Running Fedora’s liveusb-creator on Ubuntu

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One of the things I find most annoying about Linux distributions is that when it comes to distribution-oriented tools, they tend to make other distributions feel like second-class citizens even when compared to Windows. One such example is the Ubuntu One service which had a Windows client released recently and will soon see a Mac client while it is yet to be unsupported on any other distro besides Ubuntu. Another such, albeit smaller, example is the Fedora liveusb-creator tool.

The Fedora liveusb-creator tool is used when one wants to install Fedora while using a USB stick rather then a CD-ROM. While Ubuntu does include a comparable tool called “Startup Disk Creator”, that tool only supports creation of bootable USB sticks for Debian-derivative distributions.

Installation of the  liveusb-creator tool is of course extremely easy on Fedora where it is accessible directly from the distribution’s repositories, the tool’s website also provides a Windows installer, but when it comes to other distributions the site resorts to providing a source archive without even including instructions as to what packages might be needed to run it.

Fortunately for users of other distributions, the Fedora liveusb-creator tool is written in Python, therefore running it on other distributions is a rather simple task, following are 3 simple steps required to use the liveusb-creator on Ubuntu, similar steps may apply to other Debian-derived distributions as well.

Step 1: Install required packages

The following packages are required to run the liveusb-creator, all of them can be found in the Ubuntu repositories.

  • isomd5sum
  • python-parted
  • python-pyisomd5sum
  • python-urlgrabber
  • extlinux
  • python-qt4
  • python-qt4-dbus
  • tar

The packages can all be installed with the following command line:

sudo aptitude install python-parted isomd5sum python-pyisomd5sum python-urlgrabber extlinux python-qt4 python-qt4-dbus tar

Step 2: Download and extract the liveusb-creator source

The liveusb-creator source can be downloaded from the website and extracted with the following commands:

wget https://fedorahosted.org/releases/l/i/liveusb-creator/liveusb-creator-3.11.7.tar.bz2 
tar -xvjf liveusb-creator-3.11.7.tar.bz2

Step 3: Run liveusb-creator

The one thing to know here is that you need to run liveusb-creator as root to allow for low-level access to the USB stick, on Ubuntu this is typically done with “sudo”:

sudo ./liveusb-creator-3.11.7/liveusb-creator

Thats it! Enjoy your new Fedora installation…

31 thoughts on “Running Fedora’s liveusb-creator on Ubuntu”

    • I needed that and the whole python-qt4 package:

      root@xxxxx-Latitude-E5400:/home/xxxxx/Downloads/liveusb-creator-3.11.6# cat /etc/issue
      Ubuntu 10.10 \n \l

      root@xxxxx-Latitude-E5400:/home/xxxxx/Downloads/liveusb-creator-3.11.6# apt-get install python-qt4-dbus
      root@xxxxx-Latitude-E5400:/home/xxxxx/Downloads/liveusb-creator-3.11.6# apt-get install python-qt4

      Reply

  2. Traceback (most recent call last):
    File “./liveusb-creator-3.11.6/liveusb-creator”, line 89, in
    main()
    File “./liveusb-creator-3.11.6/liveusb-creator”, line 82, in main
    from liveusb.gui import LiveUSBApp
    File “/home/amartinez/Descargas/Fedora/liveusb-creator-3.11.6/liveusb/__init__.py”, line 54, in
    from liveusb.linux_dialog import Ui_Dialog as LiveUSBInterface
    File “/home/amartinez/Descargas/Fedora/liveusb-creator-3.11.6/liveusb/linux_dialog.py”, line 10, in
    from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
    ImportError: No module named PyQt4

    Reply

  6. There is a newer version of the utility, version 3.11.7 can you update the link pls
    https://fedorahosted.org/releases/l/i/liveusb-creator/liveusb-creator-3.11.7.tar.bz2

    OR

    wget https://fedorahosted.org/releases/l/i/liveusb-creator/liveusb-creator-3.11.7.tar.bz2
    tar -xvzf liveusb-creator-3.11.7.tar.bz2

    sudo ./liveusb-creator-3.11.7/liveusb-creator

    for some reason unknown to me, tar did not work for me on UBUNTU 12.04, so instead i used
    RIGHT CLICK
    EXTRACT HERE

    and then

    sudo ./liveusb-creator-3.11.7/liveusb-creator

    worked fine for me

    Thanks

    Reply

  7. how do you install fedorliv live usb creator on fedora i’ve tried using the add/remove tool and i don’t seem to find it. when i use yum it just gives me mirrors that aren’t working????

    Reply

  8. Verifying filesystem…
    Setting /dev/sdb1 label to LIVE
    Verifying ISO MD5 checksum
    ascii
    LiveUSB creation failed!
    ascii

    im gettin’ this exception :( could you help please?

    Reply

  10. When i type the “sudo aptitude install python-parted isomd5sum python-pyisomd5sum python-urlgrabber extlinux python-qt4 python-qt4-dbus tar” command i get this after i type my password:

    sudo: aptitude: command not found

    What am i doing wrong?

    Reply

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  17. Additionally I had to do this:
    sudo pluma /etc/default/locale
    and in it on second and third row I had to add these:
    LANGUAGE=”en_US.UTF-8″
    LC_ALL=”en_US.UTF-8″
    Then I had to start the creator from a new terminal and it worked

    I completely agree that the Linux distributions should respect each-other more than they respect Windows – it is very annoying.
    Excellent article.
    Thanks.

    Reply

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