Win32DiskImager

Win32DiskImager is a Windows utility for writing raw disk images (.img and related files) to removable media (SD cards, USB flash drives) and reading devices back into image files.

This repository contains:

• A Qt-based GUI application (Win32DiskImager.exe)
• A native Windows CLI application (Win32DiskImager-cli.exe)
• A native Win32 API GUI scaffold (native-win32-gui/)
• A native Visual Studio CLI solution (native-win32-cli/)

Important Safety Notes

• This tool performs raw writes to physical disks.
• Selecting the wrong device can overwrite data on that device.
• Use it only when you are sure the selected target is correct.
• For CLI read, write, and verify, run from an elevated (Administrator) terminal.

Features

• Major improvement: Windows 11 compatibility (WINVER/_WIN32_WINNT set to 0x0A00) and updated library/toolchain support (Qt 6 + modern MinGW builds)
• Write image file to a physical device
• Read physical device to image file
• Verify image against device
• Optional read limit in CLI (--bytes)
• Optional allocated-only read mode in CLI (--allocated-only, MBR-based)
• Image hash generation in GUI (MD5, SHA1, SHA256)
• Multi-language UI translations (src/lang/*.ts)

Requirements

Runtime

• Windows
• Administrator rights for raw disk operations

Build Toolchain

• Qt qmake toolchain for GUI (src/DiskImager.pro)
• MinGW-w64 (g++, mingw32-make)
• Optional static Qt build for fully static GUI builds

The provided batch files expect a typical MSYS2 MinGW path:

• C:\msys64\mingw64\bin

Build

GUI build

From repository root:

compile.bat

Output:

• bin\Win32DiskImager.exe

Native Win32 GUI scaffold build (Visual Studio)

Open this solution in Visual Studio 2022 (or newer):

native-win32-gui\Win32DiskImagerNative.sln

Build target:

• Debug|x64 (or Release|x64)

Output:

• native-win32-gui\build\<Configuration>\<Platform>\Win32DiskImagerNative.exe

CLI build

From repository root:

compile-cli.bat

Output:

• bin\Win32DiskImager-cli.exe

Native CLI build (Visual Studio)

Open:

native-win32-cli\Win32DiskImagerCliNative.sln

Build target:

• Debug|x64 (or Release|x64)

Output:

• native-win32-cli\build\<Configuration>\<Platform>\Win32DiskImager-cli-native.exe

Static GUI build (Qt static toolchain)

Set QT_STATIC_BIN first, then run:

set QT_STATIC_BIN=C:\Qt\6.x.x\mingw_64_static\bin
compile-gui-static.bat

Output:

• bin\Win32DiskImager.exe

Usage

GUI

Run Win32DiskImager.exe, then:

1. Choose an image file.
2. Select a target device.
3. Choose Write, Read, or Verify.

The GUI also supports:

• Drag/drop file path input
• Hash generation and copy
• Auto-refresh of removable devices

CLI

Usage:

Win32DiskImager-cli.exe list
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe write  --device E: --image C:\path\image.img
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe read   --device E: --image C:\path\backup.img [--bytes N] [--allocated-only]
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe verify --device E: --image C:\path\image.img

Examples:

Win32DiskImager-cli.exe list
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe write --device E: --image C:\images\raspi.img
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe read --device E: --image C:\images\backup.img --allocated-only
Win32DiskImager-cli.exe verify --device E: --image C:\images\raspi.img

Environment Variables (GUI)

• DiskImagesDir: default folder used by the file picker
• DiskImagerFiles: custom file filter list for image selection dialog (;; separated)

Repository Layout

• src/ - main GUI and CLI sources, resources, translations
• src/DiskImager.pro - GUI qmake project
• src/DiskImagerCli.pro - CLI qmake project
• native-win32-gui/ - Visual Studio native Win32 GUI scaffold
• native-win32-cli/ - Visual Studio native CLI solution
• compile.bat - GUI build helper
• compile-cli.bat - CLI build helper
• compile-gui-static.bat - static GUI build helper
• setup.iss - Inno Setup installer script
• bin/ - build outputs and packaged zip artifacts

License

• Project license: GNU GPL v2 (see GPL-2)
• Qt binaries/libraries used by builds may be under LGPL terms (see LGPL-2.1)
• Additional legal text: License.txt

Historical Notes

Legacy docs are still included:

• README.txt
• DEVEL.txt
• CHANGELOG.md and Changelog.txt