Your USB drive is your best ally when it comes to installing and evaluating Linux distros, but it also helps you run emergency environments to repair Windows-based computers. If a 128-gigabyte USB drive costs less than ten euros and is easy to get, why not make the most of its capacity? The Universal USB Installer does exactly that, installing multiple Linux distro images and other special builds under a single menu.
Dumping an ISO image to a USB drive is as easy as using Rufus or Balena Etcher and following their steps, but it doesn't make sense to use its space that way. At an average of 3 gigabytes per image, any 128-gigabyte USB drive can hold more than 40 different distros. The Universal USB Installer simply streamlines the process by creating the necessary partitions and copying each ISO automatically.
Use Multiple Distros on a USB Drive with Universal USB Installer
The application doesn't have a formal installer and runs portably. The first step is to select the correct drive from the list (be careful here), and mark the Prepare this Device option. This gives it the necessary format, but the process is destructive, so we recommend backing up any important information on the USB drive.
In the second step, choose the distro or environment to copy, but that's not all. Universal USB Installer can work with local ISO images, or you can let it handle the automatic download. Regardless of your choice, the Create button starts the copy. This must be repeated for each distro, since there's no "batch install" option. The good news is that you can add more images later without difficulty.
To finish, connect the USB drive to the computer, boot from it, select the ISO image, and choose normal boot. That should be enough to reach the official distro menu, open its live environment, or proceed with the installation. The final result may present a fairly long chain of menus, but the important thing is that it works well, and Universal USB Installer does its job.
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