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I try to create a bootable usb stick. (I have an updated Ubuntu 16.04 LTS) it seems simple enough to do this using Startup Disk Creator.

the usb stick is created and is working as bootable disk BUT now it has no write permissions!!

I had tried to remove the write protection - but nothing worked (chmod, dd, dosfsck, gparted, hdparm, fdisk, df ...)

  1. How can I create Ubuntu 16 bootable usb stick with write permissions?
  2. How can I remove the 'read only' from a usb stick?
Dudu Arbel
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  • Are you trying to restore your USB drive to Original state? – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 25 '17 at 12:41
  • No. I would like to use it as a bootable usb AND also use it as disk on key. It worked as expected on Ubuntu14 – Dudu Arbel Apr 25 '17 at 12:48
  • "USB flash drive stuck in RO after DDing ISO" - did not solve my problem – Dudu Arbel Apr 25 '17 at 12:48
  • Do you have the permission to write after you make it bootable? – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 25 '17 at 12:50
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    No. That's the problem – Dudu Arbel Apr 25 '17 at 12:54
  • if root has the permission the you can run sudo chown -R user:user path/to/usb (but you might wanna wait for an answer because i'm not experienced enough in these matters ) and you can edit the question to clarify the situation with as much explanation as you can – Sumeet Deshmukh Apr 25 '17 at 13:03
  • Honestly this is no different than installing Ubuntu to any other drive. Possible duplicates: https://askubuntu.com/questions/16988/how-do-i-install-ubuntu-to-a-usb-key-without-using-startup-disk-creator and https://askubuntu.com/questions/6328/how-do-i-install-ubuntu – Elder Geek Apr 26 '17 at 18:04
  • @ElderGeek The other questions describe how to install ubuntu (on a usb stick). But ubuntu is already on the usb stick and it is bootable. Just the aspect "writable" is missing, which this question is about. This is therefore no duplicate, but a related issue. – user194860 Jun 22 '19 at 20:44
  • @user194860 I beg to differ. It IS a duplicate of https://askubuntu.com/questions/6328/how-do-i-install-ubuntu Creating live media (which is what the questioner has done) is not the way to go for the intended result. Actually installing the OS on a USB is required. See my comment here – Elder Geek Jun 24 '19 at 10:56
  • @ElderGeek Thank your for your explanation. Than the answer should be that: "Creating live media is not the way to go for the intended result. Actually installing the OS on a USB is required. How to do that is explained there: https://askubuntu.com/questions/6328/how-do-i-install-ubuntu" But the fact that you have to install it on a USB device to keep it writable is not something that is explained or even mentioned in the other question/answer. That's why I think it should not be counted as a duplicate. The answer is new information that has not been given before. – user194860 Jul 06 '19 at 20:56
  • @user194860 It's not the ONLY way to do it, simply the most effective in my opinion. Here's another approach – Elder Geek Jul 06 '19 at 21:41
  • @ElderGeek - I just created a USB 18.04 USB startup disk; earlier, I used to have a USB startup disk which was read/write, so I could copy some useful (for me) stuff on it like pictures etc. Now, when I do cp file /media/Ubuntu\ 18.04.1\ LTS\ amd64/ I get cp: cannot create regular file ... Read-only file system and mount says /dev/sdc1 on /media/Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS amd64 type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmode=555,fmode=444,uhelper=udisks2). So I'd need to make the disk read-write - where is this addressed is the links? – sdaau Aug 23 '19 at 08:54
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    I think the actual answer is here: https://askubuntu.com/a/962754/6808 "So a new version of the Startup Disk Creator was developed and introduced with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. This version is a cloning tool. The resulting USB boot drive will have an iso9660 file partition table and file system, which is read-only. Therefore it is not possible to make a persistent live drive with this method." - and apparently, not possible to copy extra files either – sdaau Aug 23 '19 at 09:00
  • @sdaau See this. – Elder Geek Aug 23 '19 at 12:08

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