How to create a bootable Linux USB drive

soloojos (Lemmy)@feddit.cl to Linux@lemmy.ml – 183 points –
How to create a bootable Linux USB drive
zdnet.com
82

You are viewing a single comment

The cp command will write the ISO file directly onto the device. This is the official way that is recommended by Debian:

cp debian.iso /dev/sdX

Source: https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.en.html

Woah...

Damn I'm sorry for questioning this method, I didn't know.

This works because block devices like /dev/sdX are just files. If you cp a file onto another file, it overwrites the data of the destination with the source. A block device represents the device itself, not the filesystem; if you wanted to put the ISO inside the filesystem, you'd have to mount it first.

Next time I'll test out another distro I'll try just that... Sadly I just hopped yesterday from Fedora 40 to LMDE.