About

About Flint

Where Flint came from, what it is built with, and how it's licensed.

The project

Flint is a Windows-native application: it is written for Windows 10/11 64-bit, uses direct Win32 disk I/O, and runs as a single portable flint.exe with no installer. It is not a cross-platform tool — this is the Windows bootable USB writer named Flint.

Flint started with a simple frustration: writing ISO images to USB drives on Windows should be as careful as it is easy. Most tools either flash without telling you whether the write worked, or hide the destructive reality behind a shiny button. Flint is built the other way around — flash, then prove the bytes landed; wipe, then prove the data is gone; and never start a destructive operation that wasn't deliberately, typed, confirmed.

The project is developed in the open on GitHub, where you can read the source, report issues and contribute.

Technology

  • Python with Qt (PyQt6) for a native-feeling Windows GUI.
  • Direct Win32 disk I/O for physical-disk writes and read-back verification.
  • Packaged as a single portable executable with PyInstaller.
  • Windows 10/11, 64-bit only. Current version: v1.0.4.

Privacy & where data lives

Flint collects nothing. No telemetry, no analytics, no accounts, no phone home — the only network activity is an optional weekly update check against the GitHub release feed. Your data is stored locally under your Windows user profile:

Settings%APPDATA%\Flint\settings.json
Flash history%APPDATA%\Flint\history.json
Startup log%TEMP%\flint-startup.log (rotated ×3)
Crash log%LOCALAPPDATA%\Flint\crash.log

License

Flint is free and open-source software, released under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify and redistribute it, subject to the terms of the license. Copyright © 2026 Gowtham G.K.

MIT License (summary)
MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

The full license text lives in the repository.

Supporting the project

The most useful things you can do: report bugs with an exported diagnostics file, star the repository, and spread the word to anyone who images drives for a living. Code contributions are welcome — check the repository for contribution guidance.