https://wiki.archlinux.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=ManiDhillon&feedformat=atomArchWiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T12:21:09ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.41.0https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=User:ManiDhillon&diff=248214User:ManiDhillon2013-02-23T07:39:08Z<p>ManiDhillon: Created page with "'''User Page for ManiDhillon'''"</p>
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<div>'''User Page for ManiDhillon'''</div>ManiDhillonhttps://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=USB_flash_installation_medium&diff=248213USB flash installation medium2013-02-23T07:37:26Z<p>ManiDhillon: /* Linux Live USB Creator */</p>
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<div>[[Category:Getting and installing Arch]]<br />
[[bg:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[de:Installation von einem USB-Stick]]<br />
[[es:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[it:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ja:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ro:Instalare prin USB]]<br />
[[ru:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[tr:USB_ile_kurulum]]<br />
[[zh-CN:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[zh-TW:USB Installation Media]]<br />
{{Article summary start}}<br />
{{Article summary text|Mutiplatform instructions on creating a bootable USB stick which can be used for installing Arch Linux, system maintenance or for recovery purposes.}}<br />
{{Article summary heading|Related}}<br />
{{Article summary wiki|CD Burning}}<br />
{{Article summary end}}<br />
<br />
This page discusses various methods on how to write an Arch Linux release to a USB drive (also referred to as ''"flash drive", "USB stick", "USB key"'', etc). The result will be a LiveCD-like system (''"LiveUSB"'', if you will) that, because of the nature of [[Wikipedia:SquashFS|SquashFS]], will discard all changes once the computer shuts down.<br />
<br />
If you would like to run a full install of Arch Linux from a USB drive (i.e. with persistent settings), see [[Installing Arch Linux on a USB key]].<br />
<br />
{{Note|For [[UEFI]] boot, create a bootable USB stick by following [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.}}<br />
<br />
== On GNU/Linux ==<br />
<br />
=== Overwrite the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably destroy all data on {{ic|/dev/sdx}}.}}<br />
{{Note|This method does not work with UEFI boot.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|Check with {{ic|lsblk}} that the USB device is '''not''' mounted, and use {{ic|/dev/sdx}} instead of {{ic|/dev/sdx1}}. '''These are very common mistakes!'''}}<br />
<br />
# dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
{{Note|Some older firmware does not understand the isohybrid hack where start of fake partition offset is 0. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32189 for a fix involving isohybrid.pl.}}<br />
<br />
==== How to restore the USB drive ====<br />
<br />
Because the ISO image is a hybrid which can either be burned to a disc or directly written to a USB drive, it doesn't include a standard partition table.<br />
<br />
After you install Arch Linux and you're done with the USB drive, you should zero out its first 512 bytes ''(meaning the boot code from the MBR and the non-standard partition table)'' if you want to restore it to full capacity:<br />
<br />
# dd count=1 bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
Then create a new partition table (e.g. "msdos") and filesystem (e.g. EXT4, FAT32) using {{Pkg|gparted}}, or from a terminal:<br />
<br />
* For EXT2/3/4 (adjust accordingly), it would be:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx1<br />
# e2label /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
* For FAT32, install the {{Pkg|dosfstools}} package and run:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdx1<br />
# dosfslabel /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
=== Without overwriting the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
This method is slightly more complicated than writing the image directly with {{ic|dd}}, but it does keep the drive usable for data storage. Before you begin, make sure that your USB device is formatted as either FAT32, EXT2/3/4 or Btrfs. For [[UEFI]] boot and/or interoperability with other operating systems you should use FAT32. Also, make sure that you have the ''syslinux'' package (version 4.04 or newer) installed.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Extract the {{ic|arch}} folder from the ISO to the USB drive. For UEFI motherboards follow [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Install the Syslinux bootloader:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|Be very careful where you point {{ic|dd}} and please use the drive '''itself''' in the following commands, '''not''' the first partition. This is a very common mistake.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|On some distributions the {{ic|mbr.bin}} file may be available as {{ic|/usr/'''share'''/syslinux/mbr.bin}}.}}<br />
<br />
$ cd /media/''somefolder''/arch/boot/syslinux #Where ''somefolder'' is the USB drive's mount point. Do not skip this step.<br />
# extlinux --install . #Type it exactly as you see it, including the dot.<br />
# dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx<br />
# parted /dev/sdx toggle 1 boot<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Adjust the configuration files:<br />
<br />
{{Note|While you ''could'' label the drive "{{ic|ARCH_2012XX}}" (with the appropriate release month), perhaps an even better approach is to use the [[UUID]] ''(this way you can re-label it whatever you want later without having to worry about it, or you could just leave it blank)''. Failing to do either '''will''' get you the famous '''30 seconds error'''.}}<br />
<br />
Here's how you can replace the {{ic|1=archisolabel=ARCH_2012XX}} part with your equivalent of {{ic|1=archiso'''device'''=/dev/disk/by-uuid/47FA-4071}} for both config files at the same time, using a single command:<br />
<br />
{{Note|Adjust {{ic|/dev/sdx1}} before running it, else it will become blank (since drive {{ic|sdx}} doesn't exist).}}<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|label=ARCH_2012.*|device=/dev/disk/by-uuid/$(lsblk -no UUID /dev/sdx1)|" archiso_sys{32,64}.cfg<br />
<br />
If the ''syslinux'' package on your distribution is older than version 4.06, as a workaround for FAT32 filesystems (unnecessary for EXT4), the {{ic|APPEND}} line from {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} should also be replaced:<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|../../|/arch|" syslinux.cfg<br />
<br />
== On Mac OS X ==<br />
<br />
To be able to use dd on your usb device on a Mac you have to do some special maneuvers. First of all insert your usb device, OS X will automount it, and run<br />
<br />
diskutil list<br />
<br />
in Terminal.app. Figure out what your usb device is called - mine was called /dev/disk1. (Just use the `mount` command or `sudo dmesg | tail`.) Now you run<br />
<br />
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
to unmount the partitions on the device (i.e., /dev/disk1s1) while keeping the device proper (i.e., /dev/disk1). Now we can continue in accordance with the Linux instructions above (but use bs=8192 if you are using the OS X dd, the number comes from 1024*8).<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192<br />
20480+0 records in<br />
20480+0 records out<br />
167772160 bytes transferred in 220.016918 secs (762542 bytes/sec)<br />
<br />
it is probably a good idea to eject your drive before physical removal at this point.<br />
<br />
diskutil eject /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
== On Windows ==<br />
<br />
=== Image Writer for Windows ===<br />
<br />
Download the program from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ and run it. Select the arch image-file and usb stick. The Win32 Disk Imager's file browser assumes image files end with .img, so if the image-file you have selected ends with .iso, you will have to type its name in manually; this difference in suffixes is simply cosmetic however, the image will be written fine regardless. Click on the write button. Now you should be able to boot from the usb stick and install Arch Linux from it.<br />
<br />
=== The Universal USB Installer ===<br />
<br />
[http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ Universal USB Installer] is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive.<br />
<br />
{{Note|The Universal USB Installer assigns the label PENDRIVE to the usb drive which causes boot failures because Arch cannot find the installation medium at the default path /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH20130201. It is therefore recommended to use Image Writer for Windows.}}<br />
<br />
=== Linux Live USB Creator ===<br />
<br />
{{warning|This method is broken on the dual architecture iso ('''Solution Provided''')}}<br />
<br />
[http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ Linux Live USB Creator] can be used to create a bootable USB key for Arch either using a manually downloaded iso or automatically downloading the iso itself. It also supports automatic installation of VirtualBox on the USB key which can be used to boot Arch inside Windows. Visit [http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ home page] for more info.<br />
<br />
'''Problem:''' When using Linux Live USB(LiLi) Creator to write dual architecture iso to a USB, LiLi changes the label of the USB to ''MYLINUXLIVE'' by default but the file ''archiso-x86_64.conf'' tell linux to look for installation media named with the month and release date of the file, eg: ARCH_201302 Hence the famous 30 second error.<br />
<br />
'''Solution:''' There are two solutions to this problem:<br />
* In your USB open /loade/archiso-x86_64.conf and change the last line saying archisolabel=something to reflect the label of your USB eg: if your USB label is MYLINUXLIVE then this file should look like:<br />
<br />
{| border="1"<br />
|+ /loader/archiso-x86_64.conf:<br />
|''title Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI USB<br />
<br />
linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz<br />
<br />
initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img<br />
<br />
options archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=MYLINUXLIVE''<br />
|}<br />
<br />
* Or you can just change the label of your USB to the value of ''archisolabel'' shown in ''/loader/archiso-x86_64.conf''. Be sure to change the ''autorun.inf'' file with same label because if you do not do this the label will change back to LiLi default which is ''MYLINUXLIVE''.<br />
<br />
=== UNetbootin ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|DO NOT USE UNETBOOTIN. This program writes over the default {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} and breaks the loading process. Please use a different program or method.}}<br />
<br />
=== The Flashnul Way ===<br />
<br />
[http://shounen.ru/soft/flashnul/ flashnul] is an utility to verify the functionality and maintenance of Flash-Memory (USB-Flash, IDE-Flash, SecureDigital, MMC, MemoryStick, SmartMedia, XD, CompactFlash etc).<br />
<br />
From a command prompt, invoke flashnul with -p, and determine which device index is your USB drive. For example, my output looks like this:<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul -p<br />
<br />
Avaible physical drives:<br />
Avaible logical disks:<br />
C:\<br />
D:\<br />
E:\<br />
<br />
In my case, it is drive E:<br />
<br />
When you have determined which device is the correct one, you can write the image to your drive, by invoking flashnul with the device index, -L, and the path to your image. In my case, it would be<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul E: -L path\to\arch.iso<br />
<br />
As long as you are really sure you want to write the data, type yes, then wait a bit for it to write. If you get an access denied error, close any Explorer windows you have open.<br />
<br />
If under Vista or Win7, you should open the console as administrator, or else flashnul will fail to open the stick as a block device and will only be able to write via the drive handle windows provides<br />
<br />
{{Note|Confirmed that you need to use drive letter as opposed to number. flashnul 1rc1, Windows 7 x64. -bgalakazam}}<br />
<br />
=== The Cygwin Way ===<br />
<br />
Make sure your [http://www.cygwin.com/ Cygwin] installation contains the dd package. Or if you do not want to install Cygwin, you can simply download dd for windows from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd.<br />
<br />
Place your image file in your home directory, in my case it is:<br />
<br />
C:\cygwin\home\John\<br />
<br />
Run cygwin as administrator (required for cygwin to access hardware). To write to your USB drive use the following command:<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=\\.\[x]:<br />
<br />
where image.iso is the path to the iso-image file within the cygwin directory and \\.\[x]: is your USB device where x is the windows designated letter, in my case "\\.\d:".<br />
<br />
On cygwin 6.0 find out the correct partition with<br />
<br />
cat /proc/partitions<br />
<br />
and write the ISO image with the information from the output. Example:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably delete all files on your USB stick, so make sure you do not have any important files on the stick before doing this.}}<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb<br />
<br />
=== dd for Windows ===<br />
<br />
A GPL licensed dd version for Windows is available at http://www.chrysocome.net/dd. The advantage of this over Cygwin is smaller download. Use it as shown in instructions for Cygwin above.<br />
<br />
=== Boot the entire ISO from RAM ===<br />
<br />
This method uses [[Syslinux]] and '''[http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK MEMDISK]''' to load the entire ISO image in RAM, so make sure you have enough RAM to hold it. Once it's done loading and you see the graphical menu you can simply remove the USB stick and maybe even use it on a different machine to start the process all over again. It also allows booting and installing Arch from (and to) the same USB stick.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Format the USB stick as FAT32 and create the following folders:<br />
<br />
X:\Boot<br />
X:\Boot\ISOs<br />
X:\Boot\Settings<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Copy the ISO you'd like to boot to the "ISOs" folder (e.g. ''archlinux-2012.08.04-dual.iso''), and extract from the '''[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ latest release]''' (e.g. ''syslinux-4.05.zip''):<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./win32/syslinux.exe}} to the desktop, or wherever you want.<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./memdisk/memdisk}} to the "Settings" folder.<br />
<br />
And while you're in this folder, create a {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} file:<br />
<br />
{{hc|X:\Boot\Settings\syslinux.cfg|2=<br />
DEFAULT arch_iso<br />
<br />
LABEL arch_iso<br />
MENU LABEL Arch Setup<br />
LINUX memdisk<br />
INITRD /Boot/ISOs/archlinux-2012.11.01-dual.iso<br />
APPEND iso}}<br />
<br />
{{Tip|If you want to add more distributions ''(Debian and Parted Magic were tested)'' you can edit this file. Maybe even give it a nice menu and a background image, instead of defaulting to the Arch Linux ISO. Refer to the [[Syslinux]] wiki.}}<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Finally, create a {{ic|*.bat}} file where {{ic|syslinux.exe}} is located and run it ("Run as administrator" if you're on Vista or Windows 7):<br />
<br />
{{hc|C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop\install.bat|<br />
@echo off<br />
syslinux.exe -m -a -d /Boot/Settings X:}}<br />
<br />
Done.<br />
<br />
== Troubleshooting ==<br />
{{Note| For the MEMDISK Method, if you get the famous '''30 seconds error''' trying to boot the i686 version, press the {{Keypress|Tab}} key over the {{ic|Boot Arch Linux (i686)}} entry and add {{ic|vmalloc&#61;448M}} at the end. This only applies to the MEMDISK method. For reference: ''If your image is bigger than 128MiB and you have a 32-bit OS, then you have to increase the maximum memory usage of vmalloc''. [http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK#-_memdiskfind_in_combination_with_phram_and_mtdblock (*)]}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|In general, if you get the '''30 seconds error''' due to the /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_XXXXXX not mounting, try renaming your USB media to ARCH_XXXXXX, for example ARCH_201302, and try to boot the media once again. It should fix the error.}}<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml Gentoo liveusb document]</div>ManiDhillonhttps://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=USB_flash_installation_medium&diff=248212USB flash installation medium2013-02-23T07:36:05Z<p>ManiDhillon: /* Linux Live USB Creator */</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Category:Getting and installing Arch]]<br />
[[bg:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[de:Installation von einem USB-Stick]]<br />
[[es:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[it:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ja:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ro:Instalare prin USB]]<br />
[[ru:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[tr:USB_ile_kurulum]]<br />
[[zh-CN:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[zh-TW:USB Installation Media]]<br />
{{Article summary start}}<br />
{{Article summary text|Mutiplatform instructions on creating a bootable USB stick which can be used for installing Arch Linux, system maintenance or for recovery purposes.}}<br />
{{Article summary heading|Related}}<br />
{{Article summary wiki|CD Burning}}<br />
{{Article summary end}}<br />
<br />
This page discusses various methods on how to write an Arch Linux release to a USB drive (also referred to as ''"flash drive", "USB stick", "USB key"'', etc). The result will be a LiveCD-like system (''"LiveUSB"'', if you will) that, because of the nature of [[Wikipedia:SquashFS|SquashFS]], will discard all changes once the computer shuts down.<br />
<br />
If you would like to run a full install of Arch Linux from a USB drive (i.e. with persistent settings), see [[Installing Arch Linux on a USB key]].<br />
<br />
{{Note|For [[UEFI]] boot, create a bootable USB stick by following [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.}}<br />
<br />
== On GNU/Linux ==<br />
<br />
=== Overwrite the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably destroy all data on {{ic|/dev/sdx}}.}}<br />
{{Note|This method does not work with UEFI boot.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|Check with {{ic|lsblk}} that the USB device is '''not''' mounted, and use {{ic|/dev/sdx}} instead of {{ic|/dev/sdx1}}. '''These are very common mistakes!'''}}<br />
<br />
# dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
{{Note|Some older firmware does not understand the isohybrid hack where start of fake partition offset is 0. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32189 for a fix involving isohybrid.pl.}}<br />
<br />
==== How to restore the USB drive ====<br />
<br />
Because the ISO image is a hybrid which can either be burned to a disc or directly written to a USB drive, it doesn't include a standard partition table.<br />
<br />
After you install Arch Linux and you're done with the USB drive, you should zero out its first 512 bytes ''(meaning the boot code from the MBR and the non-standard partition table)'' if you want to restore it to full capacity:<br />
<br />
# dd count=1 bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
Then create a new partition table (e.g. "msdos") and filesystem (e.g. EXT4, FAT32) using {{Pkg|gparted}}, or from a terminal:<br />
<br />
* For EXT2/3/4 (adjust accordingly), it would be:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx1<br />
# e2label /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
* For FAT32, install the {{Pkg|dosfstools}} package and run:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdx1<br />
# dosfslabel /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
=== Without overwriting the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
This method is slightly more complicated than writing the image directly with {{ic|dd}}, but it does keep the drive usable for data storage. Before you begin, make sure that your USB device is formatted as either FAT32, EXT2/3/4 or Btrfs. For [[UEFI]] boot and/or interoperability with other operating systems you should use FAT32. Also, make sure that you have the ''syslinux'' package (version 4.04 or newer) installed.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Extract the {{ic|arch}} folder from the ISO to the USB drive. For UEFI motherboards follow [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Install the Syslinux bootloader:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|Be very careful where you point {{ic|dd}} and please use the drive '''itself''' in the following commands, '''not''' the first partition. This is a very common mistake.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|On some distributions the {{ic|mbr.bin}} file may be available as {{ic|/usr/'''share'''/syslinux/mbr.bin}}.}}<br />
<br />
$ cd /media/''somefolder''/arch/boot/syslinux #Where ''somefolder'' is the USB drive's mount point. Do not skip this step.<br />
# extlinux --install . #Type it exactly as you see it, including the dot.<br />
# dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx<br />
# parted /dev/sdx toggle 1 boot<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Adjust the configuration files:<br />
<br />
{{Note|While you ''could'' label the drive "{{ic|ARCH_2012XX}}" (with the appropriate release month), perhaps an even better approach is to use the [[UUID]] ''(this way you can re-label it whatever you want later without having to worry about it, or you could just leave it blank)''. Failing to do either '''will''' get you the famous '''30 seconds error'''.}}<br />
<br />
Here's how you can replace the {{ic|1=archisolabel=ARCH_2012XX}} part with your equivalent of {{ic|1=archiso'''device'''=/dev/disk/by-uuid/47FA-4071}} for both config files at the same time, using a single command:<br />
<br />
{{Note|Adjust {{ic|/dev/sdx1}} before running it, else it will become blank (since drive {{ic|sdx}} doesn't exist).}}<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|label=ARCH_2012.*|device=/dev/disk/by-uuid/$(lsblk -no UUID /dev/sdx1)|" archiso_sys{32,64}.cfg<br />
<br />
If the ''syslinux'' package on your distribution is older than version 4.06, as a workaround for FAT32 filesystems (unnecessary for EXT4), the {{ic|APPEND}} line from {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} should also be replaced:<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|../../|/arch|" syslinux.cfg<br />
<br />
== On Mac OS X ==<br />
<br />
To be able to use dd on your usb device on a Mac you have to do some special maneuvers. First of all insert your usb device, OS X will automount it, and run<br />
<br />
diskutil list<br />
<br />
in Terminal.app. Figure out what your usb device is called - mine was called /dev/disk1. (Just use the `mount` command or `sudo dmesg | tail`.) Now you run<br />
<br />
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
to unmount the partitions on the device (i.e., /dev/disk1s1) while keeping the device proper (i.e., /dev/disk1). Now we can continue in accordance with the Linux instructions above (but use bs=8192 if you are using the OS X dd, the number comes from 1024*8).<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192<br />
20480+0 records in<br />
20480+0 records out<br />
167772160 bytes transferred in 220.016918 secs (762542 bytes/sec)<br />
<br />
it is probably a good idea to eject your drive before physical removal at this point.<br />
<br />
diskutil eject /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
== On Windows ==<br />
<br />
=== Image Writer for Windows ===<br />
<br />
Download the program from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ and run it. Select the arch image-file and usb stick. The Win32 Disk Imager's file browser assumes image files end with .img, so if the image-file you have selected ends with .iso, you will have to type its name in manually; this difference in suffixes is simply cosmetic however, the image will be written fine regardless. Click on the write button. Now you should be able to boot from the usb stick and install Arch Linux from it.<br />
<br />
=== The Universal USB Installer ===<br />
<br />
[http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ Universal USB Installer] is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive.<br />
<br />
{{Note|The Universal USB Installer assigns the label PENDRIVE to the usb drive which causes boot failures because Arch cannot find the installation medium at the default path /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH20130201. It is therefore recommended to use Image Writer for Windows.}}<br />
<br />
=== Linux Live USB Creator ===<br />
<br />
{{warning|This method is broken on the dual architecture iso ('''Solution Provided''')}}<br />
<br />
[http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ Linux Live USB Creator] can be used to create a bootable USB key for Arch either using a manually downloaded iso or automatically downloading the iso itself. It also supports automatic installation of VirtualBox on the USB key which can be used to boot Arch inside Windows. Visit [http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ home page] for more info.<br />
<br />
'''Problem:''' When using Linux Live USB(LiLi) Creator to write dual architecture iso to a USB, LiLi changes the label of the USB to ''MYLINUXLIVE'' by default but the file ''archiso-x86_64.conf'' tell linux to look for installation media named with the month and release date of the file, eg: ARCH_201302 Hence the famous 30 second error.<br />
<br />
'''Solution:''' There are two solutions to this problem:<br />
* In your USB open archiso-x86_64.conf and change the last line saying archisolabel=something to reflect the label of your USB eg: if your USB label is MYLINUXLIVE then this file should look like:<br />
<br />
{| border="1"<br />
|+ /loader/archiso-x86_64.conf:<br />
|''title Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI USB<br />
<br />
linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz<br />
<br />
initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img<br />
<br />
options archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=MYLINUXLIVE''<br />
|}<br />
<br />
* Or you can just change the label of your USB to the value of ''archisolabel'' shown in ''/loader/archiso-x86_64.conf''. Bes sure to change the ''autorun.inf'' file with same label because if you do not do this the label will change back to LiLi default which is ''MYLINUXLIVE''.<br />
<br />
=== UNetbootin ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|DO NOT USE UNETBOOTIN. This program writes over the default {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} and breaks the loading process. Please use a different program or method.}}<br />
<br />
=== The Flashnul Way ===<br />
<br />
[http://shounen.ru/soft/flashnul/ flashnul] is an utility to verify the functionality and maintenance of Flash-Memory (USB-Flash, IDE-Flash, SecureDigital, MMC, MemoryStick, SmartMedia, XD, CompactFlash etc).<br />
<br />
From a command prompt, invoke flashnul with -p, and determine which device index is your USB drive. For example, my output looks like this:<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul -p<br />
<br />
Avaible physical drives:<br />
Avaible logical disks:<br />
C:\<br />
D:\<br />
E:\<br />
<br />
In my case, it is drive E:<br />
<br />
When you have determined which device is the correct one, you can write the image to your drive, by invoking flashnul with the device index, -L, and the path to your image. In my case, it would be<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul E: -L path\to\arch.iso<br />
<br />
As long as you are really sure you want to write the data, type yes, then wait a bit for it to write. If you get an access denied error, close any Explorer windows you have open.<br />
<br />
If under Vista or Win7, you should open the console as administrator, or else flashnul will fail to open the stick as a block device and will only be able to write via the drive handle windows provides<br />
<br />
{{Note|Confirmed that you need to use drive letter as opposed to number. flashnul 1rc1, Windows 7 x64. -bgalakazam}}<br />
<br />
=== The Cygwin Way ===<br />
<br />
Make sure your [http://www.cygwin.com/ Cygwin] installation contains the dd package. Or if you do not want to install Cygwin, you can simply download dd for windows from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd.<br />
<br />
Place your image file in your home directory, in my case it is:<br />
<br />
C:\cygwin\home\John\<br />
<br />
Run cygwin as administrator (required for cygwin to access hardware). To write to your USB drive use the following command:<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=\\.\[x]:<br />
<br />
where image.iso is the path to the iso-image file within the cygwin directory and \\.\[x]: is your USB device where x is the windows designated letter, in my case "\\.\d:".<br />
<br />
On cygwin 6.0 find out the correct partition with<br />
<br />
cat /proc/partitions<br />
<br />
and write the ISO image with the information from the output. Example:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably delete all files on your USB stick, so make sure you do not have any important files on the stick before doing this.}}<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb<br />
<br />
=== dd for Windows ===<br />
<br />
A GPL licensed dd version for Windows is available at http://www.chrysocome.net/dd. The advantage of this over Cygwin is smaller download. Use it as shown in instructions for Cygwin above.<br />
<br />
=== Boot the entire ISO from RAM ===<br />
<br />
This method uses [[Syslinux]] and '''[http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK MEMDISK]''' to load the entire ISO image in RAM, so make sure you have enough RAM to hold it. Once it's done loading and you see the graphical menu you can simply remove the USB stick and maybe even use it on a different machine to start the process all over again. It also allows booting and installing Arch from (and to) the same USB stick.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Format the USB stick as FAT32 and create the following folders:<br />
<br />
X:\Boot<br />
X:\Boot\ISOs<br />
X:\Boot\Settings<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Copy the ISO you'd like to boot to the "ISOs" folder (e.g. ''archlinux-2012.08.04-dual.iso''), and extract from the '''[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ latest release]''' (e.g. ''syslinux-4.05.zip''):<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./win32/syslinux.exe}} to the desktop, or wherever you want.<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./memdisk/memdisk}} to the "Settings" folder.<br />
<br />
And while you're in this folder, create a {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} file:<br />
<br />
{{hc|X:\Boot\Settings\syslinux.cfg|2=<br />
DEFAULT arch_iso<br />
<br />
LABEL arch_iso<br />
MENU LABEL Arch Setup<br />
LINUX memdisk<br />
INITRD /Boot/ISOs/archlinux-2012.11.01-dual.iso<br />
APPEND iso}}<br />
<br />
{{Tip|If you want to add more distributions ''(Debian and Parted Magic were tested)'' you can edit this file. Maybe even give it a nice menu and a background image, instead of defaulting to the Arch Linux ISO. Refer to the [[Syslinux]] wiki.}}<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Finally, create a {{ic|*.bat}} file where {{ic|syslinux.exe}} is located and run it ("Run as administrator" if you're on Vista or Windows 7):<br />
<br />
{{hc|C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop\install.bat|<br />
@echo off<br />
syslinux.exe -m -a -d /Boot/Settings X:}}<br />
<br />
Done.<br />
<br />
== Troubleshooting ==<br />
{{Note| For the MEMDISK Method, if you get the famous '''30 seconds error''' trying to boot the i686 version, press the {{Keypress|Tab}} key over the {{ic|Boot Arch Linux (i686)}} entry and add {{ic|vmalloc&#61;448M}} at the end. This only applies to the MEMDISK method. For reference: ''If your image is bigger than 128MiB and you have a 32-bit OS, then you have to increase the maximum memory usage of vmalloc''. [http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK#-_memdiskfind_in_combination_with_phram_and_mtdblock (*)]}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|In general, if you get the '''30 seconds error''' due to the /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_XXXXXX not mounting, try renaming your USB media to ARCH_XXXXXX, for example ARCH_201302, and try to boot the media once again. It should fix the error.}}<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml Gentoo liveusb document]</div>ManiDhillonhttps://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=USB_flash_installation_medium&diff=248211USB flash installation medium2013-02-23T07:34:54Z<p>ManiDhillon: /* Linux Live USB Creator */</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Category:Getting and installing Arch]]<br />
[[bg:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[de:Installation von einem USB-Stick]]<br />
[[es:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[it:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ja:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ro:Instalare prin USB]]<br />
[[ru:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[tr:USB_ile_kurulum]]<br />
[[zh-CN:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[zh-TW:USB Installation Media]]<br />
{{Article summary start}}<br />
{{Article summary text|Mutiplatform instructions on creating a bootable USB stick which can be used for installing Arch Linux, system maintenance or for recovery purposes.}}<br />
{{Article summary heading|Related}}<br />
{{Article summary wiki|CD Burning}}<br />
{{Article summary end}}<br />
<br />
This page discusses various methods on how to write an Arch Linux release to a USB drive (also referred to as ''"flash drive", "USB stick", "USB key"'', etc). The result will be a LiveCD-like system (''"LiveUSB"'', if you will) that, because of the nature of [[Wikipedia:SquashFS|SquashFS]], will discard all changes once the computer shuts down.<br />
<br />
If you would like to run a full install of Arch Linux from a USB drive (i.e. with persistent settings), see [[Installing Arch Linux on a USB key]].<br />
<br />
{{Note|For [[UEFI]] boot, create a bootable USB stick by following [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.}}<br />
<br />
== On GNU/Linux ==<br />
<br />
=== Overwrite the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably destroy all data on {{ic|/dev/sdx}}.}}<br />
{{Note|This method does not work with UEFI boot.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|Check with {{ic|lsblk}} that the USB device is '''not''' mounted, and use {{ic|/dev/sdx}} instead of {{ic|/dev/sdx1}}. '''These are very common mistakes!'''}}<br />
<br />
# dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
{{Note|Some older firmware does not understand the isohybrid hack where start of fake partition offset is 0. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32189 for a fix involving isohybrid.pl.}}<br />
<br />
==== How to restore the USB drive ====<br />
<br />
Because the ISO image is a hybrid which can either be burned to a disc or directly written to a USB drive, it doesn't include a standard partition table.<br />
<br />
After you install Arch Linux and you're done with the USB drive, you should zero out its first 512 bytes ''(meaning the boot code from the MBR and the non-standard partition table)'' if you want to restore it to full capacity:<br />
<br />
# dd count=1 bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
Then create a new partition table (e.g. "msdos") and filesystem (e.g. EXT4, FAT32) using {{Pkg|gparted}}, or from a terminal:<br />
<br />
* For EXT2/3/4 (adjust accordingly), it would be:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx1<br />
# e2label /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
* For FAT32, install the {{Pkg|dosfstools}} package and run:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdx1<br />
# dosfslabel /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
=== Without overwriting the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
This method is slightly more complicated than writing the image directly with {{ic|dd}}, but it does keep the drive usable for data storage. Before you begin, make sure that your USB device is formatted as either FAT32, EXT2/3/4 or Btrfs. For [[UEFI]] boot and/or interoperability with other operating systems you should use FAT32. Also, make sure that you have the ''syslinux'' package (version 4.04 or newer) installed.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Extract the {{ic|arch}} folder from the ISO to the USB drive. For UEFI motherboards follow [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Install the Syslinux bootloader:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|Be very careful where you point {{ic|dd}} and please use the drive '''itself''' in the following commands, '''not''' the first partition. This is a very common mistake.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|On some distributions the {{ic|mbr.bin}} file may be available as {{ic|/usr/'''share'''/syslinux/mbr.bin}}.}}<br />
<br />
$ cd /media/''somefolder''/arch/boot/syslinux #Where ''somefolder'' is the USB drive's mount point. Do not skip this step.<br />
# extlinux --install . #Type it exactly as you see it, including the dot.<br />
# dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx<br />
# parted /dev/sdx toggle 1 boot<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Adjust the configuration files:<br />
<br />
{{Note|While you ''could'' label the drive "{{ic|ARCH_2012XX}}" (with the appropriate release month), perhaps an even better approach is to use the [[UUID]] ''(this way you can re-label it whatever you want later without having to worry about it, or you could just leave it blank)''. Failing to do either '''will''' get you the famous '''30 seconds error'''.}}<br />
<br />
Here's how you can replace the {{ic|1=archisolabel=ARCH_2012XX}} part with your equivalent of {{ic|1=archiso'''device'''=/dev/disk/by-uuid/47FA-4071}} for both config files at the same time, using a single command:<br />
<br />
{{Note|Adjust {{ic|/dev/sdx1}} before running it, else it will become blank (since drive {{ic|sdx}} doesn't exist).}}<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|label=ARCH_2012.*|device=/dev/disk/by-uuid/$(lsblk -no UUID /dev/sdx1)|" archiso_sys{32,64}.cfg<br />
<br />
If the ''syslinux'' package on your distribution is older than version 4.06, as a workaround for FAT32 filesystems (unnecessary for EXT4), the {{ic|APPEND}} line from {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} should also be replaced:<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|../../|/arch|" syslinux.cfg<br />
<br />
== On Mac OS X ==<br />
<br />
To be able to use dd on your usb device on a Mac you have to do some special maneuvers. First of all insert your usb device, OS X will automount it, and run<br />
<br />
diskutil list<br />
<br />
in Terminal.app. Figure out what your usb device is called - mine was called /dev/disk1. (Just use the `mount` command or `sudo dmesg | tail`.) Now you run<br />
<br />
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
to unmount the partitions on the device (i.e., /dev/disk1s1) while keeping the device proper (i.e., /dev/disk1). Now we can continue in accordance with the Linux instructions above (but use bs=8192 if you are using the OS X dd, the number comes from 1024*8).<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192<br />
20480+0 records in<br />
20480+0 records out<br />
167772160 bytes transferred in 220.016918 secs (762542 bytes/sec)<br />
<br />
it is probably a good idea to eject your drive before physical removal at this point.<br />
<br />
diskutil eject /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
== On Windows ==<br />
<br />
=== Image Writer for Windows ===<br />
<br />
Download the program from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ and run it. Select the arch image-file and usb stick. The Win32 Disk Imager's file browser assumes image files end with .img, so if the image-file you have selected ends with .iso, you will have to type its name in manually; this difference in suffixes is simply cosmetic however, the image will be written fine regardless. Click on the write button. Now you should be able to boot from the usb stick and install Arch Linux from it.<br />
<br />
=== The Universal USB Installer ===<br />
<br />
[http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ Universal USB Installer] is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive.<br />
<br />
{{Note|The Universal USB Installer assigns the label PENDRIVE to the usb drive which causes boot failures because Arch cannot find the installation medium at the default path /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH20130201. It is therefore recommended to use Image Writer for Windows.}}<br />
<br />
=== Linux Live USB Creator ===<br />
<br />
{{warning|This method is broken on the dual architecture iso ('''Solution Provided''')}}<br />
<br />
[http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ Linux Live USB Creator] can be used to create a bootable USB key for Arch either using a manually downloaded iso or automatically downloading the iso itself. It also supports automatic installation of VirtualBox on the USB key which can be used to boot Arch inside Windows. Visit [http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ home page] for more info.<br />
<br />
'''Problem:''' When using Linux Live USB(LiLi) Creator to write dual architecture iso to a USB LiLi changes the label of the USB to ''MYLINUXLIVE'' but the file ''archiso-x86_64.conf'' tell linux to look for installation media named with the month and release date of the file, eg:ARCH_201302 thats why the famous 30 second error.<br />
<br />
'''Solution:''' There are two solutions to this problem:<br />
* In your USB open archiso-x86_64.conf and change the last line saying archisolabel=something to reflect the label of your USB eg: if your USB label is MYLINUXLIVE then this file should look like:<br />
<br />
{| border="1"<br />
|+ /loader/archiso-x86_64.conf:<br />
|''title Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI USB<br />
<br />
linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz<br />
<br />
initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img<br />
<br />
options archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=MYLINUXLIVE''<br />
|}<br />
<br />
* Or you can just change the label of your USB to the value of ''archisolabel'' shown in ''/loader/archiso-x86_64.conf''. Bes sure to change the ''autorun.inf'' file with same label because if you do not do this the label will change back to LiLi default which is ''MYLINUXLIVE''.<br />
<br />
=== UNetbootin ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|DO NOT USE UNETBOOTIN. This program writes over the default {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} and breaks the loading process. Please use a different program or method.}}<br />
<br />
=== The Flashnul Way ===<br />
<br />
[http://shounen.ru/soft/flashnul/ flashnul] is an utility to verify the functionality and maintenance of Flash-Memory (USB-Flash, IDE-Flash, SecureDigital, MMC, MemoryStick, SmartMedia, XD, CompactFlash etc).<br />
<br />
From a command prompt, invoke flashnul with -p, and determine which device index is your USB drive. For example, my output looks like this:<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul -p<br />
<br />
Avaible physical drives:<br />
Avaible logical disks:<br />
C:\<br />
D:\<br />
E:\<br />
<br />
In my case, it is drive E:<br />
<br />
When you have determined which device is the correct one, you can write the image to your drive, by invoking flashnul with the device index, -L, and the path to your image. In my case, it would be<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul E: -L path\to\arch.iso<br />
<br />
As long as you are really sure you want to write the data, type yes, then wait a bit for it to write. If you get an access denied error, close any Explorer windows you have open.<br />
<br />
If under Vista or Win7, you should open the console as administrator, or else flashnul will fail to open the stick as a block device and will only be able to write via the drive handle windows provides<br />
<br />
{{Note|Confirmed that you need to use drive letter as opposed to number. flashnul 1rc1, Windows 7 x64. -bgalakazam}}<br />
<br />
=== The Cygwin Way ===<br />
<br />
Make sure your [http://www.cygwin.com/ Cygwin] installation contains the dd package. Or if you do not want to install Cygwin, you can simply download dd for windows from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd.<br />
<br />
Place your image file in your home directory, in my case it is:<br />
<br />
C:\cygwin\home\John\<br />
<br />
Run cygwin as administrator (required for cygwin to access hardware). To write to your USB drive use the following command:<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=\\.\[x]:<br />
<br />
where image.iso is the path to the iso-image file within the cygwin directory and \\.\[x]: is your USB device where x is the windows designated letter, in my case "\\.\d:".<br />
<br />
On cygwin 6.0 find out the correct partition with<br />
<br />
cat /proc/partitions<br />
<br />
and write the ISO image with the information from the output. Example:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably delete all files on your USB stick, so make sure you do not have any important files on the stick before doing this.}}<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb<br />
<br />
=== dd for Windows ===<br />
<br />
A GPL licensed dd version for Windows is available at http://www.chrysocome.net/dd. The advantage of this over Cygwin is smaller download. Use it as shown in instructions for Cygwin above.<br />
<br />
=== Boot the entire ISO from RAM ===<br />
<br />
This method uses [[Syslinux]] and '''[http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK MEMDISK]''' to load the entire ISO image in RAM, so make sure you have enough RAM to hold it. Once it's done loading and you see the graphical menu you can simply remove the USB stick and maybe even use it on a different machine to start the process all over again. It also allows booting and installing Arch from (and to) the same USB stick.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Format the USB stick as FAT32 and create the following folders:<br />
<br />
X:\Boot<br />
X:\Boot\ISOs<br />
X:\Boot\Settings<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Copy the ISO you'd like to boot to the "ISOs" folder (e.g. ''archlinux-2012.08.04-dual.iso''), and extract from the '''[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ latest release]''' (e.g. ''syslinux-4.05.zip''):<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./win32/syslinux.exe}} to the desktop, or wherever you want.<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./memdisk/memdisk}} to the "Settings" folder.<br />
<br />
And while you're in this folder, create a {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} file:<br />
<br />
{{hc|X:\Boot\Settings\syslinux.cfg|2=<br />
DEFAULT arch_iso<br />
<br />
LABEL arch_iso<br />
MENU LABEL Arch Setup<br />
LINUX memdisk<br />
INITRD /Boot/ISOs/archlinux-2012.11.01-dual.iso<br />
APPEND iso}}<br />
<br />
{{Tip|If you want to add more distributions ''(Debian and Parted Magic were tested)'' you can edit this file. Maybe even give it a nice menu and a background image, instead of defaulting to the Arch Linux ISO. Refer to the [[Syslinux]] wiki.}}<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Finally, create a {{ic|*.bat}} file where {{ic|syslinux.exe}} is located and run it ("Run as administrator" if you're on Vista or Windows 7):<br />
<br />
{{hc|C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop\install.bat|<br />
@echo off<br />
syslinux.exe -m -a -d /Boot/Settings X:}}<br />
<br />
Done.<br />
<br />
== Troubleshooting ==<br />
{{Note| For the MEMDISK Method, if you get the famous '''30 seconds error''' trying to boot the i686 version, press the {{Keypress|Tab}} key over the {{ic|Boot Arch Linux (i686)}} entry and add {{ic|vmalloc&#61;448M}} at the end. This only applies to the MEMDISK method. For reference: ''If your image is bigger than 128MiB and you have a 32-bit OS, then you have to increase the maximum memory usage of vmalloc''. [http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK#-_memdiskfind_in_combination_with_phram_and_mtdblock (*)]}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|In general, if you get the '''30 seconds error''' due to the /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_XXXXXX not mounting, try renaming your USB media to ARCH_XXXXXX, for example ARCH_201302, and try to boot the media once again. It should fix the error.}}<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml Gentoo liveusb document]</div>ManiDhillonhttps://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=USB_flash_installation_medium&diff=248210USB flash installation medium2013-02-23T07:33:33Z<p>ManiDhillon: /* Linux Live USB Creator */</p>
<hr />
<div>[[Category:Getting and installing Arch]]<br />
[[bg:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[de:Installation von einem USB-Stick]]<br />
[[es:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[it:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ja:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[ro:Instalare prin USB]]<br />
[[ru:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[tr:USB_ile_kurulum]]<br />
[[zh-CN:USB Installation Media]]<br />
[[zh-TW:USB Installation Media]]<br />
{{Article summary start}}<br />
{{Article summary text|Mutiplatform instructions on creating a bootable USB stick which can be used for installing Arch Linux, system maintenance or for recovery purposes.}}<br />
{{Article summary heading|Related}}<br />
{{Article summary wiki|CD Burning}}<br />
{{Article summary end}}<br />
<br />
This page discusses various methods on how to write an Arch Linux release to a USB drive (also referred to as ''"flash drive", "USB stick", "USB key"'', etc). The result will be a LiveCD-like system (''"LiveUSB"'', if you will) that, because of the nature of [[Wikipedia:SquashFS|SquashFS]], will discard all changes once the computer shuts down.<br />
<br />
If you would like to run a full install of Arch Linux from a USB drive (i.e. with persistent settings), see [[Installing Arch Linux on a USB key]].<br />
<br />
{{Note|For [[UEFI]] boot, create a bootable USB stick by following [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.}}<br />
<br />
== On GNU/Linux ==<br />
<br />
=== Overwrite the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably destroy all data on {{ic|/dev/sdx}}.}}<br />
{{Note|This method does not work with UEFI boot.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|Check with {{ic|lsblk}} that the USB device is '''not''' mounted, and use {{ic|/dev/sdx}} instead of {{ic|/dev/sdx1}}. '''These are very common mistakes!'''}}<br />
<br />
# dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
{{Note|Some older firmware does not understand the isohybrid hack where start of fake partition offset is 0. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32189 for a fix involving isohybrid.pl.}}<br />
<br />
==== How to restore the USB drive ====<br />
<br />
Because the ISO image is a hybrid which can either be burned to a disc or directly written to a USB drive, it doesn't include a standard partition table.<br />
<br />
After you install Arch Linux and you're done with the USB drive, you should zero out its first 512 bytes ''(meaning the boot code from the MBR and the non-standard partition table)'' if you want to restore it to full capacity:<br />
<br />
# dd count=1 bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx<br />
<br />
Then create a new partition table (e.g. "msdos") and filesystem (e.g. EXT4, FAT32) using {{Pkg|gparted}}, or from a terminal:<br />
<br />
* For EXT2/3/4 (adjust accordingly), it would be:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx1<br />
# e2label /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
* For FAT32, install the {{Pkg|dosfstools}} package and run:<br />
<br />
: {{bc|<nowiki><br />
# cfdisk /dev/sdx<br />
# mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdx1<br />
# dosfslabel /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
=== Without overwriting the USB drive ===<br />
<br />
This method is slightly more complicated than writing the image directly with {{ic|dd}}, but it does keep the drive usable for data storage. Before you begin, make sure that your USB device is formatted as either FAT32, EXT2/3/4 or Btrfs. For [[UEFI]] boot and/or interoperability with other operating systems you should use FAT32. Also, make sure that you have the ''syslinux'' package (version 4.04 or newer) installed.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Extract the {{ic|arch}} folder from the ISO to the USB drive. For UEFI motherboards follow [[UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO|these]] instructions.<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Install the Syslinux bootloader:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|Be very careful where you point {{ic|dd}} and please use the drive '''itself''' in the following commands, '''not''' the first partition. This is a very common mistake.}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|On some distributions the {{ic|mbr.bin}} file may be available as {{ic|/usr/'''share'''/syslinux/mbr.bin}}.}}<br />
<br />
$ cd /media/''somefolder''/arch/boot/syslinux #Where ''somefolder'' is the USB drive's mount point. Do not skip this step.<br />
# extlinux --install . #Type it exactly as you see it, including the dot.<br />
# dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx<br />
# parted /dev/sdx toggle 1 boot<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Adjust the configuration files:<br />
<br />
{{Note|While you ''could'' label the drive "{{ic|ARCH_2012XX}}" (with the appropriate release month), perhaps an even better approach is to use the [[UUID]] ''(this way you can re-label it whatever you want later without having to worry about it, or you could just leave it blank)''. Failing to do either '''will''' get you the famous '''30 seconds error'''.}}<br />
<br />
Here's how you can replace the {{ic|1=archisolabel=ARCH_2012XX}} part with your equivalent of {{ic|1=archiso'''device'''=/dev/disk/by-uuid/47FA-4071}} for both config files at the same time, using a single command:<br />
<br />
{{Note|Adjust {{ic|/dev/sdx1}} before running it, else it will become blank (since drive {{ic|sdx}} doesn't exist).}}<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|label=ARCH_2012.*|device=/dev/disk/by-uuid/$(lsblk -no UUID /dev/sdx1)|" archiso_sys{32,64}.cfg<br />
<br />
If the ''syslinux'' package on your distribution is older than version 4.06, as a workaround for FAT32 filesystems (unnecessary for EXT4), the {{ic|APPEND}} line from {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} should also be replaced:<br />
<br />
$ sed -i "s|../../|/arch|" syslinux.cfg<br />
<br />
== On Mac OS X ==<br />
<br />
To be able to use dd on your usb device on a Mac you have to do some special maneuvers. First of all insert your usb device, OS X will automount it, and run<br />
<br />
diskutil list<br />
<br />
in Terminal.app. Figure out what your usb device is called - mine was called /dev/disk1. (Just use the `mount` command or `sudo dmesg | tail`.) Now you run<br />
<br />
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
to unmount the partitions on the device (i.e., /dev/disk1s1) while keeping the device proper (i.e., /dev/disk1). Now we can continue in accordance with the Linux instructions above (but use bs=8192 if you are using the OS X dd, the number comes from 1024*8).<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192<br />
20480+0 records in<br />
20480+0 records out<br />
167772160 bytes transferred in 220.016918 secs (762542 bytes/sec)<br />
<br />
it is probably a good idea to eject your drive before physical removal at this point.<br />
<br />
diskutil eject /dev/disk1<br />
<br />
== On Windows ==<br />
<br />
=== Image Writer for Windows ===<br />
<br />
Download the program from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ and run it. Select the arch image-file and usb stick. The Win32 Disk Imager's file browser assumes image files end with .img, so if the image-file you have selected ends with .iso, you will have to type its name in manually; this difference in suffixes is simply cosmetic however, the image will be written fine regardless. Click on the write button. Now you should be able to boot from the usb stick and install Arch Linux from it.<br />
<br />
=== The Universal USB Installer ===<br />
<br />
[http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ Universal USB Installer] is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive.<br />
<br />
{{Note|The Universal USB Installer assigns the label PENDRIVE to the usb drive which causes boot failures because Arch cannot find the installation medium at the default path /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH20130201. It is therefore recommended to use Image Writer for Windows.}}<br />
<br />
=== Linux Live USB Creator ===<br />
<br />
{{warning|This method is broken on the dual architecture iso}}<br />
<br />
[http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ Linux Live USB Creator] can be used to create a bootable USB key for Arch either using a manually downloaded iso or automatically downloading the iso itself. It also supports automatic installation of VirtualBox on the USB key which can be used to boot Arch inside Windows. Visit [http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ home page] for more info.<br />
<br />
'''Problem:''' When using Linux Live USB(LiLi) Creator to write dual architecture iso to a USB LiLi changes the label of the USB to ''MYLINUXLIVE'' but the file ''archiso-x86_64.conf'' tell linux to look for installation media named with the month and release date of the file, eg:ARCH_201302 thats why the famous 30 second error.<br />
<br />
'''Solution:''' There are two solutions to this problem:<br />
* In your USB open archiso-x86_64.conf and change the last line saying archisolabel=something to reflect the label of your USB eg: if your USB label is MYLINUXLIVE then this file should look like:<br />
<br />
{| border="1"<br />
|+ /loader/archiso-x86_64.conf:<br />
|''title Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI USB<br />
<br />
linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz<br />
<br />
initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img<br />
<br />
options archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=MYLINUXLIVE''<br />
|}<br />
<br />
* Or you can just change the label of your USB to the value of ''archisolabel'' shown in ''/loader/archiso-x86_64.conf''. Bes sure to change the ''autorun.inf'' file with same label because if you do not do this the label will change back to LiLi default which is ''MYLINUXLIVE''.<br />
<br />
=== UNetbootin ===<br />
<br />
{{Warning|DO NOT USE UNETBOOTIN. This program writes over the default {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} and breaks the loading process. Please use a different program or method.}}<br />
<br />
=== The Flashnul Way ===<br />
<br />
[http://shounen.ru/soft/flashnul/ flashnul] is an utility to verify the functionality and maintenance of Flash-Memory (USB-Flash, IDE-Flash, SecureDigital, MMC, MemoryStick, SmartMedia, XD, CompactFlash etc).<br />
<br />
From a command prompt, invoke flashnul with -p, and determine which device index is your USB drive. For example, my output looks like this:<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul -p<br />
<br />
Avaible physical drives:<br />
Avaible logical disks:<br />
C:\<br />
D:\<br />
E:\<br />
<br />
In my case, it is drive E:<br />
<br />
When you have determined which device is the correct one, you can write the image to your drive, by invoking flashnul with the device index, -L, and the path to your image. In my case, it would be<br />
<br />
C:\>flashnul E: -L path\to\arch.iso<br />
<br />
As long as you are really sure you want to write the data, type yes, then wait a bit for it to write. If you get an access denied error, close any Explorer windows you have open.<br />
<br />
If under Vista or Win7, you should open the console as administrator, or else flashnul will fail to open the stick as a block device and will only be able to write via the drive handle windows provides<br />
<br />
{{Note|Confirmed that you need to use drive letter as opposed to number. flashnul 1rc1, Windows 7 x64. -bgalakazam}}<br />
<br />
=== The Cygwin Way ===<br />
<br />
Make sure your [http://www.cygwin.com/ Cygwin] installation contains the dd package. Or if you do not want to install Cygwin, you can simply download dd for windows from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd.<br />
<br />
Place your image file in your home directory, in my case it is:<br />
<br />
C:\cygwin\home\John\<br />
<br />
Run cygwin as administrator (required for cygwin to access hardware). To write to your USB drive use the following command:<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=\\.\[x]:<br />
<br />
where image.iso is the path to the iso-image file within the cygwin directory and \\.\[x]: is your USB device where x is the windows designated letter, in my case "\\.\d:".<br />
<br />
On cygwin 6.0 find out the correct partition with<br />
<br />
cat /proc/partitions<br />
<br />
and write the ISO image with the information from the output. Example:<br />
<br />
{{Warning|This will irrevocably delete all files on your USB stick, so make sure you do not have any important files on the stick before doing this.}}<br />
<br />
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb<br />
<br />
=== dd for Windows ===<br />
<br />
A GPL licensed dd version for Windows is available at http://www.chrysocome.net/dd. The advantage of this over Cygwin is smaller download. Use it as shown in instructions for Cygwin above.<br />
<br />
=== Boot the entire ISO from RAM ===<br />
<br />
This method uses [[Syslinux]] and '''[http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK MEMDISK]''' to load the entire ISO image in RAM, so make sure you have enough RAM to hold it. Once it's done loading and you see the graphical menu you can simply remove the USB stick and maybe even use it on a different machine to start the process all over again. It also allows booting and installing Arch from (and to) the same USB stick.<br />
<br />
'''1.''' Format the USB stick as FAT32 and create the following folders:<br />
<br />
X:\Boot<br />
X:\Boot\ISOs<br />
X:\Boot\Settings<br />
<br />
'''2.''' Copy the ISO you'd like to boot to the "ISOs" folder (e.g. ''archlinux-2012.08.04-dual.iso''), and extract from the '''[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ latest release]''' (e.g. ''syslinux-4.05.zip''):<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./win32/syslinux.exe}} to the desktop, or wherever you want.<br />
<br />
* {{ic|./memdisk/memdisk}} to the "Settings" folder.<br />
<br />
And while you're in this folder, create a {{ic|syslinux.cfg}} file:<br />
<br />
{{hc|X:\Boot\Settings\syslinux.cfg|2=<br />
DEFAULT arch_iso<br />
<br />
LABEL arch_iso<br />
MENU LABEL Arch Setup<br />
LINUX memdisk<br />
INITRD /Boot/ISOs/archlinux-2012.11.01-dual.iso<br />
APPEND iso}}<br />
<br />
{{Tip|If you want to add more distributions ''(Debian and Parted Magic were tested)'' you can edit this file. Maybe even give it a nice menu and a background image, instead of defaulting to the Arch Linux ISO. Refer to the [[Syslinux]] wiki.}}<br />
<br />
'''3.''' Finally, create a {{ic|*.bat}} file where {{ic|syslinux.exe}} is located and run it ("Run as administrator" if you're on Vista or Windows 7):<br />
<br />
{{hc|C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop\install.bat|<br />
@echo off<br />
syslinux.exe -m -a -d /Boot/Settings X:}}<br />
<br />
Done.<br />
<br />
== Troubleshooting ==<br />
{{Note| For the MEMDISK Method, if you get the famous '''30 seconds error''' trying to boot the i686 version, press the {{Keypress|Tab}} key over the {{ic|Boot Arch Linux (i686)}} entry and add {{ic|vmalloc&#61;448M}} at the end. This only applies to the MEMDISK method. For reference: ''If your image is bigger than 128MiB and you have a 32-bit OS, then you have to increase the maximum memory usage of vmalloc''. [http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK#-_memdiskfind_in_combination_with_phram_and_mtdblock (*)]}}<br />
<br />
{{Note|In general, if you get the '''30 seconds error''' due to the /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_XXXXXX not mounting, try renaming your USB media to ARCH_XXXXXX, for example ARCH_201302, and try to boot the media once again. It should fix the error.}}<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml Gentoo liveusb document]</div>ManiDhillon