2 Ways to Create an ISO from a Bootable USB in Linux
In this article, we will show you how to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive in Linux. We will explain two ways to achieve this: via the command line interface (CLI) and a graphical user interface (GUI) program.
Create An ISO From A Bootable USB Drive Using dd Tool
dd is a commonly used command-line tool for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, used to convert and copy files.
To create an ISO image from a Bootable USB Drive files, first you need to insert your USB drive and then find the device name of your USB using following df command.
Sample Output
From the output above, you can clearly see that our attached USB device name is /dev/sdb1 .
Now you can run the following command to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive as shown. Make sure to replace /dev/sdb1 with your USB drive and /home/tecmint/Documents/Linux_Mint_19_XFCE.iso with the full name of the new ISO image.
In the above command, the option:
- if – means read from specified FILE instead of stdin.
- of – means write to specified FILE instead of stdout.
Once done, you can verify the ISO image using following ls command as shown.
Create ISO from Bootable USB Using dd Command
Create An ISO From A Bootable USB Drive Using Gnome Disks
Gnome Disks is a graphical tool used to manage disk drives and media in Linux. It is used to format and partition drives, mount and unmount partitions, and query S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes.
If you don’t have gnome-disk utility on your system, you can install it by running the following command.
After successfully installing Gnome disk, search and open it from the system menu or dash. Then from the default interface, select the bootable device from the list of mounted devices on the left-hand pane, by clicking on it and click on disk options. Then click on Create Disk Image option as shown in the following image.
Create a Disk Partition Image
From the dialog window, set the name of the ISO file, its location and click Start creating. Then enter your password to open the bootable device and the process should start if the authentication is successful.
Create ISO from Bootable USB Using Gnome Disks
That’s it for now! In this article, we’ve explained two ways to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive in Linux. Use the comment form below to share your thoughts with us or ask questions.
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Make a bootable flash drive from an ISO image
We all know that installing an operating system from a USB drive is much faster than installing from DVD. In this article we will look at several ways to create a bootable USB drive.
Before describing how to create a bootable USB drive read the article How to correctly format the USB stick in Linux Mint. In some cases described below, it is desirable to have already formatted the USB flash drive in FAT32 format.
1. LinuxLive USB Creator (only for Windows users)
If you are a user of the Windows operating system and want to make a bootable USB flash drive with a Linux distribution – this program is for you.
It is very simple, select the USB flash drive, please specify the iso image will be copied, turn on the option to format the USB stick and click on the lightning.
You can download the program on the official developer’s website http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download.
Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable Flash/Pen/Key drives, memory cards, etc.
Rufus will be especially useful in cases where:
-you need to create a bootable USB disk from a bootable ISO image (Windows, Linux, UEFI, and others)
-need to work on systems that have no OS installed
-you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS
-you need to run a low-level utility
-Despite its small size, Rufus knows how to do everything!
3. UNetbootin (for Linux, Windows, Mac users)
A very common program. The principle of operation is the same as the previous program. Select the image, select the flash drive, and click OK. For details, see the screenshots below.
Installation latest version into Linux Mint 14/15/16/17/17.1:
4. LiveUSB MultiSystem (for Linux users) -To create a bootable USB flash drive with multiple operating systems (windows or linux) read article Create your LiveUSB MultiBoot very simple in Linux Mint.
5. Either – program to burn the iso image with the distro on a USB flash drive or micro SD card (Windows, MacOS and Linux) read article Either – program to record the iso image on a USB flash drive
6. YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (for Linux, Windows users)
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Integrator), is the successor to our MultibootISOs. It can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more. Contrary to MultiBootISOs which used grub to boot ISO files directly from USB, YUMI uses syslinux to boot extracted distributions stored on the USB device, and reverts to using grub toBoot Multiple ISO files from USB, if necessary.
Important Note : YUMI was intended to be used to try to run various “LIVE Linux” Operating Systems from USB. Installing Linux from the YUMI created USB Drive to a Hard Drive is not officially supported. If the installer portion of any Live Linux distro does work, consider it a bonus.
Installation latest version into Linux Mint 14/15/16/17/17.1:
Download DEB package “YUMI for Ubuntu Linux” from website
7. USB image writer (for Linux users)
Linux Mint have default utility USB image writer. One time I used this program, but personally I have not always made a bootable USB flash drive.
Locate menu, the program will run. Select the image, select the USB drive and click Write.
Multiboot USB flash drive designed for loading and installing operating systems Windows/Linux and restoration-resuscitation tools directly from the USB drive.
9. WinUSB – Create Windows Usb stick
is a simple tool that allows you to create your own Windows installation on USB stick from an ISO image or DVD disk in Linux Mint.
10. Using the terminal (in my opinion the best 100% of the way)
As is known, the terminal is installed in any Linux distribution by default, so install additional software is not required.
The terminal command to write the iso image, the distribution is as follows:
Where instead of /home/USER/linuxmint.iso you need to specify the path to the iso file. sdb in the end, it’s a stick on which is written the way.
To determine your flash drive, run in terminal:
And if you stick decided differently, change in the command.
To be entered correctly in the command path to the file, open the folder with the file, open next to the terminal and drag the file into the terminal:
Now we are ready to start. I got the command:
The cursor of the terminal is blinking and it seems that nothing happens, but actually being recorded. Wait for the image capture and at the end you should see in the terminal like this:
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