I have Fedora installed on my desktop and I want to make a live USB stick with Ubuntu to install it on a laptop. What's the easiest way to do it?
I have Fedora installed on my desktop and I want to make a live USB stick with Ubuntu to install it on a laptop. What's the easiest way to do it?
Update: Sorry for providing a tutorial for Unetbootin, but it might be helpful if you're having problem with the dependencies.
Command Line - using dd
You can make a live USB using command line.
sudo fdisk -l
and note down the device name of the flash drive. You would be able to find it somewhere near the bottom lines. For example, let the name is/dev/sdb1
.Use the following command to write the ISO on the flash drive:
You'll need to enter your password to run this and previous commands as
root
withsudo
. To have the ability to run programs as root, you'll need to be a member of the groupwheel
.Important Points:
of=/dev/sdb
and NOT/dev/sdb1
. It is becausesdb1
is the name of the partition, not the device.path-to-the-iso
should be replaced with the path where the ISO is. For example, if it is located in/home/user/Downloads
, it should be likeif=/home/user/Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
.dd
would format the flash drive, so make sure to take a backup, if you've any files you don't want to lose.Command Line - using
live-iso-to-disk
toolYou can find the tutorial here:
Using Unetbootin
Edit: Although the screenshots are from Ubuntu, they won't differ much in Fedora (except for the look, ofcourse). They are given just for reference.
Install unetbootin.
OR you can get it from their website.
Install syslinux and p7zip
Execute unetbootin
You should access it this way if you've downloaded it manually, from the website.
If you've installed it from the repository.
If you've already downloaded the ISO, select the iso and the flash drive and click
OK
.You can also select the distribution and the version, if you don't have the ISO. Although the list may not be updated, so it is recommended that you download it directly from the distro website.
There are a number of ways of doing this. Two of the simplist use tools already included on Fedora as standard.
You can use
dd
to write an image file to a device from the command line. This method should work on almost any Unix based system.Alternatively you can use GNOME's
gnome-disk-utility
GUI tool (in the menus as "Disks"). This should work on any stem running GNOME (You also get a pretty progress bar).Command line (
dd
)This method is pretty simple if you're used to the command shell, it can be confusing to newer users which device they are writing to. Plus there is always the danger of typos and
dd
does not waste time showing you any progress information.Step 1. Find your stuff
First of all, you want to establish where your image file (ISO) you want to write is located. Usually it'll be in
~/Downloads
.Secondly you want to establish which device is your USB Stick. You can check using
sudo fdisk -l
.This will print out lines like
and
You want a device that is not there when it is unplugged, but is there when it's plugged in. It should also be the correct size. Mine is the 8GB (7.5GiB)
/dev/sdb
. Note you want the device (sdb
) not the partition (sdb1
).Step 2. Run the scary command
Finally run
dd
and wait for it to finish (you wont get any progress indication until it finishes):Of course, you should replace
/path/to/your.iso
with the path to your image (ISO) file and/your/device
with the/dev/
location of your USB device that you found usingfdisk
(e.g./dev/sdb
).Alternatively, using GNOME's "Disks" GUI
I personally prefer this method, you get a nice progress bar and it is easier to identify the correct disk. It is also nice and simple to take a backup image of the device if you so choose.
Step 1.
Open
gnome-disk-utility
by Going to "Activities" and searching for "Disks".Step 2.
Select the correct device from the left hand menu and then choose "Restore Disk Image..." from the menu drop down at the top.
Step 3.
Use the file selector to find the image (ISO file) you want to write to the USB stick. Click "Start Restoring..." and then "Restore" at the confirmation.
Step 4.
Enter your password to grant root permissions to Disks and hit ENTER on your keyboard.
Step 5.
Wait. Patiently. (At least you get a progress bar! Those poor
dd
users...)Step 6.
Done! Enjoy your new bootable USB. Perhaps take a moment to check it looks somewhat like the screen above and ensure you didn't get any errors before continuing.
My way on Fedora 21:
Note: your data on USB stick will lost, so, back up your USB stick data.
The best way is to use Unetbootin tool, which is available from Unetbootin web site. You will need Ubuntu ISO image.
Best wishes.