[DESKTOP] Can not write to usb stick

[steve7233]

I downloaded Cosmic, so I could see if it will install NVIDIA 390.54 or higher. I bought a package of two 16 GB USB sticks from Walmart/Scandisk. I had to reformat using BTRFS. Ktorrent can't write to the USB stick. I can't figure how to use chown to fix this. Please help the mount point is /media/steve7233/Reserved for Linux ISO's and its /dev/sdb1.

[steve7233]

Nevermind. I deleted the partition and re-created it using Boot for the label. I was able to get chown to work. I think I just reboot and open my computers boot menu and select to boot from a USB stick. I will check the Kubuntu web page first.

[jglen490]

O.K., a torrent should write to a USB the same as any drive, but you could also torrent the install to your hard drive (or SSD), and use dd or Disk Creator or Etcher to write the ISO to the USB. Seems like that will sometimes save steps if there are issues. But that's just me ...

[jlittle]

Rather than muck about with USB sticks, formatting, copying, and so on, I've just had fun achieving the same (installing cosmic) using an "iso boot", as detailed in this thread.

I was installing to other subvolumes on the same btrfs as my main system, but the technique applies to installs to other partitions, maybe with other file systems. The only circumstance where a bootable USB stick would be needed is on a machine that does not have an existing grub 2.02 boot of any kind.

[steve7233]

I wanted to try to live first so probably need the stick. I used UNetbootin but the computer said no OS found. Maybe FS type? I formated BRTFS. Do I have to use Fat 32?

[jlittle]

I wanted to try to live first so probably need the stick.

An iso boot is ideal for trying out live, if that's what you meant. Orders of magnitude faster to get running. Having a bootable stick handy is a good for unforeseen circumstances, but my systemrescuecd stick is designed for that.

I used UNetbootin but the computer said no OS found. Maybe FS type? I formated BRTFS. Do I have to use Fat 32?

I tried UNetbootin a few days ago, before discovering the iso boot method. IIRC it strongly urged FAT32, and I had to learn that vfat is not the same as fat32. I was attracted to the configurability, including the option of persistent storage, over simpler ways to write sticks, like etcher or dd. However, it was far too slow writing, running CPU bound for a long time, maybe the best part of half an hour before I gave up. I had to pull the stick out to stop it, not even kill -kill would do. I suspect the choices I made caused the slowness. I ended up just doing the dd + sync to have it handy; if you really want to have it that'll get you there quickly, though checking the result for integrity is tricky.

Etcher does that automatically; that's about all it does, and I've forgotten why I came to dislike it.

[jglen490]

For USB sticks, generally fat32 will work better for building installation media. Theoretically, ext4 or btrfs should also work, but I don't play with that - fat32 works fine for installers. As for burning the ISO to a USB, I don't really like Etcher, but Unetbootin worked fine from 16.04. Apparently it's not available (yet) in 18.04, but dd does work. It won't tell you anything while it's writing, but it will tell you when it's done or if there's an error. You can always use df -h on the command line which should show how much is written to the USB stick. Be patient, and use a large blocking factor. There are several examples of how to do all this in Google.