Create Bootable USB Using Etcher in Linux

Etcher is a free and open-source utility developed by Balena licensed under Apache License 2.0. It is used to create a bootable USB device using ISO and IMG files.

There are many tools available to create a bootable USB stick in Linux. Etcher is one of them, and we recommend using it as it is way faster to create a bootable USB stick than other utilities.

Today, we guide you on how to install Etcher and make your first bootable USB stick.

Etcher AppImage

Etcher is available for all major Linux distribution. You can easily download and install Balena Etcher and create your first bootable device from the following button.

The above link downloads the Etcher Appimage file, so download and save it to any safe location. But before going further, we have to provide executable permission by ‘right click -> properties’ and change permission to executable and run it from the terminal or by double click.

App Manager

If you want to install from the Linux package manager, you easily follow the below steps depending upon your Linux Distribution.

Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint

$ echo "deb https://deb.etcher.io stable etcher" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/balena-etcher.list
$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com:443 --recv-keys 379CE192D401AB61
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install balena-etcher-electron

Fedora

$ sudo wget https://balena.io/etcher/static/etcher-rpm.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/etcher-rpm.repo
$ sudo dnf install -y balena-etcher-electron

Arch/Manjaro

Arch or Manjaro users can easily install Balena Etcher using AUR (Arch User Repository) helper like yay.

$ yay -S balena-etcher

Create a bootable USB using Etcher

On application launch, you will notice three options on the first windows, which you have to follow to make a bootable USB stick. But first, you have to attach a USB stick to your system before proceeding further.

Step 1:

Once you connected your USB stick or SD card to your system. Click on the Flash from file button to select the ISO file or even provide a URL of the ISO file.

Select ISO Image
Select ISO Image

Step 2:

Once you have selected the ISO file, then the Select target button will be highlighted. Here you have to select a USB stick which you want to make bootable.

Select USB stick
Select USB stick

I have inserted a 16GB SanDisk USB stick where I have already made bootable it with GARUDA ISO file using Etcher.

Step 3:

Click the flash button to start the process of creating the bootable USB or SD card.

Click on flash button
Click on flash button

Wait until all the process of flashing is done.

Flash completed
Flash completed

And that’s it you can safely remove it and use it as a bootable USB stick.

Wrap up

There are many utilities available to make bootable stick in Linux. In Ubuntu, you can even make a bootable disk using the ubuntu disk utility. But Etcher makes this process easier.

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