How to create iso file linux

How to Create an ISO File in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Most operating system and programs especially large one comes in an ISO format containing all required installation files. An ISO file or an ISO image is a perfect representation of all file and folders contained in a CD /DVD. Alternatively, you can say that it is a package all installation files and folder in one single file in an ISO format.

You can easily back up or archive the files and folders into an ISO file. You can make that ISO file to act it as an external drive, make bootable USBs or CD/DVD to later use for installation, save as a backup or distributing it over to someone.

With ISO files, you can:

• Create an installation disc by Burning to USB or CD/DVD.
• Mount as a virtual drive.
• Use for installation of OS or software programs.

In this article, I will describe some ways to create an ISO file in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Using Mkisofs utility

Under Linux, you can create an ISO image from a folder using a command line argument with the Mkisofs utility. You can use Mkisofs to automatically backup the data with the option to exclude some individual files if necessary. It supports wildcards as well.

The basic syntax of the command is:

$ mkisofs -o [filename.iso] [ directory_path]

-o defines the file name of the ISO you want to create followed by the directory you want to backup or store an ISO file.

For instance, I want to create an ISO file from the directory /home/tin/Documents/backup and save it as backup.iso file:

It will create the backup.iso file and save it in the current directory.

Using dd command in Terminal to build an ISO file

Basically using dd command, we can create copies of data whether they are file or folders, partitions, or CD/DVDs. We can also make use of dd command to create ISO files.

The basic syntax of dd command is: Advertisement

$ dd if=[source] of=[target.iso]

If= Tells command from where to input the source data.

Of= Tells command where to define the output.

For instance, I will type the following command to copy and save the contents of the drive as an ISO file named diskimage.iso:

The ISO image named diskimage.iso will be created in the current directory.

Using Brasero utility to make an ISO file

You can use Linux disk burning utility Brasero to create an ISO file. Older versions of Ubuntu include built-in Brasero utility. However, in 16.04 and the newer version, you have to manually install this utility.

To install Brasero, press Ctrl+Alt+T to launch Terminal.

Enter the following command in Terminal:

Once you have done with the installation, open the application.

To open the Brasero application, Press windows key or click on dash icon in the bottom left corner of the desktop to open Dash menu.

Then search for Brasero application by typing its name in the search bar. When the application appears, click on it to open it.

In the Brasero application window, click on the Data project option.

Then click on the + icon to start adding files to the new project.

From the window that appears, select the individual files or directories then click on Add.

You will notice that files are added in the application. Click on Burn.

Choose the location to save the ISO file. Specify the name for the ISO file with .iso extension and click on Create Image.

Once finished, you will be notified that the image has been successfully created.

Hence all above were the different ways using which you can create ISO files. Once you have ISO file, you can save it as a backup, use it as virtual CD/DVD, burn it on USB or CD/DVD and share it with someone.

Karim Buzdar

About the Author: Karim Buzdar holds a degree in telecommunication engineering and holds several sysadmin certifications. As an IT engineer and technical author, he writes for various web sites. You can reach Karim on LinkedIn

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How To Create ISO Files In Linux

You probably know that an ISO file can be burned onto a CD/DVD or USB drive, but did you know that you can easily back up or archive your files and folders into an ISO file as well? With this ISO file you can then burn it onto a CD/DVD as a backup or simply mount it like an external drive and access the files from within.

If you want to back up the content of a disc or if you have a bunch of files and folders that you want to back up and archive, here is how you can create ISO files in Linux.

Via Archive Manager

If you are using Ubuntu (or Gnome desktop), the Archive Manager application (file-roller) allows you to easily create an ISO file.

1. Open the file manager. Select the files and folders that you want to back up. Right-click on them and select “Compress.”

2. Select “.iso” option, and click “Create.” This will compress all the selected files and folders into an ISO file.

Via Command Line

dd is a useful command that you can use to create ISO file. All you need to do is specify the source and destination, and it will do the necessary work of creating an ISO file.

The basic usage is as follow:

For example, if your CD-ROM drive is mounted at “/dev/hdc,” and you want to back up the content of your disc to a “my-cd-backup.iso” file, you can use the following command:

The “source” doesn’t have to be a CD-ROM drive. It can be a hard drive partition, an external drive or a file path, though it won’t work on a folder.

Note: there is much more to dd than described above, but we won’t go into the details here.

Alternatively, you can also use the mkisofs command to create an ISO file. The advantage of mkisofs is that it gives you more options to customize how you want the ISO file to be created.

The basic usage is as follow:

For example, use the following command to backup your Home folder:

You can tell mkisofs to enable Rockridge extension by setting the -R option.

The Joliet extension is enabled by the -J flag.

You can also set a volume name (-V option) for the ISO file. (If you burn your ISO file to a CD, the volume name will be used as the CD’s name.)

You can also exclude certain files to add to the ISO file with the “-m” option. It supports wildcard (*), so you can use it for something like the following

to exclude all hidden files (filename with a “.” in front) from adding to the ISO file.

Check out all the options of mkisofs with the following command:

Conclusion

While it may not be the best backup option, an ISO file can be rather useful in some instances. With the above instructions, you can now create ISO files with ease.

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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2 Ways to Create an ISO from a Bootable USB in Linux

In this article, we will show you how to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive in Linux. We will explain two ways to achieve this: via the command line interface (CLI) and a graphical user interface (GUI) program.

Create An ISO From A Bootable USB Drive Using dd Tool

dd is a commonly used command-line tool for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, used to convert and copy files.

To create an ISO image from a Bootable USB Drive files, first you need to insert your USB drive and then find the device name of your USB using following df command.

Sample Output

From the output above, you can clearly see that our attached USB device name is /dev/sdb1 .

Now you can run the following command to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive as shown. Make sure to replace /dev/sdb1 with your USB drive and /home/tecmint/Documents/Linux_Mint_19_XFCE.iso with the full name of the new ISO image.

In the above command, the option:

• if – means read from specified FILE instead of stdin.
• of – means write to specified FILE instead of stdout.

Once done, you can verify the ISO image using following ls command as shown.

Create ISO from Bootable USB Using dd Command

Create An ISO From A Bootable USB Drive Using Gnome Disks

Gnome Disks is a graphical tool used to manage disk drives and media in Linux. It is used to format and partition drives, mount and unmount partitions, and query S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes.

If you don’t have gnome-disk utility on your system, you can install it by running the following command.

After successfully installing Gnome disk, search and open it from the system menu or dash. Then from the default interface, select the bootable device from the list of mounted devices on the left-hand pane, by clicking on it and click on disk options. Then click on Create Disk Image option as shown in the following image.

Create a Disk Partition Image

From the dialog window, set the name of the ISO file, its location and click Start creating. Then enter your password to open the bootable device and the process should start if the authentication is successful.

Create ISO from Bootable USB Using Gnome Disks

That’s it for now! In this article, we’ve explained two ways to create an ISO from a bootable USB drive in Linux. Use the comment form below to share your thoughts with us or ask questions.

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How to Create CD ISO Image from Linux

Mkisofs command in Linux is used to create filesystems for writing on CD-ROM devices. The cdrecord utility will actually burn the disk. The mkisofs command prepares the files to be burnt on the medium.

Mkisofs creates an iso file, which is the image file (archive) of the optical disk.

This tutorial explains mkisofs tool in Linux to create iso image.

Using Mkisofs

According to the manual page of mkisofs command

ISO9660 filesystem has some limitations

• The filenames must be in 8.3 format, i.e. filename can have maximum 8 characters with 3 characters extension using uppercase letters, numbers and underscore only.

• Maximum directory depth is 8.

• File names cannot have any spaces. Maximum one dot is allowed in the file name. The directories shall not contain any dot.

While creating an iso9660 file, the filenames will be mapped as follows

• filenames are truncated to 8 characters.
• all dots in filenames except the last one are translated to underscore.
• filename version is appended to file name as ;n.
• For example, ‘initrd-latest.img’ will be mapped to ‘initrd_l.img’.

In RRIP (Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol) extension allows

• Longer filenames (upto 255 bytes) and fewer restrictions on allowed characters (support for lowercase etc.)
• UNIX-style file modes, user ids and group ids, and file timestamps
• Support for Symbolic links and device files
• Deeper directory hierarchy (more than 8 levels)
• Efficient storage of sparse files

By default, mkisofs command dumps the output on the STDOUT. The output filename can be given with -o switch. A simple example of using mkisofs:

How to List Content of ISO file

Content of an ISO file can be listed using isoinfo and extracted using p7zip .

The following command will list the content of a ISO file.

The following command will extract files to ‘extracted_folder’ from ‘bootiso.iso’ file.

Mount ISO file on Directory

Lets mount iso file on to a directory. Run the following command:

The original contents of /boot directory is:

The filenames are mapped as follows:

The uppercase filenames are mapped to lowercase while showing these contents.

The -R option tells mkisofs to use Rock Ridge protocol. Other useful options to mkisofs are:

Now, using these options:

In this tutorial, we learned how to create an iso image in Linux. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment.

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