My Ventoy Notes

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Saturday, 11 October 2025 13:58

Written by shoulders

My Ventoy notes.

Misc

Upgrade Ventoy on USB: Easy step-by-step guide - YouTube | Bootable USBs
- Learn how to safely update Ventoy to the latest version on your USB drive. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to maintain configurations, update iso files, and ensure compatibility with Windows 11.
- Discover the seamless way to keep your Ventoy USB drive up-to-date without losing any of your stored ISO files or configurations! This easy-to-follow tutorial walks you through the process of updating Ventoy to the latest version, ensuring a smooth transition while keeping all your data intact.
- Whether you're a first-timer or an experienced user, this guide is designed to help you upgrade your bootable USB with ease and confidence. Stay ahead with the newest features and improvements of Ventoy - watch now and update like a pro!
Ventoy Disk Layout / Technicals
- Ventoy Disk Layout In MBR | Ventoy
  - This shows how a Venoty USB drive is layed out.
  - Why MBR?: MBR is the only selection in order to support Legacy BIOS system.
- Legacy BIOS Access Range Limitation | Ventoy
  - When booting from legacy, there is a limit of 137GB. So if that's the case with the BIOS in your machine and you install Ventoy into a USB drive with large capacity(e.g. 256GB), you will run into problem when booting.
  - There is an access limitation in some Legacy BIOS of some vendors. For example, some Legacy BIOS can't read the disk beyond 137GB. If you search "Legacy BIOS 137GB" in the internet, you will get many informations about that.
Plugins
- Windows VHD Boot Plugin | Ventoy
  - Ventoy use this plugin to boot VHD(x) files with Windows 7+ in it.
  - Both Legacy BIOS and UEFI are supported. Both fixed and dynamic VHD(x) are supported.
  - For Windows 10 v1809+, in addition to NTFS, VHD(X) files can also be stored in the exFAT partition.
    - [Shared] Windows 10 v1903 (19H1) supports exFAT+VHD(X) mode | wuyou.net
    - How to boot Windows 10 VHD with ventoy at exFat partition (Windows VHD Boot Plugin) - YouTube
      - In this video, I Am about to show you how to boot Windows 10 VHD from ventoy, relying on the exFAT file system.
      - Since the FAT/exFAT file system, commonly used in flash storage media such as large-capacity U Disks and USB Drives. and Windows 10 1903, has been able to mount native support for VDH / VHDX virtual disk files from FAT/exFAT partitions. We can use this feature and format the windows partition to the exFAT file system to be able to boot the VHD using ventoy.
      - Note:
        
        Use Win10 v1903 or higher (20H2 in this project used).
        
        It will be slower than the exFAT startup speed in the traditional model, even NTFS.
        
        VHD boot only supports dual NTFS or exFAT, doesn't support NTFS in exFAT, or versa.
        
        the virtual disk can be fixed or dynamic size but recommended to use fixed if there is no space problem

Settings

Set Tree View as default
- You can configure Ventoy to always show folders by adding/modifying the ventoy.json file with the following code:
```
{
    "menu_style": "tree"
}
```
- Place this file in the ventoy folder on your USB drive.
- F3 will toggle the view irrespective of this file

Upgrading the VHV/VHDX plugin

Current Issues

either Windows 11 or my Lenovo laptop (and its drivers) are used and not compatible with my other machines, or DiskGenius does not like building a WinPE based on Windows 11.
Win10 WinPE Rufus images will not load, winload.exe error.
the VHD plugin needs updating to use the latest DLL etc..
Ventoy VHDX plugin might not like my Windows11 WinPE as it moans about Partition1 being on exFAT and not NTFS.

Instructions

Get the current Windows 10 plugin and upgrade the various files with those from my Windows 11 Pro PC. Ypu could use those from a Windows 11 Pro DVD if you do not have a live up to data system

Links

ventoy_wimboot.img Plugin | Ventoy Forum
- change wimboot.img to wimboot.iso, use UltraISO to overwrite your boot.sdi and save the wimboot.iso file, then change wimboot.iso to wimboot.img
- You can replace bootmgr in ventoy_wimboot.img with bootmgr in standard windows11.iso and it's ok.
- You can download ventoy.wimboot.img updated by me as I shared here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1izQc322ZsE5InRSJaZ5CXatUlDUizcWH/view?usp=sharing
- you have to get bootmgr in standard windows11.iso from Microsoft
- Your finding is correct, the name bootmgr must be capitalized as BOOTMGR
- The plugin IMG are ISO images.
GitHub - ventoy/vhdiso - VHD boot template.
[SOLVED] What is the purpose of efiboot.img on the live DVD? / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums
- I have noticed that there is a filesystem image EFI/archiso/efiboot.img on the Arch ISO, which contains an EFI booting mechanism, and a kernel (which is the exact same kernel as in arch/boot/x86_64/).
- My question is why this image and the extra kernel are needed, as the root of the ISO already contains an EFI booting mechanism?
bootvhd.dll file | dllsearch.net - According to our database, the bootvhd.dll file is part of the Microsoft Windows Operating System product, so the bootvhd.dll file may get onto your computer through the installation of Microsoft Windows Operating System.
GitHub - lyshie/vhd-boot-dispatch - Windows Native VHD Boot and Dispatch.