Howto make USB boot drives

[guiverc]

Yeah it must have been the Xfce session I was using...

A logout & switch to Lubuntu/LXQt (my system is a multi-desktop system meaning I've multiple desktops installed selected at login) and I could write the same ISO to the same thumb-drive without issue (it's a jammy system updated three+ times per day)

(the only difference being it'd been written by gnome-disks so no image change was occurring - again a almost certainly moot point)

I zsync'd the Xubuntu jammy daily & am using it now in a live session on another box and the write of Lubuntu focal is occurring as expected.. ie. no issues on a pure Xubuntu jammy daily (2021-12-31) that's doesn't have all packages up to date but should be equivalent to what I used for my last post (#1113) (it hasn't finished write yet; but it'll get there; it's a thumb-drive that flashes & everything looks just as it should)

Sorry for the likely misleading last post - some unique issue on my box with the desktop/session that had been running ~seven days.

Development releases are that; problems will occur on occasion... just not expecting them currently given few updates are occurring with much of Canonical/folks on leave...

[sudodus]

@guiverc,

I appreciate the early warning, and you are welcome again, when something similar is happening.

Finally, thanks for resolving this issue

[oygle]

@sudodus - I usually select option "e" to make a boot usb with mkusb. At boot I don't get an option to select either UEFI or legacy. Is it because of the option I select with mkusb or is it simply a BIOS limitation ?? See https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2473650

[sudodus]

1. Are you using the old version mkusb-11? Is this what you mean by 'I usually select option "e" to make a boot usb with mkusb'?

In that case I suggest that you try with "d" or "p", which start newer versions:

$ mkusb
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Usage: mkusb [input-file]      # optional parameter
---------------------------------------------------------------------
d:  dus , guidus, mkusb-dus    - Classic, easy to use
p: Plug,   mkusb-plug          - New, easy to use
n: NoX,    sudo mkusb-nox      - original text mode
b: Bas,    sudo mkusb-bas      - basic text mode for old/basic linux
e: Eleven, sudo -H mkusb-11    - Old user interface
q: Quit
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Select version of mkusb (d/p/n/b/e/q)

The newer versions are developed and tweaked to work well with the current versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu family flavours (Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Xubuntu).

2. Are you creating a live-only installer (usually by cloning), or a persistent live drive?

Generally, if you want to install Ubuntu or an Ubuntu flavour, it is easier with a live-only (cloned) installer in your USB drive. The installer system in the USB drive can boot and install both in legacy mode (alias CSM alias BIOS mode) and in UEFI mode.

- If booted in legacy mode at the installation, the installed system will be installed in legacy mode.
- If booted in UEFI mode at the installation, the installed system will be installed in UEFI mode.

3. The selection of boot mode (legacy mode or UEFI mode) is done before Ubuntu (or any other operating system) starts. So you should select that by modifying the setting in a UEFI-BIOS settings menu or via a temporary menu, often via the hotkey F12 in Dell computers. Press or tap F12 repeatedly directly at boot.

[oygle]

1. Are you using the old version mkusb-11? Is this what you mean by 'I usually select option "e" to make a boot usb with mkusb'?

In that case I suggest that you try with "d" or "p", which start newer versions:

synaptic says 12.7.2 for mkusb, but it got updated this morning, so it would have been the version prior to that.

2. Are you creating a live-only installer (usually by cloning), or a persistent live drive?

Yes, live only.

3. The selection of boot mode (legacy mode or UEFI mode) is done before Ubuntu (or any other operating system) starts. So you should select that by modifying the setting in a UEFI-BIOS settings menu or via a temporary menu, often via the hotkey F12 in Dell computers. Press or tap F12 repeatedly directly at boot.

Okay thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

[oygle]

This time I selected option p then c (clone). There were extra messages about ISO files ; I selected "I don't know" twice ??

mkusb kubuntu-21.10-desktop-amd64.iso

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Usage: mkusb [input-file] # optional parameter
---------------------------------------------------------------------
d: dus , guidus, mkusb-dus - Classic, easy to use
p: Plug, mkusb-plug - New, easy to use
n: NoX, sudo mkusb-nox - original text mode
b: Bas, sudo mkusb-bas - basic text mode for old/basic linux
e: Eleven, sudo -H mkusb-11 - Old user interface
q: Quit
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Select version of mkusb (d/p/n/b/e/q) p
live system or temporary superuser permissions
source file: 'kubuntu-21.10-desktop-amd64.iso'
--cloner
spawn bash -c xorriso-dd-target -plug_test -trust_lsblk_udev | tee /tmp/tmp.Vb37rMGYkY

Caused by option -plug_test: Attempt to find the desired device
by watching it appear after being plugged in.

Step 1:
Please make sure that the desired target device is plugged _out_ now.
If it is currently plugged in, make sure to unmount all its fileystems
and then unplug it.
Press the Enter key when ready.

Found and noted as _not_ desired: sda

Step 2:
Please plug in the desired target device and then press the Enter key.

Waiting up to 10 seconds for a new device to be listed ... found: sdb
Now waiting 5 seconds to let it settle .........
Found and noted as desired device: sdb

sdb : NO : usb+ has_iso9660+ has_vfat+ has_ext4- : Kingston DataTraveler_2.0
Repeating test of target device with elevated permissions:
Testing sudo to possibly get password prompting done now:
sudo /bin/lsblk seems ok.

target device: /dev/sdb
sdb : NO : usb+ has_iso9660+ has_vfat+ has_ext4- : Kingston DataTraveler_2.0
task: '--cloner'
source file: 'kubuntu-21.10-desktop-amd64.iso'
target device: /dev/sdb

MODEL NAME FSTYPE LABEL SIZE
DataTraveler_2.0 sdb iso9660 Kubuntu 21.10 amd64 3.7G
sdb1 iso9660 Kubuntu 21.10 amd64 3.1G
sdb2 vfat ESP 4.1M
sdb3 300K
sdb4 ext4 writable 602M
***** cloner *****
Trying to unmount partitions if mounted on the target device
umount: /dev/sdb: not mounted.
umount: /dev/sdb1: not mounted.
umount: /dev/sdb2: not mounted.
umount: /dev/sdb3: not mounted.
umount: /dev/sdb4: not mounted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please wait until the cloning has finished and 'Done' is written
3372374016=file size
3371171840 bytes (3.4 GB, 3.1 GiB) copied, 545 s, 6.2 MB/s
3216+1 records in
3216+1 records out
3372374016 bytes (3.4 GB, 3.1 GiB) copied, 545.446 s, 6.2 MB/s
----- cleanup after dd ------------------------------------------
4806 pts/1 00:00:00 mkusb-sedd
Warning: Not all of the space available to /dev/sdb appears to be used, you can fix the GPT to use all of the space (an extra 1236692 blocks) or continue with the current setting?
Finally, please wait for a few more seconds ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME MODEL FSTYPE LABEL MOUNTPOINT SIZE NAME
sdb DataTraveler_2.0 iso9660 Kubuntu 21.10 amd64 3.7G sdb
sdb1 iso9660 Kubuntu 21.10 amd64 3.1G sdb1
sdb2 vfat ESP 4.1M sdb2
sdb3 300K sdb3
Done

[sudodus]

@oygle,

Yes, there is a lot of output (but no indication of a serious problem).

What about the result? Is the created USB drive working well for you?

---

You find details about using mkusb-plug at this link.

[oygle]

@oygle,

Yes, there is a lot of output (but no indication of a serious problem).

What about the result? Is the created USB drive working well for you?

I have used the usb created by mkusb to now complete the installation. used it many times to live boot to enable partition changes and do the install, and now it seems the boot has transitioned from Legacy to UEFI. So yes, the USB is working well for me, thanks for your help.

[kagashe]

I made usb using Jammy Jellyfish daily iso with persistence. I could run firefox on first boot but when rebooted saving settings firefox didn't open. I tried opening through terminal
$ firefox
snap-confine has elevated permissions and it is not confined but should be. Refusing to continue to avoid permission escalation attacks

Kamalakar

[guiverc]

@sudodus

This is preliminary, but I'm short of time and thus may have little time to clean up what I have currently...

ISO Tracker page - http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/m...s/1303/results

The entries there show a ISO written with `mkusb-plug`

You'll note it booted fine on many boxes, however if FAILED to boot on

- hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290)
- hp dc7900 (c2d-e8400, 4gb, intel 4 series integrated i915)

This is not the first failure I've had, but I didn't explore a prior failure as much as I've done today... (I just re-wrote with `dus` & tested... on next day I tested I had no issues, but `mkusb-plug` appears to be box firmware specific, and it doesn't like the old HP's)

The same ISO however written using `dus jammy<tab>iso` boots perfectly on those boxes.... (dc7700 only at this stage actually)

so `mkusb-plug` appears to create an issue for old & slow HP boxes??

Bug report filed as https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...r/+bug/1969290 and filed against `casper` (it's new; 1.470) - however the same ISO written boots when I use `dus` thus the current 'incomplete' status..