Etcher won't run

makarovnik · 2019-12-07 01:32:20

Hey guys. I downloaded etcher from their website and extracted the zip file to my home directory file= balenaEtcher-1.5.66-x64.AppImage.

When I click on it nothing happens. I followed all the advice online regarding missing dependencies but it turns out all those were already installed on my system. I would like to get this working because the dd command just doesn't create a reliable bootable iso for me. I do use gnome-multi-writer and it always works but it always gives me nasty file access errors.

If anyone uses etcher and can give install advice it would be greatly appreciated.

damo · 2019-12-07 02:31:07

AFAIK Etcher is a "bloated frontend for dd", as someone here once said!

For creating bootable isos BL recommends using cp or dd, which have been the go-to methods for most of us. And Debian also recommends win32diskimager for windows machines.

You say that dd doesn't produce "reliable" results? What is the command you have been trying?

EDIT: there is a deb package available - https://github.com/balena-io/etcher#deb … nux-x86x64. Whether that borks your Stable system is something you can discover for yourself! Try just downloading the deb, and using gdebi - it will tell you if there are dependency problems.

EDIT2: The Etcher download is a 90MB zip archive! No thanks hmm

(dd is part of coreutils, which is a total of 15MB)

Last edited by damo (2019-12-07 02:41:04)

beaker · 2019-12-07 04:49:21

makarovnik wrote:

doesn't create a reliable bootable iso for me

Which iso?

manyroads · 2019-12-07 13:09:04

fwiw... I generally find dd to be the most reliable approach in producing bootable isos. For MX & antiX, antiX/MX LiveUSB is best. For *buntu variants sometimes only unetbootin seems to works. For other failures I encounter when initially using dd, I need to go with Suse Imagewriter or Etcher.

For me at least, there is no 100% usable solution.

rbh · 2019-12-07 16:49:27

makarovnik wrote:

Hey guys. I downloaded etcher [...] because the dd command just doesn't create a reliable bootable iso for me.

I don't know if you actualey tried to do what you wrote...

Etcher is a frontend for dd, to transfer iso filesystem from for instance an iso file to an usb disk.
That is usable to boot live dist / start install, from usb-disk instead of CD/DVD.

You shall not crate an iso-file if you want to bootfrom usb-disk...

What's the command you use with dd?

Last edited by rbh (2019-12-07 16:50:38)

Circlight · 2020-06-23 21:03:14

Fully understand the comments regarding preferential use of dd, which I often do myself, however sometimes I like to use etcher. Here's how I just got it running on Lithium:

Download the .deb from here: Github etcher

I got balena-etcher-electron_1.5.100_amd64.deb.

Do

sudo dpkg -i balena-etcher-electron_1.5.100_amd64.deb

There will be dependency errors, so now do

sudo apt install gconf2 gconf-service libappindicator1 libgconf-2-4

Yes, some more dependency errors. Fix those by:

sudo apt --fix-broken install

Etcher is now installed to /opt/balenaEtcher.

Now:

cd /opt/balenaEtcher
sudo chown root:$USER chrome-sandbox
sudo chmod 4755 chrome-sandbox

balenaEtcher will appear in jgmenu under Applications / Accessories and runs as expected.

novice · 2021-12-11 17:36:15

I know this is an old post but THANK YOU! I've been trying to get this working on Lithium for three days and no other advice I've seen worked. This does.

exe · 2022-03-08 20:33:50

Thanks !

Bearded_Blunder · 2022-03-09 12:19:52

Circlight wrote:

Fully understand the comments regarding preferential use of dd, which I often do myself, however sometimes I like to use etcher. Here's how I just got it running on Lithium:
Download the .deb from here: Github etcher
I got balena-etcher-electron_1.5.100_amd64.deb.
Do
sudo dpkg -i balena-etcher-electron_1.5.100_amd64.deb
There will be dependency errors, so now do
sudo apt install gconf2 gconf-service libappindicator1 libgconf-2-4
Yes, some more dependency errors. Fix those by:
sudo apt --fix-broken install

That's a dangerous dance, sometimes `apt-get --fix-broken install` can't fix things for packages installed using dpkg -i package.deb
far better options:

sudo gdebi package.deb

or after it's downloaded & you cd to where it is:

sudo apt-get install ./package.deb

Either of those you'll find out if apt won't be able to "--fix-broken" before you get left with very difficult to manually fix broken system.

sleekmason · 2022-03-09 13:53:58

If you don't mind the extra key and apt lines, here is the relevant part of the script I use for Lilidog. Place in ~/bin, name what you want and make it executable.

#!/bin/bash
curl -1sLf \
   'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/balena/etcher/setup.deb.sh' \
   | sudo -E bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt install balena-etcher-electron

To open in a terminal or make a menu entry:

/opt/balenaEtcher/balena-etcher-electron

Easy enough to add menu entries and comment out the balena sources using sed if someone wants to make a script for BL.

Edit * I suppose I should mention this one as well (amd64):
https://github.com/MX-Linux/lum-qt-appi … g/19.11.02

Works really well. I have this hard baked into my personal system by copying the necessary files from antiX.

Open with:

sudo ./live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage

or make a menu entry.

Last edited by sleekmason (2022-03-09 14:13:48)

johnraff · 2022-03-10 03:01:09

sleekmason wrote:

#!/bin/bash
curl -1sLf \
   'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/balena/etcher/setup.deb.sh' \
   | sudo -E bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt install balena-etcher-electron

Downloading something from the internet and feeding it straight to sudo bash is living pretty dangerously.
At least save the script somewhere, read it over and satisfy yourself it's not going to do any harm before running it, especially with sudo!
(Though even userland scripts can do damage: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 99#p120599 )

sleekmason · 2022-03-10 03:36:53

^ This is a good point. Do not just blindly trust anything you find on the internet:)

For this one, it is easy enough for anybody to grab the script if they want to check it out.

wget https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/balena/etcher/setup.deb.sh

Last edited by sleekmason (2022-03-10 03:37:26)

#1 2019-12-07 01:32:20

Etcher won't run

#2 2019-12-07 02:31:07

Re: Etcher won't run

#3 2019-12-07 04:49:21

Re: Etcher won't run

#4 2019-12-07 13:09:04

Re: Etcher won't run

#5 2019-12-07 16:49:27

Re: Etcher won't run

#6 2020-06-23 21:03:14

Re: Etcher won't run

#7 2021-12-11 17:36:15

Re: Etcher won't run

#8 2022-03-08 20:33:50

Re: Etcher won't run

#9 2022-03-09 12:19:52

Re: Etcher won't run

#10 2022-03-09 13:53:58

Re: Etcher won't run

#11 2022-03-10 03:01:09

Re: Etcher won't run

#12 2022-03-10 03:36:53

Re: Etcher won't run

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