution kits into the main program window. There you can distribute them into categories and create a description for convenience. In the main window you can see the total size of all distributions loaded into the program in order to select the media of the required size.

As in the previous solution, you can download some images from the Internet directly through the XBut interface. The choice, of course, is small, but everything is free, unlike SARDU. The only negative of the program is the lack of Russian language.

Butler

This is a utility created by a Russian developer, which is not very different from previous solutions. With it, you can record multiple images and create unique names for them so as not to get confused.

The only thing that distinguishes it from other similar programs is the ability to choose the design of the menu of your future bootable media, but you can also select a regular text mode. One bad thing is that Butler does not provide the ability to format a flash drive before recording.

UltraISO - multifunctional program for recording images not only on a flash drive, but also on CDs. Unlike some previous programs and utilities, this one can create an image from an existing disk with a Windows distribution for subsequent recording on another medium.

One more good function– creating an image from one already installed on your hard drive operating system. If you need to run a distribution, but don't have time to burn it, there is a mount function that allows you to do this. In addition to all this, you can compress and convert images to other formats. The program has only one drawback: it is paid, but there is trial version for the test.

UNetBootin

This is a simple and portable utility for burning images to a flash drive. As in some previous programs and utilities, the functionality of YunetButin is limited to recording an existing image on media and the ability to download what you need from the Internet through its interface.

The main disadvantage of this solution is the inability to simultaneously record several images on one drive.

PeToUSB

Another free, portable utility for creating bootable media. Among its capabilities, it is worth noting the formatting of a USB drive before recording, which is clearly lacking in the same UNetBooting. However, the manufacturer has long stopped supporting its brainchild.

It supports writing OS images to a flash drive with a capacity of no more than 4 GB, which will not be sufficient for all versions. In addition, the utility is not yet Russified.

WinToFlash

The selection is completed by a functional program for recording images – WinToFlash. Using it, you can burn several distributions at once and create multi-boot media, unlike Rufus. As with UltraISO, through this program you can create and burn an image of an existing disk with a Windows distribution. It is also worth noting the function of preparing the media for recording - formatting and checking for bad sectors.

Among the features there is also the function of creating a bootable USB flash drive with MS-DOS. VinTuFlash provides a separate item that allows you to create a LiveCD, which may be necessary, for example, to restore Windows. There are also paid versions this program, however, the functionality free versions quite enough for easy creation bootable flash drive or disk. Essentially, WinToFlash has collected everything useful features previous software solutions discussed above.

All the programs and utilities listed in this article allow you to create a bootable USB flash drive, and some even a CD. Some of them are modest in terms of functionality, while others offer a range of features. You just need to choose the most suitable solution and download it.

Hello friends! Today we’ll talk again about creating a bootable USB flash drive.

How to create a bootable USB device? For what purposes should I use it and what program should I use to record it?

A brief overview of the five most popular and free programs to create a bootable USB flash drive.

Modern developments do not stand still, and yesterday's technologies are slowly but surely losing their relevance. So the once popular CDs and DVDs no longer seem like such a clear solution for storing, transferring and working with information. High data reading speed, versatility and reusability are just a small part of all the advantages of a flash drive as a bootable medium over disks. Today almost everything personal computers and laptops, if they are less than ten years old, support the ability to boot from USB devices. And in some cases (for example, a netbook), a flash drive may be the only boot device from an external drive.

By the way, the new Windows 10 operating system will be the first axis, the distribution of which will be officially distributed on a USB drive. And if you suddenly need to recover files from a flash drive, read about it. I also recommend paying attention to, which will help you take your mind off everyday work and lift your spirits.

With the help of additional software, a flash drive can be used not only as a boot device for installing, reinstalling and restoring the operating system, but also to create an emergency device (Multiboot). This is a kind of resuscitator, a tool from which you can boot at any time and cure your computer of viruses, restore system files or save important data. I described how to create such a flash drive-reanimator in the article “Creating boot Live CD/DVD/USB devices and its application.” You can read this article.

Despite all the obvious advantages and the growing popularity of a flash drive as a bootable device, there are not so many programs for creating it. Nevertheless, they exist, and today I will introduce you to them in more detail, but first a few words about the preparatory stage.

Preparing a flash drive

We will need the flash drive itself, plus knowledge of some important aspects. First, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from USB devices. There is a misconception that if in bios ( boot section) there is no option to select boot from usb (only floppi, hdd and dvd-rom options are present), then boot from usb is not supported. This is wrong!

More precisely, this is not always the case. The only correct solution is to refer to the manual (user manual) of your motherboard or using specialized software (as an option - AIDA64) to obtain a detailed report on the hardware used.

The second point is the size of the flash drive. Here everything will depend on what we write on it. For example, to create Live-USB, installation disk For Linux or Windows 7, a 4 GB flash drive is enough. To create a boot device with latest versions For Windows, it is advisable to have a flash drive of at least 8 GB on hand.

The third point is transferring files from a flash drive. Typically, the process of creating a boot device involves full formatting. If there is a flash drive important files, transfer them to another device in advance. To create a bootable USB flash drive and then work with it as a boot device, use the USB-2.0 port (Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0).

How to create a bootable USB flash drive

Let's consider five in various ways using the example of five free programs for Windows.

A small but quite functional utility with the self-explanatory name WinSetupFromUSB. Equally well suited for recording a bootable and/or multiboot flash drive (up to 10 operating systems) and creating Live devices. Official website.

Among the shortcomings is the lack of support for the Russian language. Among the advantages, as I already said, is its versatility. The utility can work not only with Windows distributions, but is also suitable for burning an installation disk with Linux.

The usual option for creating a bootable flash drive, for example, with a Windows distribution, involves selecting the flash drive itself, the option to automatically format the media, and the ISO image of the operating system in the appropriate boxes. The recording process starts after pressing the “Go” button. You can read more about how this program works.

To create a multiboot flash drive (several OS), you need to specify the path to the ISO images of the operating systems. Paragraph Windows selection 10 at the time of writing this article is not available by default, but in reality everything is written and works, you just need to select the appropriate column with the available versions - Vista, 7, 8.

2. Rufus

Perhaps the simplest solution for creating bootable USB drives. Everything is simple and intuitive. Suitable for working on systems that do not have an installed OS. Official website rufus.akeo.ie.

The main advantages are speed, simple interface, Russian language. An excellent solution if you need to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive with UEFI support. By the way, I wrote in detail about how to do this in.

Distributed in the format of a regular installer and portable version. To create a bootable USB flash drive, in the utility window you need to specify the path to the ISO image to be written and click the “Start” button.

On new systems that use UEFI instead of BIOS, set the Partition Scheme and System Interface Type menu to GPT for computers with UEFI.
In other cases, the default settings will be sufficient. The option to format a flash drive is assigned by default.

3. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

This utility is official app from Microsoft. The interface is minimalistic, simple and clear, it is easy to work with. Download from the official website wudt.codeplex.com.

Perhaps the name of the utility (Windows 7 USB) will mislead many that with its help you can removable media can only be written Windows distribution 7. However, this is not so. In addition to the seventh version, Windows 8.1 and 10 distributions can be stored on a flash drive.

The downside is that the utility is not Russified, but the simple and intuitive interface is designed to offset this drawback.

All that is required from the user is to insert a USB drive in advance, select an ISO image with the operating system and specify the path to the media (flash drive) to which this image should be deployed.

The operating principle of this program is based on standard operating room tools Windows systems- this is “diskpart”, “bootsect /nt60”, ISO unboxing to a flash drive. The program acts only as a graphical interface.

UltraISO is one of the best and most functional programs for working with disk images. A universal “harvester” that supports work with almost any known formats. Can work in tandem with Nero Burning Rom and integrates with virtual emulators. It will help if the boot disk image is not in ISO format.

The program can convert other image formats into ISO files - NRG, MDF, MDS, IMG, CCD, etc. With UltraISO you can edit ISO files without unpacking them. The UltraISO interface has been translated into many languages, including Russian. For downloading, you are offered several editions of UltraISO, adapted for individual Windows versions, as well as a portable version of the program. Download link www.ezbsystems.com.

By and large, the program does not care what boot devices will be created with its help, with what operating system, what software and from what manufacturer. The ISO image to be burned must be opened in the program window either using the "Open" command in the "File" menu or using the browse button on the toolbar. This can also be done using a combination Ctrl keys+ O.

Then in the window that appears, if the program automatically selects the desired flash drive, you should click the “Burn” button.

Daemon Tools Ultra is a professional tool for working with images. The program itself is familiar to many users free version Lite, which allows you to mount virtual drives for reading disk images. Its more functional version- Daemon Tools Ultra - among other features, offers the creation boot devices.

Among the disadvantages, it is worth noting that it is paid, but to create a bootable flash drive, you can download a free 20-day trial version on the program’s official website. Official website of the program.

Go to the official website and download the program. During installation, you must select a trial license type.

The program works with a huge number of disk image formats and can be used both to create a boot device with subsequent installation of the operating system, and to restore it (Live disk).

To create a bootable flash drive, in the main window of Daemon Tools Ultra, select the “Tools” menu item, and among its commands is “Write bootable image to USB”. Or the hotkey combination Ctrl+B.

In the recording parameters window, specify the path to the image, enable the MBR overwrite option and click “Start”.

When the flash drive is ready, all that remains is to boot from it. The easiest way is to use the boot menu keys. The table below shows a clear example of such keys.

Of course, this is not the entire list of programs designed to create bootable devices, but for the vast majority of users, the capabilities and functionality of the listed software will be sufficient.

For example, Rufus program can be used as the simplest and quick tool to create Bootable USB drive with one Windows distribution or for BIOS firmware from under DOS.

To install Windows you need either boot disk with the distribution kit, or a bootable flash drive. Flash drives in lately are very popular and convenient, so it makes more sense to download from them.

There are many ways and applications to create bootable flash drives. The easiest way to do this is with the Ultraiso program.

It is very functional and at the same time easy to use software tool . For it to function, you must first complete the installation by downloading the program distribution kit, and also prepare an operating system image.

Why make an installation flash drive?

Often, during the operation of the operating system, unforeseen situations occur, as a result of which the operating system either does not load at all or operates with critical failures. It is impossible to completely protect yourself from such situations, so you need to know how to behave.

IN best case scenario operating system problems can be fixed through the built-in Windows recovery function, which naturally needs to be launched if this option is present.

In a situation where this is not possible, you should try to boot through the installation disk or installation flash drive.

An extreme situation that occurs when there is no backup copy operating system and user data, implies its reinstallation. Based on this, you always need to have an OS image. It can be used for new installation, restoring the old OS or reinstalling it.

In most situations, the Windows distribution is saved on a DVD. But the likelihood of data loss on a DVD disc is significant due to the fact that it is subject to physical impacts. After all, just one small scratch can render the disk inoperative.

A flash drive does not have this drawback, so it is more advisable to save the operating system on it. In this case, the process of installing Windows from a USB drive is similar to the installation process from a DVD. Additional benefit flash drives in front DVD is its more compact size.

We will need

To create a bootable USB drive, in addition to the data carrier itself, you will need an operating system image and a specialized program with similar functionality. There are many such programs, but we will look at the UltraISO utility, which must first be downloaded and installed on your hard drive.

It is designed specifically for working with ISO images and recording them on storage media; it allows you to make bootable disks and flash drives. The undoubted advantage of the utility in question is its friendly Russian-language interface.

In addition to generating and recording image files, it also allows you to make changes to disk images. Its important feature, which is of great value, is the ability to create bootable media - disks and flash drives. In addition to this, the utility is capable of converting image files to ISO format, if existing image OS disk will be saved in a different format.

A certain disadvantage of this utility can be considered that it is paid, but there is a trial period for free use. You can use a version of the UltraISO program free of charge with certain restrictions.

It is important to know that all information from the flash drive must be saved to another safe place, since all data will be destroyed when creating the installation flash drive.

Video: bootable USB flash drive using Ultraiso

If there is no OS image

Situations often occur when the operating system image is missing. The solution to this problem is very trivial. It can be created either using the installation tool Windows disk, or through specialized programs, of which there are a great many, some of them are completely free.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

Create a bootable USB flash drive using UltraISO

Let's look at the sequence of steps to create a bootable Windows flash drives 8 from ISO image. Bootable flash drives with previous operating systems are created similarly without any visible differences.

Algorithm:

At the end of these steps, it is recommended to make sure that the Windows OS image is correctly formed on the USB drive. When you open it, your saved file will be displayed. Windows image 8. The sequence of actions when creating a Windows 7 OS image is similar and does not contain significant differences.

It is important to know that to install Windows in the BIOS you need to set the boot order various devices. You need to start attempting to boot from a flash drive.

The need for a bootable USB flash drive arises periodically. The reason for this need may be failures in the operating system itself and interruptions in the operation of the hardware. No one can protect themselves one hundred percent from such problems, but having a pre-created bootable flash drive will help solve the problems that arise without time loss and significant labor costs.

There are several basic ways to make a bootable disk or flash drive.

The main ones:

with the help specialized programs, such as UltraISO;
full-time using Windows via the command line console.

Even the most untrained user can easily create a bootable USB flash drive with Ultraiso, since the program is very clear and convenient.