how do i boot Linux distros from iso file in Ubuntu (?)



This tutorial will be showing you how to boot ISO files stored on your hard drive with the GRUB2 boot loader


We're trying to get beginners to Linux...not scare them away.
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OP,
Just download Etcher and burn the IOS to a Flash Drive...simple.
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........and following on from our bob ^^^....you will then need to know how to actually boot your pc to that freshly made bootable usb stick.....


You’re not trying to access the BIOS, you’re trying to access the boot selection menu and there’s a narrow window to get it right.

In order to boot to USB, you have to have fairly good timing – or a willingness to sit there and pound on the same key over and over again. In a traditional sense, you’re aiming for a boot selection menu that you can access after POST (Power On Self-Test) and that split-second before the OS starts its boot sequence.

THE LIST OF KEYS!
Acer: ESC, F2, or F12
Apple/Mac: OPTION
Asus: F8 or ESC
Compaq: ESC or F9
Dell: F12
HP: ESC or F9
Lenovo: F8, F10, or F12
MSI: F11
NEC: F5
Packard Bell: F8
Samsung: ESC, F2, or F12
Sony: F1, F2, or F3
Toshiba: F12
 
An ISO file is a premastered image. It should be burned to a CD or a DVD and then you can boot from that. I have never tried to write it to a USB flash drive with /usr/bin/dd, but I have just considered that today. I had problems burning an ISO file to a DVD. It showed a bus error. I hardly ever use the DVD drive and it has worked just fine before. I have plenty of 32 GB flash drives lying around. I'll have to try writing an ISO file to one of those. You can use use /usr/bin/genisoimage to create an ISO image file from a directory tree with files in it. If you are running KDE as your Linux desktop you can use /usr/bin/k3b to write to CDs/DVDs. Look for it in your Applications folder. Click on the Debian Application Launcher icon, if your system has one, and look around.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
 
........and following on from our bob ^^^....you will then need to know how to actually boot your pc to that freshly made bootable usb stick.....


You’re not trying to access the BIOS, you’re trying to access the boot selection menu and there’s a narrow window to get it right.

In order to boot to USB, you have to have fairly good timing – or a willingness to sit there and pound on the same key over and over again. In a traditional sense, you’re aiming for a boot selection menu that you can access after POST (Power On Self-Test) and that split-second before the OS starts its boot sequence.

THE LIST OF KEYS!
Acer: ESC, F2, or F12
Apple/Mac: OPTION
Asus: F8 or ESC
Compaq: ESC or F9
Dell: F12
HP: ESC or F9
Lenovo: F8, F10, or F12
MSI: F11
NEC: F5
Packard Bell: F8
Samsung: ESC, F2, or F12
Sony: F1, F2, or F3
Toshiba: F12
i use f12 or esc
 
And did you get your pc to boot successfully ?
 
An ISO file is a premastered image. It should be burned to a CD or a DVD and then you can boot from that. I have never tried to write it to a USB flash drive with /usr/bin/dd, but I have just considered that today. I had problems burning an ISO file to a DVD. It showed a bus error. I hardly ever use the DVD drive and it has worked just fine before. I have plenty of 32 GB flash drives lying around. I'll have to try writing an ISO file to one of those. You can use use /usr/bin/genisoimage to create an ISO image file from a directory tree with files in it. If you are running KDE as your Linux desktop you can use /usr/bin/k3b to write to CDs/DVDs. Look for it in your Applications folder. Click on the Debian Application Launcher icon, if your system has one, and look around.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
Burning an installation .iso file to a cd or dvd has a long history and once was a major way distros were installed, but with the increasing absence of cd and dvd devices in both laptops and desktops, the more recent installation medium has moved to usb devices. Fortunately, the booting facility in the .iso images themselves when burned to a cd or dvd, will usually also boot from a usb, so writing the .iso file to the usb mostly "just works". That's been the experience here for some years now, though some older .iso files more than a decade old have failed for reasons not investigated.

For the actual writing of the .iso file to the usb, it can be as straight forward as: cp <distro>.iso /dev/sdX.
See here: https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.en.html

There are numerous other ways of writing the .iso to the usb also.
 
There are numerous other ways of writing the .iso to the usb also
In Linux Mint it is a matter of right clicking on the downloaded .iso and selecting 'Make bootable usb srtick

A small window will open asking for the name of the usb stick (make sure you get the name right ! )and then click on write.

A progress bar across the bottom of the window will indicate where it is up to.

Be sure there is nothing of value on the usb stick....the procedure will completely wipe anything that remains on the stick
 
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I usually use the built-in Disk Image Mounter to mount the ISO and then either create a bootable USB using Startup Disk Creator or use a virtual machine like VirtualBox for testing. It's convenient and efficient, especially when trying out different distros before committing to a full installation. Just make sure your BIOS settings allow booting from USB or CD/DVD if you're using physical media.
 
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I have noticed just today that the ISO image for a Linux installation DVD has a DOS MBR partition table with one partition set to boot. I have written the ISO image to a USB flash drive, but I have yet to try booting with it. I've been busy. It looks like someone put it together on a flash drive first, added an ISO9660 label, and then read the whole thing to a file. It does use all of the available space though so genisoimage was probably used.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
 

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