Cannot mound cd rom

thamurath · 2016-06-01 13:48:28

Hi,

I have created a bootable usb stick using Ubuntu disk creator. I have used the usb to live-boot the laptop with no problem at all ... but when I try to use it to install Bunsenlabs the installation process stops while trying to detect the cd-rom ... something normal as my laptop does not have a cd-rom ...

I have tried to rewrite de usb many times, but the problem persists .... What can I do?

Thanks in advance...

Last edited by thamurath (2016-06-01 13:48:45)

damo · 2016-06-01 13:55:51

The BunsenLabs Installation page has links to the recommended methods for writing to usb drives, using the 'dd' or 'cp' commands.
https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb.

It may be that the Ubuntu method doesn't work for the Debian live-install system. It is a common issue with unetbootin, BTW.

--- Moving this to Basic Help & Support, since it isn't a BunsenLabs bug

Last edited by damo (2016-06-01 14:09:32)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-06-01 17:37:36

damo wrote:

It may be that the Ubuntu method doesn't work for the Debian live-install system.

^ This.

@OP: Your error message is common and occurs when the program used to transfer the image attempts to add an isohybrid header to convert a CD/DVD image to one that can be used on a USB stick; as the BunsenLabs ISO image is already of the isohybrid type this doesn't work.

See https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … bug=775689

Use `dd`, `cp` or `cat` to transfer the image and remember not to use a partition number, just target the entire device (/dev/sdX).

Horizon_Brave · 2016-06-02 16:59:11

Hey hoas, if the OP, doesn't specify a partition number, what if he has other data there on certain partitions? Would dding or cping to the /dev/sdX not allow you to install to a specific partition that you want?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-06-02 17:23:30

^ I'm sorry HB, I don't understand your question

JnvSor · 2016-06-02 17:57:07

You *can* run bunsen live off a multiboot usb stick. As is usually the case with debian derivatives the problem comes with the installer - it expects a CD and won't take a usb stick for an answer.

In debian, the correct response is to grab one of the hd-media initrds and use them, but a quick inspection shows it's missing the bunsen preseed and unsurprisingly it shows the debian installer.

I tried to mount the iso on /cdrom from the normal initrd through the busybox shell but ran into a few problems. While the shell suggests hard drives will be mounted at /target there were none there. Manually trying to mount one said the device didn't exist (Though it did according to `ls /dev` and `list-devices`)

WTB hd-media for bunsen

Last edited by JnvSor (2016-06-02 18:21:45)

Horizon_Brave · 2016-06-02 19:16:34

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

^ I'm sorry HB, I don't understand your question

I don't want to derail the thread, so feel free to PM me if you feel it's more suited. But my question reworded is like this:

if someone has a usb stick with /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 and he wants to install BL only on sda3...(maybe /dev/sda1 and sda2 have other OS's) if this person cp's or dd's to just /dev/sda (without the partition specified) won't that wipe out everything? How does it specify which partition then?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-06-02 19:19:38

This query is about transferring the ISO image to a USB stick that can then be used to run the BunsenLabs installer rather than installing a full BL system onto the USB stick.

Horizon_Brave · 2016-06-03 03:31:02

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

This query is about transferring the ISO image to a USB stick that can then be used to run the BunsenLabs installer rather than installing a full BL system onto the USB stick.

Sorry, this idea/topic confuses me... How does transferring the ISO image to a USB stick not overwrite whatever is already there? If you have an Ubuntu iso on /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2 how does writing (using dd or cp ) the BL live ISO image to /dev/sda not overwrite any of those? Does "targeting the entire device" somehow protect the individual partitions?

hhh · 2016-06-03 03:45:32

I have been experimenting with the latest ubuntu LTS mini.iso and it seems to set up a data partition on my USB that doesn't automatically get overwritten by dd or cp. YYMV, but check your USB via gparted before transferring any ISO image, and create a new msdos partition table if necessary.

-edit- Now that I think of it, I saw the same behavior with Knoppix live images from 3 or 4 years ago.

johnraff · 2016-06-03 04:55:50

Horizon_Brave wrote:

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
This query is about transferring the ISO image to a USB stick that can then be used to run the BunsenLabs installer rather than installing a full BL system onto the USB stick.
How does transferring the ISO image to a USB stick not overwrite whatever is already there?

If you do it right, it does. The idea is to turn the USB stick into the equivalent of an "install" CD. Anything that was there before will be nuked.

pvsage · 2016-06-03 07:07:41

^ Not necessarily nuked, but lost; writing to /dev/sdX overwrites the MBR and partition table, so any data that isn't overwritten is simply not accessible by ordinary means. (For example, if you had a partition above the 1GB point on the drive, it's still there, but there's no partition table pointing to it.)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-06-03 08:09:03

Horizon_Brave wrote:

How does transferring the ISO image to a USB stick not overwrite whatever is already there? [...] Does "targeting the entire device" somehow protect the individual partitions?

It has nothing to do with "protecting the device", if it is to be used to contain the BL ISO image then I would consider the contents to be disposable anyway.

The reason why the entire device must be targeted is because the ISO image contains it's own partition table:

sudo fdisk -l bl.iso

If this is transferred to /dev/sdb1 rather than /dev/sdb then the original partition table remains intact (if there was one) or blank.

In either case, the ISO image will not work correctly.

Horizon_Brave · 2016-06-03 18:12:19

@ Everyone who put up with my questions, Thanks makes sense! I was unclear how the live iso worked and just equated it to a normal install. But it makes sense that the live build would have it's own mbr table. Basically, no matter how you cut it, installing a new MBR/GPT table to the device is going to invalidate whtever is on the device anyway. So writing the BL.iso to a partition doesn't make sense cause it needs to use it's own table..

My last question is do all live images (any image you can boot from AND install from), contain their own partition table?

My last last question (seriously) is.... Does dding or cping to the whole disk like /dev/sda have it start at the very beginning (the partition table) and just plow it's way through the disk until it reaches the value that you set with the bs= command? As opposed to setting it to write to a certain partition, it looks up where for example /dev/sda2 starts and begins from there?

Last edited by Horizon_Brave (2016-06-03 19:11:04)

damo · 2016-06-03 19:32:04

^ The "bs=..." part is the blocksize, ie the size of each chunk which is written by dd.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-06-03 19:38:54

Horizon_Brave wrote:

My last question is do all live images (any image you can boot from AND install from), contain their own partition table?

I haven't got time to check them all, you can use fdisk(8) to check them yourself if you really want to know

My last last question (seriously) is.... Does dding or cping to the whole disk like /dev/sda have it start at the very beginning (the partition table) and just plow it's way through the disk until it reaches the value that you set with the bs= command? As opposed to setting it to write to a certain partition, it looks up where for example /dev/sda2 starts and begins from there?

Please read dd(1) and pay particular attention to the skip option.

#1 2016-06-01 13:48:28

Cannot mound cd rom

#2 2016-06-01 13:55:51

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#3 2016-06-01 17:37:36

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#4 2016-06-02 16:59:11

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#5 2016-06-02 17:23:30

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#6 2016-06-02 17:57:07

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#7 2016-06-02 19:16:34

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#8 2016-06-02 19:19:38

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#9 2016-06-03 03:31:02

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#10 2016-06-03 03:45:32

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#11 2016-06-03 04:55:50

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#12 2016-06-03 07:07:41

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#13 2016-06-03 08:09:03

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#14 2016-06-03 18:12:19

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#15 2016-06-03 19:32:04

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

#16 2016-06-03 19:38:54

Re: Cannot mound cd rom

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