Copying installer ISO to USB Flash

[Richard Owlett]

Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference I
have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.

Questions:
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
[ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
What was the conclusion?
What was the subject line {i have local copies}?
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
I haven't thought to ask?

TIA

[David Wright]

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference
I have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
[ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]

(It wouldn't do to say what about, of course.)

No. If you're about to copy onto them, then only a decision that
want to trash their current contents.

Your preparation might include removing other plugins to reduce the
ambiguity of /dev/sdX.

Post by Richard Owlett
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
What was the conclusion?
What was the subject line {i have local copies}?

It contained "amd64-netinst.iso. That should add to your reading
this weekend :)
(How do you search your local copies?)

Conclusion: old school — dd, new school — cp.

Post by Richard Owlett
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
I haven't thought to ask?

Doubtless you'll think of something after the weekend.

Cheers,
David.

[Richard Owlett]

Post by David Wright

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference
I have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
[ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]

(It wouldn't do to say what about, of course.)
No. If you're about to copy onto them, then only a decision that
want to trash their current contents.

I suspected that was the only relevant thing. I suspect that Gparted was
saying that it did not speak "iso-hybrid". I was putting new Debian on
drives having old Debian.

Post by David Wright
Your preparation might include removing other plugins to reduce the
ambiguity of /dev/sdX.

Post by Richard Owlett
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
What was the conclusion?
What was the subject line {i have local copies}?

It contained "amd64-netinst.iso. That should add to your reading
this weekend :)
(How do you search your local copies?)

Among fields of locally stored emails searchable by SeaMonkey are
"Subject" and "Body".

Post by David Wright
Conclusion: old school — dd, new school — cp.

Post by Richard Owlett
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
I haven't thought to ask?

Doubtless you'll think of something after the weekend.
Cheers,
David.

[Bret Busby]

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference I
have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
   [ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
   What was the conclusion?
   What was the subject line {i have local copies}?
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
   I haven't thought to ask?
TIA

Have you considered setting up and maintaining a Ventoy Drive?

I found it quite simple to set up and use, and, it can contain various
bootable OS's.

See
https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/10/friday_foss_fest/
and
https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

I have a Ventoy drive with various BSD and Linux distributions ISO's,
and, an MS Windows 10 ISO.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............

[Richard Owlett]

Post by Bret Busby

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference
I have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
    [ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
    What was the conclusion?
    What was the subject line {i have local copies}?
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
    I haven't thought to ask?
TIA

Have you considered setting up and maintaining a Ventoy Drive?
I found it quite simple to set up and use, and, it can contain various
bootable OS's.
See
https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/10/friday_foss_fest/
and
https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html
I have a Ventoy drive with various BSD and Linux distributions ISO's,
and, an MS Windows 10 ISO.

I hadn't heard of it. I doubt I'll use it for installations.
However, I have some diagnostics and utilities available as ISOs that it
might be convenient to have on a single device.

[Joe]

On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 09:52:32 -0500

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference
I have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?
[ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]

Just the usual of making very sure you know which drive you're copying
to. It doesn't matter what's there, and the iso will just start writing
at byte 0 and continue as necessary.

Post by Richard Owlett
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
What was the conclusion?

I've done several of these in the last few days, thanks variously to an
unrecoverable Windows installation and the good old Acer UEFI antics.

I just did dd, no options, and went and did something else until it was
done, as I am doing at the moment.

You may want to check the copy has gone OK:

sudo cmp -n `stat -c '%s' insert-name-here.iso` insert-name-here.iso /dev/sdX

Adjust the filename and /dev/sd number as appropriate, and yes, you do
need the name of the iso twice, once inside the backticks and once
outside.

Post by Richard Owlett
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there
something I haven't thought to ask?

Don't think so, just pick the graphical expert install from the
advanced options. Are any of your machines using UEFI? If so, the
installer should see that and the opening screen should actually say
'UEFI installer'. There will be a small additional FAT partition
required if so.

[David Christensen]

Post by Richard Owlett
Having machines with different constraints I have downloaded DVD1 and
Netinst ISO's. I have flash drives with obsolete ISO's. For reference I
have [ https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ] available.
1. Do the flash drives require any prep?

I run a homebrew script that zeroes the dirty blocks, to prevent future
confusion.

Post by Richard Owlett
   [ Gparted gives warning messages on both. ]

Please post a console session if you desire comments.

Post by Richard Owlett
2. I've casually followed recent discussion on appropriate dd options.
   What was the conclusion?
   What was the subject line {i have local copies}?

I suggest following the instructions given at the URL you cited, above.

Post by Richard Owlett
3. Not having done a "from scratch" install recently, is there something
   I haven't thought to ask?

If the target computer has a Wi-Fi adapter, but no Ethernet adapter,
firmware used to be an issue. It looks like the Debian 12 installer now
includes non-free firmware:

https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware


David