Arch Linux

Coxside

Member

Registered: 2014-03-20

Posts: 8

USB stick Install Problem

I'm trying to install Arch from a USB stick, but am having difficulties transferring the ISO to the stick

I'm attempting to use the dd command as follows...

sudo dd=4MB if=#/Downloads/archlinux-2018.05.01-86_64.iso of=/dev/sda

                                                                                        ...but there doesn't appear to be any response!

Any ideas/suggestions please?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,627

Re: USB stick Install Problem

dd doesn't give a progress report by default. Also are you absolutely certain that /dev/sda is the correct device? What is that # in front of the downloads path? Use the command from the wiki for progress information.

Coxside

Member

Registered: 2014-03-20

Posts: 8

Re: USB stick Install Problem

Partial success...

The following folders/directories have have been installed on the USB stick:  arch; EFI; isolinux; loader

                     ...however, upon changing the boot order in the BIOS, the computer will not boot from the stick!

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,769

Re: USB stick Install Problem

Please tell us, with specificity, how you created the drive.  The exact command given and the output.

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Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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Coxside

Member

Registered: 2014-03-20

Posts: 8

Re: USB stick Install Problem

Command used:  sudo dd bs=4M if=~/Downloads/archlinux-2018.05.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb1

The reason for the earlier failure was I was using sudo dd bs=4M if=/Downloads/archlinux.2018.05-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb1 (doh!)

There was no output as I remember - I had to look at the drive contents to see what had been placed there

Last edited by Coxside (2018-05-19 16:03:54)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,309

Re: USB stick Install Problem

sudo dd bs=4M if=~/Downloads/archlinux-2018.05.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb1

USB_flash_installation_media#In_GNU.2FLinux

Run the following command, replacing /dev/sdx with your drive, e.g. /dev/sdb. (Do not append a partition number, so do not use something like /dev/sdb1)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,769

Re: USB stick Install Problem

loqs picked up on what I was looking for.   If you want to make a bootable USB, you want to copy your iso to the disk, not to a partition on the disk.  You copied everything to partition 1 of sdb.  You want to copy the iso to sdb, not to sdb1.

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

dockland

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 861

Re: USB stick Install Problem

I use && sync aswell, don't know if it's necessary, like

dd bs=4M if=/path/to/whatever.iso of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync

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I possess a device, in my pocket, that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man.
I use it to look at funny pictures of cats and to argue with strangers.