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Creating a SmartOS Bootable USB Key

Before you begin, download the image.

macOS

  1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
  2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.
    $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.8 GB   disk0s2
    /dev/disk2
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
       0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *998.1 GB   disk2
       1:        Apple_partition_map                          32.3 KB   disk2s1
       2:                 Apple_HFSX Time Machine Backups    998.1 GB   disk2s2
    /dev/disk3
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *4.0   GB   disk3
       1:             Windows_FAT_32 NONAME                  995.2 MB   disk3s1
    

In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/disk3. It's likely that your device location will be different.

  1. Unmount the USB key and copy the image to it. Use /dev/rdiskX instead of /dev/diskX with the dd command to speed the transfer. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The ddcommand will destroy any existing data on the target disk.

    diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk3
    gunzip smartos-latest-USB.img.gz
    sudo dd bs=1m if=smartos-latest-USB.img of=/dev/rdiskX
    
  2. Eject the volume

    diskutil eject /dev/disk3
    

Linux

  1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
  2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.
    $ fdisk -l
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x7ecb51e2
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *           1          52      409600   27  Unknown
    Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
    /dev/sda2              52       18959   151870464    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda3           18959       30432    92158977    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
    /dev/sda4           30432       60802   243944472    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda5           18959       30432    92158976   83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 7958 MB, 7958691840 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 967 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x00000000
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1               1         243     1951866    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
    

In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/sdb. It's likely that your device location will be different.

  1. Copy the image to the USB key. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The dd command will destroy any existing data on the target disk.
    gunzip smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img.gz
    dd if=smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1024
    

Windows

  1. Install Zip Utility. Joyent provides compressed images in the GZIP file format. 7-Zip is a free open source utility that supports .gz files on Windows.
  2. Install Disk Imaging Utility. The open-source utility win32diskimager from the Ubuntu project will safely and properly burn the .img file.
  3. Unzip the .gz file. Use 7-Zip to extract the .img file from the .gz file.
  4. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
  5. Burn the .img file. Use win32diskimager to burn the .img file to the USB key.

OpenIndiana

  1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
  2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.

    $ rmformat
    Looking for devices...
         1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0
            Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci-ide@1f,1/ide@0/sd@0,0
            Connected Device: QSI      DVD-RAM SDW-086  ES71
            Device Type: CD Reader
        Bus: IDE
        Size: <Unknown>
        Label: <Unknown>
        Access permissions: <Unknown>
         2. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0
            Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,7/storage@3/disk@0,0
            Connected Device: Kingston DataTravelerMini PMAP
            Device Type: Removable
        Bus: USB
        Size: 984.0 MB
        Label: USBKEY
        Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.
    

    In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0. It's likely that your device location will be different.

  3. Unmount the USB (if necessary) key and copy the image to it. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The dd command will destroy any existing data on the target disk.

    umount /media/USBKEY
    gunzip smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img.gz
    dd if=smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img of=/dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0 bs=1024k
    

FreeBSD

  1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
  2. Find the USB key's disk identifier using gpart.
    # gpart list
    Geom name: ada0
    modified: false
    state: OK
    fwheads: 16
    fwsectors: 63
    last: 468862087
    first: 40
    entries: 152
    scheme: GPT
    Providers:
    1. Name: ada0p1
       Mediasize: 209715200 (200M)
       Sectorsize: 512
       Stripesize: 4096
       Stripeoffset: 0
       Mode: r0w0e0
       efimedia: HD(1,GPT,abb52720-44c0-11ea-a4dc-0025902dffd4,0x28,0x64000)
       rawuuid: abb52720-44c0-11ea-a4dc-0025902dffd4
       rawtype: c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
       label: efiboot0
       length: 209715200
       offset: 20480
       type: efi
       index: 1
       end: 409639
       start: 40
    2. Name: ada0p2
    
    ... skipping
    
    Geom name: da0
    modified: false
    state: OK
    fwheads: 255
    fwsectors: 63
    last: 15248831
    first: 63
    entries: 4
    scheme: MBR
    Providers:
    1. Name: da0s1
       Mediasize: 1999564800 (1.9G)
       Sectorsize: 512
       Stripesize: 0
       Stripeoffset: 307200
       Mode: r1w1e2
       efimedia: HD(1,MBR,00000000,0x258,0x3b9778)
       attrib: active
       rawtype: 12
       length: 1999564800
       offset: 307200
       type: fat32lba
       index: 1
       end: 3905999
       start: 600
    Consumers:
    1. Name: da0
       Mediasize: 7807401984 (7.3G)
       Sectorsize: 512
       Mode: r1w1e3
    

The USB device da0 is our target. In our case it already had a partition. Don't mount the stick. Copy img file using dd (may need root depending on your setup):

    # dd if=smartos-latest-USB.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1024

And then...

Stick the USB key in a port and boot from it!