Arch Linux

ArchNoob123

Member

Registered: 2025-07-18

Posts: 2

[SOLVED] "error: invalid magic number" on booting from USB

Hi,
I recently purchased a Surface Laptop with the following specs: Snapdragon® X Elite (12 Core), Sapphire, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. My old computer is running Windows 11.

Tl;dr getting this error

Downloading kernel ...
error: invalid magic number.
Downloading initrd ...
error: you need to load the kernel first.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

Having used Fedora Linux in the past, I wanted to try Arch Linux with this computer. On the surface laptop, I made a new local account without any password. I disabled fast startup and set the Surface UEFI settings to the following:

• Secure Boot is Disabled

• Boot Device Order: USB Storage > Windows Boot Manager > Internal Storage > PXE Network

• Enable alternate boot sequence = on

• Enable iPv6 for PXE Network boot option = on

• Enable Boot from USB devices = on

• Enable Boot Configuration Lock = off

• Enable battery limit = off

Then, on my old computer, I downloaded archlinux-2025.07.01-x86_64.iso via bittorrent. I used the program Rufus 4.9 to flash the iso to a Cruzer Glide USB Flash Drive - 32GB. I put the USB into my new laptop and restarted the system. The computer booted straight back into windows.
I tried disabling the other boot methods in the Surface UEFI except USB Storage, but upon restarting my computer, it threw an error that there was no boot method available and sent me back into the UEFI. (When plugged into my old computer, the usb drive brings up the Arch Linux Install Medium just fine.) I tried flashing the usb with other writers including KDE ISO 1.0 and balenaEtcher, but Windows still booted. I tried flashing two other usb drives (both of 4gb), but the same result as before occurred. I tried downloading the iso from the infania link, but it made no difference when I flashed that one instead.

Finally, I tried Ventoy2Disk x86 on my old computer, and something happened. A ventoy menu came up which allowed me to select the arch iso. Then, there were the options to boot normally or a grub option, and these led to the options to run "Arch Linux install medium (x86_64, UEFI)" or "Arch Linux install medium (x86_64, UEFI) with speech". However, all of these options led to the same result:

Downloading kernel ...
error: invalid magic number.
Downloading initrd ...
error: you need to load the kernel first.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

I tried the other iso file and the other usb drives with Ventoy, and it was the same result in all cases.
Any help is really appreciated.

Last edited by ArchNoob123 (2025-07-18 21:57:02)

skunktrader

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2010-02-14

Posts: 1,667

Re: [SOLVED] "error: invalid magic number" on booting from USB

ArchLinux does not support ARM chipsets

ArchNoob123

Member

Registered: 2025-07-18

Posts: 2

Re: [SOLVED] "error: invalid magic number" on booting from USB

oof, thanks ':D

dakota

Member

Registered: 2016-05-20

Posts: 415

Re: [SOLVED] "error: invalid magic number" on booting from USB

I downloaded archlinux-2025.07.01-x86_64.iso via bittorrent.

Did you happen to verify the checksum after downloading?
Have you turned off Fast Boot in Windows and rebooted twice?
And have you seen this: Rufus? Especially

Note: If the USB drive does not boot properly using the default ISO Image mode, DD Image mode should be used instead. To switch this mode on, select GPT from the Partition scheme drop-down menu. After clicking START you will get the mode selection dialog, select DD Image mode.

Cheers,

Edit -- Oops. See post #2. You might try Arch ARM

Last edited by dakota (2025-07-18 03:31:08)

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schard

Forum Moderator

From: Hannover

Registered: 2016-05-06

Posts: 2,550

Website

Re: [SOLVED] "error: invalid magic number" on booting from USB

Mod note:

As noted, Arch Linux is not supported on ARM.
I'm going to leave this thread here, because this appears to have been a genuine mistake in assuming that Arch Linux would run on your respective CPU.

Please mark your topic as [SOLVED] by prepending that string to the title by editing your initial post in this thread.

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