====== Create Live USB disk =======
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===== From a Windows host ======

Running a Windows host/Operating System you can create a live USB disk with Sparkylinux using one of the tools, for example:

   * [[http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/|Unetbootin]] (available for MS Windows, OSX and Linux) 
   * [[http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/|Universal USB Installer]]
   * [[http://linuxliveusb.com/en/|Linux USB Creator]]
   * [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/|Win32 Disk Imager]]

How to write Sparkylinux iso to a pen drive on Windows host?

1. Insert at least 2GB USB stick into your PC and launch one of the applications listed above.

{{:image-createausbstickonwindows-1.jpg|}}

2. Click 'Browse' and choose the downloaded SparkyLinux ISO image.

{{:image-createausbstickonwindows-2.jpg|}}

3. Choose the USB drive and click 'Create'.

{{:image-createausbstickonwindows-3.jpg|}}

Now you can boot Sparkylinux from your pen drive changing the boot order in your machine's BIOS/UEFI.

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===== From a Linux host =====


=== GUI method ===

There are a few applications working with graphical interface (GUI) to make a copy of Sparky onto an USB stick.

1. Mintstick - available in Linux Mint and its derivatives and SparkyLinux as well.

Simply choose Sparky iso image from your hard drive and USB stick.

{{:mintstick.png?500|}}

2. [[live_usb_creator|Live USB Creator]] - Sparky's tool which uses 'dd' command. 

Choose Sparky iso image from your hard drive and USB stick.

{{:live-usr-creator.png?400|}}

3. Unetbootin - available in most Linux distributions.

{{:unetbootin.png?400|}}

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=== CLI method ===

On a Linux host you can copy the iso image in text mode using **dd** command.

As the first, you have to check what is your already connected USB number.   

It can be: **sdb**, **sdc**, **sde**, etc.

Open a terminal and type:

   sudo fdisk -l

and then enter your password.

This is only an example, which shows:
   * sda - a hard drive

   /dev/sda1  *            2048  40962047  40960000   19,5G 83 Linux
   /dev/sda2           40962048  81922047  40960000   19,5G 83 Linux
   /dev/sda3           81922048  83970047   2048000   1000M 82 Linux swap / Solaris

   * sdb - usb pen drive (FAT32 file system)

   /dev/sdb1  *           2048 31260671 31258624   14,9G  b W95 FAT32

Next step is to erase previous partition info from your usb, so backup your data before formatting your pen drive.

Unmount your pen drive:

   umount /dev/sdb

Format it to FAT32 file system:

   sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb

Now copy Sparky iso image to USB disk:

   sudo dd if=~/Desktop/sparkylinux.iso of=/dev/sdb oflag=direct bs=1048576

Where:
   * '~/Desktop/sparkylinux.iso' is the name and location of your downloaded image (located at the desktop is  an example)
   * '/dev/sdb' is the target USB drive.
   * if your system doesn't support 'oflag=direct', you can just leave it out as it is simply intended to speed up the process a bit.

Warning: Make sure to set the correct device path, as this process will delete all data that was on the specified device previously!

Remember, don't include an integer for the USB drive, e.g. '/dev/sdb1', as it would refer to the existing partition on that drive and not the drive itself.

When the Live USB has been properly created by **dd**, there should be an output similar to this:

   sudo dd if=~/Desktop/sparkylinux.iso of=/dev/sdb oflag=direct bs=1048576 
   706+1 records in
   706+1 records out
   740601856 bytes (741 MB) copied, 91.7024 s, 8.1 MB/s

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<WRAP center box 100%>
|[[burn_iso|<--- Burn iso image onto CD/DVD disk]]  |  [[start|^ Wiki Start Page ^]]  |  [[partitioning|Disk partitioning --->]]|
</WRAP>