Note: These instructions are aimed at special circumstances sometimes encountered by partners of the Endless OS Foundation. Most users should instead follow the simpler Installation documentation. to create an Endless USB Stick.
These instructions will enable you to create a USB reformatter drive which can be used to install Endless OS on one or more computers. Compared to a normal Endless OS USB stick, a USB reformatter drive:
You can choose to either use either Windows or Endless OS to create your reformatter drive, depending on which is more convenient for you.
Once you have created a reformatter drive, you can re-use it as many times as you want to install the same version of Endless OS on multiple computers.
Using a Windows device to create the reformatter is a graphical process that does not require using the command line.
For the best speeds, use a USB 3 device connected to a USB 3 port, which can be recognized by having blue connectors or a SS (SuperSpeed) label.
Double-check that you have enough free space to fit the image to be used; some can require 200 GB or more!
The Endless Installer for Windows. Direct download: Endless Installer (.exe)
The Endless OS image and its signature file. If you don't have your custom image available, please contact our support channels to get a download link.
Two files are required, a larger file with extension:
.img.gz
and a smaller file with extension.img.gz.asc
.
Two files are required, a larger file whose name begins with
eosinstaller-
and ends with.img.xz
, and a smaller file with a similar name ending.img.xz.asc
.
The Endless Installer for Windows needs these files to all be in the same folder, and it can reduce errors to ensure there are no other files present.
Connect your blank USB drive to an available USB port. If Windows prompts you to repair the drive, allow it to repair it.
Double click the endless-installer.exe
file to run the Endless Installer for Windows. Since it needs to be able to see and overwrite your USB drive, it may prompt you for admin rights to run the app; if so, allow it to run. Once running, you should see the following welcome screen:
You must hold the Ctrl key while clicking! Otherwise the Reformatter option will not display.
If your custom image is not shown, ensure the files are all in the same directory as
endless-installer.exe
, including the signature files.
If you get an error instead, a new log file will be created in the same folder as
endless-installer.exe
. Please send this file to Endless for support.
You will need:
A blank USB Stick with enough capacity to store your image. For faster speeds, use a USB3 device connected to a USB 3 port, which can be recognized by having blue connectors or a SS (SuperSpeed) label.
A computer running Endless OS
The Endless OS image and its signature file. If you don't have your custom image available, please contact our support channels to get a download link.
Two files are required, a larger file with extension:
.img.gz
and a smaller file with extension.img.gz.asc
.
Two files are required, a larger file whose name begins with
eosinstaller-
and ends with.img.xz
, and a smaller file with a similar name ending.img.xz.asc
.
If you are not using a brand new USB, make sure your device does not have extra partitions. If your USB has any extra partitions, you may use the same Disks app to delete all of them
Close the Disks app and open a Terminal window by typing "terminal" in the search bar.
Navigate to the folder where you store the required files.
Run the following command to start the process. Take a look at the guide below on what to write between the brackets. You need to insert 3 pieces of information:
gnome-session-inhibit --inhibit suspend sudo eos-write-installer -i [eosinstaller] -o [Endless OS image] [device]
[eosinstaller]: This is the file name of the installer. It starts with "eosinstaller..." ending with extension .img.xz
[Endless OS image]: This is the file name of the Endless image you want to use, it ends with extension .img.gz
[device]: This is the device that belongs to your USB, e.g. /dev/sda
, /dev/sdb
. Refer to Step 5 for how to determine the device name on your system.
Example:
gnome-session-inhibit --inhibit suspend sudo eos-write-installer -i eosinstaller-eos3.9-amd64-amd64.210522-223424.base.img.xz -o impact-eos3.9-amd64-amd64.210602-035451.oaxaca.img.gz /dev/sdb
Make sure you write the file names correctly to avoid errors. File names above are examples, the files you will use will be different than the examples. There are several ways to do facilitate writing the file names, it can be by drag and dropping the files into the terminal, or autocompleting the file name using the TAB key. You may want to test a procedure first.