How to Create Bootable Linux USB Flash/Pen Drive from Windows

Most of the popular Linux distributions these days offer live cd so that you can feel how their distribution feels before you can install it on your computer. If you're booting Linux using live CD the system takes ages to boot and applications installed feel sluggish as the optical drive offers lower data transfer rates. But if the same live cd is copied to a USB drive and made bootable then the system feels real fast as if you are booting from a hard disk drive.

There are several ways in which you can create bootable Linux drive, some of them requires lot of steps to be followed. In this post we see how we can create a bootable Linux USB drive from within Windows.

Prerequisite:

1. Windows XP or Windows Vista based host operating computer

2. USB Flash/Pen drive.

3. Get Universal USB Installer from http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

4. A computer that is capable for booting from USB devices.

How to Create Bootable Linux USB Flash/Pen Drive

1. Download the version of Linux that you wish to install in USB drive. In this post we have taken Ubuntu 9.10 ISO file that we downloaded from Internet.

2. Open the Universal USB Installer, click run when prompted.

3. If the security dialog appears, confirm by clicking 'Run'

4. Read the licence agreement and choose 'I Agree' to continue

5. Select Ubuntu Desktop Edition from the dropdown list

6. Click 'Browse' and open the downloaded ISO file

7. Choose the USB drive and click 'Create'

8. Wait till it's finish.

note : make sure your safely remove your thumb drive after it's done.
note : you also can try using UNetbootin software to replace Universal USB Installer.

Now you're ready to bring along your favourite linux OS into your thumb drive wherever you go! :)