SDB:Live USB stick
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Version: 15.4+ This applies to openSUSE 15.4 and later.
Download the latest openSUSE ISO file
Official URL: get.opensuse.org
For versions older than 15.4 (from 42.3 to 15.3), see http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/ which contains intallation and live isos.
Backup your USB drive
You could, if you prefer, make a backup image of the stick prior to using it for installation, with dd, and recover it after the installation. [Detailed instructions needed]
Using SUSE Studio Image Writer
These a general instructions to write an hybrid iso dvd to an usb device.
Install ImageWriter for openSUSE
Install SUSE Imagewriter with 1-Click Install
For openSUSE Leap 15.4:
For openSUSE Tumbleweed:
Or you can use this command as a root to install Imagewriter.
# sudo zypper install imagewriter
Write ISO to USB
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Confirm overwriting your data on the USB device by clicking OK.
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Writing the data takes a few minutes. After that your openSUSE bootable USB device is ready! |
Using live-fat-stick, live-grub-stick, live-usb-gui (Command line or GUI way)
If you'd rather not reformat the USB device and keep the ability of putting files on it and accessible by other operating systems, you have the option of using the live-fat-stick or live-fat-stick scripts from command line or live-usb-gui point and click graphical interface. You can put ISO on vfat partitioned USB stick or hard disk.
On openSUSE you can install the packages simply via yast (Leap 15.1) or via 1-click from here live-fat-stick, live-grub-stick and live-usb-gui, if you are running any other distribution, get the scripts from here and make it executable(as root, with chmod +x /usr/bin/live-fat-stick) after copying it to /usr/bin/, make sure you have syslinux and gpart installed before running it.
Run the following as root (with su -, not using sudo) in terminal to get the USB device path:
Run the following to make USB stick with vfat(fat32) partition bootable with iso copied on it:
To make USB device bootable with EFI(Secure boot capabilities) wiping all data from it, run:
For more help, run:
Use live-grub-stick command in place of live-fat-stick as shown in above examples if you wish to create bootable usb sticks formatted in any file systems supported by grub2, for example you can use ext3/ntfs formatted stick to create bootable USB from standard openSUSE installation iso, this allows the use of remaining space for putting other iso images or data.
Multiple iso images from multiple distributions can be added to the USB device with vfat partition when not using "isohybrid" option, boot menu will offer a choice of distribution to boot from. Scripts does not format or remove data from the device.
Using commandline tools
The following steps use CLI tools. The example uses prompts: the $ is the user prompt and # means the root prompt.
Download LiveCD ISO
Download the installation image of your choice from get.opensuse.org.
Verify the integrity of a downloaded image
After the download has been succeeded, verify the correct download with the commands:
$ gpg --recv-keys 9C800ACA $ gpg -a openSUSE-*.iso.asc
Find Block Device
To find the block device of your USB stick, make sure you have NOT plugged the stick to your computer.
1. Run:
$ lsblk --fs >/tmp/withoutusb.txt
2. Plug in your USB stick to your computer.
3. Run:
$ lsblk --fs >/tmp/withusb.txt $ diff --ignore-space-change /tmp/withoutusb.txt /tmp/withusb.txt > sdb udf openSUSE 15.2 527a66480003416e > └─sdb1 vfat ... CF4D-E297
The output can vary depending on the content of the stick. In this case, your disk is sdb so you need to use the device /dev/sdb.
Write ISO to USB
Finally, once you've found your block device, write the image to it. Point 'dd' to the full path such as '/home/user/Downloads/openSUSE-*.iso'.
Replace /dev/sd<X> with your block device of your USB stick from the previous step:
# umount /dev/sd<X> # dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/sd<X> bs=4M status=progress && sync
If you get the message
# dd: invalid status flag: 'progress'
your dd version does not support the status=progress option and therefore you have to remove it (and you will miss the writing progress indicator).
Optional steps
How to recover the USB stick for "normal" use again
After system installation, you may want to reuse the stick as you would normally to write things on it. In that case you have to reformat it. Often people complain that Windows fails to do it.
Typically, you would simply start fdisk:
# fdisk /dev/sdX
and select:
o create a new empty DOS partition table
and then:
n add a new partition
(primary, number 1, default size to use the entire device)
t change a partition's system id
Use type 6, FAT16
w write table to disk and exit
Finally:
# mkfs.msdos -n SOME_NAME /dev/sdX1
This last step is necessary, particularly the -n SOME_NAME, or the USB stick will mount with the iso name.
And done. Or, you could use gparted for partitioning and formatting.
If that doesn't work try the following steps with extreme care:
If you look at the 12.3 DVD image on a USB stick with fdisk, you would see something like this (notice the GPT warning):
WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdX'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted. Disk /dev/sdX: 7742 MB, 7742685184 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7384 cylinders, total 15122432 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 identifier: 0x1bf0d4df Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdX1 4248 12439 4096 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32) /dev/sdX2 * 12440 9162751 4575156 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
So, before reformatting, you have to repartition it again. And sometimes, if this fails, you may need an extra step - because software thinks the stick is a CD and thus not writable:
Notice: all these instructions assume the stick device is /dev/sdX. You have to find which is yours (see “Find Block Device” section above). An error here will destroy some other disk in your system.
# umount /dev/sdX # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX count=100
That destroys the boot sector, partition table, and initial structures. Any operating system should be happy to reformat it again.
Troubleshooting
How to make a USB drive bootable
This situation would happen very rarely, but in the event that your computer doesn't boot from the LiveUSB/DVD from the steps above, you might try the following procedure.
Open a console and do the following as root:
# umount /dev/sdX # fdisk /dev/sdX : p «--- print partition table : a «--- activate partition (bootable) : 1 «--- apply to partition 1 : w «--- write changes and exit