Prepare Installer USB Stick From Debian

Prepare Debian USB stick is straight-forward easier than any other distribution. It is so simple that sometimes it is unbelievable and questionable. However, the Debian team really did a good job. You can check out their guide here:

https://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/amd64/ch04s03.html.en

NOTE

• Enter to root account since we are dealing with reformatting a device using su / using sudo if you want for each instructions.

Download An Image

Obviously, you need to download a Debian image. For me, I prefer the lightweight net-install version, available here:

https://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst

Plugin and Unmount Your USB Stick

Now, get a USB stick and plug-it into your computer. Then do the following in sequences.

Backup your USB Data

It's not a joke. Your USB data will be erased permanently.

Unmount Your USB

We need it to write the installer image into your USB. You can do it easily by using udiskctl command:

$ lsblk # identify the USB device

...

sda                     8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk  

└─sda1                  8:1    0 931.5G  0 part  

  └─sdb1_crypt        254:0    0 931.5G  0 crypt 

    ├─localstore-swap 254:1    0  11.4G  0 lvm   [SWAP]

    ├─localstore-home 254:2    0 465.7G  0 lvm   /home

    └─localstore-root 254:3    0 454.5G  0 lvm   /

sdb                     8:16   1    30G  0 disk  

├─sdb1                  8:17   1   292M  0 part  /media/u0/Debian 9.8.0 amd64 n

└─sdb2                  8:18   1   416K  0 part  

$ udiskctl -b /dev/sdb1

...

$ udiskctl -b /dev/sdb2

...

$ lsblk # To confirm unmount

...

sda                     8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk  

└─sda1                  8:1    0 931.5G  0 part  

  └─sdb1_crypt        254:0    0 931.5G  0 crypt 

    ├─localstore-swap 254:1    0  11.4G  0 lvm   [SWAP]

    ├─localstore-home 254:2    0 465.7G  0 lvm   /home

    └─localstore-root 254:3    0 454.5G  0 lvm   /

sdb                     8:16   1    30G  0 disk  

├─sdb1                  8:17   1   292M  0 part  

└─sdb2                  8:18   1   416K  0 part  

Copy the Installer

Now, the only command is cp command. You do not need to install anything else. All you need to do is to copy the image you downloaded into your USB disk partition. Based on the example above:

$ cp debian.iso /deb/sdb

$ sync

$

Once done, you can unplug the USB device and you got a brand new Debian installer stick.

That's all for preparing a Debian Installer stick.