UnRaid (Re-)install steps for Debian based Linux users (2023)

So, just had to re-install unraid on my USB drive and kept running into issues with the make_bootable_linux bash script.

Note: these steps are compiled from the combined usage of a VM running Debian 12 and my workstation running Proxmox 7.4; however, with the packages listed below you will most likely find success in a standard setup/install.

These steps require the following packages: fdisk, gparted, dosfstools, mtools  -- # sudo apt-get install fdisk gparted dosfstools mtools

as always, x is one of a-z representing your USB Drive `disks` or gparted can tell you this letter when your USB drive is plugged in, even when not mounted.

From the CLI
# sudo cfdisk /dev/sdx
[DELETE] all partitions

Create partition 1:

[NEW]
~90% of drive size, primary
Set [TYPE] to FAT32
Set [Bootable]

Create partition 2:
[NEW]
remainder of disk space, extended
Set [TYPE] to FAT32 (or experiment at your own risk)

[WRITE] changes and then [QUIT]

do NOT re-plugin your drive or mount it
 

Open Gparted 

• change to your USB drive in the drive selector or through menu: GParted -> Devices
• click on /dev/sdx1 -- first partition on your USB Drive
• Right Click or Menu: Partition -> Label File System
• Set Label to "UNRAID" & Click OK
• Click the Check Mark or Menu: Edit -> Apply All Operations & Click Apply 

Mount the USB flash drive:
As the file-system has been written you can mount the USB drive using any of the following methods:

• -Gparted (maybe?)
• -Command line
• -Unplug & plugin (this should be safe as there should be no write operations, and the drive should not be mounted after the previous step)
• -Use `disks` to mount the USB drive

Copy all UNRAID files to the USB drive

• however you prefer, cli, file browser, etc
• copy make_bootable_linux from the USB Drive to your home directory or wherever you prefer

unmount the USB drive

Gparted may not give you the option to unmount the drive, if this is the case you can use either of the following methods:

• -Command line
• -Use `disks` to "stop" the USB drive

Additional Prep
open the directory where you copied make_linux_bootable in a terminal
some may need to do either of the following (typically neither, and definitely not both).

• # mv ./make_linux_bootable ./make_linux_bootable.sh
• # chmod 755 ./make_linux_bootable

Run make_bootable_linux(.sh)
if the first attempt with sudo fails, as I experienced, elevate to root
 

Quote

# sudo bash ./make_bootable_linux

The above command failed from my user account, so I had to elevate to root. In neither instance was I prompted for my password where it says "To continue you may need to enter your admin password" -- I suspect this is why sudo version failed.

output for failure:

user@tr:~/Downloads$ sudo su  bash ./make_bootable_linux 
[sudo] password for user: 
INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3

INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdp
Permit UEFI boot mode [Y/N]: Y
INFO: unRAID USB Flash drive currently mounted to /media/user/UNRAID, copying temporary installer files to /tmp/UNRAID

To continue you may need to enter your admin password 
sudo: /tmp/UNRAID/syslinux/make_bootable_linux.sh: command not found

output for success:

user@tr:~/Downloads$ sudo su
root@tr:/home/user/Downloads# bash ./make_bootable_linux 
INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3

INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdp
INFO: Temporarily mounting unRAID USB Flash drive to /tmp/UNRAID_TMP_MOUNT
Permit UEFI boot mode [Y/N]: Y
INFO: unRAID USB Flash drive currently mounted to /tmp/UNRAID_TMP_MOUNT, copying temporary installer files to /tmp/UNRAID

To continue you may need to enter your admin password
INFO: Unmounting /dev/sdp
umount: /dev/sdp: not mounted.
INFO: Installing Syslinux bootloader on /dev/sdp1
INFO: Writing MBR on /dev/sdp
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
447 bytes copied, 6.4413e-05 s, 6.9 MB/s

INFO: the Unraid OS USB Flash drive is now bootable and may be ejected.

Successful boot confirms these steps.

Comments: yes, I have a lot of drives connected to my workstation, hence why I am getting UnRaid back up and running.