Download:

Windows: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dnld.lime-technology.com/tools/unRAID.USB.Creator.Win32.exe

macOS: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dnld.lime-technology.com/tools/unRAID.USB.Creator.macOS.dmg

Note: at present the macOS version is NOT digitally signed.  We are in the process of obtaining an Apple Code Signing certificate.  We should have a signed version in a week or two.  If you want to try it out, macOS gatekeeper will complain that it's from a unidentified developer.  In this case open 'System Preferences', click 'Security & Privacy', then click the 'Open Anyway' button in the General pane.  Promise: we're not doing anything nefarious, but this is beta code - hopefully it won't format your hard drive (haha).
 

Features:

• You can select which release series, "Stable" or "Next", and which version to download within the series.
• You can select which USB flash device to program, including devices larger than 32GB.
• You can customize some defaults such as server name, initial network config (dhcp or static IP), and whether to enable UEFI boot.
• Open source project on github: https://github.com/limetech/usb-creator

 

We will be producing a Linux version eventually.

 

Credits:

This software was created by @eschultz under GPLv2, using earlier work from LibreELEC.

 

 

Will it also write to Flash Memory Cards for those of us who have USB Flash card readers that have unique GUID's?     May we assume that the makeboot utilities will continue to work?

3 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

Will it also write to Flash Memory Cards for those of us who have USB Flash card readers that have unique GUID's?     May we assume that the makeboot utilities will continue to work?

 

The tool should prevent memory card readers as most of the time those GUIDs are not unique.  The makeboot utilities are still present though.

Is this cross platform? Windows/Linux/Mac?

 

Fingers crossed....

 

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

EDIT: Sorry half the original post didn't show up in Tapatalk!

 

I've used the LE one and it works really well , think this is a great move!

 

Nice one.....

On 7/27/2017 at 2:01 PM, limetech said:

hopefully it won't format your C: drive (haha).

 

Ha , me too, me too...

Just used the tool for a new server I'm building, worked fantastic! Thanks! Super easy.

3 hours ago, Lev said:

Just used the tool for a new server I'm building, worked fantastic! Thanks! Super easy.

 

...and C: drive remained intact I presume (!) 

 

Seriously - @eschultz has taken great care in handling of devices.

This is really cool, thanks for making this. 

Love this utlity, very nice addition

 

Something to check though.

 

1. I started a creation based on local zip

2. Clicked "close" while creation is still in progress (program closes immediately)

3. Re-open the program

4. Start creation of a "next" version

5. Get error message that locking is not successful

 

 

6. My chinese isn't that great and got stuck 

This is likely a dumb question, but I'm curious how this tool is better/different from the make bootable script already included with the install package?

4 minutes ago, wgstarks said:

This is likely a dumb question, but I'm curious how this tool is better/different from the make bootable script already included with the install package?

 

It does all steps in one.

0. Allows you to select stable, next or backup as source

1. Format the USB stick and give it the label UNRAID

2. Copy all files to the stick

3. Optionally: preset your network configuration and EFI boot

4. Make the stick bootable

 

Give it a try and you will see its usefulness.

 

Edited July 31, 20178 yr by bonienl

3 minutes ago, bonienl said:

 

Give it a try and you will see its usefulness.

 

I'll have to wait for the Mac version.

Is there a key to getting this to recognize flash drives? Have tried 3 and I can't get the tool to recognize any of them.

18 hours ago, ice pube said:

Is there a key to getting this to recognize flash drives? Have tried 3 and I can't get the tool to recognize any of them.

 

Should just see them automatically and show them in the dropdown list.  Which version of Windows are you running?  64 or 32bit?  What are the brands/sizes of the 3 usb flash devices you're trying to use?

Win 10 64 bit, I tried 2 sandisk cruzer 8gb and 2gb, and on off-brand 8gb I got from work. 

On 7/31/2017 at 11:11 AM, bonienl said:

 

It does all steps in one.

0. Allows you to select stable, next or backup as source

1. Format the USB stick and give it the label UNRAID

2. Copy all files to the stick

3. Optionally: preset your network configuration and EFI boot

4. Make the stick bootable

 

Give it a try and you will see its usefulness.

 

 

Also important: it support devices larger than 32GB.

 

As flash devices get larger and cheaper eventually people will try say, a 64GB device.  But a problem is that Windows 10 will only let you select NTFS or exFAT for devices larger than 32GB.  Our boot loader, syslinux, does support NTFS but linux does not (well it kinda does), and exFAT is patent-encumbered and therefore frowned upon in the linux world (and has no native file system driver unlike FAT).

 

For a user to work around this, they would have to open Disk Manager and partition the device themselves, then install syslinux, then make_bootable.  This adds to an already cumbersome procedure.  Alternately they could download a 3rd party tool to format the device as FAT32 with larger cluster size, but again, adds more steps.

 

With >32GB devices, but <= 256GB, our Flash Creator tool will create a single partition 1 with FAT32 file system with larger cluster size, and then install bootable unRAID OS in that partition.  For devices larger then 256GB, remaining space is simply left unallocated and the user could create a second partition for whatever use they want.

 

The point is, the Flash Creator tool makes the entire process easier.  We deliberately put the code on github so that everyone can see that the executable is not doing anything nefarious.

Hmm I've been doing a lot of fantasizing since @limetech suggesting eariler today a 256GB flash drive for UnRaid is now possible. Since I've been on a an OCD mission lately to reduce all I/O activity to my docker /appdata and shift the burdens to RAM, I wonder if possible to relocate my dockers in whole to the USB flash, /appdata and docker.img, and not kill the USB within the year.... Only one way to find out!

 

 

No user shares on the flash drive, but probably possible for a tinkerer. Poor performance I expect. Can't speak to longevity. Pessimistic it will meet your needs, but interesting experiment.

On 8/15/2017 at 8:53 PM, Lev said:

Hmm I've been doing a lot of fantasizing since @limetech suggesting eariler today a 256GB flash drive for UnRaid is now possible. Since I've been on a an OCD mission lately to reduce all I/O activity to my docker /appdata and shift the burdens to RAM, I wonder if possible to relocate my dockers in whole to the USB flash, /appdata and docker.img, and not kill the USB within the year.... Only one way to find out!

 

 

 

I didn't want to distract from the great tool this is, so I created a new thread here to document my results. 

 

Love this tool, keep up the great work!

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 20178 yr by Lev
fixed the broken URL link

I too am waiting for a Mac version. my only windows machine is a VM running in unRaid, pointless for me is this tool if I cannot boot one day and need to redo my USB

This USB creator tool is great!

 

Would you please add the option to set a custom label on the USB flash drive? The tool would need to:

• set the label on the flash drive to NEWLABEL
• add "unraidlabel=NEWLABEL" to the appropriate places of the syslinux/syslinux.cfg and EFI/boot/syslinux.cfg files
• modify make_bootable.bat to reference NEWLABEL in case users need to run it in the future

 

This would remove some of the complexities from setting up an unRAID VM to run on an unRAID host

 

 

Additionally, I find that my unRAID VM gets stuck at the EFI boot screen. To get it to boot on its own I placed a file called startup.nsh in the root of the flash drive that contains this line:

\EFI\boot\bootx64.efi

Perhaps the USB creator tool could do this too?

Edited December 10, 20196 yr by ljm42

Added the macOS version for testing: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dnld.lime-technology.com/tools/unRAID.USB.Creator.macOS.dmg

 

Note: at present the macOS version is NOT digitally signed.  We are in the process of obtaining an Apple Code Signing certificate.  We should have a signed version in a week or two.  If you want to try it out, macOS gatekeeper will complain that it's from a unidentified developer.  In this case open 'System Preferences', click 'Security & Privacy', then click the 'Open Anyway' button in the General pane. 

I think I stuffed up my installation , luckily I backed up the USB..

 

However when I try to run the MacOS version it gives an error 

 

.

 

Update : tried the win32 version with the existing USB drive and a new one. both aren't bootable

Edited November 9, 20178 yr by disruptorx

I have downloaded this for MacOS and am on 10.13.1 (High Sierra) I cannot get it to  run i get same error as @disruptorx

 

 

Edit I think i found the issue.

 

the libssl.1.0.0.dylib file is not located under /usr/local/opt/openssl/lib

 

it is under /usr/local/ssl/lib

Edited November 22, 20178 yr by Can0nfan
found the cause for error

13 hours ago, Can0nfan said:

I have downloaded this for MacOS and am on 10.13.1 (High Sierra) I cannot get it to  run i get same error as @disruptorx

 

 

Edit I think i found the issue.

 

the libssl.1.0.0.dylib file is not located under /usr/local/opt/openssl/lib

 

it is under /usr/local/ssl/lib

 

It isn't there by default with either High Sierra 10.13.1 or Sierra 10.12.6. Something must have installed it there on your Mac. By default there is a symlink called /usr/lib/libssl.dylib which points to libssl.0.9.8.dylib in the same folder. On a fresh macOS installation there is no /usr/local/ssl folder and no /usr/local/opt folder either. It goes without saying that I get the same error message, too.