summary refs log tree commit diff
path: root/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml')
-rw-r--r--nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml35
1 files changed, 35 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b46a1d56555
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-usb.section.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb">
+  <title>Booting from a USB Drive</title>
+  <para>
+    For systems without CD drive, the NixOS live CD can be booted from a
+    USB stick. You can use the <literal>dd</literal> utility to write
+    the image: <literal>dd if=path-to-image of=/dev/sdX</literal>. Be
+    careful about specifying the correct drive; you can use the
+    <literal>lsblk</literal> command to get a list of block devices.
+  </para>
+  <note>
+    <title>On macOS</title>
+    <programlisting>
+$ diskutil list
+[..]
+/dev/diskN (external, physical):
+   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
+[..]
+$ diskutil unmountDisk diskN
+Unmount of all volumes on diskN was successful
+$ sudo dd if=nix.iso of=/dev/rdiskN
+</programlisting>
+    <para>
+      Using the 'raw' <literal>rdiskN</literal> device instead of
+      <literal>diskN</literal> completes in minutes instead of hours.
+      After <literal>dd</literal> completes, a GUI dialog &quot;The disk
+      you inserted was not readable by this computer&quot; will pop up,
+      which can be ignored.
+    </para>
+  </note>
+  <para>
+    The <literal>dd</literal> utility will write the image verbatim to
+    the drive, making it the recommended option for both UEFI and
+    non-UEFI installations.
+  </para>
+</section>