Booting linux from flash drive on mac

Be sure to select the correct drive. Selecting the wrong drive will lead to data loss. The drive will have the component name, while the volume will have a user-applied name. This will erase all data on the disk. If multiple attempts fail, try erasing the disk in Terminal with the diskutil command. Wait for the writing process to finish. This will launch the Startup Manager which allows the user to select a startup disk. This will lead to the installation dialog for your distro.

In Ubuntu click through the process to try Ubuntu instead of installing. This allows you to try out the operating system temporarily. You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic! Learn more day free trial. Once the Startup Manager screen appears, release the Option key. The utility will look for any available drives that include bootable content. Using either the pointer or arrow keys on the keyboard, select the USB drive you wish to boot from. Once selected, either hit the Return key or double-click your selection.

The machine will start to boot from the USB drive. Boot from USB: Then t o change the BIOS boot sequence: Press the Power button for your computer. Depending on the company that created your version of BIOS, a menu may appear. All of the available system devices will be displayed in order of their boot priority. You can reorder the devices here.

Move USB to be first in the boot sequence. The computer will restart using the new settings, booting from your USB drive. One more note. I'm just a guy who enjoys writing about technology, I'm sure if you gave it a shot you could figure out how to do this just as quickly as me. You can boot Linux from a second drive on your Mac, sure, and also from a partition on your primary Mac drive.

I installed to a partition, myself. I'm afraid that persistence really hasn't been messed around too much on Linux when booting in UEFI mode. The steps are as easy as 1, 2, 3 - assuming you don't have extra needs, of course. Great read. What are my options to boot into a persistent Linux on a 13" MBP? I'm thinking internal optibay, external TB, FW, Your suggestions for working and proven setups highly appreciated.

I've yet to get a persistent install to work on an external drive, and I've tried. So I'm afraid I can't help right now, but expect an article on this site as soon as I get it working. I could not go past step 1 because what I see on my screen doesn't match the screen here in this tutorial. See the screen in step 1 that has buttons for "First Aid", "Erase" and "Partition"? My buttons differ; I don't have "Partition". Please help as I'm about to return my MacBookPro.

Oh, it's running Mountain Lion. You need to click the drive you want to partition before those buttons will come up, if I'm understanding correctly. Very nice GUI app In few steps can be dual bootable and installable this way: Resize your mac partition and leave free space for linux using diskutils select your hardrive in diskutils and click on partiton and resize with the mouse. I see this thread is 17 months old, but the above procedure posted by maxou worked for my old Pro 1,1 a few weeks ago.

I had to download a package called "macfancltd" to get my cpu fans up to speed. Linux out of th box Mint doesn't govern fan speed, and overheating can become an issue. This general statement seems not correct. I've just copied using dd a converted ubuntu So weird — I tested mine several times and even looked this up.

Perhaps it's just with newer Macs? Or perhaps I messed up? Maybe someone else knows something. I just tried booting Ubuntu above version on Macmini6,1 Late from SD card slot and it doesn't work. This actually did work! Much to my surprise after spending hours on gamer apps that didn't. BUT now for stupid questions I tested it with a 1GB thumb drive which was recognized with no problem.

Perhaps the program cannot handle a large external HD? Any guidance? No idea why a large drive wouldn't boot. Did you reformat the drive? Flash drives are probably a better idea in any case This is great! Very very cool, and exactly what I needed to find after 4 or 5 hours of trawling the internet and formatting my USB umpteen zillion times for various ways to get around the efi problem.

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Nice easy, logically laid out, I like it! The catch for me is that I'm running I'd really love to get a good version of linux up and running on my Mac, and Mint looks soooo good: Sorry, there's no mailing list. I am considering a solution for you guys running older OS X releases, as I have received numerous requests about this. However, a full port is unlikely to occur unless a generous Internet user wants to oblige.

Hi Justin, Thanks for the article. I was trying to create usb for Kali-Linux. It doesn't: I cannot get this to work.

Formatting the USB Drive Properly

I beleave i have correctly follwed the instructions, but the computer just does not see the USB stick as a start up disk, I am trying to boot a 64 bit Intel Core 2 duo Mac Mini. That's too bad. Is your drive connected directly, or through a USB hub of some sort? Just ideas, assuming you've read most everything above I have been playing around with linux live usb on a mac for a while, with little joy. So far I have tried Ubuntu and Mint. Main issue I have so far is that they only work with ethernet and not the wireless connection.

Thanks for the tutorial Justin! It was very clear. And thanks to SevenBits for the code. I am going to have a look now at their github page and follow this app's progress. WiFi is always an issue when running Linux on Apple hardware. You'll need to install non-free drivers to get it working hint: One note: Was this a typo or is there supposed to be three files? The only thing I can think of is that that drive is massive, but I don't think it should make a difference.

How to Easily Create a Linux Live USB in macOS

What version of OS X are you using? Could be your Mac is old enough that our software isn't necessary, and software like UNetBootin will do the job. Mac Just thought this would be the easiest way to do it. Everything seems to install fine on the thumb drive, I even tried the "blessed" version of the USB loader, but the Macbook Pro just won't boot from it Well, you could always ask the developer — he commented above. Here's his blog post about the program: So I followed the instructions very carefully but after I selected my USB it showed up with the black screen in the tutorial only after that, it said it couldn't find my boot.

Which version of Linux are you trying to boot? I was only able to get this working with the Mac version of Ubuntu, which the app provides automatically Thank you for such a quick response. I am using the one provided by the Ubuntu website because I was unaware that there was a mac-specific version offered by this program. If you don't mind me asking, how does this version differ from the one offered by the official website? From what I understand the difference is superficial, but the Ubuntu team needed to make a minor change or Macs would not boot.

I believe all reference to the bios is removed Did some searching, there's a decent answer here halfway down: So I have gotten everything to work fine Same thing happened to me. For me, the fix was to ensure the drive was properly formatted, and that the ISO was Mac-compatible. Did you check those things?

Booting from USB Media: A Comprehensive Overview

Thanks very much for this software. Works great and very easy to setup. One question though: Is there capability to create a persistent live usb linux boot? Which gives the ability to retain any settings or app installs. This software doesn't currently offer that, nor have I found a simple way to make such a drive. Sorry about that. Just found that you had posted this… thanks a lot for reviewing my tool and your kind words, and your in-depth instructions and explanations are great. I'm really happy that this has helped you! I think I'll link this in the wiki - you wrote a better article than I could have…: Thanks for making the software!

I spent a long time figuring out how to do this, and your tool works consistently — and is a lot easier to explain than alternate methods. You made writing this article much, much easier! Is there a way to do both?

Sadly I don't know of a process that will work on both Macs and PCs, but if you want a PC disk there are easy enough tools for the job. I recommened UNetBootin. Found out what it was! It seemed that I had a windows partitioned usb drive, and thought it would be okay and dandy to use it, however, Mac didn't like that partition , so creating a new one once again with the steps above, worked awesome.

Ubuntu booted fine! Awesome eh! Thanks for the quick reply! You guys rock!

Unfortunately I can't seem to get this to work. Followed the steps to the letter and it just hangs on the black "fasten your seat belts" screen. Weird, it worked all the way to.. Thought i'd leave a comment for anyone else trying. Maybe it will work for them , but bummer! Oh man, that's too bad. What Linux version were you trying? And what's the model? Just for everyone else's sake Exactly the same with me.

I'm running os x I tried the Linux Mint Will now try the ubuntu for Mac. Right so the ubuntu did the same. I was using an 8GB stick so tried with a 1GB one and different errors:. With ubuntu it would actually launch into the OS, but the display is all wrong - i could just about make out the 'ubuntu' with the dots counting up to launch. But once it launched it was all scrambled.

How to Create and Boot From a Linux USB Drive on Mac

Could only make out loads of pixels moving around when I moved the mouse, but couldn't do anything useful. Top Deals. Email Facebook Whatsapp Pinterest Twitter. How to Replicate Siri Shortcuts on Mac: Enjoyed this article? Stay informed by joining our newsletter! Enter your Email. Read our privacy policy. Hi, First: Will this work on both Windows and Mac or would you need separate ones? Is it possible to make live USB that can run on Mac and windows computers? What model of Mac are you trying to boot on?

I can't select WiFi. Please help. So far as I'm aware, what you're asking for isn't possible. You're stuck with that screen. Hello, is it possible to install Linux on a usb with more than 4GB of persistence?