Progress, of a sort: the ISO is listed in the Ventoy menu - but selecting it ends in a black screen, an error message, or a boot that stalls forever. A file can be visible and still be broken. This guide separates a bad download from a wrong boot mode from a firmware mismatch.
By Technical AnshuVentoy USB Guide8 minute read
The video shows the alternate boot modes inside the Ventoy menu and when each one is the right choice
Ventoy lists any correctly-typed file, even a damaged one. Booting is where damage shows: the loader starts, reads a corrupt or half-copied image, and dies somewhere between a black screen, a cryptic error and an endless spinner. So do not reinstall Ventoy yet. In practice this failure has four causes - a corrupt download, the wrong boot mode for that image, a fragmented or interrupted copy, and a PC firmware mismatch - and each has a test that takes minutes.
Ventoy asks how to boot some images - this choice is a fix, not a formality
Boot in normal modedefault - try first
Boot in grub2 modefor stubborn Linux ISOs
Boot in wimboot modefor WinPE / WIM images
Many Linux ISOs boot only in grub2 mode, and many WinPE images only in wimboot mode - a black screen in one mode is not a dead ISO
1
Prove the Download Is Good - Checksum Before Anything Else
Find the SHA-256 checksum published on the download page of your Windows or Linux image
On Windows, open Command Prompt in the download folder and run certutil -hashfile yourfile.iso SHA256
Compare the result character by character with the published value
Any mismatch means the download is damaged - delete it and download again, preferably with a wired connection. No boot trick can repair a corrupt image
2
Try the Other Boot Mode Ventoy Offers
Select the ISO in the Ventoy menu and press Enter - Ventoy presents mode options for many images
Linux ISO gives a black screen in normal mode? Choose Boot in grub2 mode - a long list of distributions only start correctly this way
WinPE or rescue image (WIM-based)? Choose Boot in wimboot mode - Ventoy even suggests it for recognised WinPE images
Very old or low-RAM PCs can also try the Memdisk mode (press F1 in the menu) for small images - it loads the whole image into RAM first
3
Re-Copy the File in One Clean Piece
Delete the ISO from the Ventoy drive completely
Copy the verified file again in one go, and do not use the PC heavily during a multi-GB copy
Always use Safely Remove Hardware and wait for the "safe to remove" message - pulling the drive early truncates files while Explorer still shows them
This matters doubly for .vhd, .img and persistence files, which must sit on the drive unfragmented; a fresh single copy is the practical way to get that
4
Rule Out the PC - Firmware Mode and Ventoy Age
Modern ISOs are UEFI-only: on a very old BIOS-only PC they will start and fail, or not start at all - that is a hardware limit, not a Ventoy fault
In the PC's BIOS, if both entries appear for the USB, choose the one starting with UEFI: for modern installers
Update Ventoy itself with the Update button in Ventoy2Disk - boot fixes for brand-new Windows and Linux releases land in new Ventoy versions first
Test the same drive and ISO on a second PC. Boots there? Your file and drive are fine - the first PC's firmware settings are the story
One honest limit: a small number of niche or heavily customised images cannot boot from any multiboot loader, Ventoy included. If the checksum is perfect, both modes fail, and the image also fails on a second PC, that image itself is the problem - Ventoy's website maintains a tested-image list of over a thousand entries to check against.
Watch the Boot Modes Explained in the Video
Normal mode, grub2 mode and wimboot mode look identical until you need them - the video shows which ISO needs which.
Instead of Ventoy's normal loader, the ISO is handed to GRUB2, which many Linux distributions are built and tested against. If a distro shows a black screen or drops to an error in normal mode, grub2 mode is the standard second attempt.
The boot starts, shows the OS logo, then freezes forever. Is that Ventoy?
Usually not. Once the operating system's own logo is on screen, Ventoy's job is done. A freeze at that stage points to the image itself, the target PC's hardware or firmware settings, or a graphics driver issue inside the installer - try the PC's safe-graphics or nomodeset option where offered.
Can a fragmented ISO really fail to boot?
For plain ISOs Ventoy handles ordinary fragmentation well. The strict cases are VHD/IMG disk images and persistence backend files, which must be stored as one unfragmented piece. Deleting and re-copying the file in a single operation is the simple cure.
This guide is based on the Ventoy Complete Guide video by Technical Anshu - Update, Secure Boot and File Detection Fix - Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments, help is always there.