dd - Create bootable USB key from ISO

By xngo on March 1, 2020

Un-mount partitions

Use lsblk command to view all partitions on your USB key drive.

lsblk
    # sdb      7:18   1  14.9G  0 disk 
    # ├─sdb1   7:19   1   7.7G  0 part /media/username/usb volume name
    # └─sdb2   7:20   1   4.9G  0 part

Un-mount all partitions on your USB key drive.

umount /dev/sdb1
umount /dev/sdb2
umount /dev/sdbX

Copy ISO

The command below is destructive and will wipe your entire USB drive with the content of the ISO file(e.g. input.iso). Make that you are pointing to the correct device path of your USB key drive(e.g. /dev/sdX.

dd bs=4M if=/input.iso of=/dev/sdX conv=fdatasync  status=progress
dd, Debian

About the author

Xuan Ngo is the founder of OpenWritings.net. He currently lives in Montreal, Canada. He loves to write about programming and open source subjects.