How can I boot multiple operating systems from one USB stick?
QIs there any free software you can recommend that can multiboot different operating systems (OS) from a single USB stick? Rufus works well, but only offers a single operating system on a single USB stick, requiring a number of USB sticks to run more than one OS. Rob Gunn
AYour best option is a free tool called YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (www.snipca.com/41778), which makes it easy to create a bootable USB flash stick containing several different ISO files, including Linux and Windows installers. YUMI offers two different versions, but the most versatile – which supports both BIOS and UEFI booting – is YUMI UEFI, which you can download directly from www.snipca.com/41779. This version requires your USB stick to be formatted as FAT32, and will offer to format your drive using that file system if it’s currently NTFS.
When you run YUMI UEFI (it doesn’t require installation), select your USB stick in the ‘Step 1’ dropdown menu ( 1 in our screenshot) and the first operating system you want to boot in the Step 2 menu 2 . If that OS isn’t listed (Windows 11 isn’t, though Windows 10 is) choose ‘Try unlisted ISO’. Browse to the ISO file for that operating system – YUMI helpfully provides download options for many systems, or you can get the ISO from the developer’s website (for example, Windows 11 from www.snipca. com/41780), then click Create 3.
Click ‘Yes’ to confirm and YUMI UEFI will add the operating system’s ISO file to your USB stick, so you can boot it from there. Repeat this process for all the operating systems you want to use.
Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk