A user can carry their preferred operating system, applications, configuration, and personal files with them, making it easy to share a single system between multiple users. In contrast to live CDs, the data contained on the booting device can be changed and additional data stored on the same device.Live USBs share many of the benefits and limitations of live CDs, and also incorporate their own. Specialized USB-based booting was proposed by IBM in 2004 with Reincarnating PCs with Portable SoulPads and Boot Linux from a FireWire device. Intel-based Macs carried this functionality over with booting macOS from USB. Personal computers introduced USB booting in the early 2000s, with the Macintosh computers introducing the functionality in 1999 beginning with the Power Mac G4 with AGP graphics and the slot-loading iMac G3 models.

Most Live CDs are Linux-based, and in addition to repairing computers, these would occasionally be used in their own right as operating systems. The development of the first live CDs with graphical user interface made it feasible for non-technicians to repair malfunctioning computers. To repair a computer with booting issues, technicians often use lightweight operating systems on bootable media and a command-line interface.

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