Burn or write bootable ISO and IMG images to SD, microSD and USB drives in order to run or install additional operating systems like Linux, Windows or MacOS.
Etcher Portable is a nifty and sleek open-source utility that does one thing well: quickly and securely burn images to USB drives and SD cards, including bootable Windows images. Its user-friendly interface reduces the process to a mere three steps.
This portable tool doesn't require any installation and can be carried in an external device, ready to burn images with ease on any computer. And the best part? It doesn't leave any unwanted footprints on your disk or tamper with your registry.
The interface of Etcher Portable is contemporary and eye-catching, with only three buttons needed to complete the task. Simply select an image file (it supports formats such as IMG, ISO, ZIP, and others), choose a preferred drive to burn the image to, and hit the "Flash!" button.
Multiple settings can be adjusted to your liking, such as disabling the default setting where it ejects the external drive on successful tasks or validating write on success. It also comes with an "unsafe mode," but the details are a bit unclear, and it may overwrite your system drives if you don't know what you're doing.
While Etcher Portable has great potential to become a reliable USB image burner, it had some functionality issues during our testing, particularly when burning a common IMG file as well as bootable and non-bootable Windows ISOs. In some cases, the tool made the USB flash drive unreadable, forcing us to format it every time. Its stability issues need improvement.
Features of Etcher Portable
- Beautiful Interface: Who said flashing SD cards has to be an eyesore.
- Command line interface available.
- Hard Drive Friendly: Makes drive selection obvious to avoid wiping your entire hard-drive.
- Validated Flashing: No more writing images on corrupted cards and wondering why your device isn't booting.
Compatibility and License
As Etcher Portable is released under the Apache License v2.0 for Windows from CD burner software, you are not required to pay a penny for this software. In fact, you're free to make copies, distribute it and for those that are technically inclined, view and edit the source code. Feel free to share it with friends.
Is Etcher Portable for Windows 10?
Yes. It can run on a PC with Windows 11 or Windows 10. Previous versions of the OS shouldn't be a problem with Windows 8 and Windows 7 having been tested. It comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit downloads.
Other operating systems: The latest Etcher Portable version from 2024 is also available for Mac.
Filed under:
- Etcher Portable Download
- Free CD Burner Software
- Open source and GPL software
- Portable Software
- Image Burning Software
- Software for Windows 10
