Create a Debian 6.0 Squeeze USB Bootable Flash Drive

[vik21]

Hello my name is Victor Valdez-Hidalgo and I'm new to Debian, but I'm learning at a fast pace.
Here is my tutorial on creating a Debian 6.0 Squeeze USB Bootable Flash Drive 32-bit using Windows Image Writer on a Windows PC. (Debian 6.0 Squeeze is my primary working enviroment.)

1. Download an image file of your favorite Debian 6.0 Squeeze Distribution Flavor (GNOME, KDE, XFCE, or LXDE) from http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/cur ... 6/usb-hdd/ using your favorite browser. I prefer Firefox because of its aweasome plugins.

For example I downloaded an Xfce version of Debian 6.0 Squeeze. My favorite desktop enviroment.

debian-live-6.0.4-i386-xfce-desktop.img And save it to your Windows Desktop.


2. A 4.0 GB USB FlashDrive is recommended in this tutorial. Since it was the one that I used.

Format your FlashDrive to FAT32 after you inserted it into your PC.

3. Download Windows Image Writer from https://launchpad.net/win32-image-write ... binary.zip and unzip the file and run the .exe file found in the folder in an Administrator account not in a Standard User account even if your using Adminstrative Privileges in my case that did not work but when I logged on as an Administrator it was able to work and I was able to write the image to the USB FlashDrive.

4. Launch the program after you logged in as an Administrator and click on the small folder icon to browse for the .img file of your Debian 6.0 Squeeze Distribution on your Desktop. After you found it and selected it click the Write button. It will prompt a warning after you select Write but just press Ok and you will be fine. Then it will copy the data on the .img file to your USB, after it is done writing. Success you have in your fingers a USB Bootable Debian 6.0 FlashDrive.

Hope it helps someone There is more happiness in sharing knowledge than there is in receiving it.

[phenest]

I have discovered that the Debian installation ISO allows for booting from virtually any media providing your PC is able to. It requires no special software, but do use the command with care.
Run as root:

Code: Select all

dd if=debian-6.0.5-i386-CD1.iso of=/dev/sdb

Replace the iso name with whatever you have downloaded, and replace the /dev/sdb with whatever device you are using as boot media. Note: use the device root and NOT a partition on it, e.g. /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1.

I have used this method to boot from an SD card.

[VeldMuijz]

I vouch for this method. dd command is the easiest command to use if you want to make a bootable usb stick.

[infestor]

I have discovered that the Debian installation ISO allows for booting from virtually any media providing your PC is able to. It requires no special software, but do use the command with care.
Run as root:

Code: Select all

dd if=debian-6.0.5-i386-CD1.iso of=/dev/sdb

Replace the iso name with whatever you have downloaded, and replace the /dev/sdb with whatever device you are using as boot media. Note: use the device root and NOT a partition on it, e.g. /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1.

I have used this method to boot from an SD card.

how can one also show the progress of dd with this command?

[kmathern]

I have discovered that the Debian installation ISO allows for booting from virtually any media providing your PC is able to. It requires no special software, but do use the command with care.
Run as root:

Code: Select all

dd if=debian-6.0.5-i386-CD1.iso of=/dev/sdb

Replace the iso name with whatever you have downloaded, and replace the /dev/sdb with whatever device you are using as boot media. Note: use the device root and NOT a partition on it, e.g. /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1.

I have used this method to boot from an SD card.

how can one also show the progress of dd with this command?

Pipe it thru pv {install pv if it's not already installed} and you'll get a progress indication.

Code: Select all

dd if=debian-6.0.5-i386-CD1.iso | pv | dd of=/dev/sdb  bs=4M; sync

I also added a 'bs=4M' to the 2nd dd command, and do a sync afterward. I think got those from the wiki.