id: usb title: Booting from USB sidebar_label: Booting from USB description: "How to create a USB stick capable of booting into netboot.xyz"
:::danger Backup your important data before writing the USB as it will overwrite anything on the USB key. :::
Download a netboot.xyz USB disk:
Insert a USB key in your computer and find the device name. Then use following command:
cat netboot.xyz.img > /dev/sdX
or
dd if=netboot.xyz.img of=/dev/sdX
where sdX is your usb drive.
The USB key should be ready to eject once finished.
Run:
diskutil list
to get the current list of devices
Insert the flash media.
Run:
diskutil list
again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2).
Run:
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
(replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2).
Execute:
sudo dd if=netboot.xyz.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
Run:
diskutil eject /dev/diskN
and remove your flash media when the command completes.
Check out Rufus to install the IMG file to a USB key.
Once you've created your key, reboot and set your BIOS to load the USB key first if it's not set for that already. You should see iPXE load up either load up netboot.xyz automatically or you will be prompted to set your networking information up.