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[Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

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thomasr
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010-01-18 03:34

[Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#1 Post by thomasr »

Update: my solution is in this post: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 72#p307103

For days now I've been trying to work out how to get a "full" debian installer (ie, not a netinst installer but as much as you'd find on say, the first CD) onto a bootable USB stick.

Most of the tutorials I've seen work with the netboot installers only.

Using UNetBootin

The installer works until the "Detect and mount CD-ROM" step where it wants to mount a CD drive. Won't accept /dev/sdb or whatever device the USB stick is.

Using live-magic with the option to include the installer

The installer works until the "Detect and mount CD-ROM" step where it wants to mount a CD drive, as above. This confuses me, since why would live-magic include this capability if it didn't work for a USB stick?

Using boot.img.gz method

There's only enough room in the image for a netinst ISO. I haven't so-far been able to resize the filesystem on that image and still have a bootable USB drive, and therefore I don't even know if it would work if I did.

I want to have a USB stick capable of installing a reasonably full (gnome-desktop-environment) install of Debian without needing a network connection.

Edit: just found this forum thread where someone else had the same problem and it was never solved (he gave up and installed a different distro). I've also realised this may have been better posted in the installation forum.

Any tips?
Last edited by thomasr on 2010-07-01 02:45, edited 2 times in total.

secipolla
Posts: 1127
Joined: 2010-06-21 14:20

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#2 Post by secipolla »

The new #! Linux uses the Debian installer AFAIK, and their solution is here.

thomasr
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010-01-18 03:34

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#3 Post by thomasr »

secipolla wrote:The new #! Linux uses the Debian installer AFAIK, and their solution is here.
Those instructions are just showing how to copy an image file to a USB drive (in short, using dd). You need an image file first.

Strangely enough, it appears they are just copying the .iso file, which is an image of the CD file system, to the USB drive. Surely that wouldn't make for a bootable USB drive (or at least, not on most BIOSes)?

AnInkedSoul
Posts: 461
Joined: 2010-06-11 05:05

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#4 Post by AnInkedSoul »

thomasr wrote: Surely that wouldn't make for a bootable USB drive (or at least, not on most BIOSes)?
why not?

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traveler
Posts: 942
Joined: 2010-06-09 22:07

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#5 Post by traveler »

unetbootin grabs all the files you need (except the iso) online, you do need to use the Hd_Media option for it to work, iirc. Then you have to put the matching ISO image in the root directory of the stick. I always use netinstall isos, and have yet to have an issue with unetbootin. If you grab the first CD, doesn't that include Gnome?
I wish for a conjugal visit and world peace. (Don't want to seem selfish.)

thomasr
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010-01-18 03:34

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#6 Post by thomasr »

AnInkedSoul wrote:
thomasr wrote: Surely that wouldn't make for a bootable USB drive (or at least, not on most BIOSes)?
why not?
I assumed the BIOS would not be able to boot from a USB stick that has the image of a CD on it, because it would look for things like a master boot record, etc. I don't know. If this is indeed possible, why do things like UNetBootin or the boot.img.gz exist and why don't online tutorials mention it? It would redefine my understanding of a couple of things :)
traveler wrote:unetbootin grabs all the files you need (except the iso) online, you do need to use the Hd_Media option for it to work, iirc. Then you have to put the matching ISO image in the root directory of the stick. I always use netinstall isos, and have yet to have an issue with unetbootin. If you grab the first CD, doesn't that include Gnome?
Thanks for the suggestion - 1 more thing I can try. I want to be able to install without network though, so a netinst image won't do, so I'll see if it leaves a filesystem big enough to put the regular CD image on, and if indeed it does away with that "Detect and mount CD-ROM" issue.

thomasr
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010-01-18 03:34

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#7 Post by thomasr »

Bingo!

I used UNetBootin the way traveler described and it worked!

The key is not to give the ISO image you downloaded to UNetBootin (which works on almost any ISO except debian's), but to select the Debian distribution up top and use one of the "hdmedia" images, which will only install a kernel, small initrd and menu (and make it bootable).

First, you need to wipe the drive and put on a FAT16 (or FAT32 if it's more than 2GB) partition on it.

Then, go into UNetBootin and up top, select Debian and select one of the hdmedia images from the drop-down menu. I used a stable one.

Then, once it's installed its little kernel, initrd and menu to your USB drive, open up the drive and copy the ISO image you downloaded to it as well. Don't dd/cat it, just copy the file as is; the hdmedia loaders will find it and mount it even though it's an ISO file.

The only downside is that if you don't have a working network card the installer complains a bit about not being able to find a network card, but it still seems to let you continue (at least, past the part where the other installer tried to find the CD-ROM drive).
Last edited by thomasr on 2010-07-01 02:49, edited 1 time in total.

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traveler
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Joined: 2010-06-09 22:07

Re: [Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#8 Post by traveler »

Glad that worked for you!
I wish for a conjugal visit and world peace. (Don't want to seem selfish.)

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nadir
Posts: 5961
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Location: away

Re: [Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#9 Post by nadir »

You are the man.

similar or same problem
Took me bout 5 minutes (3 of them to download a fresh lenny-netinst:5.0.5). Nice and easy.

Great. :D
"I am not fine with it, so there is nothing for me to do but stand aside." M.D.

secipolla
Posts: 1127
Joined: 2010-06-21 14:20

Re: How to get a full debian installer on bootable USB stick

#10 Post by secipolla »

thomasr wrote:
secipolla wrote:The new #! Linux uses the Debian installer AFAIK, and their solution is here.
Those instructions are just showing how to copy an image file to a USB drive (in short, using dd). You need an image file first.

Strangely enough, it appears they are just copying the .iso file, which is an image of the CD file system, to the USB drive. Surely that wouldn't make for a bootable USB drive (or at least, not on most BIOSes)?
Down in that page there are instructions for the installer too.

jordanisawesome
Posts: 3
Joined: 2010-11-27 03:26

Re: [Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB sti

#11 Post by jordanisawesome »

Pros: Worked right off the bat.

Cons: Could have found this thread 5 days earlier...

I was going through some crazy stuff just trying to get Debian to install. At one point, I somehow ended up in Fedora... IDK how that happened.

I give props to the person who resolved the issue.

codep
Posts: 1
Joined: 2010-12-12 23:28

Re: [Solved] Get a full debian installer on bootable USB sti

#12 Post by codep »

After hours of looking for a working solution I found this thread. Just wish I found it lot earlier. Big thumbs up and thank you very much!

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