ValdikSS/windows2usb sits at 770 stars on GitHub, written primarily in Shell. Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 ISO to Flash Drive burning utility for Linux (MBR/GPT, BIOS/UEFI, FAT32/NTFS)
Snapshot summary built from the project's own GitHub metadata — there's no written TopGit review yet. The page will update automatically when a full review is published.
WHY NO REVIEW YET
TopGit writes full reviews for the most-starred, most-requested repositories. This page is a snapshot until then — see the READ ME tab for the original README in full.
Windows2usb is a bash script which writes Microsoft Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 installation DVD images to USB Flash Drive or external HDD on Linux. It was designed with compatibility in mind, and should work in all cases, contrary to other popular Linux tools.
Features:
Fully automatic, no preparations required
Supports BIOS and UEFI, FAT32 and NTFS
Supports custom Windows ISOs with install.wim > 4GiB
Uses stock Windows bootloaders where possible
Does not break UEFI Secure Boot chain
Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 ISO to Flash Drive burning utility
WARNING: this program will delete all existing data on your drive!
windows2usb <device> <windows iso> [mbr/gpt/gptntfs/gpt+uefintfs]
mbr mode: the most universal, RECOMMENDED and DEFAULT method.
This mode creates MBR partition table with FAT32 partition,
installs BIOS and UEFI bootloaders, supports Secure Boot.
install.wim file larger than 4 GiB will be split.
Suitable for all computers (UEFI/CSM/BIOS).
gpt mode: less universal mode, for modern (UEFI) computers.
GPT+FAT32, UEFI only, supports Secure Boot.
gptntfs mode: all the same as 'gpt' but NTFS is used.
GPT+NTFS, UEFI only, supports Secure Boot.
Large install.wim file will not be split.
NOTE: not all UEFI are compatible with this mode,
NTFS driver should be present on the motherboard.
gpt+uefintfs mode: alternative hacky installation method, not recommended.
This mode uses NTFS partition and third-party 'uefintfs' bootloader.
GPT+NTFS(data)+FAT32(efi), UEFI only, supports Secure Boot
(since uefintfs Oct 23, 2021 release).
Large install.wim file will not be split.
How to use?
Download latest portable AppImage version from the Releases page, set execution bit (chmod +x windows2usb-*.AppImage) and run it from the terminal.
The program prints removable storage list if no arguments are supplied.
If you don't want to use AppImage, you'll need to install all dependencies and download uefi-ntfs.img from Rufus project.
Feature Matrix
Modes
Legacy/UEFI-CSM Boot
UEFI Boot
Large ISO (>4GB)
Secure Boot
File System
Part Table
mbr(hybrid)
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
FAT32
MBR
gpt
No
Supported
Supported
Supported
FAT32
GPT
gptntfs
No
Partial
Supported
Supported
NTFS
GPT
gpt+uefintfs
No
Supported
Supported
Supported
NTFS
GPT
BIOS Boot
BIOS Boot (Legacy Boot/UEFI-CSM) uses stock Windows 7 MBR and FAT32 bootloader, courtesy of ms-sys project.
BIOS boot is supported only in recommended 'mbr' mode.
To burn ISO compatible with BIOS boot (and UEFI boot as well), run:
windows2usb <device> <windows iso> mbr
UEFI Boot
UEFI Boot is supported in all modes. Recommended mode: 'mbr'.
To burn ISO in this mode, run:
windows2usb <device> <windows iso> mbr
'MBR', 'GPT' and 'GPTNTFS' modes utilize Windows UEFI bootloader from the ISO file, with Secure Boot support.
UEFI Boot with NTFS Partition and uefi-ntfs bootloader
A special 'gpt+uefintfs' mode uses uefi-ntfs bootloader from Rufus project. Windows2usb creates 2 partitions in this mode, small 1 MiB FAT32 partition with uefi-ntfs and huge NTFS partition with ISO data.
This mode was included earlier to work with installation disks where install.wim file is greater than 4 GiB, but since then split WIM file functionality was introduced, and now this mode may be considered obsolete.
uefi-ntfs bootloader is signed by Microsoft since Oct 23, 2021 release and supports Secure Boot.
Alternatives
WoeUSB—uses GRUB for BIOS Boot.
bootiso—supports Windows and Linux ISOs.
Ventoy—Booting multi-tool with brilliant support of Windows ISO direct loading.
Credits
This script uses:
lsblk and sfdisk from util-linux
ms-sys for native Windows 7 MBR and NTFS bootloaders
p7zip for ISO extraction
autofsync to prevent filesystem bufferbloat and properly show copying progress (AppImage only)
wimlib to split large install.wim files to fit FAT32 partition
How active is development on ValdikSS/windows2usb?
The most recent commit recorded on ValdikSS/windows2usb was 3.7 years ago, based on the GitHub push timestamp. The repository has 56 forks — one of the better signals of community interest.
How many stars does ValdikSS/windows2usb have?
ValdikSS/windows2usb has 770 GitHub stars — refresh the page for the live number, or check github.com/ValdikSS/windows2usb. TopGit mirrors GitHub's count but does not claim minute-by-minute accuracy.
What language is ValdikSS/windows2usb written in?
ValdikSS/windows2usb is written primarily in Shell. GitHub's language field is based on the largest share of bytes in the default branch.
What topics is ValdikSS/windows2usb associated with?
GitHub's repository topics for ValdikSS/windows2usb: "iso-image", "linux", "windows". TopGit's editorial category is open-source.
Where do I read more about ValdikSS/windows2usb?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/ValdikSS/windows2usb is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
Is windows2usb worth your time?
ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity can all read this page. Ask one of them what it makes of windows2usb.
/windows2usb