Try dd command.
The dd command copies a file, converting the format of the data in the process, according to the operands specified.
Operands:
if=FILE -- Read from file instead of stdin.
of=FILE -- Write to file instead of stdout
bs=BYTES -- Read and write bytes at a time.
count=BLOCKS -- Copy only input blocks.
sync -- Use synchronized I/O for metadata.
Example:
Open a terminal.
Run it:
sudo -i
fdisk -l (Identify your usb-stick, suppose is /dev/sdb)
dd if=/path-to-your-iso/Win_7_64Bit.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M; sync
Note: Always clearly identify the usb-stick with fdisk -l command, improperly entering the wrong values could inadvertently overwrite the data on the hard drive.
A Two Partition Solution
You may be able to get by with 2 (or 3 if you want a Swap) partitions, one for the Full Ubuntu and another for data storage and exchange. Full Ubuntu will install GRUB by default. Modify GRUB to add extra entries that point directly to iso files stored in the first partition along with Ubuntu.
See How to boot from non-Ubuntu live ISO images like Fedora or CentOS? for more details about how to add ISO entries in the GRUB.
Method
First create a primary FAT32
partition in the beginning of the USB for storage. make it the size you want. Alternately, you may shrink the existing partition to the size of general storage partition you want. It is important that this be the first partition, as Windows will only recognize the first partition as the storage partition. The FAT32
format will ensure that it is compatible will most operating systems.
Second Install Ubuntu in the freed up empty space after the first partition. Also make sure the bootloader (GRUB) is installed in the correct USB and not in your hard drive or in the other USB if you are using a Live USB to do the installation from. Choose the whole disk for the GRUB installation. this will look like /dev/sdb
, /deb/sdc
etc. This will place grub in the MBR. Don't choose a partition such as dev/sdb1
.
Third Makes sure everything works so far. Plug the USB into a Windows computer and verify that storage space is readable/ writable. Repeat with Ubuntu and other OSs.
Boot Ubuntu from the USB and make sure it works as expected.
Fourth: Two methods
Easy Method based on Ubuntu Documentation on GRUB2/ISOboot
Install grml-rescueboot
sudo apt-get install grml-rescueboot
Place bootable ISO files in the /boot/grml folder. For example, if the ISO
file is in the Downloads
folder, type:
sudo mv ~/Downloads/<filename.iso> /boot/grml/
Update GRUB:
sudo update-grub
Next time you boot from the USB, GRUB will have the menu entries for the Full install, as well as all the ISO files.
Manual Method / Hard Method
You may also follow the examples in How to boot from non-Ubuntu live ISO images like Fedora or CentOS? and Ubuntu Documentation ISOboot Examples and edit the file /etc/default/grub
and one entry for the first ISO
. Make sure the path to the ISO
file is correct.
use sudo update-grub
command to update the GRUB after editing and saving the /etc/default/grub
file.
Repeat for the other ISO
files.
Also see this forum post for some more details
Thanks to oldfred for the additional links.
Note: This method of editing GRUB to point to an ISO probably won't work with Windows ISOs.
Hope this helps
Best Answer
So following the official steps:
Throws me an error for one of the dependancies:
libwxgtk
Upon some bit of googling I found this
Which is where I found the answer to my first roadblock:
Download the
libwxgtk
from link provided in this commentSo
woeusb
gets installed properly now.More issues
UI doesn't detect the USB devices, when I open the
WoeUSB
app.Tried searching multiple things online, and then settled for doing it via cmd line.
Before doing that, I had to format the USB device, which I did using the disks utility of Ubuntu.
And lo and behold, first cut of the Bootable USB failed to detect.
After doing some digging, I stumbled upon this
Essentially for UEFI devices, you need to format the USB with GPT rather than MBR (default).
So repeated the whole process on with formatting the USB with GPT.
Final blocker
Now the USB got detected, and when I set the boot order and tried to boot the USB, I got a rather cryptic error:
Could not start NTFS partition service
Googling for that error landed me in this Github issue
Reading through the whole conversation on the issue, one thing struck me at this comment
He had mentioned that the tool worked fine with
EfiFS
v1 & v1.1.That reminded me of one of the output of the
woeusb
cmd line run.It downloaded the latest version of
uefi-ntfs.img
fromrufus
github repo.So I did a little bit of digging, and found a sufficiently old version of that file here
I downloaded this, and then rewrote this image over the UEFI:NTFS partition on the USB.
Now it finally works!!
Summary - final steps
woeusb
libwxgtk
dependancy, download the deb file from this linkInstall the Deb file and reinstall woeusb
Plug in the pen drive
At this point, the whole thing should work for most cases.
But in case your system is old, it might throw some error about NTFS partition service. Then follow on:
Try again now, it worked for me!!