How to Create Bootable Linux USB Drive from Linux Terminal

Written by Rahul, Updated on July 17, 2017

Linux Tutorials boot, bootable, command, linux, Ubuntu, usb

Q. How do I create bootable Linux USB drive on Linux system. I want to create of bootable us of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I have an Ubuntu 14.04 ISO image. I also have Ubuntu 14.04 installed on my system. Now, This article will help you to create bootable Linux USB drive on Linux operating system through the command line.

The users running the Windows operating system visit the below link to make bootable Linux USB on their system.

How to Create Ubuntu Bootable USB in Windows

Step to Create Bootable Linux USB:

Follow the below steps to make bootable Linux USB

Install Required Package – First of all, install all the required packages for this tutorial using the following command.
```
$ sudo apt-get install syslinux mtools
```
Mount ISO – Now, create a mount point on your system and mount Linux ISO image using the following command. For example, I used Ubuntu14.04.iso image and /media/iso as mountpoint.
```
$ sudo mkdir /media/iso
$ sudo mount -o loop /opt/Ubuntu14.04.iso /media/iso
```
Attach USB – Now attach your USB drive to your computer to which you need to make bootable. Generally, the USB mounts automatically. But in any case, it’s not mounted using the following command to mount it manually.
```
$ sudo mount /dev/sdc /media/usb
```
Read this: How To Format USB Drive in Linux Command Line
Copy OS Files – Now copy all files from mounted iso /media/iso/ to USB drive /media/usb.
```
$ sudo cp -ra /media/iso/* /media/usb
```
Make USB Bootable – Finally, we need to make this USB bootable. Copy ldlinux.sys file to USB drive to make it bootable.
```
$ sudo syslinux -s /dev/sdd1
```
Now rename some required files and directories as like below. Navigate to USB drive
```
$ cd /media/usb
$ mv isolinux syslinux
$ cd syslinux
$ mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg
```

And, you have all done. Your USB flash drive is ready. Now you can connect this USB to a computer which you need to install Linux operating system and boot it from USB.

5 Comments

Jules Randolph Reply to Jules
April 4, 2018 at 11:41 pm
Hi ! Nice tutorial. I wrote a bash script ‘bootiso’ that does exactly that but with extra security guards !
You can check it here: https://github.com/jsamr/bootiso.
Krista Reply to Krista
July 17, 2017 at 2:21 am
Good day – I am studying the command lines you wrote; I need one clarification about the /medma/USB path. Is that a directory that have to create or is this the same as /media/USB. If it’s the latter, how is that possible when the literature state that you mount a device on an empty directory?
- Rahul K. Reply to Rahul
  July 17, 2017 at 7:42 am
  Hi Krista,
  It was a typo. I have corrected the commands.
  - Krista Reply to Krista
    July 27, 2017 at 12:41 am
    Hi Rahul, thanks for clarifying this matter. Now the only roadblock that I am running up against is the command for make bootable USB. An error message is displayed, it reads – no directory slots | syslinux: failed to create ldlinux.sys. Any thoughts on this? The host laptop that is being used lubuntu, the iso image that was copied is ubuntu v16.04 and the USB drive is 8 GB.
  - Krista Reply to Krista
    July 27, 2017 at 1:50 am
    Hello again, I was able to successfully follow your instructions until I got to make USB bootable. I received an error message, and it reads – no directory slots | syslinux : failed to create ldlinux.sys. What this is referring to? As for my host laptop, it’s lubuntu. A copy of ubuntu v16.04 was copied to an 8 GB USB drive

Step to Create Bootable Linux USB:

Rahul

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