[Nix-dev] Problems installing NixOS with btrfs from a USB stick

[Cillian de Róiste]

Hi!

On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 11:05 AM, Thomas Strobel <ts468 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I was running into problems when trying to install NixOS with btrfs from
> a USB stick. I downloaded the current .iso and used unetbootin to create
> a bootable USB drive from it.
>
> Unfortunately, the resulting installation environment did not allow to
> use mkfs.btrfs as it could not decide on the mounting status of my
> partition. It seemed as if unetbootin prepared the system in a way that
> prevented mkfs.btrfs from working.
>
> Did anyone else experience that problem?
>
> If so, then my question is if the .iso files could be changed in a way
> that allows to prepare the USB stick with a simple dd-command, e.g. like
> Debian or GRML ISOs do, and that keeps mkft.btrfs working?

You could try installing syslinux and using isohybrid to create a
hybrid bootable image which you can dd onto a USB stick:

    isohybrid filename.iso

http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Doc/isolinux#HYBRID_CD-ROM.2FHARD_DISK_MODE

I'm not sure if that will help with the btrfs issue, but it would be
good to know if it worked.

Good luck!
Cillian