USB-Imager 3.1.0

1. Requirements

• Linux with a running udisks2 service, version 2.7.3 or newer

• Python ≥ 3.10

• PySide6 ≥ 6.4

• PyGObject ≥ 3.42

• The udisks2 introspection typelib (gir1.2-udisks-2.0 on Debian, typelib-1_0-UDisks-2_0 on openSUSE)

USB-Imager itself does not run as root. Device access is handled by udisks2, which authorizes writing via polkit. Depending on your distribution’s policy, you may be prompted for a password.

PyGObject is built from source during installation and needs its build dependencies present (a C compiler, pkg-config and the development headers for GObject introspection and cairo). See the PyGObject installation guide for the packages your distribution requires.

2. Features

• Writing an image to multiple USB sticks at once

• Automatic device detection

• Very fast writing by using the linux system call sendfile() and large write buffers

• Adjustable write buffer between 1 MiB and 4 MiB

• Optional validation after writing

• Optional checksum verification of the selected image

• Detection and elimination of the following states of a device before writing:

  • Mounted

• Shows a warning if an ISO file does not look bootable

• Shows stats about writing time and overall speed

• Selectable color schemes (Dark/Light Mode)

Planned:

• Deactivation of LVM2 volumes before writing

• Multilanguage support

• Flatpak support

3. Installation

Virtual environment:

An installation in a virtual environment allows starting USB-Imager only from a terminal. If the command usb-imager is not available there, read section 5. Troubleshooting.

pipx:

$ pipx install usb-imager
$ usb-imager
$ pipx uninstall usb-imager

pipenv:

$ pipenv install usb-imager
$ pipenv run usb-imager
$ pipenv uninstall usb-imager

venv:

$ python3 -m venv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install usb-imager
$ usb-imager
$ pip uninstall usb-imager
$ deactivate
$ rm -rf venv

4. Usage

Type usb-imager in your terminal window to start USB-Imager. A start via a desktop icon will only be supported by the planned Flatpak package.

5. Troubleshooting

On some Linux distributions USB-Imager cannot be started from the command line when it was installed into ~/.local, as pipx does. ~/.local/bin is not part of the executable search path on every system. Add the directory to the search path of your shell, then open a new terminal.

Bash, Zsh and other POSIX shells, in ~/.profile:

PATH=~/.local/bin:$PATH

Fish:

$ fish_add_path ~/.local/bin

6. Support

7. Donate

If you like USB-Imager and want to support its development, you can buy me a coffee.