How do I create a unRAID USB from a Linux machine?


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I've been trying for the past few days to create a unRAID USB. I do not have access to any Windows or Mac machines. I've tried using "dd" and I've tried using Etcher, but both have failed. All of the instructions and tutorials seem to lack any mention of Linux. Is there a tutorial I am missing, or is there simply not information on how to achieve this?

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2 minutes ago, Squid said:

just copy the contents of the download to a newly formatted (FAT32) flashdrive named UNRAID, and then execute make_bootable_linux which is on the flash drive

 

Yup, that's basically the steps.

 

@Bob1215 Which Linux distro are you using?  The 'make_bootable_linux' I built and tested from Ubuntu and should be generic enough to run in many other distros.  

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I'm on Debian 9.4. I did try that. Here is the output:

 

sudo bash Downloads/test/unRAIDServer-6.5.3-x86_64/make_bootable_linux 
INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3

INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdb
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: Installing Syslinux bootloader on /dev/sdb1
sh: 1: mcopy: not found
INFO: Writing MBR on /dev/sdb
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
447 bytes copied, 0.000791486 s, 565 kB/s

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

Then, when I insert the USB into the server, the server says

 

Quote

This is not a bootable disk.  Please insert a bootbable floppy and press any key to try again ...

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

 

The server can successfully boot from a Debian 9 Live USB, and the boot priority is for the SanDisk USB (all others are disabled), and no hard drives are connected.

Screenshot from 2018-07-15 16-33-00.png

Screenshot from 2018-07-15 16-33-57.png

Edited by Bob1215
removed code highlights and added screenshots
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I found the solution. `syslinux` is not installed by default in Debian 9 amd is needed for `mcopy`

 

Steps to create bootable unRAID USB on a Debian machine

  1. Insert USB drive
  2. Format to FAT (or FAT32) or create FAT partition
  3. Download unRAID zip
  4. Extract zip
  5. Copy files inside extracted unRAID directory to the USB
  6. Install `syslinux` with
  7. sudo apt install syslinux

     

  8. Navigate to the directory you originally extracted to. For example:

    cd /home/username/Downloads/unRAIDServer-6.5.3-x86_64/

     

  9. Run the `make_bootable_linux` script from here (NOT from on the USB drive):

    sudo bash make_bootable_linux

     

  10. Each time I tried this it failed the first time (I think because my file explorer was open to the USB drive). I run the previous command a second time and it succeeds. Here is the output:

    user@debian:~$ sudo bash Downloads/unRAIDServer-6.5.3-x86_64/make_bootable_linux 
    INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3
    
    INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdb
    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
    user@debian:~$ sudo bash Downloads/unRAIDServer-6.5.3-x86_64/make_bootable_linux 
    INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3
    
    INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdb
    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: Installing Syslinux bootloader on /dev/sdb1
    INFO: Writing MBR on /dev/sdb
    0+1 records in
    0+1 records out
    447 bytes copied, 0.000162011 s, 2.8 MB/s
    
    INFO: the unRAID USB Flash drive is now bootable and may be ejected.

     

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  • 8 months later...
15 minutes ago, capino said:

And make sure the partition where you copy the files to is called: /dev/sdx1

You need to make sure it only has one partition but the /dev/sdx designation has nothing to do with it.

 

Are you having a problem, or were you just trying to add to the discussion?

 

 

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27 minutes ago, trurl said:

You need to make sure it only has one partition but the /dev/sdx designation has nothing to do with it.

 

Are you having a problem, or were you just trying to add to the discussion?

 

 

It's a add to the discussion based on the installation steps of Bob1215

Edited by capino
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  • 1 year later...

Ubuntu 20.04 with Unraid 6.8.3, after copying contents to USB, formatted with FAT and labeled UNRAID, you will need to change the filename make_bootable_linux to make_bootable_linux.sh otherwise the script will fail.  Then you can run `sudo bash make_bootable_linux.sh` from the download directory (do not run the file from the usb).

 

The fact the developers clearly never ran this script even a single time worries me greatly.

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I have quite happily run that file directly from the USB without renaming it on my UnRAID system.

 

The only thing I could not do is run it directly from the USB without specifying which program (E.g. bash) was going to run the script.   That is because the script on the ISB stick cannot be given execute permission without first copying it somewhere else first.    However by specifying ‘bash’ as the command to run the script it ran fine.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

 

i get always the error:

 

phil@phil-700Z7C:~/Downloads/test$ sudo bash make_bootable_linux.sh 
INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3

INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdc

FAIL: unRAID Flash drive detected but unable to detect where it is currently mounted, aborting!

 

But the USB is mounted.

158742417_Bildschirmfotovon2021-01-1911-44-54.png.c29fed113dc61e21ba73c9c6dc17dd7b.png

 

What did i wrong?

 

1952709484_Bildschirmfotovon2021-01-1911-58-38.png.2aba855ffaa7c5988dd87e033264af17.png

 

Best regards,

 

Phil

Edited by horphi
added Picture
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On 12/30/2020 at 4:01 PM, tactical_gambit said:

Ubuntu 20.04 with Unraid 6.8.3, after copying contents to USB, formatted with FAT and labeled UNRAID, you will need to change the filename make_bootable_linux to make_bootable_linux.sh otherwise the script will fail.  Then you can run `sudo bash make_bootable_linux.sh` from the download directory (do not run the file from the usb).

 

The fact the developers clearly never ran this script even a single time worries me greatly.

 

Thanks for the hint. Had the same problem on Manjaro.

Being honest it is a pity that you have to google how to to generate a unRaid USB Stick under Linux.because there is no description for it on the Homepage. There is only an installer for Windows and Mac OS.

Edited by darkside40
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  • 2 months later...

Hey guys.

 

More recent thread on this topic here. The short version is that Bob1215 had it mostly right. You may or may not need to install syslinux per steps 6 and 7 in Bob1215's instructions, and things work better if the USB is unmounted (NOT ejected) between steps 8 and 9. Or you can just run the script twice back to back as mentioned in step 10.

 

Also, itipmi edited the manaul method instructions in the getting started section of the wiki with slimmed down version of those steps.

 

A few folks above mention getting the script to work by renaming the script with .sh at the end. I tried that and it didn't change things at all. I suspect that what made the script work was not really renaming it, but running it twice, once before renaming it and then again after the rename.

 

Hope that helps.

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  • 3 months later...

I don't get it running.

The program seems to run and seems to install the bootloader.

But my system says all the time "Missing operating system". I tried with and without UEFI. My Bios accept both variants.

 

INFO: make_bootable_linux v1.3

INFO: The following device appears to be the unRAID USB Flash drive: /dev/sdc
INFO: Temporarily mounting unRAID USB Flash drive to /tmp/UNRAID_TMP_MOUNT
Permit UEFI boot mode [Y/N]: n
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: Installing Syslinux bootloader on /dev/sdc1
INFO: Writing MBR on /dev/sdc
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
447 bytes copied, 9,7709e-05 s, 4,6 MB/s

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

 

EDIT:
If I insert a second USB-Stick with Supergrub2, I am able to select the UNRAID system and start it. But that is a bad way to do it!

Edited by maybe
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  • 10 months later...
On 7/13/2021 at 5:56 AM, maybe said:

Found the error. I didn't had a msdos partition table ... I deleted everything and created a msdos table with gparted and then i recreated a fat32 partition. Now its working.

 

THANK YOU.  I was pulling my hair out failing to get my USB to boot, and this was the problem.  I really wish that they would put this kind of information in the official documentation.

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