Keep the real ISO file names on disk and show short, readable names in the boot menu instead. The menu_alias plugin does this with two lines per file - here are the format and the matching rules.
A working Ventoy stick collects files with names like Win11_26H2_English_x64_v2.iso and ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso - accurate, and painful to read on a boot menu in front of a customer. The menu alias plugin fixes exactly this: you keep the real file names on disk, and the menu shows short clean names instead, like Windows 11 Setup or Ubuntu 24.04. Here is the exact format and the rules that decide whether an alias applies.
The menu_alias section of ventoy.json is a list of pairs. image is the file's path starting from the data partition root - a file sitting loose on the drive is /Win11_26H2.iso; a file inside a folder is /Tools/StrelecPE.iso. alias is the display text. You can write these pairs by hand in a plain text editor, or use VentoyPlugson's Menu Alias Plugin panel, which builds the same JSON for you. The alias changes nothing on disk - rename, delete or checksum the file exactly as before.
image line too, or the alias quietly stops applying and the raw file name returns/Alias the files a human has to pick under pressure: installers (Windows 11 Setup), rescue environments (Strelec WinPE Toolkit), and versioned tools where the menu should show the version you chose, like MemTest86 Plus. Keep aliases short enough to fit the menu width at your gfxmode, and avoid starting several names with the same long word - the eye scans the first different letter. Your shop name can lead the important ones: Technical Anshu - Windows 11 Setup reads like a label, not an advert, and customers remember whose stick fixed their PC.
Boot the stick, press F5 and open Tools - Check plugin json configuration - Check menu alias plugin configuration. If your pairs are listed there but a name still shows raw, the image path for that entry does not match the file - compare it character by character, especially the folder part. If nothing is listed at all, the whole ventoy.json has a syntax problem above the alias block (a missing comma between sections is the usual one) and Ventoy skipped the file. Fix the JSON first; the aliases will follow.
The video's menu makeover shows how much difference short names make.
Watch Full VideoNo. The alias exists only inside ventoy.json and only changes what the boot menu displays. The file keeps its original name on the drive, so checksums, scripts and records that refer to the real name keep working.
Because the image path in the alias entry no longer matches the file. An alias points at a path like /Tools/StrelecPE.iso - move the file and the pointer breaks silently. Update the image line to the new path and the alias returns.
No - each menu_alias entry names one image file. For folders, the menu shows the folder name itself, so name your folders the way you want them displayed, and alias the individual files inside them.