How to create a bootable USB on any operating system with Etcher.io

Almost every operating system installation starts with one step:  creating a bootable medium. This medium, usually a USB drive is then used to boot the operating system installer and install the operating system. Today we’re going to take a look at Etcher.io a free, open source and cross-platform software to create bootable drives.

Installation

choco install etcher

brew cask install etcher

$ echo "deb https://dl.bintray.com/resin-io/debian stable etcher" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/etcher.list
$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 379CE192D401AB61
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install etcher-electron

$ sudo curl https://bintray.com/resin-io/redhat/rpm -o /etc/yum.repos.d/bintray-resin-io-redhat.repo
$ sudo yum install -y etcher-electron

Etcher Usage

The usage is quite straightforward (as shown in the image):

1. Select an image: to burn onto the drive. There are many supported formats including iso, img, zip and gzip.
2. Select a drive: that you wish to use as a bootable medium. Remember this drive will be completely erased.
3. Flash!: press this button to start flashing the drive, once the process is complete you can eject the drive and use it.

That’s all there is to it! No further steps, as easy as shown in the figure. You can also replicate the same workflow on every operating system since etcher is cross-platform.

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mark

The IT guy with a slight look of boredom in his eyes. Freelancer. Current interests: Kubernetes, Tensorflow, shiny new things.

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