How to create a Linux boot USB from Windows.

[dos2unix]

There are multiple ways to do this. This is one way.

First, we need a Linux image file or iso. You can download these from different places. Usually these are downloaded
into your "Downloads" folder.

You need to know how large these are. You see some in my list here anywhere from 13GB down to about 800MB.
Make sure you have a USB drive that is large enough to hold the OS image that you downloaded. It can be bigger.
But it cannot be smaller. Go ahead and place your USB drive in your computer. Note: whatever is on this drive will be erased.

Download balena etcher from...
https://etcher.balena.io/

Obviously you should download the one for your OS. In this case, we will use the Windows version.

This will probably download to your "Downloads" directory. You need to install this.
When you run Etcher, you will see this screen come up.

In this case, we will choose flash from file. This will open your downloads folder automatically. If it doesn't navigate to your "Downloads" folder.

Click on the image you want to install. Yes, this is fedora, but it can be any Linux Distro you like. This is just an example.
Once you have selected the image files, it will go back to the Etcher screen. You need to pick the destination target.

If you only have one USB drive plugged in, pick that one. If not, make sure you select the correct one.

Next, click on flash.

You should then see some progress that the USB drive is being flashed. This can take a few minutes.

Once it is done flashing, it should validate the USB drive was flashed correctly.

Finally, it should say "Flash Completed".

That's it, you're done. You have a Linux USB drive now. You are ready to install, but that's another article(s).

 

[dos2unix]

I do not recommend Ventoy or Rufus if this is your first time flashing a USB drive.
There are some things you need to be aware of if you use those. Perhaps someone who prefers
to use those will create another tutorial.

 

[dos2unix]

The problem with rufus.

When you download a Linux iso, almost always, the website will also have checksum value that
you can check the integrity of the iso file you downloaded against. This ensures that the image
you downloaded hasn't been corrupted. It also ensures that bad people haven't done things
to this image. Some distro's such as fedora and redhat, also have an internal checksum
inside the image. This checks the checksum value of the image against itself. If you change the
image in "ANY" way, this checksum will be changed and the installer will not install your image.

What I mean here is... you can still burn the image to your USB just fine, but when it comes time to
use the USB to install Linux, it may not work. Why because we changed the image from a dd (bit for bit)
image to an iso image. Using an iso image is handy, you can make changes to it on the fly. But that's
the problem, you (and any bad guys) can make changes to it. That's why some installers block the
install if the checksum doesn't match.

Let the USB burner bashing begin!