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Bootable usb

Using woeusb for Windows

Let's check the path of the USB drive we connected to the computer

sudo fdisk -l

If it is mounted already, you want to unmount it, check it with lsblk: if there's a path on the file system that is related to the USB drive, then it's mounted, it is possible to unmount it this way

sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sudo umount /dev/sdb2

of course this formatting depends on your specific naming.

Then, finally, in my case, the path to the windows .iso file is in the ~/Desktop/ folder and the one to the usb drive is /dev/sdb/

sudo ./woeusb-5.2.4.bash --device ~/Desktop/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso /dev/sdb --tgt-fs NTFS

Bootable USB for linux

Creating a bootable USB drive with a Linux distribution from within a Linux environment can be straightforward and is a common task for those who wish to install Linux on another machine or use a portable version of the operating system. There are several tools available for this purpose, but two of the most popular and reliable ones are dd and Balena Etcher.

Using dd Command

The dd command is a powerful Unix utility for low-level copying of raw data. It is pre-installed in most Linux distributions and is very efficient, though it requires careful handling due to its potential to overwrite any disk if used incorrectly.

Steps to Create a Bootable USB Using dd:

  1. Download the ISO File: Download the .iso file of the Linux distribution you want to install from its official website.

  2. Identify Your USB Device:

  3. Insert your USB drive.

  4. Open a terminal and run lsblk or fdisk -l to list all disk partitions and identify your USB drive (usually /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, etc.).

  5. Write the ISO to the USB:

  6. Warning: This step will erase all existing data on the USB drive.
  7. Use the dd command: bash sudo dd if=path_to_your_iso.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

  8. Replace path_to_your_iso.iso with the path to your ISO file and /dev/sdx with the correct device identifier for your USB drive (not a partition like /dev/sdx1).

  9. Wait for the Process to Complete: The status=progress option will show you the write progress.

  10. Safely Eject the USB Drive: Once done, you can eject the USB drive: bash sync sudo eject /dev/sdx

Using Balena Etcher

Balena Etcher is a graphical USB image writer that simplifies the process of creating bootable USB drives. It is user-friendly and reduces the risk of accidentally writing to the wrong disk.