Discussion: Selecting a tool to create USB boot drives from ISO files

[sudodus]

I suggest that we discuss tools to create USB boot drives from ISO files.

General questions

- What should the tool do? And what can be skipped?
. is a convenient tool OK, if it does not offer persistence?
. how important is it that the tool can download iso files?

- What should it look like?
. graphics mode ...
. text mode ...

- How to balance convenience and safety?

- Where is the limit for bugs?
. how patient can we be with the Startup Disk Creator (particularly usb-creator-gtk, I think usb-creator-kde is better)?

- Does it work in UEFI?

- Simple tools, that should be recommended to beginners. I think we should ask Canonical to replace the Startup Disk Creator.

- Advanced or specialized tools and methods, that should be recommended to experienced users.


Specific tools

- What about the tools mentioned at the official Ubuntu web page
create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu: Startup Disk Creator
create-a-usb-stick-on-windows: Pendrivelinux
create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx: cli method

- What about Disks and mkusb - that copy/clone/flash content without modifications?

- What about the Startup Disk Creator?

- What about Unetbootin?

- What other tools should be mentioned?

Tools to be run in Windows

Tools to be run in Mac

Links

The discussion started here and continued there.

See also the following link Installation/FromUSBStick

[dino99]

what i'm using smoothly: "multisystem" from "liveusb.info"
it can load most of all iso around

all the other tools are painfull or not usable

[sudodus]

what i'm using smoothly: "multisystem" from "liveusb.info"
it can load most of all iso around

all the other tools are painfull or not usable

I tried multisystem some years ago. And it worked for me too. Does the current version work in UEFI mode?

[dino99]

I tried multisystem some years ago. And it worked for me too. Does the current version work in UEFI mode?

i cant test that myself; i suppose there is a changelog available (not checked, but it has been upgraded recently)

Explanations for using with uefi
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/multisystem

It is possible to use Multisystem for a UEFI system. But if you prepare your key on a host system 1) UEFI, you can only start your UEFI key. By cons, if your host system is legacy 2) you can boot into both UEFI and legacy.

[oldfred]

I now have many flash drives booting various versions.
I did start before any of the scripts were available and had learned grub2, so have exclusively used grub2.

But I think it need to be what purpose the flash drive for.
With flash drives now inexpensive, it is possible to have several. And size of flash drive also tends to make it better for some uses than others. Using a 64GB as just one ISO installer is a waste. But putting a full install in 8GB is tight but doable. Full Ubuntu vs. other lighter weight flavors may make smaller flash better. USB3 may work better for full install where USB2 is fine for installer or lightweight flavors.

I have one as a pure installer, one with many ISO for installs, one as a repair with mostly Linux ISO that can be used for repairs. I managed to also create a Windows/Linux repair system, but could not get Windows repair ISO to install directly from Ubuntu. I had to create CD, use CD to create Windows repair flash drive. But it only used 2 or 300MB on 4GB flash drive. So I installed grub, added partitions and got it to boot Windows & the ISO.
I do not have any with persistence as I either have full installs and larger data partitions or just pure install or repair flash drives.

So what intent or use does a user want. And with all the variety of needs it can get a bit complicated.

Also then UEFI/BIOS make it a bit more complex now also. I have just kept a couple of flash drives as BIOS to boot my laptop and newer one's as UEFI to boot new desktop. But Ubuntu installer in FAT32 uses syslinux for BIOS & grub2 for UEFI, so it can boot either way.

And if you only want UEFI, you can just use any extraction tool to put ISO on FAT32 partition with boot flag. The FAT32 with boot flag will be seen as the ESP - efi boot partition and the efi boot files will be found. No actual install required.

[sudodus]

I think we are doing similar things Oldfred.

But I think it need to be what purpose the flash drive for.

And I think our discussion should consider that too:

- simple tools, that should be recommended to beginners. I think we should ask Canonical to replace the Startup Disk Creator.

- advanced or specialized tools and methods, that should be recommended to experienced users.

[Chazall1]

Unetbootin works very good. Been using it for years.

[cariboo]

I use Disks->Restore Disk Image

[sudodus]

@ Chazall1:

Which version of Unetbootin are you using? From the Ubuntu repositories, or from the developer's PPA or a version installed from a downloaded deb file?

My experience is that the current version from the developer's PPA is a good alternative. See this link.

[sudodus]

I use Disks->Restore Disk Image

Disks is simple and reliable, but the dialogue is not intuitive for a beginner. The disk image in the ISO file is new, so it is funny to say 'restore'. I would rather say 'install' or 'clone', 'copy' or 'flash'. I think Disks would be a good replacement of the Startup Disk Creator with an improved dialogue for this purpose - like what I'm trying to do with mkusb.