Can't install openSUSE 13.2 from USB

So, as the title suggest, I’m currently unable to install openSUSE 13.2 (64 bit) from the iso. I’ve mounted on my USB… I’ve used the guide here: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Create_a_Live_USB_stick_using_Windows and various other programs (such as imagewriter, unetbootin, lili usb creator, and the universal usb installer), in an feeble attempt to get it to work.

When I boot my PC with the USB inserted, I get the “welcome” screen with the image of a DVD/CD and the option of choosing between booting from the harddrive and the option to install. So far so good.

When I chose install, it loads the kernel and then starts showing off lots of code, and then I get a very basic blue screen where it says “please make sure your installation media is available” where I then have the option of choosing to retry or “no”. It then lets me chose language options, then shows me a menu with the option to install listed yet again. I chose install, and it then asks me to chose the media the installer is located; the dardrive, a cd/dvd or the web/a server.

The problem is that I can’t chose the USB for whatever reason. When I chose any of those other options, it just tells me it couldn’t find any files in a aggressive red box.

So, that is my current situation. It should be noted, that the PC I’m trying to install openSUSE on is wiped clean, there is no previous OS on it. I’m creating the USB iso thingy on my main windows 7 based machine.

Sorry if this is incoherent and hard to understand, but it’s two in the morning and I’ve been working on this for seven hours now. If you guys can’t help me, I’ll just have to go with Fedora 21… atleast that works on my other laptop.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance
-Muggi

That’s the part that concerns me. Those other methods often lead to problems such as “please make sure your installation media is available”. I suggest you use the first method on that page (ImageUSB). That method writes the iso image file directly to the USB, which is what works.

Lili and others won’t work because, unlike most distros, the opensuse iso is not a livecd/usb.
Also, the instructions in that wiki don’t work.

You can use this
http://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html

Just be aware that if your USB stick is much bigger than the iso, it will partition it so the extra space is inaccessible. You’ll have to repartition the entire thing after you’re done with it.

Also, on the download page there is this link: Click here to display these alternative versions.

There appear to be liveusb isos available for download there, but I haven’t tried any of them.

If ti get to the first menu then it should be ok. Any problem is a selection may indicate a problem with the hardware. What hardware. particularly what video card??

Don’t use any other method then that one outline on the page you reference. They simply won’t work for openSUSE.

If you don’t have a current openSUSE installation so as to use Imagewriter, I suggest using dd to write the image to the usb

Also, testing a live dvd is often a good idea and give an indication of hardware compatibility

You need to verify the checksum of installation media you created. If it’s ok then it’s hardware problem, nothing to do with installation media creation. If the checksum is not ok then it’s problem of media creation.

Perfect, if you have any linux distro installed on other system use dd command to prepare bootable usb.
In a linux system simply do

dd if=/path/to/openSUSEiso of=/path/to/usb bs=1024

PS. Windows based bootable usb creation tools are known to cause problems.

The instructions here
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick

Suggest:

dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

I have used it and it works

Hey everyone.
Thanks for the replies. I do appreciate the help, and just have a few more notes to share:

I will try the dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M you guys suggested, but I have a question: can I just move the ISO from my main pc, to the linux laptop, and then use the dd command in the terminal? Or do I have to redo the steps listed here; https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick in order to make it work?

Burning the ISO to DVD would work just as well. Please make sure to use the ISO as the source and not to put the ISO in the folder of the disc (I’ve seen cases of someone doing just that!)

Taking the ISO to your Linux laptop and doing dd’ing from there will work just as well, as vish 99 said.

On 2015-03-24 17:16, Muggi wrote:
>
> Hey everyone.
> Thanks for the replies. I do appreciate the help, and just have a few
> more notes to share:
>
> - If I should chose to burn the ISO to a DVD instead of an USB, would
> that work?
> - I have tried to use
> http://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html and it doesn’t
> work.
>
> I will try the dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M you guys
> suggested, but I have a question: can I just move the ISO from my main
> pc, to the linux laptop, and then use the dd command in the terminal? Or
> do I have to redo the steps listed here;
> https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick in order to make it work?
>
>

Note if if it is a hardware compatibility problem burning to a DVD will probably do no better.

Telling us the hardware would help since some may know it.

You might get more helpful responses if you expand on that “it doesn’t work.”

Well, it’s the same problem as the one I described in my OP. Just a blue screen that asks me to make sure that I’ve chosen the right media to install from.

As for what hardware I’m trying to install too, here is a list;
RAM: 3,9 GB
CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU T6600 @ 2.20GHz × 2
GPU: nvidia Geforce 9600M GS (CUDA, 512 mb)
HDD: 250 GB

Strange. I do all of my installs with a USB (and have done for several years). I rarely run into that problem. And, if I do, then I reboot and try again and it works.

There used to be instructions to hit F4 and tell it to look for the repos on the hard drive. If I do that, I will probably get that screen that you describe. If I just select “Installation”, and maybe add “nomodeset” to the command line if I have nvidia graphics, then it usually works the first time.

You might experiment with plugging the USB into a USB2 port instead of a USB3 port, in case there’s a problem with the USB3 drivers.

First, verify that the iso is downloaded properly. Verify it’s checksum.
Then check the checksum of usb media you created. If you did dd or burned it on DVD then you don’t need to worry about it.

If the problem haunts you still, when this appears
http://opensuse-guide.org/images/installation/dvd/grub.png
either press tab and add nomodeset as nrickert said or press F3 and select **nomodeset. **You may also want to select **No KMS.
**I had to use **No KMS **while installing openSUSE 12.2

Yes, indeed. Much better-er.:wink:

Hi there, sorry for my late reply, I just installed OpenSuSE 13.2 via USB on my Dell Inspiron 11z netbook. I experienced exactly what you described and entered into a DOS like installation environment, however I just went on and could install from there.

When it asks if you want to search for a source medium (“please make sure your installation media is available”) hitting Yes just gives the same again so I hit No, when I selected “Installation” I selected as source (despite the install medium being a plugged in USB stick) “Hard Drive”, and from the options I then got (scroll/arrow down if needed) I could choose an option that included the word OpenSUSE in it and was about 4Gb in size, probably the mounted USB drive from which you were planning to install.
Following that I had to take one final hurdle, it asked me for the **installation directory.
I just typed in a slash / **because the main dorectory of my USB stick was the source directory for installation.

After that installation the process continued and rather quicly got into full graphical mode to continue the installation settings.

Although you might have solevd the problem meanwhile, perhaps other users who Google “opensuse 13.2 install from usb” may stumble about my solution.

In short when your USB installation dives into old YAST (MSDOS like) modus 1) select hard drive as installation medium, then 2) choose the option of about 4Gb size with OpenSuSE in it near the bottom of the options given and 3) finally give a / (slasg) when asked for source directory of the installation.

@michielz

Thank you very much for this piece of advice. The very same problem has been bugging me for a while now. I couldn’t get any of the openSUSE network installers to work properly and I blamed Apple’s EFI implementation for that (I’m using a salvaged MacBook Pro). Somehow on a traditional HP Compaq Elite 8000 desktop it worked perfectly fine! I too will try your method, but to be on the safe side I will download and dd onto my USB stick the full installation image.

FYI
It’s not MSDOS like, it’s called console mode. Yast is using ncurses instead of it’s gui which gives it an MSDOS -like appearance. You can replicate by using the command:

yast --ncurses

Once openSUSE is installed use the command “su -” (without the quotes) to login in superuser mode. Followed by your password, type “yast2” (without the quotes) and you’ll get the gui version of the Yast Control Center.

Linux is a powerful learning experience. Enjoy!