Installation/Live Images/USB-Stick for OFW11/Deployment Guide

1 Description

This page assumes you either have access to a USB drive image or you've finished following the instructions from the sibling page Creation Guide.

The objective here is to explain on how to deploy the image for a USB drive image, although it might also work with hybrid ISO (CD/DVD images).

2 Cloning the image to a new stick

WARNINGS:

• This procedure will erase everything you currently have in your USB-stick or USB-drive!
• If the steps are followed incorrectly you could accidentally erase the contents of your system disk(s).
• Proceed with caution! One wrong step can prove to be fatal to the contents of your system or USB-stick!

Steps:

1. Download the disk image from here: Download - Disk image for the USB-stick
2. Uncompress the compressed image file from 7zip format to the raw disk image format.
   • Either uncompress it interactively or run:

       7z x OFW11-2016_v5.7z

3. Follow the instructions for deploying the image on the USB-stick by following the information given on one of the following subsections:
   • If you are using a Linux Distribution (such as Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS or openSUSE): On Linux

2.1 On Linux

If you haven't already, please first read the description given here: Reminders.

The steps are as follows:

1. Make sure you don't have the stick mounted! Example to umount:

   umount /dev/sdX1

2. As root (or with sudo), run:

   dd if=OFW11-2016_v5.img of=/dev/sdX bs=512

   1. In another terminal (also as root):

      ps -a

   2. In another terminal (also as root), run:

      while killall -USR1 dd; do sleep 30; done

   3. Then look at the previous terminal window and every 30 seconds it should update on the current write status. Given how this command works, if you have more than one dd running, it will update for all running dd applications.
3. When it's done cloning, make sure the file system is synced:

   sync

   wait until it returns control back to you.

4. Now you can mount the stick, if you want. Or simply eject it.

2.2 On Windows

TODO: Should be doable with http://unetbootin.github.io/

3 Cloning onto a Virtual Machine Appliance for VirtualBox

These instructions provide the details on how to create a Virtual Machine Appliance for VirtualBox based on the existing USB-stick image. This enables us to not depend on having a physical USB-stick and should work on any machine that has VirtualBox running (preferably a recent one).

3.1 Requirements

Very simple:

1. Install VirtualBox, according to the official instructions: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
2. Have the image that was created for the USB drive.

3.2 Converting the USB-stick image to a VDI disk

The objective here is for people who cannot write the image to a USB drive, but that would still like to run the image in a VirtualBox. For these people, we can easily create a VDI disk like this:

VBoxManage convertdd --format VDI OFW11-2016_v5.img OFW11-2016_v5.vdi

Side note: Got the conversion idea from here, but the correct command is from here.

3.3 Creating the virtual machine in Virtualbox

Steps:

1. Simply create a new Virtual Machine in Virtualbox, meant for a Ubuntu 64-bit machine and with the disk image OFW11-2016_v5.vdi that we created in the section Converting the USB-stick image to a VDI disk.
2. After the virtual machine is created, edit its settings and:
   1. increase the RAM to at least 2048MB;
   2. change from 1 to 2 virtual cores;
   3. probably best to turn off audio capabilities;
3. Boot up the VM and test it.
4. If it works fine, do a standard shutdown within the virtual machine.
5. Then use on the main menu for the Virtualbox the item File -> Export Appliance... to export the virtual machine to a settings file to be placed inside the USB-stick, preferably with the file name OFW11-2016_v5.ova.
6. The OFW11-2016_v5.ova file is now ready for deployment in another machine.