DD command to create Bootable Windows Installer USB

273 · 02-10-2020, 01:16 PM

So, to confirm, people have been able to dd the Windows 10 image to a USB drive and run it?
It used to be one needed Windows to create the drive for some, mysterious, reason.

sevendogsbsd · 02-10-2020, 01:30 PM

Chicken/egg scenario but they automatically (and arrogantly) assume you are already using windows...

rtmistler · 02-10-2020, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

So, to confirm, people have been able to dd the Windows 10 image to a USB drive and run it?

Yes absolutely. Recommended this earlier in the thread. You can't be running Windows though, and I should also point out that you really need to copy the entire Windows drive, not just a partition which you select.

Fact I bought a new SSD about a year ago for a Windows machine, to be larger than the one in the laptop. So I booted using Linux from a USB stick and used dd to bit copy the entire original drive to the new drive, then swapped the new drive to be the primary system drive, booted it, and used (I forget) a partition extending program to extend the drive to the maximum size it would allow.

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

I would think that you would be able to simply loop mount the windows iso file to a directory then use either cp or dd to copy the contents of the windows directory to a previously created partition on the usb. Since it is windows, you would need a windows filesystem and it may need to be exfat or ntfs depending upon the size. Mark the partition as active/bootable using GParted or another method. Brief description of the method at the link below, scroll down to the post by Lithium79. Not exactly what you were looking for. I don't have any windows iso to test so can't verify anything.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=30645773

using dd on a formatted drive will resulting in overwriting the drive with DD default format, which is not FAT or NTFS. I'm guessing it's ext4 or something like that. And, when booting into BIOS, press F10 to choose what to load, it will show "Diskette Drive". Selecting the drive will make the monitor blinking 2 or 3 times then booting into your main OS which installed on the device.

wpeckham · 02-10-2020, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahiunglim

using dd on a formatted drive will resulting in overwriting the drive with DD default format, which is not FAT or NTFS. I'm guessing it's ext4 or something like that. And, when booting into BIOS, press F10 to choose what to load, it will show "Diskette Drive". Selecting the drive will make the monitor blinking 2 or 3 times then booting into your main OS which installed on the device.

dd has no default format, it just copies blocks of data. It will, at the block level, clone ANY data in ANY format. This is why it can be used for things like to zap tracks on rotating disk to overwrite the MBR if needed: as one example.

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd

Chicken/egg scenario but they automatically (and arrogantly) assume you are already using windows...

As the story i already said above, I don't have windows device, only Linux and OSX. What's the point of making Windows USB on Windows using DD command? It has tons of software capable of doing that with just few clicks like Rufus, Windows USB maker, etc. Which are exclusively just for Windows, not other OS.

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

dd has no default format, it just copies blocks of data. It will, at the block level, clone ANY data in ANY format.

hmm, just to be sure, I will try to do these step and see what it does.
1.gparted flashdisk to MSDOS, partition FAT32, flag BOOT
2.dd if=win8.iso of=sdb bs=4M
3.recheck flashdisk format in gparted and see if it changed to other or not.

i'll be right back

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd

FYI, the Windows 10 install media is free for download from Microsoft. Has to be activated against a license or to hardware that came with it originally so no harm in giving the media away free. This download has both 10 home and pro. I have no idea why I know this, I don't use windows...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...d/windows10ISO

I'm not asking any *.exe, yes I know it's easier to do that IF I got a windows machine, but did I say I have one?

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahiunglim

hmm, just to be sure, I will try to do these step and see what it does.
1.gparted flashdisk to MSDOS, partition FAT32, flag BOOT
2.dd if=win8.iso of=sdb bs=4M
3.recheck flashdisk format in gparted and see if it changed to other or not.

i'll be right back

Picture:
https://i.ibb.co/QMvS1Qc/Screenshot-...1-09-58-43.png

This is the result of DD-ing Win8.ISO into FlashDrive
The Gparted formatted was FAT32, and now it changed into UDF, a format which I'm not familiar with at all.
The Label changed, I named it "WIN8USB" upon formatting the drive.
And , I don't see boot flag anymore.

jefro · 02-10-2020, 10:25 PM

UDF is a type of filesystem used on optical drives.

I think it's easier to use windows ways to create a bootable windows usb or use one of the creators like rufus and such.

I've tried to dd a windows dvd image but it didn't work. Played with a bit and decided to try a known method. The old windows way used command line partition tool to manage the usb then used simple file copy. The new way is a windows exe program.

ahiunglim · 02-10-2020, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

UDF is a type of filesystem used on optical drives.

I think it's easier to use windows ways to create a bootable windows usb or use one of the creators like rufus and such.

I've tried to dd a windows dvd image but it didn't work. Played with a bit and decided to try a known method. The old windows way used command line partition tool to manage the usb then used simple file copy. The new way is a windows exe program.

you are right, many people think I'm joking about DD not be able to make Windows USB Installer, I think they only use DD on Linux Images, if Linux works then Windows should work too(they think), but the reality sucks. I wish linux can run exe like windows too, it makes life easier. Wine is not almighty, when it's related to usb drive, a lot of wine-executed application can not read USB drive, and a lot of exe requiring runtime, or whatever kind of shits too.

ahiunglim · 02-11-2020, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

E2B does not install in your OS, it installs on your USB device from either one. (The instructions differ because you are running form a different OS to load the USB. I do not recall OSX instructions, but then I did not look.)

If you are interested, I can provide links to the download and instruction pages.
I recommend E2B for USB booting to run or install ISO images
https://www.easy2boot.com/download/
https://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-ea...e-using-linux/
I own no stock in E2B, it just answers a regularly recurring question.
I boot both Linux and Windows ISOs, and for both traditional and UEFI installation.

hmm, I tried to look at to your method, it seems that E2B is no simpler than yancek's solution. For comparison, in E2B, we still have to download some scripts and click this and that, there's an option copying file using dd in the method but it seems confusing to me.

Well, it just for comparison for both alternative solution but still not satisfying the post objective.

273 · 02-11-2020, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtmistler

Yes absolutely. Recommended this earlier in the thread. You can't be running Windows though, and I should also point out that you really need to copy the entire Windows drive, not just a partition which you select.

My apologies, I should have been more specific but thought that, from the first post in the thread, it would be clear I meant install images.

If it's possible I could do with knowing how since I lost my last dual-boot install a while back but would like a Windows installer image for some testing.