Create A Bootable USB Drive From A Linux ISO Image - PragmaticLinux

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Create a bootable USB drive from a

Linux ISO image - PragmaticLinux
PragmaticLinux
8-10 minutes
So you want to install Linux on your PC. You eagerly

downloaded the ISO image of your Linux distribution of
choice. You realize your PC did not come with a CD or DVD
drive anymore. No problem, because you found out that your
PC can also boot directly from a USB drive. But how do you
create a bootable USB drive from the downloaded Linux ISO
image? Grab your USB drive, a beverage of choice and read
on, as that is exactly the question I’ll answer in this article.
Background
When you want to install Linux or boot a Linux live

environment, you start by downloading the installer or live
environment from the Internet. For example the Debian
network installer or Clonezilla live release. The actual file you
downloaded has the .iso extension. This file is an ISO
image, which is short for optical disc image. As the name
1 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
implies, you write this ISO image file to a CD or DVD and

then boot your PC from this CD or DVD.
Nowadays desktop PCs, and specifically laptops, no longer

feature a CD or DVD drive to boot from. What to do? Well,
you can chose between the following two options:
1. Purchase an external CD or DVD drive.
2. Create a bootable USB drive from the Linux ISO.
Option one strikes me as cumbersome. The BIOS of all

modern PCs offer support to boot from a USB drive. Chances
are that you have a USB drive of a few GB lying around
somewhere already. This makes option two the more viable
and preferable one. This leads to the question: “How do I
write the Linux ISO image to my USB drive, such that my PC
can boot from it”? That is exactly the topic of this article.
In this article, I’ll explain how you can create a bootable USB
drive from a Linux ISO image. To cover all bases, I’ll present
two different methods: One where we just use graphical user
interface programs and one where we do everything directly
in the terminal.
What do you need
This article assumes you already have Linux running

somewhere. It could be on a regular PC or laptop, a
Raspberry PI or simply a virtual machine. Besides that, you
just need a USB drive such as a memory stick of a few
2 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
Gigabytes. Since Linux ISO images are originally meant for

optical disks, an ISO image will typically not be larger than
4.7 GB. Therefore a USB drive of 8 GB or more works
perfectly.
Since our goal is to create a bootable USB drive from a Linux

ISO image, we’ll need an ISO image. You probably already
downloaded an ISO image. If not and you are looking for one
to test with, you could give Ubuntu Budgie a try. I
downloaded the Ubuntu Budgie ISO image myself for this
article:
Write the ISO file to the USB drive with Balena

Etcher
The first method, where we’ll just use graphical user interface
programs, builds on Balena Etcher. It’s a free and open
source application that makes writing ISO images to a USB
drive a breeze. Note that you can even use it to write
operating system images to an SD-card. Especially handy for
those that work with Raspberry PIs. The article about
installing a minimal Raspberry PI operating system explains
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how to use Balena Etcher for that purpose.
Install Balena Etcher
As a first step, we’ll install Balena Etcher on our Linux

system. If you already installed it previously, you can skip this
section. The following commands install Balena Etcher on a
Debian or Ubuntu based Linux system. Head over to the
Balena Etcher GitHub repository for detailed installation
instructions, in case your run a different Linux distribution.
Installing Balena Etcher on Debian or Ubuntu:
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public

/balena/etcher/setup.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install balena-etcher-electron
In case Balena Etcher doesn’t start, have a look at this fix.
Write the ISO file to the USB drive
Make sure you plugged the USB drive into your PC at this
point. Next, start Balena Etcher. You can find its launcher in
your desktop environment’s application menu. To create a
bootable USB drive from a Linux ISO image, perform these
steps:
1. Select Flash from file and select your Linux ISO image in the
file open dialog.
4 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
2. Click the Select target button and pick your USB drive from
the list of available drives.
3. To start writing the ISO file to the USB drive, click the Flash!
button.
4. Once completed, you can simply close the Balena Etcher

application.
Here is a screen animation that demonstrates these steps:
In case you get an error dialog stating that the process ended
unexpectedly, simply try again. This probably meant that the
USB drive was still mounted. On the second try it should
work.
Write the ISO file to the USB drive with dd
In contrast to the previous section, in this section we’ll use
5 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
just the terminal to create a bootable USB drive from a Linux

ISO image. The powerful dd utility program makes this
possible.
Identify the device name
When using the dd program to write the ISO file to the USB
drive, it is extremely important that you select the correct
device name. So as a first step, we need to identify the
device name. Make sure you plugged the USB drive into your
PC at this point. Next, open the terminal and run this
command to list all disk drives known to your Linux system:
lsblk -p | grep "disk"
As you can see in the previous screenshot, my Linux system

knows about two disks. I know that my USB drive is around
16 GB in size, so the second one must be my USB drive.
This means the device name of my USB drive is /dev/sdb.
If your Linux system lists multiple drives and you are not sure
which one is your USB drive, simply do the following:
1. Make a (mental) note of the current listed disk drives.
2. Unplug your USB drive and run the lsblk -p | grep

"disk" command again.
3. Determine which device name disappeared. That one was

your USB drive.
6 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
4. Now that you know which one was your USB drive, plug it
back in.
5. Run the lsblk -p | grep "disk" command one last

time. Identify your USB drive and write down its device name.
In the next sections I’ll use the /dev/sdb device name in

commands, to identify my USB drive. Make sure to replace
the device name with the one of your USB drive on your
Linux system.
Make sure the USB drive is not mounted
The last terminal screenshot helped me figure out the device

name of my USB drive. Furthermore, it showed me that the
USB drive is currently mounted. Somewhere in /media
/pragmalin/. Before we can write an ISO file to the USB
drive, we need to make sure it is not mounted. Use the
following command syntax to unmount your USB drive:
sudo umount [DEVICE NAME]
So in my case I ran the command sudo umount

/dev/sdb to unmount my USB drive. Note that you can use
the lsblk -p | grep "disk" afterwards to verify that
the mount point directory is no longer listed. This means the
USB drive unmounted successfully:
7 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
Write the ISO file to the USB drive
With the USB drive unmounted, we can continue with writing

the actual ISO file to the USB drive. As mentioned earlier,
we’ll use the dd program for this. If you are curious about the
dd program, you can run man dd in the terminal to open its
user manual.
The syntax for writing an ISO file to the USB drive with dd :
sudo dd if=[ISO FILE] of=[DEVICE NAME] bs=4M

conv=fdatasync status=progress
Replace [ISO FILE] with the actual full path to the ISO file
and [DEVICE NAME] with the device name of your USB
drive. In my case, I ran this command from the
~/Downloads directory, where the ISO file is located:
sudo dd if=ubuntu-budgie-20.04.2.0-desktop-
amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M conv=fdatasync
status=progress
Wrap up
While working your way through this article, you learned two
methods for creating a bootable USB drive from a Linux ISO
image:
8 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM
1. With the help of Balena Etcher we could do everything

comfortably with a graphical user interface program.
2. Using the good old dd command, we could do everything

directly in the terminal.
Both methods work just fine and personal preferences

determines which one you should use. Personally, I like the
Balena Etcher approach. That way I do not have to
remember or lookup the dd command syntax.
9 of 9 11/13/21, 2:33 PM

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Create a bootable USB drive from a Linux ISO im... about:reader?url=https://www.pragmaticlinux.co...

Create a bootable USB drive from a

So you want to install Linux on your PC. You eagerly

When you want to install Linux or boot a Linux live

implies, you write this ISO image file to a CD or DVD and

Nowadays desktop PCs, and specifically laptops, no longer

1. Purchase an external CD or DVD drive.

2. Create a bootable USB drive from the Linux ISO.

Option one strikes me as cumbersome. The BIOS of all

What do you need

This article assumes you already have Linux running

Gigabytes. Since Linux ISO images are originally meant for

Since our goal is to create a bootable USB drive from a Linux

Write the ISO file to the USB drive with Balena

how to use Balena Etcher for that purpose.

Install Balena Etcher

As a first step, we’ll install Balena Etcher on our Linux

Installing Balena Etcher on Debian or Ubuntu:

curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public

sudo apt update

sudo apt install balena-etcher-electron

In case Balena Etcher doesn’t start, have a look at this fix.

Write the ISO file to the USB drive

4. Once completed, you can simply close the Balena Etcher

Here is a screen animation that demonstrates these steps:

Write the ISO file to the USB drive with dd

In contrast to the previous section, in this section we’ll use

just the terminal to create a bootable USB drive from a Linux

Identify the device name

lsblk -p | grep "disk"

As you can see in the previous screenshot, my Linux system

1. Make a (mental) note of the current listed disk drives.

2. Unplug your USB drive and run the lsblk -p | grep

3. Determine which device name disappeared. That one was

5. Run the lsblk -p | grep "disk" command one last

In the next sections I’ll use the /dev/sdb device name in

Make sure the USB drive is not mounted

The last terminal screenshot helped me figure out the device

sudo umount [DEVICE NAME]

So in my case I ran the command sudo umount

Write the ISO file to the USB drive

With the USB drive unmounted, we can continue with writing

sudo dd if=[ISO FILE] of=[DEVICE NAME] bs=4M

1. With the help of Balena Etcher we could do everything

2. Using the good old dd command, we could do everything

Both methods work just fine and personal preferences

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