howto boot from usb iso?

[Neal Becker]

I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try to 
boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.

I wrote iso to /dev/sdc (not to a partition).  Does that matter?

May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.382228] usb 2-2: new high speed USB 
device using ehci_hcd and address 4
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.496892] usb 2-2: New USB device found, 
idVendor=0781, idProduct=5406
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.496899] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: 
Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.496905] usb 2-2: Product: U3 Cruzer 
Micro
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.496909] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: SanDisk
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.496912] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 
45308113A192A7E5
May  3 10:18:12 nbecker1 kernel: [  168.498704] scsi6 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.499352] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     
SanDisk  U3 Cruzer Micro  8.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.499933] scsi 6:0:0:1: CD-ROM            
SanDisk  U3 Cruzer Micro  8.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.501962] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi 
generic sg3 type 0
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.511865] sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x 
tray
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.512324] sr 6:0:0:1: Attached scsi 
generic sg4 type 5
May  3 10:18:13 nbecker1 kernel: [  169.514988] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI 
removable disk
May  3 10:18:16 nbecker1 kernel: [  171.691310] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 31306239 512-
byte logical blocks: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
May  3 10:18:16 nbecker1 kernel: [  171.692492] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive 
cache: write through
May  3 10:18:16 nbecker1 kernel: [  171.694488] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive 
cache: write through
May  3 10:18:16 nbecker1 kernel: [  171.694500]  sdc: unknown partition table

[Tim Evans]

On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try to
> boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.

https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/

[Neal Becker]

Tim Evans wrote:
> On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try to
> > boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.
>
> https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/

Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
Unsupported filesystem: iso9660

[Neal Becker]

Neal Becker wrote:
> Tim Evans wrote:
> > On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try
> > > to
> > > boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.
> >
> > https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/
>
> Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> Unsupported filesystem: iso9660

One thing I don't understand, is this USB key shows up as 2 devices.

/dev/sr1 (101M) iso9660
/dev/sdc (16G) unallocated space

What's with the /dev/sr1?  That's probably what's confusing liveusb-creator

[James McKenzie]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> Neal Becker wrote:
> > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try
> > > > to
> > > > boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.
> > >
> > > https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/
> >
> > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
>
> One thing I don't understand, is this USB key shows up as 2 devices.
>
> /dev/sr1 (101M) iso9660

This appears to be the live-USB boot
> /dev/sdc (16G) unallocated space

That is the remaining space on the device.

Can you boot from USB on your device?  There should be a MBR on the
device as well...

James McKenzie

[Neal Becker]

James McKenzie wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> > Neal Becker wrote:
> > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > > I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try
> > > > > to
> > > > > boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.
> > > >
> > > > https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/
> > >
> > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> >
> > One thing I don't understand, is this USB key shows up as 2 devices.
> >
> > /dev/sr1 (101M) iso9660
>
> This appears to be the live-USB boot

This is some read-only filesystem.  Notice it's a different _device_, not a 
different partition.
> > /dev/sdc (16G) unallocated space
>
> That is the remaining space on the device.
>
> Can you boot from USB on your device?  There should be a MBR on the
> device as well...
>
> James McKenzie

[Neal Becker]

James McKenzie wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> > Neal Becker wrote:
> > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > On 05/03/2011 10:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > > I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try
> > > > > to
> > > > > boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.
> > > >
> > > > https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/
> > >
> > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> >
> > One thing I don't understand, is this USB key shows up as 2 devices.
> >
> > /dev/sr1 (101M) iso9660
>
> This appears to be the live-USB boot
> > /dev/sdc (16G) unallocated space
>
> That is the remaining space on the device.
>
> Can you boot from USB on your device?  There should be a MBR on the
> device as well...
>
> James McKenzie

I've been victim to this:
-------------------
Unfortunately, many newer USB keys come with "U3" Windows software (badware?) 
preinstalled. Removing U3 is highly recommended, and will free up additional 
space on your USB key, as well as eliminate a source of potential conflicts.

Find a Windows machine, and try these programs to uninstall U3. Unfortunately, 
they are a bit flaky. If one does not work, try the other:

http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/u3/launchpadremoval.exe

http://www.u3.com/uninstall/ 
-------------------

Too bad I don't have a windows machine.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> Unfortunately, many newer USB keys come with "U3" Windows software (badware?)

Precisely one of the good things abonut U3 is that you can boot from a
ISO image without having a usb cd/dvd

http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/

ie replace the U3 boot .iso image with the iso of your choice

The device emulates a usb hub and a usb optical drive, at the hardware
level, in addition to the flash partition. That allows booting iso
images everywhere
FC

[James McKenzie]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Fernando Cassia  wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> > Unfortunately, many newer USB keys come with "U3" Windows software (badware?)
>
> Precisely one of the good things abonut U3 is that you can boot from a
> ISO image without having a usb cd/dvd
>
> http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/
>
> ie replace the U3 boot .iso image with the iso of your choice
>
> The device emulates a usb hub and a usb optical drive, at the hardware
> level, in addition to the flash partition. That allows booting iso
> images everywhere

This explains what is being seen.  I need to get one of these for my
old Thinkpad if this allows booting from a system that does not
natively boot from USB.

James McKenzie

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 12:56 PM, James McKenzie  wrote:
> This explains what is being seen.  I need to get one of these for my
> old Thinkpad if this allows booting from a system that does not
> natively boot from USB.
>
> James McKenzie

Yes, that´s the beauty of it. If the system can boot from a USB CD,
but refuses to boot from a pen drive, it´ll boot from a U3 flash,
because it emulates a USB CD.

FC

[Joe Zeff]

On 05/03/2011 10:07 AM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> Yes, that´s the beauty of it. If the system can boot from a USB CD,
> but refuses to boot from a pen drive, it´ll boot from a U3 flash,
> because it emulates a USB CD.

That doesn't make U3 as useful as it sounds.  I bought a flash drive 
with Gatesware backup software on a U3 partition and found that, 
although Fedora could see the partition, it couldn't mount it or do 
anything with it.  It was just a waste of space.  I ended up putting it 
on a friend's Windows box to run the removal program to recover the space.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:19 PM, Joe Zeff  wrote:
> That doesn't make U3 as useful as it sounds.  I bought a flash drive
> with Gatesware backup software on a U3 partition and found that,
> although Fedora could see the partition, it couldn't mount it or do
> anything with it.

You don´t understand. The U3 "cd-emulation" partition normally holds
only the windows version of the U3 software.

But you can *hack* it, (using the u3 software updater and a local web
server) and make it install *ANY* ISO image into the CD-emulation
partition.

THAT´s where it becomes useful.

But of course that is not an officially supported procedure, it´s a hack.

But hey, works for me...
FC

[Joe Zeff]

On 05/03/2011 10:27 AM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> You don´t understand. The U3 "cd-emulation" partition normally holds
> only the windows version of the U3 software.
>
> But you can*hack*  it, (using the u3 software updater and a local web
> server) and make it install*ANY*  ISO image into the CD-emulation
> partition.

You're right: I don't understand how I can install or use software on a 
partition I can't mount.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:34 PM, Joe Zeff  wrote:
> You're right: I don't understand how I can install or use software on a
> partition I can't mount.

What part of cd-emulation don´t you understand? optical media is read-only.

Using the U3 updater on a windows machine and changing the hosts file
and using a local web server you can make the U3 software updater
"burn" any given .iso image into the cd-emulation partition of the U3
flash drive.

THEN you can boot that iso image, as the PC identifies it as a USB
cd-rom or dvd-rom drive.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/If_you_change_your_U3_ISO_to_a_Linux_ISO_can_you_b...

FC

[Joe Zeff]

On 05/03/2011 10:46 AM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:34 PM, Joe Zeff  wrote:
> > You're right: I don't understand how I can install or use software on a
> > partition I can't mount.
>
> What part of cd-emulation don´t you understand? optical media is read-only.

What part of "can't mount" don't *you* understand.  Fedora wouldn't even 
mount the partition read only, meaning that I couldn't even look at what 
was on it.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Joe Zeff  wrote:
> What part of "can't mount" don't *you* understand.  Fedora wouldn't even
> mount the partition read only, meaning that I couldn't even look at what
> was on it.

It´s either a problem with fedora or your drive.

FC

[g]

On 05/03/2011 05:46 PM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
<>
> THEN you can boot that iso image, as the PC identifies it as a USB
> cd-rom or dvd-rom drive.
>
> http://wiki.answers.com/Q/If_you_change_your_U3_ISO_to_a_Linux_ISO_can_you_b...

great link, but does not tell how to "change your U3 ISO to a Linux ISO".

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 3:32 PM, g  wrote:
> great link, but does not tell how to "change your U3 ISO to a Linux ISO".

Re-read the thread. I´ve already explained the basics of how that is
done, it involves running the U3 software on a windows computer, and
pointing the updater to a local web server on localhost (127.0.0.1) so
instead of going to u3.sandisk.com, it grabs the iso image from your
local system and gets and flashes the iso of your choice on the
cd-emulation partition.

It´s all described here (read the comments)
http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/

FC

[g]

On 05/03/2011 10:41 PM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
<>
> It´s all described here (read the comments)
> http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/

much better and more informative link.

informative, in that it stated 'kept in house', and a bunch of '*.exe'.

all of which confirms for me, it is ms os, which is bs.

i have no desire to use anything that is dependent of ms.

i now know what not to for usb memory drives.

i do thank you for your reply.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:06 PM, g  wrote:
> i have no desire to use anything that is dependent of ms.

I never claimed otherwise. U3 is propietary technology by SanDisk, for
Windows OS.

The fact that U3 CDemulation-on-flash-drive can be hacked to allow
replacing the cd image for any other cd image is, however, of use to
Linux users as it allows booting Linux from a flash drive on older
systems systems whose BIOS feature "USB-FDD" "USB-CD" and "USB-ZIP" as
the only options and which can boot from a real (physical) USB CD but
have problems booting from USB mass storage drives.

One such example I found on the net:
---
"My ThinkPad X60s does not boot from USB drives because of this. It supports
USB-FDD and USB-HDD (and USB-CD, which works), but insists that my USB drive is
a USB-HDD device, and thus fails to boot from the image on the stick."
---

So yes, U3 is a propietary, windows-only technology, but the fact that
it can be hacked to fit any ISO image (even linux) into its
cd-emulation partition is very useful, if you ask me. Even if you need
access to a Windows machine to do the initial hacking. (you could also
do it under virtualbox, I guess).

FC

[g]

On 05/04/2011 02:51 AM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:06 PM, g  wrote:
> > i have no desire to use anything that is dependent of ms.
>
> I never claimed otherwise. U3 is propietary technology by SanDisk, for
> Windows OS.

nor did i intend that you did.

i just do not desire to depend on anything that is in any way dependent
on ms proprietary software.

when linux has software that handles 'u3' i will consider such.

if something should possibly show up broken in later linux versions,
then one will have to wait for proprietor to fix and possible a new
hack has to be worked out.

granted, there is wine, and vm software, but there is still dependency
on ms.

i doubt that there are many linux users who will concede that ms is in
any shape, form, or fashion, that ms is dependable. other than that you
can depend on ms breaking or locking up.

and yes, i am a linux bigot. (gbwg)

[jdow]

On 2011/05/03 15:41, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 3:32 PM, g  wrote:
> > great link, but does not tell how to "change your U3 ISO to a Linux ISO".
>
> Re-read the thread. I´ve already explained the basics of how that is
> done, it involves running the U3 software on a windows computer, and
> pointing the updater to a local web server on localhost (127.0.0.1) so
> instead of going to u3.sandisk.com, it grabs the iso image from your
> local system and gets and flashes the iso of your choice on the
> cd-emulation partition.
>
> It´s all described here (read the comments)
> http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/

And if you read ALL the way down into the comments you discover there
is a U3 Tool project on Source Forge:
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/u3-tool/files/

Be sure to skip the GuidoZ stuff. It seems to panic AV tools.

{^_^}

[g]

On 05/06/2011 03:02 AM, jdow wrote:
> On 2011/05/03 15:41, Fernando Cassia wrote:

<>
> > It´s all described here (read the comments)
> > http://www.mcgrewsecurity.com/pub/hackingu3/
> And if you read ALL the way down into the comments you discover there
> is a U3 Tool project on Source Forge:
>     http://sourceforge.net/projects/u3-tool/files/

yes. i found that page thru a link provided by poster James Wilkinson,
which i have yet to reply and thank him for posting links. will after
do so after this post.

after reading sourceforge.net pages, u3 does tend to look promising for
a unix/linux bigot. :)

like the truism goes 'anything ms can do, linux can do better'.
> Be sure to skip the GuidoZ stuff. It seems to panic AV tools.

so i noticed from comments. makes me wonder. but if sourceforge.net
tool works, why bother with a lesser known?

thanks for your post.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 12:07 PM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> One thing I don't understand, is this USB key shows up as 2 devices.
>
> /dev/sr1 (101M) iso9660
> /dev/sdc (16G) unallocated space

Sounds like a device with U3

"A U3 flash drive presents itself to the host system as a USB hub with
a CD drive"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3

FC

[James Wilkinson]

Fernando Cassia wrote:
> "A U3 flash drive presents itself to the host system as a USB hub with
> a CD drive"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3

This page mentions:
    U3 Tool is an open-source management tool (for Windows and Linux)
    that allows the locked U3 partition to be removed or replaced with
    any ISO image. The tool is also sometimes known to write .ISO images
    to U3 drives which have been damaged and will no longer accept .ISO
    files via LPInstaller.exe; however, it’s reported that the device
    must be stopped and unplugged after writing for the update to be
    seen when reinserting.

and gives the URL http://u3-tool.sourceforge.net/ .

Not having a U3 disk, I can’t make use of this information, but it may
be of help to some here.

Hope this helps,

James.

[g]

On 05/04/2011 07:10 PM, James Wilkinson wrote:
<>
> and gives the URL http://u3-tool.sourceforge.net/ .

thanks for posting link.

now it looks like i will be looking for a large u3 drive that i can boot
with my toolkits and crack ms passwords without need to carry around
a bunch of cds and dvds.

later.

[Tim Evans]

On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> Tim Evans wrote:
> Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> Unsupported filesystem: iso9660

As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and 
install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key 
and run the utility.

[Neal Becker]

On Tuesday 03 May 2011, Tim Evans wrote:
> On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > Tim Evans wrote:
> >
> > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
>
> As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and
> install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key
> and run the utility.

Starting with nothing but unallocated space on /dev/sdc, here's what liveusb-
creator says:

Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
Resetting Master Boot Record of /dev/sdc
Unsupported filesystem: iso9660

[JD]

On 05/03/11 10:15, Neal Becker wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 May 2011, Tim Evans wrote:
> > On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > >
> > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> >
> > As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and
> > install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key
> > and run the utility.
>
> Starting with nothing but unallocated space on /dev/sdc, here's what liveusb-
> creator says:
>
> Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> Resetting Master Boot Record of /dev/sdc
> Unsupported filesystem: iso9660

For the sake of completeness, please
post the command you used to  create the liveusb.

[Neal Becker]

JD wrote:
> On 05/03/11 10:15, Neal Becker wrote:
> > On Tuesday 03 May 2011, Tim Evans wrote:
> > > On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> > >
> > > As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and
> > > install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key
> > > and run the utility.
> >
> > Starting with nothing but unallocated space on /dev/sdc, here's what liveusb-
> > creator says:
> >
> > Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> > Resetting Master Boot Record of /dev/sdc
> > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
>
> For the sake of completeness, please
> post the command you used to  create the liveusb.

This was done with gui.  I typed 'liveusb-creator' from command line, enter root 
pw, then select my ISO image from my hard drive, then press 'create usb' (IIRC).

Tried with unallocated space.  Then tried after creating a single partition with 
VFAT (formatted).  This gives a different error:
Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
Verifying filesystem...
Verifying ISO MD5 checksum
ISO MD5 checksum passed
Extracting live image to USB device...
Unable to find LiveOS on ISO
LiveUSB creation failed!
Unable to find LiveOS on ISO

I guess only an iso designed for live will work?  Actually, I was _trying_ to 
use the usb for install, not for live.

[JD]

On 05/03/11 11:29, Neal Becker wrote:
> JD wrote:
> > On 05/03/11 10:15, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > On Tuesday 03 May 2011, Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> > > >
> > > > As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and
> > > > install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key
> > > > and run the utility.
> > >
> > > Starting with nothing but unallocated space on /dev/sdc, here's what liveusb-
> > > creator says:
> > >
> > > Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> > > Resetting Master Boot Record of /dev/sdc
> > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> >
> > For the sake of completeness, please
> > post the command you used to  create the liveusb.
>
> This was done with gui.  I typed 'liveusb-creator' from command line, enter root
> pw, then select my ISO image from my hard drive, then press 'create usb' (IIRC).
>
> Tried with unallocated space.  Then tried after creating a single partition with
> VFAT (formatted).  This gives a different error:
> Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> Verifying filesystem...
> Verifying ISO MD5 checksum
> ISO MD5 checksum passed
> Extracting live image to USB device...
> Unable to find LiveOS on ISO
> LiveUSB creation failed!
> Unable to find LiveOS on ISO
>
> I guess only an iso designed for live will work?  Actually, I was _trying_ to
> use the usb for install, not for live.

On F14:

$ /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator &
[1]    13654
$ You must run this application as root

[1] +  Done(1)                 /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator &

So, on F14, it will not even let the regular user run it.
So, I am not sure if or why your version asked you for
the root password.

At any rate,  I su'ed to root and
# /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator
**
GLib-GIO:ERROR:gdbusconnection.c:2270:initable_init: assertion failed: 
(connection->initialization_error == NULL)
Abort(coredump)

My version is  liveusb-creator-3.9.3-1.fc14.noarch

[Neal Becker]

JD wrote:
> On 05/03/11 11:29, Neal Becker wrote:
> > JD wrote:
> > > On 05/03/11 10:15, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > On Tuesday 03 May 2011, Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > > On 05/03/2011 10:54 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > > > > Tim Evans wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Doesn't seem to work.  I get:
> > > > > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> > > > >
> > > > > As the package name suggests, you need to *create* the USB key and
> > > > > install the Fedora ISO on it.  That is, start over with an empty USB key
> > > > > and run the utility.
> > > >
> > > > Starting with nothing but unallocated space on /dev/sdc, here's what
> > > > liveusb- creator says:
> > > >
> > > > Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> > > > Resetting Master Boot Record of /dev/sdc
> > > > Unsupported filesystem: iso9660
> > >
> > > For the sake of completeness, please
> > > post the command you used to  create the liveusb.
> >
> > This was done with gui.  I typed 'liveusb-creator' from command line, enter
> > root pw, then select my ISO image from my hard drive, then press 'create usb'
> > (IIRC).
> >
> > Tried with unallocated space.  Then tried after creating a single partition
> > with
> > VFAT (formatted).  This gives a different error:
> > Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso selected
> > Verifying filesystem...
> > Verifying ISO MD5 checksum
> > ISO MD5 checksum passed
> > Extracting live image to USB device...
> > Unable to find LiveOS on ISO
> > LiveUSB creation failed!
> > Unable to find LiveOS on ISO
> >
> > I guess only an iso designed for live will work?  Actually, I was _trying_ to
> > use the usb for install, not for live.
>
> On F14:
>
> $ /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator &
> [1]    13654
> $ You must run this application as root
>
> [1] +  Done(1)                 /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator &
>
> So, on F14, it will not even let the regular user run it.
> So, I am not sure if or why your version asked you for
> the root password.
>
> At any rate,  I su'ed to root and
> # /usr/sbin/liveusb-creator
> **
> GLib-GIO:ERROR:gdbusconnection.c:2270:initable_init: assertion failed:
> (connection->initialization_error == NULL)
> Abort(coredump)
>
> My version is  liveusb-creator-3.rpm -q liveusb-creator

Mine is:

liveusb-creator-3.9.3-1.fc14.noarch
$ which liveusb-creator
/usr/bin/liveusb-creator
$ rpm -qf /usr/bin/liveusb-creator 
liveusb-creator-3.9.3-1.fc14.noarch9.3-1.fc14.noarch

[Joe Zeff]

On 05/03/2011 11:29 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> Tried with unallocated space.  Then tried after creating a single partition with
> VFAT (formatted).

Of course it failed.  VFAT doesn't have the permissions needed and is 
limited to filenames of 8.3.  It might work if you formatted it as ext3, 
or possibly ext4.

[Neal Becker]

Joe Zeff wrote:
> On 05/03/2011 11:29 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> > Tried with unallocated space.  Then tried after creating a single partition
> > with VFAT (formatted).
>
> Of course it failed.  VFAT doesn't have the permissions needed and is
> limited to filenames of 8.3.  It might work if you formatted it as ext3,
> or possibly ext4.

I'm not really interested in a science project.  How is liveusb-creator supposed 
to work?  How should I prepare the usb stick prior to running the liveusb-
creator command?

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 3:51 PM, Neal Becker  wrote:
> I'm not really interested in a science project.  How is liveusb-creator supposed
> to work?  How should I prepare the usb stick prior to running the liveusb-
> creator command?

If you want to see the device as a single flash drive (which is surely
what liveusb-creator expects), you need to completely remove U3 and
cd-emulation.

FC

[Joel Gomberg]

On 05/03/2011 07:21 AM, Neal Becker wrote:
> I tried copying f15 tc1 iso to my 16G usb using dd, but laptop doesn't try to
> boot from it.  I did change boot order at power up.

dd didn't work for me on f15, but unetbootin did.  You might give it a try.