136 lines
4.3 KiB
XML
136 lines
4.3 KiB
XML
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb">
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<title>Booting from a USB flash drive</title>
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<para>
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The image has to be written verbatim to the USB flash drive for it
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to be bootable on UEFI and BIOS systems. Here are the recommended
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tools to do that.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb-graphical">
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<title>Creating bootable USB flash drive with a graphical
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tool</title>
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<para>
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Etcher is a popular and user-friendly tool. It works on Linux,
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Windows and macOS.
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</para>
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<para>
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Download it from
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<link xlink:href="https://www.balena.io/etcher/">balena.io</link>,
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start the program, select the downloaded NixOS ISO, then select
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the USB flash drive and flash it.
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</para>
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<warning>
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<para>
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Etcher reports errors and usage statistics by default, which can
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be disabled in the settings.
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</para>
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</warning>
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<para>
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An alternative is
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<link xlink:href="https://bztsrc.gitlab.io/usbimager">USBImager</link>,
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which is very simple and does not connect to the internet.
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Download the version with write-only (wo) interface for your
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system. Start the program, select the image, select the USB flash
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drive and click <quote>Write</quote>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb-linux">
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<title>Creating bootable USB flash drive from a Terminal on
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Linux</title>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic" spacing="compact">
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Plug in the USB flash drive.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Find the corresponding device with <literal>lsblk</literal>.
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You can distinguish them by their size.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Make sure all partitions on the device are properly unmounted.
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Replace <literal>sdX</literal> with your device (e.g.
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<literal>sdb</literal>).
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<programlisting>
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sudo umount /dev/sdX*
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</programlisting>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic" spacing="compact">
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<listitem override="4">
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<para>
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Then use the <literal>dd</literal> utility to write the image
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to the USB flash drive.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<programlisting>
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sudo dd if=<path-to-image> of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb-macos">
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<title>Creating bootable USB flash drive from a Terminal on
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macOS</title>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic" spacing="compact">
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Plug in the USB flash drive.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Find the corresponding device with
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<literal>diskutil list</literal>. You can distinguish them by
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their size.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Make sure all partitions on the device are properly unmounted.
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Replace <literal>diskX</literal> with your device (e.g.
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<literal>disk1</literal>).
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<programlisting>
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diskutil unmountDisk diskX
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</programlisting>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic" spacing="compact">
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<listitem override="4">
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<para>
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Then use the <literal>dd</literal> utility to write the image
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to the USB flash drive.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<programlisting>
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sudo dd if=<path-to-image> of=/dev/rdiskX bs=4m
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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After <literal>dd</literal> completes, a GUI dialog <quote>The
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disk you inserted was not readable by this computer</quote> will
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pop up, which can be ignored.
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</para>
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<note>
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<para>
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Using the <quote>raw</quote> <literal>rdiskX</literal> device
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instead of <literal>diskX</literal> with dd completes in minutes
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instead of hours.
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</para>
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</note>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic" spacing="compact">
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<listitem override="5">
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<para>
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Eject the disk when it is finished.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<programlisting>
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diskutil eject /dev/diskX
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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</section>
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