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24.1 Production Series / Unable to create a bootable USB on MacOS
« on: April 03, 2024, 10:34:02 am »
Good morning / afternoon / evening to all,
I’ve tried to ask my issue on Reddit before, but so far with no solution. I also believe I'm not the first one as I tried (hopefully) everything I was able to find - yet, I'm still unable to create a bootable USB Flash Drive.
I’m running on MacOS Sonoma (14.3) with Apple Silicon (M1).
I’ve followed official Docs for Installation process:
- downloaded VGA distribution of 24.1 from releases webpage (together with checksum, signature,..files)
- checksum from Terminal matches checksum in file
- image decompressed using bzip, without errors
- verification of image finished with expected “Verified OK” message
I’ve moved on to write the image on USB. The disk got wiped out, after ~250 seconds I'verecieved an information about bytes written, etc. There also was no error in regard to trailing garbage (as described on Docs).
On a station (Intel 64bit based CPU), I’ve got into a Boot Menu, selected the drive, and... Nothing. BIOS showed me the main menu instead.
I tried to create a bootable USB with a balenaEtcher. With this, I've got an information that BIOS “could not authenticate the USB” (?, can’t recall specific wording).
I tried to create a bootable USB with a DVD distribution using both, `dd` command, as well as balenaEtcher. Same error (with no reference number or any other information) or got back to BIOS’es Main Menu.
I looked up some information. It seems that there might be a problem related to GPT (GUID Partition Table) while BIOS UEFI expects MBR (?). It seems I'm unable to do anything about it using MacOS itself, so I followed the guide on https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/converting-guid-gpt-partition-to-mbr-in-mac.55352/ forum. Downloaded gdisk using Homebrew, performed the change as described.. I even saw a “full” flash drive with MBR in MacOS Disk Utility. - Nope, back to main menu, did not solve the issue.
During my tries:
- I tried different `bs` number for `dd` command (64k from OPNSense Docs, 4m from pfSense Docs,..)
- on station, BIOS is up to date, UEFI allowed (cannot be turned off)
- I’ve tried different USB Flash Disks (both are >8 GB, both went with-out errors).
- both USBs were used in past as bootable disks for Linux/Windows/Proxmox,.. Last times 1-2 and 3-4 weeks ago.
I'm really running out of ideas - taking into consideration I was unable to find anything else to try, but what described above.
Is there something I might be missing in BIOS itself?
Is there something else I could try to create a bootable USB?
Is there a way to create the USB with MBR directly?
Could Apple Silicon be the issue?
- for Windows, I’ve had to use alternative SW (to balenaEtcher) that is specifically made to create Win bootable disks on Apple Silicon.
Thanks - A LOT - in advance for any ideas.
I’ve tried to ask my issue on Reddit before, but so far with no solution. I also believe I'm not the first one as I tried (hopefully) everything I was able to find - yet, I'm still unable to create a bootable USB Flash Drive.
I’m running on MacOS Sonoma (14.3) with Apple Silicon (M1).
I’ve followed official Docs for Installation process:
- downloaded VGA distribution of 24.1 from releases webpage (together with checksum, signature,..files)
- checksum from Terminal matches checksum in file
- image decompressed using bzip, without errors
- verification of image finished with expected “Verified OK” message
I’ve moved on to write the image on USB. The disk got wiped out, after ~250 seconds I'verecieved an information about bytes written, etc. There also was no error in regard to trailing garbage (as described on Docs).
On a station (Intel 64bit based CPU), I’ve got into a Boot Menu, selected the drive, and... Nothing. BIOS showed me the main menu instead.
I tried to create a bootable USB with a balenaEtcher. With this, I've got an information that BIOS “could not authenticate the USB” (?, can’t recall specific wording).
I tried to create a bootable USB with a DVD distribution using both, `dd` command, as well as balenaEtcher. Same error (with no reference number or any other information) or got back to BIOS’es Main Menu.
I looked up some information. It seems that there might be a problem related to GPT (GUID Partition Table) while BIOS UEFI expects MBR (?). It seems I'm unable to do anything about it using MacOS itself, so I followed the guide on https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/converting-guid-gpt-partition-to-mbr-in-mac.55352/ forum. Downloaded gdisk using Homebrew, performed the change as described.. I even saw a “full” flash drive with MBR in MacOS Disk Utility. - Nope, back to main menu, did not solve the issue.
During my tries:
- I tried different `bs` number for `dd` command (64k from OPNSense Docs, 4m from pfSense Docs,..)
- on station, BIOS is up to date, UEFI allowed (cannot be turned off)
- I’ve tried different USB Flash Disks (both are >8 GB, both went with-out errors).
- both USBs were used in past as bootable disks for Linux/Windows/Proxmox,.. Last times 1-2 and 3-4 weeks ago.
I'm really running out of ideas - taking into consideration I was unable to find anything else to try, but what described above.
Is there something I might be missing in BIOS itself?
Is there something else I could try to create a bootable USB?
Is there a way to create the USB with MBR directly?
Could Apple Silicon be the issue?
- for Windows, I’ve had to use alternative SW (to balenaEtcher) that is specifically made to create Win bootable disks on Apple Silicon.
Thanks - A LOT - in advance for any ideas.