this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Other people have obviously pointed it out, but this is one of the many areas in Linux where the command line is so much easier than an interface that the people who write GUI tools just don't bother. The tool you need for a command line approach is called dd (I imagine it stands for direct data because that is what it does). Using dd you can take data from one place and put it into another. This means you can put zeros all over a drive, wiping it in full, using
That will fill the whole drive with zeroes, but you could also do it with random noise first, using the below
In the case of your ISO image there is someone who has included all the options including block size and so on, but the step you really need is to be sure you get the right device. Execuse the command below
Then insert your device, wait a few seconds, and run it again. You will have a list of all of the devices that were connected before and after plugging your drive in, so your drive will be the new one. It will probably show up as something like
Notice that there are two. The first is the device, the second is the partition on the device. If you tried to put the content of an ISO image into an existing partition it would look like it had all worked but it would actually fail because the ISO is a full rip of a device, not a partition. Instead use the device itself, in this case sdc.
The last bit will make your system write things to the disk and make it safe to eject it. Once that is all done it should work as a bootable USB.
It seems super complex but once you have done it a few times it becomes so easy you will regret the time spent getting a GUI installed.
If you still want a GUI you could try Gnome Disks, but I never enjoyed using it.