The software that works a charm is Balena Etcher which is cross-platform for OSX, Windows, and in Appimage format for Linux. Everyone suggests Unetbootin but I've always had trouble with it (even recently). I've got a 12 year-old 8gb SanDisk Cruiser USB drive that works a charm. The current Bullseye Alpha 3 is 3.7gb so a 4gb USB drive should still work.
Which one do you prefer? Let us know in the comments.Steps to create and install Debian from USB USB driveĪny USB drive over a certain size should work. Though graphical method provides an easier way to create a bootable USB without the hassle of dealing with terminal, most of the Linux users prefer the later. Once done, you can use the USB drive to boot and use the Linux distribution. Make sure if you have nothing important on the drive. Note : This is a irreversible process and wipes out the USB drive data. Sudo dd bs=4M if=/path/of/Linux.ISO of=/dev/sdb1 conv=fdatasync status=progress Once the USB drive is unmounted, you can use the below command to write the content of ISO to the drive. ├─sdb1 12:17 1 7.6G 0 part /media/ambarish/usb volume name Prerequisite : Download and place the linux ISO file to any location.įirst of all, you have to find out the USB drive details and then unmount it. It is one of best way to create a bootable Linux USB drive without installing any third-party application all you need is a USB and a terminal. Using Linux command lineĭd is a command line utility for Unix and Linux for converting and copying files.
In case the USB drive is not detected, UnetBootin suggests to format it with FAT32 filesystem.Īnother such application is Rufus which can be used to create a bootable Linux USB. You can access the menu during booting process by pressing escape or F12 and then choosing USB as the primary booting device. Some manufacturers do not allow the default booting from USB drive. Once installation completes, you can use the USB device to boot to the installed Linux distribution. Once done, select the target USB drive and Click on OK to continue with burning of the ISO. You can alternatively choose the ISO location by select Diskimage. Under Distribution, there is a list of distros to choose from. You can either download a distribution ISO from the application itself or use your own ISO to burn it. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux flavours. In order to use UnetBootin, download a copy from the its github site.
In this article, we will see how to create a bootable Linux USB using both the method. Another way is through using dd linux command to burn an ISO to a USB drive and then use it. You can even go ahead and install it if you wish. It can be used to create a Linux bootable USB from which you can boot in live mode and try a distribution. UnetBootin is a GUI tool that does exactly the same. You may need to run it on real hardware to check if a distro satisfies your requirement and is fun. The fact that it runs on top of your base OS may lead to resource crunch. However, VirtualBox does have some limitation. VirtualBox is a safer, easier and awesome application to try out different Linux flavors. If you are a distro hopper like me, you probably already have a VirtualBox set up with countless distributions.