Switchroot Wiki
HomepageGitLabDownloads
Ask or search…
⌃K
Links

Linux USB or eMMC Boot

USB or eMMC booting

Prerequisites

These guides are meant to augment the official installation guides. Follow the guide for your appropriate distro (Ubuntu Bionic/Ubuntu Jammy/Fedora) EXCEPT for clicking "Flash Linux" in Hekate. The following instructions are a replacement for the "Flash Linux" step in Hekate. (You can delete the files from sd:/switchroot/install).

USB Boot

You will need a mouse and keyboard to finish setup if you are using a dock that covers the touchscreen. If your dock/adapter does not cover the screen and you don't have a mouse and keyboard, disconnect HDMI before booting for the first time, so you can finish the setup by using built-in screen and touch. You can also manage to pass the setup with a mouse only and using the on screen keyboard, but your mouse shouldn't be detected as keyboard also, otherwise the OSK will not show up.
  1. 1.
    Create a new partition on the usb drive - the partition type doesn't matter
On Linux :
  1. 2.
    Merge l4t split image into one: cat l4t.0* > ubuntu.raw
  2. 3.
    sudo dd if=ubuntu.raw of=/dev/sdXY bs=2M conv=fsync status=progress replacing X by the correct drive LETTER and Y by the partition NUMBER on this drive
  3. 4.
    Open bootloader/ini/L4T_ubuntu.ini located on your sd card fat32 partition a. Add rootlabel_retries=100 b. If there's another Ubuntu in SD add rootdev=sdaX. Replace the X in sdaX with your partition number (1 if your USB drive only has the one partition) and change the partition label to avoid collision with the install on your SD, for example you can name the USB one to SWR-USB and make sure to also set id=SWR-USB in L4T-Bionic.ini or the relevant .ini
  4. 5.
    Finally add usb3_enable=1 to the .ini file to enable max usb speeds. (This might decrease BT and WiFi 2.4G signal quality).
On windows :
  1. 2.
    Open command prompt, navigate to switchroot/install directory then merge l4t split image into one copy /b l4t.00 + l4t.01 ubuntu.raw
  2. 3.
    Download dd for windows binary and extract dd-XXbetaX.zip.
  3. 4.
    Open a cmd/terminal in that folder and executedd --list to list all your disks volumes. Cross reference windows "Disk Management" or the "DiskGenius" application to find your partition and copy its volume ID (looks something like \\.\Volume{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX})
WARNING this next step will OVERWRITE the disk volume Be careful to select the right volume and not flash over your windows disk. Make sure to remove the drive letter of your desired partition before flashing otherwise you will get an error.
  1. 5.
    In your open cmd/terminal, to flash ubuntu.raw to a USB PARTITION, execute dd if=C:\Users\myuser\pathtofile\ubuntu.raw of=\\.\Volume{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} bs=2M --progress
  2. 6.
    Open bootloader/ini/L4T_ubuntu.ini located on your sd card fat32 partition a. Add rootlabel_retries=100 b. If there's another Ubuntu in SD add rootdev=sdaX. Replace the X in sdaX with your partition number (1 if your USB drive only has the one partition) and change the partition label to avoid collision with the install on your SD, for example you can name the USB one to SWR-USB and make sure to also set id=SWR-USB in L4T-Bionic.ini or the relevant .ini
  3. 7.
    Finally add usb3_enable=1 to the .ini file to enable max usb speeds. (This might decrease BT and WiFi 2.4G signal quality).

eMMC Boot

Note: if you want to add a partition on the eMMC alongside HOS and/or Android use this guide instead​
  1. 1.
    Create a new partition on the eMMC - the partition type doesn't matter
On Linux :
  1. 2.
    Merge l4t split image into one: cat l4t.0* > ubuntu.raw
  2. 3.
    sudo dd if=ubuntu.raw of=/dev/mmcblk0pX bs=2M conv=fsync status=progress replacing X by the correct partition NUMBER on the eMMC
  3. 4.
    Open bootloader/ini/L4T_ubuntu.ini located on your sd card fat32 partition a. Add emmc=1 to enable eMMC driver b. If there's another Ubuntu in SD add rootdev=mmcblk0pX. Replace the X in mmcblk0pX with your partition number (1 if your USB drive only has the one partition) and change the partition label to avoid collision with the install on your SD, for example you can name the USB one to SWR-EMM and make sure to also set id=SWR-EMM in L4T-Bionic.ini or the relevant .ini
On windows :
  1. 2.
    Open command prompt, navigate to switchroot/install directory then merge l4t split image into one copy /b l4t.00 + l4t.01 ubuntu.raw
  2. 3.
    Download dd for windows binary and extract dd-XXbetaX.zip.
  3. 4.
    Open a cmd/terminal in that folder and executedd --list to list all your disks volumes. Cross reference windows "Disk Management" or the "DiskGenius" application to find your partition and copy its volume ID (looks something like \\.\Volume{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX})
WARNING this next step will OVERWRITE the disk volume Be careful to select the right volume and not flash over your windows disk. Make sure to remove the drive letter of your desired partition before flashing otherwise you will get an error.
  1. 5.
    In your open cmd/terminal, to flash ubuntu.raw to a USB PARTITION, execute dd if=C:\Users\myuser\pathtofile\ubuntu.raw of=\\.\Volume{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} bs=2M --progress
  2. 6.
    Open bootloader/ini/L4T_ubuntu.ini located on your sd card fat32 partition a. Add emmc=1 to enable eMMC driver b. If there's another Ubuntu in SD add rootdev=mmcblk0pX. Replace the X in mmcblk0pX with your partition number (1 if your USB drive only has the one partition) and change the partition label to avoid collision with the install on your SD, for example you can name the USB one to SWR-EMM and make sure to also set id=SWR-EMM in L4T-Bionic.ini or the relevant .ini
Previous
Linux Boot Configuration
Next
Linux Bootstack Documentation
Last modified 11d ago