pve-docs/pve-usbstick.adoc

Install from USB Stick
----------------------
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The {pve} installation media is now a hybrid ISO image, working in two
ways:

* An ISO image file ready to burn on CD

* A raw sector (IMG) image file ready to directly copy to flash media
  (USB Stick)

Using USB sticks is faster and more environmental friendly and
therefore the recommended way to install {pve}.


Prepare a USB flash drive as install medium
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order to boot the installation media, copy the ISO image to a USB
media.

First download the ISO image from
https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/category/iso-images-pve

You need at least a 1 GB USB media.

NOTE: Using UNetbootin or Rufus does not work.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the USB media is not mounted and does not
contain any important data.


Instructions for GNU/Linux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can simply use `dd` on UNIX like systems. First download the ISO
image, then plug in the USB stick. You need to find out what device
name gets assigned to the USB stick (see below). Then run:

----
dd if=proxmox-ve_*.iso of=/dev/XYZ bs=1M
----

NOTE: Be sure to replace /dev/XYZ with the correct device name.

CAUTION: Be very careful, and do not overwrite the hard disk!


Find Correct USB Device Name
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You can compare the last lines of 'dmesg' command before and after the
insertion, or use the 'lsblk' command. Open a terminal and run:

----
 lsblk
----

Then plug in your USB media and run the command again:

----
 lsblk
----

A new device will appear, and this is the USB device you want to use.


Instructions for OSX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open the terminal (query Terminal in Spotlight).

Convert the .iso file to .img using the convert option of hdiutil for example.

----
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o proxmox-ve_*.dmg proxmox-ve_*.iso
----

TIP: OS X tends to put the .dmg ending on the output file automatically.

To get the current list of devices run the command again:

----
diskutil list
----

Now insert your USB flash media and run this command again to
determine the device node assigned to your flash media
(e.g. /dev/diskX).

----
diskutil list

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX
----

NOTE: replace X with the disk number from the last command.

----
sudo dd if=proxmox-ve_*.dmg of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
----


Instructions for Windows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Download Etcher from https://etcher.io , select the ISO and your USB Drive.

If this doesn't work, alternatively use the OSForensics USB
installer from http://www.osforensics.com/portability.html


Boot your server from USB media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Connect your USB media to your server and make sure that the server
boots from USB (see server BIOS). Then follow the installation wizard.