Howto make USB boot drives

[sudodus]

The reason that usb-creator-gtk doesn't work may be because the iso file is not on a local file system.
When I selected an iso file on an sshfs mounted filesystem, it refused to create the disk, displaying an error message indicating "Installation failed". Once I moved the .iso file to the local file system it worked without any issues.

This is on xubuntu 13.10

Interesting! It is worth looking into this problem. What OS (version and flavour of Ubuntu) were you running?

[sudodus]

Thanks for sharing this observation, ager-wick.

[sudodus]

mkusb version 7.1 is uploaded in a compressed tar file, a tarball.

Version 7.1 contains a bugfix for unusual cases. The identification of the 'livedrive', the drive from which the current operating system is started did not work with all versions of Ubuntu when 'trying Ubuntu' or running a live session booted from from an install CD/DVD/USB drive. It is fixed to work for a few more cases. It is tested when booted from CD, and USB drives made via cloning the ISO file, grub-n-iso, unetbootin, usb-creator-gtk.

Please let me know if you find another version or instance where it does not work! For example, there are several other tools to make live drives, and there may be problems with some of them.

There is only one attached file at post #1 and it contains the new version 7.1 of mkusb and also previous versions. Extract the script from the compressed file with one of these commands (or file-roller).

tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb-old-plus-minor-fix > mkusb
tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb3 > mkusb
...
tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb71 > mkusb

I use the file name mkusb, put it into my ~/bin directory and make it executable.

chmod ugo+x mkusb

The current size and md5sum are listed in the next code box. Check that the file is correct before you start using it!

wc -c mkusb;md5sum mkusb  # from mkusb71
12450 mkusb
f1fe8feb917d12576d8785a70ad1a17f  mkusb

[barryww1956]

Good stuff guys, thanks.

[sudodus]

Thank you

[sudodus]

mkusb version 7.4 is uploaded in a compressed tar file, a tarball.

Version 7.4 contains several minor improvements after version 7.1

# 2014-03-06  sudodus  fix to recognize debian iso file and work from CD
# 2014-03-06  sudodus  mkusb version 7.2
# 2014-03-09  sudodus  second parameter 'all' to start seeing all drives
#                      usbonly=false
# 2014-03-09  sudodus  mkusb version 7.3
# 2014-03-13  sudodus  switch for help window
# 2014-03-14  sudodus  writing "Done" after installation (for xterm -hold) 
# 2014-03-14  sudodus  mkusb version 7.4

There is only one attached file at post #1 and it contains the new version 7.4 of mkusb and also previous versions. Extract the script from the compressed file with one of these commands (or file-roller).

tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb-old-plus-minor-fix > mkusb
tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb3 > mkusb
...
tar -xvOf mkusb-ball.tar.gz mkusb74 > mkusb

I use the file name mkusb, put it into my ~/bin directory and make it executable.

chmod ugo+x mkusb

The current size and md5sum are listed in the next code box. Check that the file is correct before you start using it!

wc -c mkusb;md5sum mkusb  # from mkusb74
13998 mkusb
d02976734e6be3e173910b9e6ac636c2  mkusb

[Linuxour]

Thank you

[sudodus]

You are welcome I'm glad that mkusb is useful for you.

[Navneet_Kumar]

You can make them using unetbootin...its a freeware and the best one could get.......
Download it fron here...: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

[sudodus]

You can make them using unetbootin...its a freeware and the best one could get.......
Download it fron here...: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

Yes, Unetbootin is a good tool. There is a detailed description how to use it at

Paul Sutton's Unetbootin how to

and you can get a general overview about USB boot drives at this link

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...n/FromUSBStick