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ChristianZhao's avatar
ChristianZhao
Bronze Contributor
Feb 06, 2025

Create Debian Bootable USB on Windows 11 for Installation on another laptop?

Hi tech expert, I am a long time Windows users but not familiar with Linux. I started learning Linux this week and need some help to install Linux (Debian) on my old laptop. Currently, I have a Wind...
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Josew's avatar
Josew
Silver Contributor
Feb 06, 2025

Another effective methods for creating Debian Linux install USB is using PowerShell and dd for Windows (via WSL). You can use dd, a powerful disk copying tool available through Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This method works well if you're comfortable with Linux-style command-line tools.

Step 1: Install WSL if you don’t have it already. You can follow the steps from Microsoft's documentation.

Step 2: Once WSL is installed, open a Linux terminal (bash shell).

Step 3: Use dd to copy the Debian ISO directly to the USB. This tool is powerful and allows you to directly copy the image to the USB.

Example:

sudo dd if=/mnt/c/Users/YourUsername/Downloads/debian.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

Replace /mnt/c/Users/YourUsername/Downloads/debian.iso with the path to your Debian ISO, and /dev/sdX with your USB device path (e.g., /dev/sdb). Wait a couple of minutes for making bootable Debian Linux USB in Windows 11. Now, it is ready for clean install

Note: Be extremely careful when using dd as it can overwrite the wrong device if you specify the wrong path for your USB drive.

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