[Solved] Make bootable USB using Linux (see page 2)

[megz]

Iam wanting to try out unraid. But I cant get the USB pen to boot. 

 

The instruction on the wiki are for a Windows PC or MAC? A lot of people run Linux only (millions actually) and I am one of them. I did see the bit about unetbootin but on installation there was no unraid entry in the menu?

 

I run linux mint (ubuntu base)

 

I have the pen, its fat32 with all the files copied across but how can i make it bootable? I have a usbimagewriter application but that is looking for an ISO.

 

Any help appreciated..

 

 

[vl1969]

shouldn't the Mac instruction work for you?

just open the "‘make_bootable_mac" file and copy the CLI into terminal (maybe)

 

[megz]

shouldn't the Mac instruction work for you?

just open the "‘make_bootable_mac" file and copy the CLI into terminal (maybe)

 

i tried that (as root) and it didn’t work

 

[vl1969]

you can also try using GParted.

 

start GParted with root

delete all partitions form flash stick

create a fat32 partition with "UNRAID" label

and mark it as bootable (there is a checkmark some where )

that should do it.

 

than mount it and unzip all the files onto this new drive.

[megz]

you can also try using GParted.

 

start GParted with root

delete all partitions form flash stick

create a fat32 partition with "UNRAID" label

and mark it as bootable (there is a checkmark some where )

that should do it.

 

than mount it and unzip all the files onto this new drive.

 

il give this a try, the only step i dint do was add a boot flag.. il let you know

[StevenD]

You dont have access to a single Windows box?  I find that hard to believe.

[megz]

You dont have access to a single Windows box?  I find that hard to believe.

 

 

I hope this isnt another oddity with Unraid that it needs a mac or windows machine to run a linux server, serving linux clients on the edge 

 

your joking though i assume, how many Chinese people use Windows, How many Russian's use Windows, How many Germans use Windows ((yes they too have moved on from Windows quite a bit, their government gave out 1 million ubuntu CD's)) .. Linux/unix/bsd is in everything, unraid,freenas,desktops,andriod phones,esxi .. so yes its not inconceivable that someone may not have access to a windows PC, there are currently over 100,000 million debian users and many more in different flavours.. could one or two or maybe most of them not have Windows? you bet, in fact even dell sell machines with ubuntu on let alone other laptop resellers.. its kind of a big deal now.

 

There is not one good reason for me to run windows in 2014. It is a bloaty, malware ridden, DRM'd, backdoor'd mess and i don’t say that with anger i say that with 15 years of windows client server experience 

 

I have followed the instructions and set the flag to Boot but no dice. I have run many things from usb over the years but yea they need some sort of boot menu..

 

 

[itimpi]

I believe that syslinux is available for most Linux distributions and you just install it in the standard way for Linux.

[vl1969]

mount your usb

do cd /syslinux

and try "syslinux /dev/sdb1"  just replace the /sdb1 with your stick name

 

you might need to copy the cfg file into root though

[megz]

mount your usb

do cd /syslinux

and try "syslinux /dev/sdb1"  just replace the /sdb1 with your stick name

 

you might need to copy the cfg file into root though

 

didnt work..

 

i need to investigate syslinux more..

[megz]

any clear step by step instructions for linux  (only) users  ?

 

thanks

 

Megz

[vl1969]

sorry that was an extent of my knowledge to the max :-)

some of it I even had to google it for curiosity sake  and a personal improvement sake.

 

[jumperalex]

This might be an appropriate case to email Limetech support directly. 

[eroz]

I remember seeing a post about changing the extension of the .zip to .iso.

 

I'll see if I can find that old post.

[eroz]

Found it...

 

Hi,

 

I'm new around here and i was looking how to make USB boot disk on MacOS X and did not find any useful information on the net (no Windows in my home )

 

After trying i managed to get it working here is how.

 

1. download unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/  for your OS

2. plug usb stick at least 512 MB in your PC (recomended 1GB+)

3. format usb stick to mbr partition with fat32 file system and name it UNRAID (all capital letters is needed)

4. Download unRAID zip file (i have done this with version 4.7)

5. change extension from zip to iso

6. start unetbootini again

7. Chose diskimage (the one you renamed - you dont have to select distribution)

8. Change type to USB drive and select your drive (in my case /dev/disk2s1)*

9. Click on OK

 

now its building your USB stick, wait while it decompresses file to the USB stick and installs syslinux and makes it bootable

When it says it found some files (menu.c32) and asks to overwrite, just answer YES TO ALL

 

After its finished, eject your USB stick, insert it in your new "ServerPC" and boot

 

* how to check what is your dev id for USB Stick on MAC OS X

1. open terminal windows

2. type in diskutil list

3. you will have list of all devices and look for one that is named UNRAID

 

 

I Think this would work with Windows, Linux versions also. So if any one has Windows or Linux can you try this and write here if it works there also.

[megz]

Found it...

 

Hi,

 

I'm new around here and i was looking how to make USB boot disk on MacOS X and did not find any useful information on the net (no Windows in my home )

 

After trying i managed to get it working here is how.

 

1. download unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/  for your OS

2. plug usb stick at least 512 MB in your PC (recomended 1GB+)

3. format usb stick to mbr partition with fat32 file system and name it UNRAID (all capital letters is needed)

4. Download unRAID zip file (i have done this with version 4.7)

5. change extension from zip to iso

6. start unetbootini again

7. Chose diskimage (the one you renamed - you dont have to select distribution)

8. Change type to USB drive and select your drive (in my case /dev/disk2s1)*

9. Click on OK

 

now its building your USB stick, wait while it decompresses file to the USB stick and installs syslinux and makes it bootable

When it says it found some files (menu.c32) and asks to overwrite, just answer YES TO ALL

 

After its finished, eject your USB stick, insert it in your new "ServerPC" and boot

 

* how to check what is your dev id for USB Stick on MAC OS X

1. open terminal windows

2. type in diskutil list

3. you will have list of all devices and look for one that is named UNRAID

 

 

I Think this would work with Windows, Linux versions also. So if any one has Windows or Linux can you try this and write here if it works there also.

 

 

Awesome , Thanks eroz,

 

Can this be pinned for future users of Linux wanting to boot Unraid please ?

 

 

  Works !!

 

 

[DaleWilliams]

There is not one good reason for me to run windows in 2014. It is a bloaty, malware ridden, DRM'd, backdoor'd mess and i don’t say that with anger i say that with 15 years of windows client server experience 

  Made me spit up in delight!

[gullie]

Thank you for your help. Replacing the USB stick is what helped. Before that, I was not able to create the USB from a Mac and from Linux. (It did not work on Linux even with the new Lexar). 

It's very disappointing to see a Linux based product which does not support Linux at the first level.

The whole idea of using a USB is a bit anachronistic, not very secure, and simply ANNOYING. Why do I need to spend a whole day on such non-sensical way to secure the license?

Are there no other ways to do that, and let us install from a CD a network, or iPXE?

[tbrasser]

On 12/3/2017 at 3:01 AM, gullie said:

Thank you for your help. Replacing the USB stick is what helped. Before that, I was not able to create the USB from a Mac and from Linux. (It did not work on Linux even with the new Lexar). 

It's very disappointing to see a Linux based product which does not support Linux at the first level.

The whole idea of using a USB is a bit anachronistic, not very secure, and simply ANNOYING. Why do I need to spend a whole day on such non-sensical way to secure the license?

Are there no other ways to do that, and let us install from a CD a network, or iPXE?

I'm in the same boat as everyone here (old thread). However the USB Key is not just an installer / license drive. It's what actually boots when you start unRAID so that all your physical drives (SSD's for cache , HDD's for storage) are available for usage. unRAID runs mostly from ram so your drive doesn't see many writes.

Having said that, writeable diskimage on the lime-tech website would be friendlier than zip files, so that we can use etcher or other tools to simply prepare our USB boot device from any platform.