Bootable USB using F17 DVD image

***Gareth Jones*** · #1 1st June 2012, 12:19 AM

I'm just wondering, has anyone installed F17 from a USB drive created by dding the DVD image? Does it work now, or does it still fail to find the local packages? (I'm planning to reformat and install on BTRFS, so I'd rather avoid a nasty surprise...)

smr54 · #2 1st June 2012, 12:51 AM

There's mention of that in a thread from a few days ago, that I can't find now. Darn, I'm sorry, I don't remember if the person tested it or just knew about it. I've tested with the network ISO and that did work.

I realize that doesn't really help you, but if you feel like doing a network install on another machine.....

***DBelton*** · #3 1st June 2012, 01:36 AM

It is supposed to work now.

The only machine I installed to after they said it was fixed won't boot from USB anyway, so I couldn't test it.

AndrewSerk · #4 1st June 2012, 01:53 AM

I don't know if dding it will work but, livecd-iso-to-disk worked here for the F17 install DVD.

DonnieP · #5 1st June 2012, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewSerk

I don't know if dding it will work but, livecd-iso-to-disk worked here for the F17 install DVD.

Exactly. livecd-iso-to-disk is da bomb.

***DBelton*** · #6 1st June 2012, 02:54 PM

but try using livecd-iso-to-disk when all you have running is a Windows or a Mac system.

To use that you have to already have a Fedora system running.

At least you can use dd from a Windows or Mac system to create your install media for a better OS

I had much rather use dd as well, it creates a USB stick that actually boots up the install DVD rather than a USB stick that boots up a different kernel and then loads the DVD image from a iso file on the drive.

***Gareth Jones*** · #7 1st June 2012, 03:05 PM

Yes, I prefer a straight "sudo cp Fedora-xyz /dev/sdc" too, but I'll give livecd-iso-to-disk a try if that fails.

Windows users have liveusb-creator as a graphical alternative to installing Unix tools. It tried that for the DVD image (on Fedora not Windows), but it doesn't work – I didn't test it, but it only copied the boot images to the USB, not the packages.

Anyway, thanks guys. I'll give the cp/dd method a go and report back if it works, or if I needed to use livecd-iso-to-disk.

errorxp · #8 1st June 2012, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBelton

but try using livecd-iso-to-disk when all you have running is a Windows or a Mac system.

Easy - VirtualBox.

***DBelton*** · #9 1st June 2012, 03:14 PM

use dd if=Fedora-xyz of=/dev/sdc

I have never tried using cp to copy a bootable image, and don't know if that would work or not

(The issue with using dd before wasn't found until later in the install process when it tried to find the installation repo. It wouldn't find the repo on the install media and required a network connection so it could use the online repos. Other than that, dd worked before, and they say they have fixed that issue with using dd as well now, so you should be able to use it and use the local repo on the install media.)

---------- Post added at 09:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by errorxp

Easy - VirtualBox.

And just what are you going to do with virtualbox? You STILL have to have a fedora system running on virtualbox to use livecd-iso-to-disk.

Just virtualbox won't get you anything.

***Gareth Jones*** · #10 1st June 2012, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBelton

use dd if=Fedora-xyz of=/dev/sdc

cp works on file contents unless you tell it to look at the metadata etc. as well with options, so "cp file/dev file/dev" is equivalent to "dd if=... of=..." for the same files. The only reason to use dd (other than personal preference) is if you need to work with block sizes, offsets, counts etc.

Quote:

(The issue with using dd before wasn't found until later in the install process when it tried to find the installation repo. It wouldn't find the repo on the install media and required a network connection so it could use the online repos. Other than that, dd worked before, and they say they have fixed that issue with using dd as well now, so you should be able to use it and use the local repo on the install media.)

Yes, that's why I asked – I've already checked that it boots, but I'd probably only find out that it can't access the packages after I've already reformatted the partitions!

Quote:

And just what are you going to do with virtualbox? You STILL have to have a fedora system running on virtualbox to use livecd-iso-to-disk.

Just virtualbox won't get you anything.

Well, you can boot a virtual machine from a raw ISO by using it to emulate an optical drive, thus by-passing the need for a physical drive or USB stick before running livecd-iso-to-disk, but it's a pretty over-the-top method...

AndrewSerk · #11 1st June 2012, 04:16 PM

Or run a livecd with "live_ram" added to the kernel line, the DVD.iso on the hard drive and use livecd-iso-to-disk from hard drive to usb.

I love Linux for all the different ways to achieve the same goal.

smr54 · #12 1st June 2012, 05:14 PM

Unetbootin also works rather well, in my experience, and is available for Windows--not sure what your original system is.

Generally (and there are exceptions), I've found that unetbootin is more reliable for Debian/Ubuntu based systems while livecd-iso-to-disk works better (again, generally) on RH based systems, but it does seem that with the more recent versions of unetbootin, that it's working better with RH based systems too. I mention it primarily because somewhere in the thread, someone said livecd-iso-to-disk is fine if one has a Fedora system already running.

errorxp · #13 2nd June 2012, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBelton

And just what are you going to do with virtualbox? You STILL have to have a fedora system running on virtualbox to use livecd-iso-to-disk.

Just virtualbox won't get you anything.

Yes, it has to be running but only as live os, no need to install. livecd-iso-to-disk has never failed me unlike unetbootin, fedora livecd creator etc.