How to Create a Multi-Boot USB Rescue Disk with Ventoy

Ventoy turns one USB drive into a multi-ISO boot menu — install or copy as many ISO files as you want to the drive, plug it into any PC, and pick which one to boot. That makes it the single most useful tool you can keep in your toolkit: one 32 GB USB stick can hold Windows 10, Windows 11, a recovery environment like Hiren’s BootCD PE, a Linux live disk, and a partition tool all at once. This guide walks through creating the drive, loading it with the ISOs I actually use for repairs, and dealing with Secure Boot when a machine refuses to boot it.

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11 (any edition) — Ventoy installer runs on Windows; the resulting USB boots any UEFI or legacy BIOS PC
Last updated: April 2026

Key Takeaways

• One USB, many ISOs. Ventoy installs a small bootloader to your drive, then you just copy ISO files onto it — no reformatting between ISOs.
• Works on UEFI and legacy BIOS, so the same stick boots old and new hardware. Secure Boot works too, with a one-time key enrollment.
• Essential ISOs to keep on it: Windows 10, Windows 11, and Hiren’s BootCD PE. Add Linux live distros or partition tools if you want them.
• Updates are drag-and-drop. Replace an ISO file on the drive and the next boot menu reflects it — no rebuild needed.

Quick Steps

1. Download Ventoy from the official GitHub releases page and extract the Windows zip.
2. Run Ventoy2Disk.exe, select your USB drive, click Install (this wipes the drive).
3. Download the ISOs you want — Windows 10, Windows 11, Hiren’s BootCD PE.
4. Copy the ISO files to the Ventoy partition (it’s a normal exFAT drive once installed).
5. Boot the target PC from USB. Ventoy shows a menu listing every ISO on the drive.

What You’ll Need

• A USB drive, minimum 16 GB. I use 32 GB or larger so there’s room for multiple ISOs — Windows 11 alone is about 6 GB.
• A Windows PC to run the Ventoy installer.
• Administrator privileges on that PC — Ventoy writes directly to the disk.
• Internet access to download Ventoy and your ISO files.

Warning: Installing Ventoy wipes everything on the target USB. Double-check the device selection in Ventoy2Disk before clicking Install — it’s easy to pick the wrong drive if multiple USBs are connected.

Step 1: Download and Install Ventoy

1. Go to the Ventoy releases page on GitHub and download the latest ventoy-x.y.z-windows.zip.
2. Extract the zip to any folder.
3. Run Ventoy2Disk.exe from the extracted folder. No installation needed — this is a portable tool.

Step 2: Install Ventoy onto Your USB Drive

1. Plug in the USB drive you want to turn into a rescue disk.
2. In Ventoy2Disk, pick the correct drive from the Device dropdown.
3. Click Install. You’ll get two confirmation prompts warning that everything on the drive will be erased — confirm both.
4. When Ventoy finishes, the drive will show up in Explorer as an empty exFAT volume labeled Ventoy.

If your USB is larger than 32 GB and you want to use the full capacity with exFAT, Ventoy handles it automatically. For NTFS, change the Option → Partition Style before installing — some UEFI firmware prefers GPT, which matters only on very specific old machines.

Step 3: Download the ISO Files You Want

These are the three ISOs I keep on every rescue drive. Any ISO you add beyond this is bonus — Ventoy supports hundreds of distros out of the box.

Hiren’s BootCD PE (the rescue environment)

Hiren’s BootCD PE is a Windows-based live environment packed with repair utilities — partition managers, data recovery, antivirus scanners, password reset tools, browser, Explorer, the works. Download the latest ISO from the official Hiren’s BootCD PE site. The file is about 2 GB.

Windows 10 ISO

Grab the latest Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. Full walkthrough in my how to download the Windows 10 ISO guide — there’s both a Media Creation Tool method and a direct-download trick.

Windows 11 ISO

For Windows 11, use the Windows 11 ISO download guide. If you want an older build for a specific reason (driver compatibility, testing), I also maintain a download old Windows 10/11 ISO files guide.

Tip: Keep both Windows 10 and Windows 11 ISOs on the drive. You never know which version a machine you’re repairing expects, and some older hardware refuses Windows 11 without a hardware bypass.

Step 4: Copy the ISOs to Your Ventoy Drive

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the Ventoy drive.
2. Drag your ISO files straight onto the drive. No folders needed — Ventoy finds them anywhere on the partition.
3. Wait for the copy to finish. A 6 GB Windows 11 ISO on USB 3 takes around three minutes.

Step 5: Boot from Your Ventoy USB

1. Plug the USB into the target PC and power it on.
2. Press the boot menu key during POST. This is usually F12 (most Dells, Lenovos, HP desktops), F9 (HP laptops), F8 (ASUS), or Esc — check the boot splash or motherboard manual.
3. Pick the USB drive from the boot menu. Ventoy loads its menu showing every ISO on the drive.
4. Use the arrow keys to highlight an ISO, press Enter, and Ventoy boots it as if it were the only thing on the drive.

Fixing Secure Boot Errors

On modern UEFI machines with Secure Boot enabled, the first boot of a Ventoy drive usually throws a “Verification failed” message. This is expected — Ventoy isn’t signed with Microsoft’s Secure Boot certificates, so the firmware asks you to trust it manually. The process takes about 30 seconds and only needs to happen once per machine.

1. At the error screen, press Enter (or any key the prompt asks for) to continue to MOK Manager.
2. Select Enroll key from disk.
3. Browse to the Ventoy EFI partition and pick ENROLL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer.
4. Confirm with Continue → Yes, then reboot.

If you’d rather not enroll the key, you can disable Secure Boot in BIOS temporarily, use the drive, and re-enable it afterwards. For PCs you’re repairing regularly, enrolling once is less annoying.

Keeping the Drive Up to Date

Windows ISOs rotate every six months or so, and Hiren’s BootCD PE gets occasional updates. You don’t need to reinstall Ventoy itself — just:

• Delete the old ISO from the drive and copy the new one over. Done.
• To update Ventoy itself (bugfixes, new distro support), run a newer Ventoy2Disk.exe and click Update with your existing drive selected. This keeps your ISO files intact — only the bootloader is replaced.

Related Guides

• How to create a bootable USB with Rufus — for single-ISO drives or when Ventoy isn’t supported
• Download the Windows 11 ISO
• Download the Windows 10 ISO
• Reinstall Windows without losing data
• Install Windows 10 from USB

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Ventoy different from Rufus?

Rufus writes one ISO to a USB drive, replacing whatever is on it. To switch to a different ISO, you reformat and rewrite. Ventoy installs a bootloader once, then you just copy ISO files to the drive — the drive stays usable as normal storage, and you can have multiple ISOs available at the same time. For a one-off Windows install USB, Rufus is faster and simpler; for a rescue disk you’ll keep in your toolkit, Ventoy wins.

Can I keep using the USB drive for normal file storage?

Yes. After Ventoy installs, the drive appears as a normal exFAT or NTFS volume in Windows. You can drop regular files on it alongside your ISOs and they’ll be accessible from Windows normally. The ISOs become the boot menu entries automatically.

Does Ventoy work with Secure Boot?

Yes, but it needs a one-time key enrollment on each machine where Secure Boot is enabled. The first boot shows a MOK Manager prompt where you select Enroll key from disk and pick the Ventoy certificate. After that, the drive boots normally on that system. Disabling Secure Boot temporarily is an alternative if you can’t or don’t want to enroll.

What can I actually fix with this rescue disk?

With Windows 10/11 installer ISOs and Hiren’s BootCD PE on the same drive, you can:

• Reinstall or repair Windows — boot into the installer and use Repair or the Command Prompt for startup repair
• Recover files from a PC that won’t boot — Hiren’s PE has a full file manager with network access
• Reset a forgotten local account password (NT Password Edit is on Hiren’s)
• Clone, image, or resize partitions (AOMEI, Macrium, MiniTool variants are bundled)
• Run offline antivirus or malware scans
• Diagnose hardware — memory tests, disk tests, CPU stress tools

How often should I refresh the ISO files?

Update Windows ISOs whenever Microsoft releases a new feature update (currently roughly annual — 24H2, 25H2, etc.). Hiren’s BootCD PE releases are infrequent; just grab the latest when you notice. Ventoy itself usually releases every few months — updating it is optional unless there’s a new Linux distro you want to boot that needs newer Ventoy support.

Does Ventoy work with all ISO files?

It supports the vast majority — Windows installers, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Kali, Arch, Clonezilla, GParted Live, and so on. The Ventoy site keeps a compatibility list. If a specific ISO doesn’t boot, there’s usually a plugin (ventoy/ventoy.json) that fixes it, and in the rare case nothing works, Rufus is a fallback for that one ISO.