Advanced setup options

When you prepare or reinstall a drive, the confirm dialog has an Advanced settings button. It opens a full-screen panel with the technical choices. The defaults are safe for almost everyone — change these only if you know you need to.

Data partition filesystem

The large partition where your ISO files go is formatted as exFAT. exFAT handles files larger than 4 GB (important for modern ISOs) and is widely compatible. This is currently the standard for v1.

Partition style — MBR or GPT

How the drive’s partition table is written:

• MBR (default) — the most broadly compatible choice; boots on essentially any PC.
• GPT — a modern scheme. BootForge writes a hardware-proven GPT layout. Choose it if you specifically need GPT; otherwise MBR is the safe default.

Both produce a drive that boots real PCs.

Align partitions to 4 KB

On by default. This starts partitions on 4 KB boundaries to match how modern flash drives store data, for the best speed and lifespan. Leave it on unless you need an exact legacy layout.

Reserve space at end of disk

Off by default. Turn it on to leave unallocated space at the end of the drive — for example, if you plan to add another partition later yourself. When on, you enter a size and pick the unit (MB or GB). BootForge validates it so you can’t reserve more than the drive can spare while still fitting Ventoy and your images.

Ventoy version (Pro)

By default BootForge uses the recommended version (the latest it has verified). Pro users can pick a specific Ventoy version from the list. All listed versions are published, checksum-pinned by BootForge, and downloaded from Ventoy’s official releases.

Choosing a version older than the recommended one shows a caution — older versions may be less reliable or missing fixes. You’ll be asked to confirm.

The confirm summary

Back on the confirm dialog, any non-default choices are summarised in one line (for example, “Reserve 5 GB”) so you can see at a glance what you changed before you tap Erase and install.