Installing debian Wheezy from USB stick instructions from the manual not clear
 

I have read the instructions on how to install from USB stick and downloaded the required files:

boot.img
initrd
vmlinuz

debian-7.1.0-i386-CD-1.iso

I do not really understand what is asked from me to do with these files as the commands they are listed in the pdf file manual are not working and I do not understand them completely.

I inserted my USB stick (which is 4GB) in the computer and it shows in the Dolphin as a media device and I can copy files on it, but what do I copy on it and what is that mount / unmount talking in the instructions I do not understand.

What comands do I have to use exactly after I have the stick inserted to get the files in order so I can make my USB bootable?

If you're doing this from a linux box, the easy way is:

to determine what your USB device is, but do not mount it.
The debian image is hybrid and this is all that's actually required. You can specify a blocksize if you choose, it can speed up the copy, but it's not needed.

i typed

lsblk

i got error message:

bash: lsblk: command not found

i typed:

dd if=<image> of=/dev/<your USB drive>

i got error message:

bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

If you don't mind explaining in plain words and clear commands how to make my USB bootable please?

I'm not on a linux box at the moment, but I thought lsblk was in /usr/bin...might be in sbin though, in which case you'd need to become root before being able to use the command.

When doing the dd command <image> means the name of the image, and <your usb drive> means the name of your drive.

so if your image was named image.iso and your USB drive was /dev/sdb, you'd type dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb.

Sorry for repeating myself but I have 4 files downloaded to a linux computer and they are on the desktop. I want to install debian Wheezy on another computer from a USB. What do I do with those 4 files mentioned above? just copy them on the USB stick? I don't think that would be enough... the command you gave me dd... is that what makes the USB bootabe? I just need to know what to do with those 4 files ... what commands I use to make that damn USB bootable?

dd writes the iso file directly to the USB drive. The iso file is a hybrid iso, it requires NOTHING ELSE to be done to the usb drive after it is written to the drive. It will overwrite the boot record and will become bootable. The other 3 files are completely unnecessary for modern Debian images.

Thank you for your explanation. It clarifies the issue of having 4 files. One more question, I do not know which /dev/sd? my USB stick is. It appears in Dolphin as /media/USB-KEY1 and maybe it is mounted already? I have tried your command like this:


dd if=/home/children/Desktop/Linux/debian-7.1.0-i386-CD-1.iso of=/dev/sdX
dd: writing to `/dev/sdX': No space left on device
1016065+0 records in
1016064+0 records out
520224768 bytes (520 MB) copied, 7.39842 s, 70.3 MB/s

but actually i didn't see anything copied on my USB stick (it remained as before the command was executed)

Thank you for your explanation. It clarifies the issue of having 4 files. One more question, I do not know which /dev/sd? my USB stick is. It appears in Dolphin as /media/USB-KEY1 and maybe it is mounted already? I have tried your command like this:


dd if=/home/children/Desktop/Linux/debian-7.1.0-i386-CD-1.iso of=/dev/sdX
dd: writing to `/dev/sdX': No space left on device
1016065+0 records in
1016064+0 records out
520224768 bytes (520 MB) copied, 7.39842 s, 70.3 MB/s

but actually i didn't see anything copied on my USB stick (it remained as before the command was executed)

Be VERY careful with dd.
It WILL overwrite anything you point it at, without questioning you about your choice.

Unmount the USB.

"/sbin/fdisk -l" should list all your disks so you can designate the correct one.