How to make a Live .ISO bootable distro USB on QubesOS

How to make a Live .ISO bootable distro USB on QubesOS

I have a (offline) Vault app Qube (debian-12-xfce) which i use only for my USB drives/files which has never been online and i have downloaded LMint .ISO to another App Qube which i do use online then i Moved it to my offline Vault USB app Qube where the .ISO file sits inside a attached USB drive and i have tried right clicking the ISO to try and make it bootable to the other USB drive attached to the same vault app Qube yet theres no option like there is on other Linux distros to simply make the ISO bootable so i tried to do the dd command which i saw on Qubes forum but this one not work for me either so i tried xfburn application but that never worked so i tried to find the repo for etcher so i could download it to a template and thus put it on the vault app qube all offline but i no find that.

I have also tried on the offline template things like;
sudo apt install etcher
sudo apt install ETCHER
sudo apt install Etcher

On QubesOS is there an easy way to create live bootable USB with a distro such as Linux Mint please as my other Laptop has an issue and i can not diagnose its issue without having a Live bootable distro to plug into it and im kinda desperate as the other laptop is normally what i use as a fall back plan where i can do everything on it which i cannot do on QubesOS as im a Qubes beginner you see.

What command did you run using dd to write the ISO to the disk?
Did you try it like this?
Installation guide | Qubes OS
Make sure to use the correct destination disk in of=/dev/sdY.

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sudo dd if=linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdc status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync

Apparatus solution, dd , is the most secure, reliable means to create a LIve USB. Although my use of it, left me with a boot problem with the install.

There is now documentation on how to deal with issues with Grub.

burp

Did you have any errors after executing this command in the command output?

You can also re-verify media after writing:
Verifying signatures | Qubes OS
First check the sha256sum of the ISO file:

sha256sum linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso

Then check the sha256sum of the media:

dd if=/dev/sdc bs=1M count=$(stat -c %s linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso) iflag=count_bytes | sha256sum

They should be the same.

no issues with that 1st command from memory from when i downloaded the ISO and dont know what or where to do the 2nd command and if i need to change dev/sdc for where the ISO file is or where its going?

i dont know what to do about what i read your reply please?

my latest command;
user@localhost:/media/user/MicroSD$ sudo dd if=linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync
dd: error writing ‘/dev/sdb’: No space left on device
5+0 records in
4+0 records out
4194304 bytes (4.2 MB, 4.0 MiB) copied, 0.207849 s, 20.2 MB/s
user@localhost:/media/user/MicroSD$

Im not sure if the destination path of; dev/sdb is correct, i dont know hoe to fully check the full path of a attached usb device, i went to the usb icon top right and can seeing the usb is called sdb but i not see dev/ or anything like that, im just guessing i should put dev/ before the sdb after reading other stuff online?

The device /dev/sdb does not exist.

Check the output of sudo fdisk -l to find the name of the attached disk.

i forgot to say that the last dd command i posted i did in the mmcblk0 USB which currently holds the .ISO file inside if that changes things, so i just opened up a Terminal in the destination USB which is formatted in EXT4 and is empty and is path called; sdb now to try the same command;
user@localhost:/media/user/e365fa09-1954-4006-ba72-a8df016e1e54$ sudo dd if=linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync
dd: failed to open ‘linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso’: No such file or directory
user@localhost:/media/user/e365fa09-1954-4006-ba72-a8df016e1e54$

fdisk -l command returns nothing in both usb device terminals and nothing in the app qube terminal. I just get the same response;
bash: fdisk: command not found

do you think i should just C&P the .ISO file into the destination USB being; sdb before doing that same command?

Do i need to install a fdisk command thingy?
$ sudo apt install fdisk
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
fdisk is already the newest version (2.38.1-5+deb12u1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 52 not upgraded.

Specify the full path to the linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso file. I don’t know where do you have it but for example:

sudo dd if=/media/user/e365fa09-1954-4006-ba72-a8df016e1e54/MyISOdir/linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync

Use:

sudo fdisk -l

Not:

fdisk -l
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This command was done on a terminal inside the destination empty usb;

user@localhost:/media/user/e365fa09-1954-4006-ba72-a8df016e1e54$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/xvda: 20 GiB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F4796A2A-E377-45BD-B539-D6D49E569055

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/xvda1 2048 411647 409600 200M EFI System
/dev/xvda2 411648 415743 4096 2M BIOS boot
/dev/xvda3 415744 41940991 41525248 19.8G Linux filesystem

Disk /dev/xvdb: 10 GiB, 10737418240 bytes, 20971520 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/xvdc: 10 GiB, 10737418240 bytes, 20971520 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xacdf4bcf

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/xvdc1 2048 2099199 2097152 1G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/xvdc3 2099200 20971519 18872320 9G 83 Linux

Disk /dev/xvdd: 593.53 MiB, 622358528 bytes, 1215544 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/xvdi: 119.75 GiB, 128579534848 bytes, 251131904 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 8FA84401-FA11-4646-B8F7-49E7BC8F2568

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/xvdi1 40 409639 409600 200M EFI System
/dev/xvdi2 411648 251129855 250718208 119.6G unknown

Disk /dev/mapper/luks-759ef5f7-3117-41f4-95ed-4bc3aab4de20: 119.55 GiB, 128365625344 bytes, 250714112 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/xvdj: 119.51 GiB, 128320801792 bytes, 250626566 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
user@localhost:/media/user/e365fa09-1954-4006-ba72-a8df016e1e54$

Did you attach the destination USB disk on which you want to write the ISO?
If it’s shown as attached in the Qubes Devices widget then detach it, attach it again and check if it’s present in the fdisk output again.

I detached it from the same app qube as the other usb which contains the ISO file and re-attached it as said.
I also did the sudo fdisk -l command when unattached and re-attached so im sure the destination is xvdj as this one disappeared and reappeared.
I know the USB is 120gb for sure but how do i know for sure if its the;
/dev/xvdi
or the;
/dev/xvdj

Also why doesnt it dtate sdb or sda etc?

i am currently running the command from the terminal directory where the ISO is as follows and something is happening;
$ sudo dd if=linuxmint-22-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/xvdj status=progress bs=1048576 conv=fsync

It says its done so im off to try it. Thanks :scream: :rofl: :heart_eyes:

You can mount it and check its content.
Or you can compare the Disk identifier in the fdisk output in the sys-usb and in the destination qube.

If you attach the device from “Data (Block) Devices” in Qubes Devices widget then the device will be attached as /dev/xvd* device.
If you attach the device from “USB Devices” in Qubes Devices widget then the device will be attached as /dev/sd* device.

you sorted it, my last stated command i gave did it, i wouldnt of got there if it wasnt for you kindly helping and providing sudo fdisk -l which enabled me to confirm the actual path.
I am most greatful you and the others for all help, i love you all :heart_eyes: :heart: :heart: :heart: