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.

Cluster size

Automatic (recommended) by default, and that’s the right answer almost always. The cluster is the allocation unit the data partition uses. Larger clusters suit a few big files, which is what a Ventoy drive holds, with less bookkeeping overhead; smaller clusters waste less space when you have many small files. Change it only if you know you need a specific size.

Volume label (Pro)

The name the drive shows in file managers. Free drives get the default BOOTFORGE; with Pro you can type your own, up to 11 characters. Leave it blank for the default.

This is the label on the drive itself, which is a different thing from the custom drive name BootForge remembers for a drive inside the app.

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.

Reset to defaults

Reset to defaults at the bottom of the panel puts every option back where it started, so you can undo a session of poking around without remembering what you touched.

The confirm summary

Back on the confirm dialog, any non-default choices are summarised in one line (for example, “Reserve 5 GB”, “64 KB clusters” or “Label RESCUE”) so you can see at a glance what you changed before you tap Erase and install.