Update on Windows ISO images - 9th September 2024
After I tried to burn a Windows 11 ISO image that I downloaded from the Microsoft website it wouldn’t work.
Etcher can’t be used to burn any Windows ISOs so use the Windows media installation tool that can be downloaded from the Microsoft website to create and burn the Windows ISO to a USB stick.
The Windows media tool is an exe unfortunately which means you need an existing Windows operating system in order to set up the bootable ISO USB stick.
Introduction
I needed to burn the new version of Ubuntu (24.04) to a USB stick so that I can install it on a desktop PC. This guide shows how ISO images can be burned to a USB stick and I will be using the Ubuntu ISO image as an example.
For MacOS and Linux distributions you can download an ISO image representing the operating system. After getting the ISO image the next step is to install an application to burn the ISO image to a USB stick.
BalenaEtcher
The application that I will use is Balena Etcher because it’s so simple to use, for Windows and MacOS the application can be downloaded and installed from the balenaEtcher website.
How to install
There are two install guides below, one for MacOS and the other for Ubuntu.
Ubuntu Install
These steps will be similar if using a different Linux distribution.
Deb file install
Use the wget command to download the deb file.
https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/releases/download/v1.19.21/balena-etcher_1.19.21_amd64.deb
With the deb file downloaded use it to install the application.
sudo apt -y install ./balena-etcher_1.19.21_amd64.deb
If the above command does not work then try the AppImage install in the next section.
AppImage install
I added this alternative section as the deb file install above didn’t work for me, use the AppImage file if you run problems with the deb file as well. Use wget to download the AppImage file.
wget https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/releases/download/v1.19.21/balenaEtcher-1.19.21-x64.AppImage
Set the correct permission to the AppImage so that it can run.
sudo chmod u+x ./balenaEtcher-1.19.21-x64.AppImage
Now run the AppImage file.
./balenaEtcher-1.19.21-x64.AppImage
If you run into an error try using the --no-sandbox flag.
./balenaEtcher-1.19.21-x64.AppImage --no-sandbox
MacOS Install
The MacOS dmg file can be downloaded from the Balena Ether website and run to install the application.
Alternatively, you can use Brew to install it as well.
brew install --cask balenaetcher
Using BalenaEtcher
Open the application to begin, make sure you have the USB stick plugged into the computer and the ISO file is available. Click the Flash from file button and select the file to add it.
Now click the Select target button and select the USB stick or device.
Now click the Flash button to start burning the ISO.
There will be a progress bar and time estimation for the image burn, wait for it to finish and you can then use the USB stick to install / upgrade your operating system.
