Setting up several operating systems on a USB stick
Setting up several operating systems on a USB stick
You can configure your boot order in Windows to prioritize the Linux distributions you want to install. Use the Disk Management tool to partition the USB drive, then set the boot sequence so each distro starts from a specific partition. This way, the system will automatically choose the correct one when you connect it.
A bootloader is needed on the disk. Most Linux distributions already provide GRUB for this purpose. Avoid using Windows Disk Management; instead, use the disk management utilities included with the installation packages. However, flash drives aren't ideal for this task. They tend to be slow and have limited write cycles.
You've likely upgraded to a quicker storage device. Most people are switching to a faster stick or SSD. You're probably running a slightly more efficient setup with a small boot partition and a compressed Btrfs file, organizing things into subfolders with pre-installed software.