Re: how to create debian live usb

["Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net>]

Hi,

kaye n wrote:
> Does the cp command do the exact same thing as using the mouse and
> right-click-copy and paste onto the flash drive?

Probably not. But it does the right thing.

Whatever, your dd command was fully correct, if /dev/sdb was the right target
device:
  sudo dd if=debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-xfce+nonfree.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M; sync


> If so, do I need to flag the flash drive with 'boot'? 

No. The partition table is inside the ISO and already prepared for the
purpose of protecting the ISO filesystem and exposing the EFI partition.


> resulted in a non-working flash drive; when I looked at it in gparted,
> there was a small black partition, and the rest was empty.

Did you actually try to boot from that stick ?

The partition table in the ISO is quite non-standard. Several partition
editors hate it.
If you are interested in the partition table, use partition editor fdisk.
After copying the ISO to the USB stick by

  $ sudo dd if=debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-xfce+nonfree.iso bs=4M of=/dev/sdb ; sync

this fdisk command

  $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

should show this partition table

  Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
  /dev/sdb1  *        0 5554239 5554240  2.7G  0 Empty
  /dev/sdb2        1540    7427    5888  2.9M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

Yes "EFI" in "Empty" is weird. But it works for booting.


If you are unsure about the correct drive address, become test user of
  https://wiki.debian.org/XorrisoDdTarget


Have a nice day :)

Thomas