When one USB drive needs to carry several operating system installers and recovery tools, Easy2Boot lets you select among them at startup. Add ISO files to the drive’s folders, then choose a payload from the boot menu instead of rebuilding the drive for every new image.
Building the Easy2Boot drive
Easy2Boot sets up a USB flash drive or external USB drive as a collection of bootable payloads. Once the drive is prepared, copy ISO files into the appropriate folders. At startup, Easy2Boot builds a menu from the files it finds, so adding or removing payloads does not require recreating the menu by hand.
The same drive can hold Windows setup images, Linux distributions, and diagnostic or recovery media. NTFS storage also allows individual files larger than 4 GB, which is handy for sizable installation images.
How does Easy2Boot handle UEFI booting?
For UEFI systems, Easy2Boot can use the agFM GRUB2 menu to select supported ISO, VHD, IMG, and EFI files. This route requires the agFM UEFI boot files to be added to the drive during setup.
For images that need a different UEFI boot path, the MPI Tool Kit can convert a payload into an .imgPTN partition-image file. Select that file from the boot menu to switch the drive’s first partition to the image contents; the resulting setup can support Secure UEFI boot for compatible payloads.
Maintaining the payload collection
To refresh an installer or tool, copy its replacement image into the drive’s folders and remove the old file if it is no longer needed. Keeping multiple copies is also an option when different image editions need to remain available.
Easy2Boot includes an update utility for refreshing the Easy2Boot drive itself. The payload collection is managed separately through its files and folders, so changing an ISO does not require rebuilding the whole USB.
Pros
- Stores multiple bootable ISO files on one USB drive
- Supports Legacy and UEFI boot workflows
- Can boot ISO, VHD, IMG, and EFI files through agFM
- Uses NTFS, which supports files larger than 4 GB
System requirements: Windows 10, Windows 11
Can one Easy2Boot USB drive hold several bootable ISO files?
Yes. Store multiple ISO payloads in the drive’s folders and select one from the boot menu.
What is an .imgPTN file used for?
It is a partition-image file made with the MPI Tool Kit that can switch the drive’s first partition to a payload for UEFI booting.