I Tried

patrickiom · 2022-04-06 18:44:31

An Ode to BunsenLabs, the lament of the filthy casual.
I tried with unetbootin. It wouldn't get to the live boot screen
I tried with rufus. It wouldn't recognise the install media or network devices
I tried with Win32imager. It wouldn't recognise the codename for the release.
Nor would it let me determin the size of the install partitions.
Now I will try crunchbang++

Continued...
Exact same thing happened with CB++ why can't it just work like it does with Ubuntu!

Last edited by patrickiom (2022-04-06 19:18:55)

rbh · 2022-04-06 19:32:11

I get fascinated by people who do not follow, for example, the recommended method of writing installation iso to usb-stick (dd or cp) and then complain about the unfriendly OS.

Command

# dd if=bunsenlabs.iso of=/dev/sdxy bs=4M status=progress

is a rock-safe method instead of unetbootin.
Rufus has a setting to work as dd. If you computer sees install media, then Rufus will do to.
Homepage of Win32imager, gives a warning of failer writing to usb-media...
What is wrong with recomended dd or cp? Why not follow recomended method?

Bunselabs does not have an own installer. It is Debian Installer. And, DebianInstaller lets you set partition sizes.

If you want help, you are welcome to ask for help.

justme · 2022-04-06 22:33:07

Wow I didn't even know that unetbootin was still a thing after all those years where it was "not recommended" .
I went to the github repo, well apparently there are still lot of issues.

@patrickiom
In linux world people, if it's not everyone, use this tool called "dd", so a bit of advice just do the same because it's the right tool for this task.

why can't it just work like it does with Ubuntu!

Different world different rules.

Bearded_Blunder · 2022-04-07 05:25:19

rbh wrote:

I get fascinated by people who do not follow, for example, the recommended method of writing installation iso to usb-stick (dd or cp) and then complain about the unfriendly OS.

I can explain it for you.

The recommended method has a catch 22 situation. It requires a Windows user ALREADY has a Linux system to use the Linux tools to make the Linux installer / live system. If their box is plain Windows (no Linux yet) they're completely unable to follow it.

Unetbootin has a Windows version
Rufus is a Windows tool
Win32imager is a Windows tool

dd for windows is not only a bit of a PITA to use.. but you have also to know it even exists & where to download it from.

The the extra steps involved using DISKPART to find out what your of= for that are pretty obscure & you end up with something strange like of=\\?\Device\HarddiskN

I suppose you could try using Windows Subsystem for Linux, assuming you have it installed / know about it.. I've not tried, but Microsoft being who they are & Windows being what it is.. it's actually possible that could give problems too.. Windows is really picky about what can & can't have raw disk access.

I need to test WSL it's entirely possible even if it allows access you still have to jump through hoops with DISKPART & end up with a very strange looking target for of=

Rufus nearly always works in default mode & always does in dd mode though.

What's more, they actually did (third attempt) try the previously recommended tool (Section 4.3.1 just below the code block) you'll find a link to win32diskimager right in the Debian documentation.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2022-04-07 05:54:08)

justme · 2022-04-07 09:49:16

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

It requires a Windows user ALREADY has a Linux system to use the Linux tools to make the Linux installer / live system. If their box is plain Windows (no Linux yet) they're completely unable to follow it.
Unetbootin has a Windows version
Rufus is a Windows tool
Win32imager is a Windows tool

It makes sense, indeed.
Personally I didn't even think as a non Linux user, my bad, but you are right OP is probably a Windows user so unetbootin being easy to understand and use would be a logical choice to make.

rbh · 2022-04-07 22:21:34

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

I can explain it for you.
The recommended method has a catch 22 situation. It requires a Windows user ALREADY has a Linux system to use the Linux tools to make the Linux installer / live system. If their box is plain Windows (no Linux yet) they're completely unable to follow it.
Unetbootin has a Windows version
Rufus is a Windows tool
Win32imager is a Windows tool
dd for windows is not only a bit of a PITA to use.. but you have also to know it even exists & where to download it from.

I understood that a user using windows tools also has windows as os. After the corona, I easily forget. At the end of my post, I had forgot that he used Windows nd asked about about dd and cp...

As the debian page says, Unetbootin should not be used for Debian based images at least. Rufus in dd mode worked ok. But not Win32imager. Maybe it only works with img-files? I could not choose device to write iso to.
We might need to rewrite installation info to make it clearer for windows user.

Bearded_Blunder · 2022-04-08 01:28:58

But not Win32imager. Maybe it only works with img-files? I could not choose device to write iso to.

From the Debian FAQ

Additionally to the method above for Linux systems, there is also the win32diskimager program available, which allows writing such bootable USB flash drives under Windows. Hint: win32diskimager will apparently only list input files named *.img by default, while the Debian images are named *.iso. Change the filter to *.* if you use this tool.
Please note, that Debian advises not using unetbootin for this task. It can cause difficult-to-diagnose problems with booting and installing, so is not recommended.

It works, but only with that setting changed. (When you browse for an image, change the dropdown beside "File Name" to *.* That's the step the OP missed. )
It gives a warning about it can corrupt the device.. then happily writes.
The resulting USB flash drive works here (Bios based hardware) Just tested.
My only issue with it is it won't launch if your Windows 10 machine has a floppy drive, which while it's extremely rare, my main machine does. (The empty floppy seeks for a while, then the process closes but the UI never appears).
That issue is uncommon enough I wouldn't be bothered if you documented the same tool as Debian do.

Rufus I've had no issues with.. even though the Debian documentation doesn't mention it either way.
However, I happen to have picked up the information that the author of Rufus is a Debian user, so it really doesn't surprise me that it works for Debian images.

Both programs are GPL licenced (v2 & v3 respectively).

Edit to add: Others report on the win32diskimager bug tracker it also fails to open if you have google drive open, which I wouldn't have noticed, since I don't use that.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2022-04-08 01:43:13)

rbh · 2022-04-08 21:34:30

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

Additionally to the method above for Linux systems, there is also the win32diskimager program available, which allows writing such bootable USB flash drives under Windows. Hint: win32diskimager will apparently only list input files named *.img by default, while the Debian images are named *.iso. Change the filter to *.* if you use this tool.

I had no problem point to the BL iso. But when klicking on button to choose device to write to, nothing happened. No popup windows to choose device.
I could not find anyone else reporting that. Will test again next week, ev, file a bug report.

Edit to add: Others report on the win32diskimager bug tracker it also fails to open if you have google drive open, which I wouldn't have noticed, since I don't use that.

No, if you have Google drive app installed! It creates virtual devices that disturbs win32diskimager.

Bearded_Blunder · 2022-04-08 23:51:31

This is a silly question to someone as competent as yourself, but you were running win32diskimager as admin?
Running it without elevated privileges is the usual reason it fails to show target devices.

The other favourite gotcha is plugging the USB device in after starting the program, the detection routine runs at start-up, they need to be inserted first.

I've not tested with unformatted drives, or ones Windows doesn't try to assign a letter to (uninitialized or other reasons), that could also be an issue I suppose.

When it is working / detected the first device found is populated in the selection field right from the beginning, no clicking to choose required.

It's also possible it's something in your setup interfering, see if it works when you do a clean boot. That should determine if it's caused by a software conflict.

(Just watch. I bet the next Windows user that has issues is using something completely different & not on this thread.. like the Windows version of Balena Etcher)

On the whole, Rufus is my weapon of choice though, it also has that handy compute checksum icon beside the selected file, which saves explaining to Windows users how to use certutil in powershell or cmd to check the sha256.. The button is right there to click & compute it.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2022-04-09 04:41:29)

Bearded_Blunder · 2022-04-09 12:31:10

patrickiom wrote:

I tried with rufus. It wouldn't recognise the install media or network devices

The specific reason for that is:
If you use Rufus in the default mode (That Rufus pushes as "Recommended") when you're using a Debian hybrid ISO with the non-free firmware included, or a Bunsen image, then the installer fails to find the firmware.

Used in dd mode, then the installer finds the non-free firmware and all is good in the Debian world.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2022-04-09 12:33:40)

#1 2022-04-06 18:44:31

I Tried

#2 2022-04-06 19:32:11

Re: I Tried

#3 2022-04-06 22:33:07

Re: I Tried

#4 2022-04-07 05:25:19

Re: I Tried

#5 2022-04-07 09:49:16

Re: I Tried

#6 2022-04-07 22:21:34

Re: I Tried

#7 2022-04-08 01:28:58

Re: I Tried

#8 2022-04-08 21:34:30

Re: I Tried

#9 2022-04-08 23:51:31

Re: I Tried

#10 2022-04-09 12:31:10

Re: I Tried

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