How to write/create a Ubuntu .iso to a bootable USB device on Linux using dd command

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Step 1: Find your usb device name

I downloaded a Ubuntu .iso file named artful-desktop-amd64.iso on a Debian Linux system. How do I write or burn a Ubuntu .iso to a USB device for installation purpose from Linux terminal?You need to use the dd command to create a bootable USB stick to install Ubuntu Linux on your Laptop or Desktop. Creating a bootable Ubuntu USB stick is easy from Linux or Unix-like system such as MacOS.

Insert your USB stick and type the following df command to see if it is mounted automatically on a Debian Linux desktop:

$ df

Sample outputs:

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on udev 16432268 0 16432268 0 % /dev tmpfs 3288884 26244 3262640 1 % /run /dev/mapper/md0_crypt 491076512 9641092 456420380 3 % / tmpfs 16444408 105472 16338936 1 % /dev/shm tmpfs 5120 4 5116 1 % /run/lock tmpfs 16444408 0 16444408 0 % /sys/fs/cgroup /dev/sdc1 122546800 124876 116153868 1 % /boot tmpfs 3288880 24 3288856 1 % /run/user/ 119 tmpfs 3288880 72 3288808 1 % /run/user/ 1000 /dev/sdd1 1467360 1467360 0 100 % /media/vivek/data Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on udev 16432268 0 16432268 0% /dev tmpfs 3288884 26244 3262640 1% /run /dev/mapper/md0_crypt 491076512 9641092 456420380 3% / tmpfs 16444408 105472 16338936 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 5120 4 5116 1% /run/lock tmpfs 16444408 0 16444408 0% /sys/fs/cgroup /dev/sdc1 122546800 124876 116153868 1% /boot tmpfs 3288880 24 3288856 1% /run/user/119 tmpfs 3288880 72 3288808 1% /run/user/1000 /dev/sdd1 1467360 1467360 0 100% /media/vivek/data

You need to unmount /media/vivek/data:

$ sudo umount /media/vivek/data

Or

$ sudo umount /dev/sdd1

Another option is to run dmesg command to find out usb device name:

$ sudo dmesg

Sample outputs:

[ 461339.310378 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : new high-speed USB device number 12 using ehci-pci [ 461339.420453 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : New USB device found, idVendor = 0781, idProduct=558a [ 461339.420457 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : New USB device strings: Mfr = 1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [ 461339.420460 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : Product: Ultra [ 461339.420461 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : Manufacturer: SanDisk [ 461339.420463 ] usb 2 - 1.7 : SerialNumber: FooBarNixCraftSerialNumber [ 461339.421010 ] usb-storage 2 - 1.7 : 1.0 : USB Mass Storage device detected [ 461339.421457 ] scsi host6: usb-storage 2 - 1.7 : 1.0 [ 461340.431909 ] scsi 6 : 0 : 0 : 0 : Direct-Access SanDisk Ultra 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6 [ 461340.432886 ] sd 6 : 0 : 0 : 0 : Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 [ 461340.433448 ] sd 6:0:0:0: [ sdd ] 121307136 512 -byte logical blocks: ( 62.1 GB/ 57.8 GiB ) [ 461340.435434 ] sd 6:0:0:0: [ sdd ] Write Protect is off [ 461340.435438 ] sd 6:0:0:0: [ sdd ] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00 [ 461340.436405 ] sd 6:0:0:0: [ sdd ] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA [ 461340.449612 ] sdd: sdd1 sdd2 [461339.310378] usb 2-1.7: new high-speed USB device number 12 using ehci-pci [461339.420453] usb 2-1.7: New USB device found, idVendor=0781, idProduct=558a [461339.420457] usb 2-1.7: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [461339.420460] usb 2-1.7: Product: Ultra [461339.420461] usb 2-1.7: Manufacturer: SanDisk [461339.420463] usb 2-1.7: SerialNumber: FooBarNixCraftSerialNumber [461339.421010] usb-storage 2-1.7:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected [461339.421457] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-1.7:1.0 [461340.431909] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk Ultra 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6 [461340.432886] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 [461340.433448] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] 121307136 512-byte logical blocks: (62.1 GB/57.8 GiB) [461340.435434] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off [461340.435438] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00 [461340.436405] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA [461340.449612] sdd: sdd1 sdd2

It is clear that /dev/sdd is my usb stick device name.

Step #2: Create a bootable USB stick on Linux

Type the following dd command to create a bootable USB image from a .ISO file:

$ sudo dd if=artful-desktop-amd64.iso \

of=/dev/sdd bs=1M status=progress

The dd command will write process data to a usb stick (/dev/sdd)and a progress bar appears on screen.

Ubuntu to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from terminal

In this example I am going to create a bootable flash drive for ubuntu-18.04.3-live-server-amd64.iso file as follows:

$ sudo dd if=/isos/ubuntu-18.04.3-live-server-amd64.iso \

of=/dev/sdb bs=1M status=progress



Another example

$ sudo dd if=/isos/ubuntu-19.04-live-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M status=progress

Sample output:

748+0 records in 748+0 records out 784334848 bytes (784 MB, 748 MiB) copied, 119.174 s, 6.6 MB/s

Step 3: You are done

That’s all! You now have Ubuntu on a USB stick, bootable and ready to install on your Laptop, Desktop or server based system.

Conclusion

You learned how to create a bootable usb pen drive from downloaded Ubuntu desktop or server .ISO image.