2.2.

MAKING INSTALLATION USB MEDIA

You can use a USB drive instead of a CD or DVD to create bootable media for installing
Red Hat Enterprise Linux on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems and IBM Power Systems
servers. The exact procedure varies depending on whether you want to perform it on a
Linux or Windows system. You can create minimal boot media and full installation media
using the same procedure; the only limitation is the capacity of the USB drive - it must
have enough space to fit the entire image, which means roughly 350 MB for minimal
boot media and 4.5 GB for full installation media.

2.2.1. Making Installation USB Media on Linux

The following procedure assumes you are using a Linux system and that you have
downloaded an appropriate ISO image as described in Chapter 1,Downloading Red Hat
Enterprise Linux. On most Linux distributions, it will work without the need for installing
any additional packages.
WARNING
This procedure is destructive. Any data on the USB flash drive will be destroyed with no
warning. Make sure that you specify the correct drive, and make sure that this drive does not
contain any data you want to preserve.
Many Linux distributions provide their own tools for creating live USB media:liveusbcreator on Fedora, usb-creator on Ubuntu, and others. Describing these tools is beyond
the scope of this book; the following procedure will work on most Linux systems.
Procedure 2.1. Making USB Media on Linux
1. Connect a USB flash drive to the system and execute the dmesgcommand. A log
detailing all recent events will be displayed. At the bottom of this log, you will see a set of
messages caused by the USB flash drive you just connected. It will look like a set of
lines similar to the following:
[ 170.171135] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Note the name of the connected device - in the above example, it is sdb.
2. Log in as root:
$ su -

Provide your root password when prompted.

3. Make sure that the device is not mounted. First, use the findmnt device command
and the device name you found in the earlier steps. For example, if the device name
is sdb, use the following command:
# findmnt /dev/sdb

If the command displays no output, you can proceed with the next step. However, if the
command does provide output, it means that the device was automatically mounted and
you must unmount it before proceeding. A sample output will look similar to the
following:
# findmnt /dev/sdb
TARGET

SOURCE

FSTYPE

OPTIONS

/mnt/iso /dev/sdb iso9660 ro,relatime

Note the TARGET column. Next, use the umount target command to unmount the
device:
# umount /mnt/iso

4. Use the dd command to write the installation ISO image directly to the USB device:
# dd if=/path/to/image.iso of=/dev/device bs=blocksize

Replace /path/to/image.iso with the full path to the ISO image file you
downloaded, device with the device name as reported by the dmesgcommand earlier,
and blocksize with a reasonable block size (for example, 512k) to speed up the writing
process. The bs parameter is optional, but it can speed up the process considerably.
IMPORTANT
Make sure to specify the output as the device name (for example, /dev/sda), not as a
name of a partition on the device (for example, /dev/sda1).
For example, if the ISO image is located in /home/testuser/Downloads/rhelserver-7.0x86_64-boot.isoand the detected device name is sdb, the command
will look like the following:
# dd if=/home/testuser/Downloads/rhel-server-7.0x86_64-boot.iso
of=/dev/sdb bs=512k

5. Wait for dd to finish writing the image to the device. Note that no progress bar is
displayed; the data transfer is finished when the #prompt appears again. After the
prompt is displayed, log out from the root account and unplug the USB drive.

The USB drive is now ready to be used as a boot device. You can continue
with Chapter 5, Booting the Installation on AMD64 and Intel 64 Systems on AMD64 and
Intel 64 systems or Chapter 10, Booting the Installation on IBM Power Systems on IBM
Power Systems servers.

2.2.2. Making Installation USB Media on Windows

The procedure of creating bootable USB media on Windows depends on which tool you
use. There are many different utilities which allow you to write an ISO image to a USB
drive. Red Hat recommends using the Fedora LiveUSB Creator, available for download
at https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/.
IMPORTANT
Transferring the ISO image file to the USB drive using Windows Explorer or a similar file
manager will not work - you will not be able to boot from the device.
Procedure 2.2. Making USB Media on Windows
1. Download and install Fedora LiveUSB Creator.
2. Download the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ISO image you want to use to create the media.
(See Chapter 1, Downloading Red Hat Enterprise Linux for instructions on obtaining ISO
images.)
3. Plug in the USB drive you will be using to create bootable media.
4. Open Fedora LiveUSB Creator.
5. In the main window, click the Browse button and select the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
ISO image you downloaded.
6. From the Target Device drop-down menu, select the drive you want to use. If the drive
does not appear in the list, click the refresh button on the right side of the menu and try
again.
7. Click Create Live USB. The boot media creation process will begin. Do not unplug the
drive until the Complete! message appears in the message box at the bottom. The
process usually takes up to 15 minutes, depending on the drive's write speed, version of
the USB specification and the size of the ISO image you used.

Figure 2.1. Fedora LiveUSB Creator

8. When the creation process finishes and the Complete! message appears, unmount the
USB drive using the Safely remove hardwareicon in the system's notification area.
The USB drive is now ready to be used as a boot device. You can continue
with Chapter 5, Booting the Installation on AMD64 and Intel 64 Systems on AMD64 and
Intel 64 systems or Chapter 10, Booting the Installation on IBM Power Systems on IBM
Power Systems servers.

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Last modified 13 days ago

liveusb-creator
The liveusb-creator is a cross-platform tool for easily installing live operating systems on
to USB flash drives.

Features

Works in Windows and Linux!

Completely non-destructive install. There is no need to deal with formatting or
partitioning your USB key.
Supports a "destructive" installation method that uses to dd to copy the iso
directly to the device, overwriting all data and partitions. This method is more
reliable in terms of booting, and works with DVD images as well.
Supports automatically downloading various Fedora releases, as well asSugar on
a Stick!
Automatically detects all of your removable devices
Persistent storage creation. This lets you to allocate extra space on your USB
stick, allowing you to save files and make modifications to your live operating
system that will persist after you reboot. This essentially lets you carry your own
personalized Fedora with you at all times.
Checksum verification of known releases, to ensure that you've downloaded the
correct bits
Translated in many languages

Testimonials
"As a non-Linux person, Live-USB Creator has improved the
quality of my life measurably!" --Dr. Arthur B. Hunkins

Download
Warning: There are virus-infected copies of the Windows liveusb-creator floating around
various download sites on the internet. Only download the Windows liveusb-creator from
this page!

Windows

Windows installer: liveusb-creator-3.12.0-setup.exe (13M) (ChangeLog).

o SHA1: ed3c8355821d419e68f3e7cce0ceef4c5b42aafb

Linux
For Fedora, simply use Add/Remove? software and search for liveusb-creator and install
it or do
# yum install liveusb-creator

Source

Tarball: liveusb-creator-3.13.1.tar.bz2 (240K) (gpg-signed sha256 checksum).

GitHub?: https://github.com/lmacken/liveusb-creator

Latest News
2014-11-26 :: v3.13.1

Support a new destructive mode that uses dd to copy the iso directly to the
device. This method tends to be more reliable, and requireshybrid ISOs, which
Fedora have been producing for a long time.
Added a new --dd command-line option
DVD iso support with the 'Overwrite device' method
Improved UI layout (807)
Added AppData metadata (github#12)
The --calculcate-liveos-checksum now works on Linux
Fixed mbr.bin path for Arch Linux (github#818)
Fixed the code that automatically populates the available releases
(rhbz#1096460)
Switched to use polkit on Linux instead of consolehelper for authentication
Translation updates
Improved error handling

2013-10-17 :: v3.12.0

https://lists.fedorahosted.org/pipermail/liveusb-creator/2013October/000387.html

2013-04-30 :: v3.11.8

Fixed EFI booting

Added a button for refreshing the release list
Fixed translations under Windows
Modernized installer style and translated it approprately
Built with Python 2.7 (previous versions were built with 2.5)
Fixed a bug that prevented persistent overlays from working
Improvements and bugfixes to the maximum overlay sizing code
Handle devices without any free space
Fixed bugs with handling devices with non-ascii labels
A variety of other bugfixes and improvements (see the commit log for details).

View past news...

Press

E-Week - Best Gadgets and Apps for IT Pros

Lifehacker - The Most Popular Linux Posts of 2008
Lifehacker - Fedora 9 Puts Your Desktop on a USB Drive
Featured in the "Put Linux in your pocket" article in the Jan 2009 Issue #114 of
the Linux Format magazine
Wired.com - New Sugar on a Stick Brings Much Needed Improvements
ZDNet White Papers - Use Live USB Creator to install Fedora 12 from a USB stick
Featured in Applied Networking Labs by Dr. Randall Boyle

Screenshots

Screenshots of the liveusb-creator in action.

Problems?

Read the FAQ

Checkout existing issues for your issue
Create a new ticket

Development

See the Developers Guide

Subscribe to the liveusb-creator mailing list
Read the API and source code
Help work on existing issues

Authors

Luke Macken
Kushal Das

Forks

Tails USB Installer

Mandriva Seed
Sidux liveusb-creator

Download in other formats:

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