pyrox.dev
1# Booting from a USB Drive {#sec-booting-from-usb}
2
3For systems without CD drive, the NixOS live CD can be booted from a USB
4stick. You can use the `dd` utility to write the image:
5`dd if=path-to-image of=/dev/sdX`. Be careful about specifying the correct
6drive; you can use the `lsblk` command to get a list of block devices.
7
8::: {.note}
9::: {.title}
10On macOS
11:::
12
13```ShellSession
14$ diskutil list
15[..]
16/dev/diskN (external, physical):
17 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
18[..]
19$ diskutil unmountDisk diskN
20Unmount of all volumes on diskN was successful
21$ sudo dd if=nix.iso of=/dev/rdiskN
22```
23
24Using the \'raw\' `rdiskN` device instead of `diskN` completes in
25minutes instead of hours. After `dd` completes, a GUI dialog \"The disk
26you inserted was not readable by this computer\" will pop up, which can
27be ignored.
28:::
29
30The `dd` utility will write the image verbatim to the drive, making it
31the recommended option for both UEFI and non-UEFI installations.