Ubuntu – How to create a USB Ubuntu boot device from OSX for PC?

bootboot-repairlive-usbmacbookusb-drive

My Dell XPS 9350 is not booting Ubuntu anymore. It did not have dual boot but single boot only and the ssd is encrypted.

I am trying to create an Ubuntu bootable usb stick from Mac Apple OSX but until now all attempts failed.

I formatted the pendrive to MS-DOS.

Can I use directly the iso image file i.e.,

sudo dd if=Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m

or as I have read elsewhere, should I convert the iso file:

hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64 Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso 

which creates Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.dmg:

sudo dd if=Downloads/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.dmg of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m?

Best Answer

1. Prepare the USB stick

(You can skip this step if you intend to use the USB stick with only generic PC hardware.)

-Launch Disk Utility from Applications>Utilities or Spotlight search

-Insert your USB stick and observe the new device added to Disk Utility

-Select the USB stick device (you may need to enable the option View>Show All Devices) and select Erase from the tool bar (or right-click menu)

-Set the format to MS-DOS (FAT) and the scheme to GUID Partition Map

-Check you've chosen the correct device and click Erase

2. Install and run Etcher

To write the ISO file to the USB stick, I suggest Etcher (you can download it from this link).
After downloading this and clicking to mount the package, Etcher can either be run in-place or dragged into your Applications folder.

3. Etcher configuration

Etcher will configure and write to your USB device in three stages, each of which needs to be selected in turn:
-Select image: select the ISO image of Ubuntu.

-Select drive: select your USB drive.

-Flash!: press that button to make your USB drive bootable (you will be asked to provide your password).

After entering your password, Etcher will start writing the ISO file to your USB device.
When everything has finished, you will be notified.

Credits: Create a bootable USB stick on macOS

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