In order to install Manjaro on your PC, you’ll need to make bootable installation media. The easiest way to do this is by writing Manjaro to a USB stick and making it bootable. That’s exactly what we’ll show you how to do in this guide.
You’ll be provided with the insructions for making a bootable USB stick from both a graphical user interface and the command line. We’ll cover the steps for Linux users and Windows users alike.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to download Manjaro Linux ISO image
- How to create bootable USB from Linux command line
- How to create bootable USB from Linux GUI
- How to create bootable USB from Windows
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Manjaro Linux |
| Software | N/A |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Download Manjaro
The first thing you’ll need is a Manjaro ISO file. You can get one from Manjaro’s official download page or check out our full guide on downloading Manjaro.
On Manjaro’s download page, there are a few choices depending on which desktop environment you’d like to run. Among those available are Xfce, KDE, and GNOME. It all depends on user preference, so download the ISO file you’d like to install.
Create bootable USB from Linux command line
Once you have your Manjaro ISO file downloaded, insert your USB stick into the computer.
Use the following command to see what device name Linux has given to your USB stick:
$ sudo fdisk -l
In the screenshot above, you can see that our flash drive’s device is labelled /dev/sdb. Take note of whatever yours is labelled (it should be very similar, but maybe contain a different letter); we’ll need this in a moment.
Now, we can use the following dd command to burn the ISO file to our USB stick:
$ sudo dd bs=4M if=/path/to/manjaro.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress oflag=sync
Of course, replace /path/to/manjaro.iso with the path to your Manjaro ISO, and replace /dev/sdb with the name of your device.
dd will now copy the contents of the ISO file over to your USB stick. When it’s done, you’re ready to use the USB drive as Manjaro installation media.
Create bootable USB from Linux GUI
To burn a Manjaro ISO to USB via Linux’s graphical interface, Manjaro recommends the ImageWriter application, although there likely are a plethora of similar tools available in your operating system’s software manager which would be suitable for the job.
Look in your software manager for ImageWriter, or grab a similar tool that you are familiar with or want to try out. Insert your USB stick and open up ImageWrter.
Click on the center icon and navigate to where you downloaded the Manjaro ISO file. Highlight it and click Open.
Once you make sure that you have your USB drive selected in ImageWriter, you’re ready to write the ISO file to the USB stick. Click Write.
ImageWriter will begin transferring the contents of the ISO file to your USB stick. When it completes this process, you’re ready to use the USB stick to install Manjaro on a PC.
Create bootable USB from Windows
If you’re currently running Windows and want to make a bootable Manjaro USB stick, the Manjaro documentation recommends an app called Rufus. Head over to the Rufus website to download the latest version.
Open Rufus and select your USB under the “Device” setting. Also, click on “SELECT” to show Rufus where your Manjaro ISO file is located.
Once you have your USB stick and ISO file selected, click the Start button near the bottom to begin copying the contents of the ISO file to your USB.
Rufus begins its process. When it’s done, you can eject your USB stick and use it as Manjaro installation media to install the OS on any PC you please.
Conclusion
In this guide, we learned how to create a Manjaro Linux bootable USB from Linux GUI, Linux terminal, and Windows. With your Manjaro bootable USB, you’ll be able to pop it into any computer’s USB drive to boot into Manjaro’s live environment and, optionally, install Manjaro to the system’s hard disk.
