On Debian’s website it is saying to write the image to the USB stick I should use a bash script "# cp Debian.iso /dev/sdX

sync"

Is there another way to do this without using root access?

  • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 days ago

    You can’t make a usb bootable without root access iirc. If you already have a bootable usb like ventoy then you can load any goofy thing you want into it without root access and it’ll work.

    • mvirts@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      10 days ago

      Copying the whole image onto the device file will rewrite the partition table, boot flags and all.

      But yes, usually this requires root equivalent capabilities.

      • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        10 days ago

        I wasn’t completely convinced by that since I build it from source and the binary blobs match their checksums. Months between releases isn’t out of the ordinary for some projects too…

        Regardless, what is an alternative that works the same way?

        • drspod@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          10 days ago

          The binary blobs match which checksums? The ones provided by the ventoy developer?

          GLIM is an alternative that’s much simpler (it just uses Grub configs) so it is easy to audit:

          https://github.com/thias/glim

          • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            10 days ago

            Yeah when you build from source you gotta dl some blobs from busybox and some other projects. It works fine with the ones the developer claims their build is based off of, the ones whose checksums are listed in the docs and match what you get when you ask for them from the repos for the aforementioned busybox or whatever.

            I haven’t pulled apart a binary release of ventoy to check and see if it actually has those documented blobs or something else.

            I’ll look at glim. Might be cool.

          • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            10 days ago

            This sounds like it only boots Linux ISOs? I kinda need the ability to boot all kinds of images, only some of them Linux based.

  • lungdart@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    10 days ago

    Raw disk access is a privilege in Linux, usually reserved for root.

    You could have root change the permissions on the directory to allow another user or group write access.

  • Cyberkillen@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    10 days ago

    Using dd or another third party flashing tool usually requires root to flash to usb.

    Hope you find an answer, it would also be great to see the context of why you need to do it without root.

    • BobGnarley@lemm.eeOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      8 days ago

      Truthfully just am not an experienced enough user to understand all the potential risks of having it enabled although I’m figuring out now that pretty much every distro I’ve used until now had root by using sudo.

      • Cyberkillen@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        8 days ago

        That makes sense, it’s good to be weary. Root access is needed for higher privilege tasks and flashing an image to a USB is one of them, best practice is to use sudo so that you are only using root for the actions you need it for, whilst still being logged in as a normal user.

        You would get a UAC check in Windows trying to flash an image to a USB, which is elevating your privilege temporarily to administrator.

        If you are just starting out with Linux then have fun, the most rewarding part is figuring stuff out like this so you know for next time!

  • Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    10 days ago

    I did it on a humble user account using GNOME disks. Select the USB stick and choose restore image in the menu at the top right.

  • progandy@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    It is possible to format removable drives without root access through udisks2, e.g with gnome-disks or KDE ISO image writer. GNOME Impression is another tool that should work.

    • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 days ago

      those still require root, they just don’t explicitly say so. They still pop up with a password prompt

      • progandy@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        They show no password prompt for the user with the “active” session for removable drives. Only system drives always require admin auth for formatting and partitioning. Maybe your session setup is not completely correct so your user session is not marked as the active session or you tried it with a drive that is considered a system drive.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    10 days ago

    Just download the Balena watcher app image, flash whatever is you want, and then delete it. It’s ridiculously easy.

    • lime!@feddit.nu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      10 days ago

      don’t use balenaetcher, it’s a terrible piece of software. use unetbootin or usbimager.

  • mvirts@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    10 days ago

    Do you not have root access or are you worried about using root access? Sudo will do the trick, you don’t need to login as root directly.