Any way to manually make a bootable USB from ISO?

Question

I've been using Unetbootin but it occasionally fails to create a bootable usb the way I need it to, especially with the newer versions.

Is there a way I could extract the iso myself?

Solution 1

This is a bit destructive, but works all the time. It will write everything to the /dev/sdb (which is the usb device. )

sudo dd if=/path/to.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=16M

read the manpage of dd

Solution 2

Depends. If you are going to use a Live Linux ISO like the Ubuntu LiveCDs then you can use the tool that comes with Ubuntu called Startup Disk Creator. Type Startup in Dash and it should appear there. From there on, the disk creator can create a Live USB from any Linux ISO that is a LiveCD.

If you are referring to a Windows ISO for example that changes everything. I suggest you see this question: How to create a bootable USB from a .iso file?

Comments

[Web-E]

Here is how to extract ISO to usb and make it boot able askubuntu.com/a/116886/35775

[Ringtail]

This question appears to be abandoned by the OP. Voting to close it.

[James Henstridge]

This will only work if it is a hybrid ISO containing an MBR and partitioning to allow you to use it as a disk image too. So it may or may not work for the questioner's case.

[oneself]

@JamesHenstridge: This is true, however, most "live CD" ISOs have this property. So, this method should work for most real-live use-cases.

[Gopal Venu]

That's not manually.

[Brock Hensley]

or a bad ISO...

[Jason C]

@techtonik It's as "manual" as dd or any other piece of software that performs the same function.

[Gopal Venu]

@JasonC, are you sure that simple raw copy from ISO to USB is enough to make it bootable? I thought that you need to do some checks that ISO fits USB correctly and set some bits to make it bootable.

[Ehtesh Choudhury]

isohybrid is a useful command for this purpose: superuser.com/a/592656/45927

[Fabby]

Although your answer is 100% correct, it might also become 100% useless if that link is moved, changed, merged into another one or the main site just disappears... :-( Therefore, please edit your answer, and copy the relevant steps from the link into your answer, thereby guaranteeing your answer for 100% of the lifetime of this site! ;-) You can always leave the link in at the bottom of your answer as a source for your material...

[Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com]

@EhteshChoudhury that is how the kernel does it on make isoimage: github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/…

[Woeitg]

worked fine on my laptop when booted in live cd with ubunto