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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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When putting Debian.iso onto a flash drive do you have to use root? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

On Debian's website it is saying to write the image to the USB stick I should use a bash script "# cp Debian.iso /dev/sdX

sync"

Is there another way to do this without using root access?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Using dd or another third party flashing tool usually requires root to flash to usb.

Hope you find an answer, it would also be great to see the context of why you need to do it without root.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Truthfully just am not an experienced enough user to understand all the potential risks of having it enabled although I'm figuring out now that pretty much every distro I've used until now had root by using sudo.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

That makes sense, it's good to be weary. Root access is needed for higher privilege tasks and flashing an image to a USB is one of them, best practice is to use sudo so that you are only using root for the actions you need it for, whilst still being logged in as a normal user.

You would get a UAC check in Windows trying to flash an image to a USB, which is elevating your privilege temporarily to administrator.

If you are just starting out with Linux then have fun, the most rewarding part is figuring stuff out like this so you know for next time!