ETCHER

Flash. Flawless.

Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily.
Flash, Flawless. This gif shows the steps you take to flash with Etcher, select image, select drive, flash! Download Etcher

Why balenaEtcher?

Here at balena we have thousands of users working through our getting started process, we found there was no easy way for our users to flash an SD card that we could recommend to everyone.

So we built Etcher, an SD card flasher app that is simple for end users, extensible for developers, and works on any platform.
  • Create USB installation media from bootable ISOs
  • Install almost any OS to almost any flash drive
  • Offer an easy way for your users to flash your OS using our ‘Flash with Etcher’ feature
Read more on our blog

FEATURES

A better way to burn

Validated Flashing

Etcher confirms that your flash has completed, enjoy peace of mind that your card will boot and isn’t corrupted.
Hard Drive Friendly
Etcher gives you warnings and hides your system drives by default to avoid accidentally wiping your entire hard-drive.
Beautiful Interface
Who said flashing SD cards has to be an eyesore. Etcher has an intuitive 3-step process with no command lines!
Open Source
Made with JS, HTML, node.js and Electron. Etcher is built on open source tools and is and always will be free and open source to use!
Cross Platform
Works for everyone whether you are on Windows, Linux or Mac with no complicated install instructions.
Simultaneous Writing
Using balena EtcherPro you can flash up to 16 drives at once. Find out more here.
DOWNLOAD

Download Etcher

Commmunity

Get involved with the Etcher community

Forums

If you have a question about Etcher, or are a fan of Etcher and want to help other users troubleshoot their issues, join us in our forum!

Go to forums

Contribute

BalenaEtcher is and always will be free and open sourced, it is maintained by balena staff but we welcome contributions from the community.

Go to GitHub

Flash with Etcher

Your users can now easily install your OS straight from your website, add the flash with Etcher button to your site or blog to get started.

Get the code

The Etcher you love,
the perfect hardware

EtcherPro is a stand-alone hardware device that allows you to write to multiple cards or usb disks at once, at extreme speeds.
This image shows the Etcher pro using the Etcher software to flash 16 devices at once

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do if my flash in Etcher fails?

It depends how it fails. Most of the time, a failed flash is due to either a faulty drive or adapter. Retry. Then try with another adaptor, drive or card and usb port.

If you're flashing from an url and it fails, try downloading the file first and flash it again from file.

Sometimes, things might go wrong, and you end up with a half-flashed drive that is unusable by your operating systems, and common graphical tools might even refuse to get it back to a normal state. To solve these kinds of problems, we've collected a list of fail-proof methods to completely erase your drive in major operating systems.

Can I use Etcher on Windows, Linux or Mac?

Etcher works on Microsoft Windows 10 and later, Linux (most distros) and macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and later. Make sure you download the correct version from our downloads section.

For Windows 7, 8 or 32 bits, the latest compatible version of Etcher is v7.9.0.

Do I need to format my SD card / thumb drive before using Etcher? 

No. But keep in mind that Etcher will erase the whole drive and replace the data.

Can Etcher make a bootable USB? 

Yes, as long as the file your flashing is bootable.

Can Etcher write Windows ISO?

Windows images are not bootable without extra treatment that etcher is not designed to do. If you need to make a bootable disk for windows you can find more information in our documentation.

What should I do if I am still having problems with Etcher?

Still having issues? Check out the Etcher docs to troubleshoot your problem, search the forums for already opened tickets with the same issue as you which or open your own ticket or issue on the etcher repo, and our support team will be able to help you.