Ventoy boot files

To make a drive bootable, BootForge needs Ventoy’s official boot files. This is a one-time download per device — once verified and cached, BootForge reuses them for every drive you prepare.

Getting the files

The first time you prepare, update, or reinstall a drive, BootForge fetches the files for you (“Getting Ventoy ready…”). You can also manage them directly:

• Download from GitHub — BootForge downloads the official Ventoy release archive from Ventoy’s GitHub releases.
• Import release archive (.tar.gz) — if you already have the official ventoy-*-linux.tar.gz, you can point BootForge at it instead of downloading.

Keep an internet connection until the download finishes. When it’s done you’ll see Boot files ready with the Ventoy version, verified and cached on the device.

Why it’s verified

BootForge doesn’t trust the bytes blindly. Every file is checksum-pinned: the downloaded or imported archive must match the exact official Ventoy release BootForge expects, and each boot image inside is checked too. If anything doesn’t match, it’s rejected — an unverified file is never written to a drive.

This is why an interrupted or wrong-file import shows an error like “The Ventoy files didn’t verify” rather than silently continuing.

Which version you get

By default BootForge uses the recommended, pinned Ventoy version. BootForge can offer newer versions over time without an app update, and Pro users can pick a specific version during prepare/reinstall — see Advanced setup options.

Trust and licensing

Ventoy is free software licensed under the GPLv3. BootForge downloads Ventoy’s official release files and writes them to your drive unchanged — it does not modify, bundle, or redistribute them, and it is not affiliated with the Ventoy project. See Privacy, licenses & trademarks.