ISO images, typically distributed in ISO 9660 format, are commonly used for distributing bootable operating system installers. This format is designed for optical discs and can contain both data and a boot sector, enabling the image to be bootable. By burning ISO images directly onto a USB stick or portable hard drive, you can boot from the external device.
In Linux, there are several tools available for creating a bootable USB drive from an ISO image. Among these, the dd command-line tool is the most universally available and comes preinstalled in most Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, and SUSE.
Related: How to back up optical disk in Linux
Steps to burn ISO image to USB drive in Linux:
- Open a terminal application..
- Verify that your ISO image is in the correct ISO 9660 format and is bootable.
$ file Downloads/ubuntu-21.04-desktop-amd64.iso Downloads/ubuntu-21.04-desktop-amd64.iso: ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data (DOS/MBR boot sector) 'Ubuntu 21.04 amd64' (bootable)
- List the available block devices on your system.
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT loop0 7:0 0 55.4M 1 loop /snap/core18/1997 loop1 7:1 0 219M 1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66 loop2 7:2 0 64.8M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514 loop3 7:3 0 32.3M 1 loop /snap/snapd/11588 loop4 7:4 0 51M 1 loop /snap/snap-store/518 loop5 7:5 0 65.1M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515 sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk sdb 8:16 0 20G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 1M 0 part ├─sdb2 8:18 0 513M 0 part /boot/efi └─sdb3 8:19 0 19.5G 0 part / sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
- Insert your USB drive and wait a few seconds for the system to detect it.
- Identify the device name of your newly inserted USB drive.
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT loop0 7:0 0 55.4M 1 loop /snap/core18/1997 loop1 7:1 0 219M 1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66 loop2 7:2 0 64.8M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514 loop3 7:3 0 32.3M 1 loop /snap/snapd/11588 loop4 7:4 0 51M 1 loop /snap/snap-store/518 loop5 7:5 0 65.1M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515 sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk sdb 8:16 0 20G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 1M 0 part ├─sdb2 8:18 0 513M 0 part /boot/efi └─sdb3 8:19 0 19.5G 0 part / sdc 8:32 1 58.6G 0 disk ├─sdc1 8:33 1 2.5G 0 part /media/user/Ubuntu 20.04 LTS amd64 └─sdc2 8:34 1 3.9M 0 part /media/user/1079-24A3 sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
- Ensure that none of the partitions on your USB drive are mounted.
$ sudo umount /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdc2 [sudo] password for user:
- Use the dd command to copy the ISO image to your USB drive.
$ sudo dd if=Downloads/ubuntu-21.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdc conv=fdatasync 5505348+0 records in 5505348+0 records out 2818738176 bytes (2.8 GB, 2.6 GiB) copied, 628.961 s, 4.5 MB/s
- Verify that the ISO image was successfully copied to your USB drive.
$ sudo blkid /dev/sdc /dev/sdc: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="2021-04-20-11-16-16-00" LABEL="Ubuntu 21.04 amd64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="af8737a9-1e23-4373-b87a-c8b16199d461" PTTYPE="gpt"
- Safely remove your USB drive from the machine.
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Author: Mohd
Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
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Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
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