How Come You Can't Install Linux From a USB, Like You Can From A DVD?

happydog500 · 10-08-2016, 11:10 PM

I see two ways to install Linux listed. Install from a CD, or a USB. When you install Linux from a CD, you DL the iso, burn it to a CD. Done. That CD will boot up, install or run a Live OS.

With a USB, you'd think you would DL the iso to a USB, done. That CD will not boot up, install or run a Live OS.

That made me curious, how come you can't boot up a USB like you can a CD?

I see instructions for USB that you have to DL one of four different programs, go through unclear, a lot of times doesn't work, procedures.

I've never had a distro that after you put it on a CD, you have to do a bunch more stuff to make it work. One distro has 12 to 17 things you have to do to make the USB work.

I'm asking because I've fixed computers all over town for 22 years, used Linux off and on for 15, and I can't get a USB to work. CD's work every time.

Question; How come you can put an iso on a CD, and it will boot right up, but on a USB, you can't (because you have to do a bunch of stuff after to make it work)?

rkelsen · 10-08-2016, 11:53 PM

You can.

timl · 10-08-2016, 11:55 PM

Hmmm, I burn the iso to the USB stick using the dd command. Then I may have to tell the bios to boot from usb

Timothy Miller · 10-09-2016, 12:04 AM

I can't remember the last time I used an optical drive for installing linux...maybe 6 years ago? Nothing but USB for a long time now.

273 · 10-09-2016, 05:55 AM

Simply put Windows allows one to write a .iso image to a CD or DVD which will create a bootable filesystem. However, Windows does not provide a way of putting that same image onto a USB stick to create a filesystem. Linux does provide that in the shape of dd or, my preferred choice, dcfldd. Under Windows you need a tool like unetbootin top do the same.
So, the issue is a Windows one not a Linux one.

sundialsvcs · 10-09-2016, 08:11 AM

No, you can install Win-doze from a stick, too. (But, who would want to?)

rokytnji · 10-09-2016, 09:23 AM

Listen to yourself

Quote:

burn it to a CD.

Quote:

you'd think you would DL the iso to a USB, done.

You left out the burn to usb part in your head. Crap like that happens to me sometimes also. I blame it on moonshine.

Quote:

Question; How come you can put an iso on a CD, and it will boot right up, but on a USB, you can't (because you have to do a bunch of stuff after to make it work)?

Because you have not learned how yet. I am guessing you have a Windows 10 computer because you say so in your profile so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQfCvoAEY7w

Using dd. Previously mentioned. Requires a linux box and since you sound green to me. Kinda dangerous for a green user. So having said that. Good luck with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74A6pVrv0CA

I know you say you have been using linux 15 years. Longer than I have been using Linux. Just letting you know a hybrid iso is required for dd to work. Most isos are hybrids now, but it does not hurt to make sure before you begin.

rknichols · 10-09-2016, 09:40 AM

Many Linux distributions are downloaded as a hybrid ISO format which can be burned to a CD/DVD or simply copied to a USB flash drive with "dd". Those which are not in that hybrid format need additional steps to make a bootable USB drive. I've never looked into what the issues might be that keep the hybrid format from being more universal.

Doug G · 10-09-2016, 09:55 PM

Fedora and Centos use hybrid ISO's, simply dd to the target device and you're done. In addition, the resulting usb will boot on either legacy or uefi and uefi+secure mode. Just today I was installing Fedora 24 on a recently obtained older Dell laptop. D/L the iso. On another machine dd the iso to the usb flash drive. On the laptop, activate the computer boot menu and there is a choice to boot the usb drive in both the legacy section and the uefi section of the computer's boot menu.

happydog500 · 10-09-2016, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

You can.

No, sorry. I tried to do it in Linux Mint. Salix lists a long list on what has to be done. DVD's do not have a long list of what you have to do to make a DVD work.

Since it didn't work, I tried using UNetbootin. I put the distro I wanted in the box, clicked to start. Noting happened. I unmounted the USB, took it out, closed the program. When I plugged the USB back in, empty, and my computer doesn't recognize it.

I can see it in "Discs" from the 'start' menu, but nothing happens when I insert it into the USB slot. After all this, I tried it in Windows 10. Wish I could install Linux distros with USB. I hate having all these DVD's around.

Thank you for the help,

Chris.

michael diemer · 10-10-2016, 02:41 PM

I recently successfully installed Ubuntu Mate using a USB and Unebootin. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what I did, and am now trying to figure it out, as I'm down to my last DVD. But anyway, it can definitely be done. I used a tutorial I found. Maybe you should Google a bit, I'm sure the answer is out there.

jefro · 10-10-2016, 03:32 PM

Exactly what iso are you wanting to install to a USB? Then we can help you.

Aside for the complexity of writing the image to a usb, the issue I find most often is how one boots to the usb flash or hard drive. The newest getting more common way is that you have a uefi bios and there are issues there. A DVD seems to be more easily seen as a uefi boot device on some systems.

Almost every distro can run from a usb. Rufus, live creator, and Unetbootin are helpful.

Using the distro's help pages on how to create a usb is also a good start.

happydog500 · 10-10-2016, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

Exactly what iso are you wanting to install to a USB? Then we can help you.

Aside for the complexity of writing the image to a usb, the issue I find most often is how one boots to the usb flash or hard drive. The newest getting more common way is that you have a uefi bios and there are issues there. A DVD seems to be more easily seen as a uefi boot device on some systems.

Almost every distro can run from a usb. Rufus, live creator, and Unetbootin are helpful.

Using the distro's help pages on how to create a usb is also a good start.

1 to many to list.
2 Distros help page is worthless. that's why thousands of people all over the world are having problems. It doesn't work. Very few DVD problems. That is a wonder.
3 Every distro can't run from my usb. It's not even recognized by my computer now.

Chris.

m.a.l.'s pa · 10-10-2016, 09:10 PM

I do all of my Linux installations from flash drives these days. It's a fairly routine process once you know what to do.

Do you have more than one flash drive that you can try to use for an installation?

If you've got a Linux system installed, maybe plug in the flash drive, run lsblk, and post the output here, then at least folks here will have something to work with to start helping you.

You can use the lsblk command to find out the name of your flash drive. If I plug in a flash drive here (using Ubuntu 16.04 at the moment) and run lsblk, I see the following:

Code:

steve[~]$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0  24.4G  0 part /
├─sda3   8:3    0  14.7G  0 part [SWAP]
├─sda4   8:4    0  24.4G  0 part /home
├─sda5   8:5    0  48.8G  0 part /media/sda5
└─sda6   8:6    0  48.8G  0 part /media/sda6
sdb      8:16   1  15.2G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1  15.2G  0 part /media/steve/USB20FD
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
steve[~]$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0  24.4G  0 part /
├─sda3   8:3    0  14.7G  0 part [SWAP]
├─sda4   8:4    0  24.4G  0 part /home
├─sda5   8:5    0  48.8G  0 part /media/sda5
└─sda6   8:6    0  48.8G  0 part /media/sda6
sdb      8:16   1  15.2G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1  15.2G  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
steve[~]$

In this example, the flash drive is sdb and the partition on it is sdb1. The first run of lsblk is with the flash drive mounted; the second run is with the flash drive unmounted.

I want to know the name of the flash drive because I like to use the dd command to copy the .iso to the flash drive. I've used unetbootin many times in the past, but unetbootin doesn't always work. In my experience, dd always works.

I don't know how to help you if you're only using Windows because I haven't used Windows at home in years, and anyway I've forgotten a lot. But since you say you are able to install Linux from a CD or DVD, maybe do that, then use the Linux system to create your future Linux installation flash drives. I think it's probably a lot easier to use Linux for that.

happydog500 · 10-11-2016, 12:14 AM

Using Linux. Got this with my 32GB USB Plugged in;

Code:

~ $ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0  55.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0  48.4G  0 part /
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0   7.5G  0 part [SWAP]
sdb      8:16   0 111.8G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0   500M  0 part 
└─sdb2   8:18   0 111.3G  0 part 
sdc      8:32   0 298.1G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   0 298.1G  0 part 
sdd      8:48   1  29.8G  0 disk 
sr0     11:0    1     2K  0 rom

I bought this new USB drive just to put Linux on it. When I tried to format it to Fat, I got this;

Error creating partition on /dev/sdd: Command-line `parted --align optimal --script "/dev/sdd" "mkpart " " ext2 1MiB 32010911231b"' exited with non-zero exit status 1: Warning: Not all of the space available to /dev/sdd appears to be used, you can fix the GPT to use all of the space (an extra 58509312 blocks) or continue with the current setting?
Error: You requested a partition from 1049kB to 32.0GB.
The closest location we can manage is 17.4kB to 2054MB.
(udisks-error-quark, 0)

Thank you for the reply,

Chris.