Ventoy 1.1.18, announced October 9, 2026, adds experimental support for booting SteamOS recovery images and includes several Linux-related fixes. The release notes also cover Clonezilla, Fedora 45 beta, Ubuntu persistence, Grml, and LinuxConsole. These are project-reported changes, not independently verified compatibility results.
What Ventoy 1.1.18 changes
The Ventoy project’s release announcement lists these changes for version 1.1.18, dated October 9, 2026:
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- Experimental SteamOS recovery-image support. The announcement does not promise that every recovery image or device will work.
- Linux remount improvements. The ISO partition is intended to be mountable out of the box on mainstream desktop distributions.
- Linux desktop behavior. Ventoy suppresses duplicate disk icons in the sidebar on some desktops and provides a stable device-mapper name,
/dev/mapper/VentoyPart, for the ISO partition. - Distribution and utility fixes. The release notes mention Clonezilla ISO-partition mountability, a Fedora 45 beta boot fix, an intermittent Ubuntu desktop persistence fix, a Grml 2026.09 boot fix, and an improvement for the latest LinuxConsole release.
- Other changes. The list also includes custom Syslinux-based ISO support, a Windows/WinPE Secure Boot version-check fix, and a Boot Conf Replace-entry check in VentoyPlugson.
These are specific release-note items, not evidence that all Linux remount, persistence, or boot issues have been resolved. Ventoy has published Linux-related fixes in earlier releases too; its dated news history includes a remount change in version 1.1.01 and later distribution-specific maintenance.
What experimental SteamOS recovery support means
The key wording in the announcement is “Experimental support for SteamOS recovery images.” It is a new compatibility claim from the project, not a guarantee of successful recovery on every Steam Deck, recovery-image revision, or USB setup. No independent test results accompany the release note.
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The change is notable because a ValveSoftware/SteamOS issue opened April 19, 2024 described recovery images hanging when booted through Ventoy. The discussion addressed a technical challenge: Ventoy’s raw-image boot path must expose the image’s partitions so the operating system can find its root filesystem and load the initramfs. The older issue is historical context, not a description of Ventoy 1.1.18’s current behavior.
How Ventoy’s USB workflow works
Ventoy is a bootable USB solution for ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), and EFI files. According to the project description, users copy image files onto the prepared USB drive, then choose an image from Ventoy’s boot menu. That approach means users can keep multiple image files on the drive instead of reformatting it for each one.
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How to judge image compatibility
Ventoy maintains a tested-image list that includes many Linux distributions and utilities. Treat it as a useful compatibility reference, not a universal guarantee: a listed distribution does not establish that every image revision, machine, firmware configuration, or boot mode will work.
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For the new SteamOS feature, check the exact recovery image and target hardware rather than extrapolating from broad Linux support. The 1.1.18 announcement does not provide a tested-device matrix or a success rate.
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