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.

#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

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