Can't install CentOS from USB (blinking underscore)

rtainc · Post by **rtainc** » 2013/04/04 01:12:16

First things first:
- I cannot use a CD; it must be a USB drive

I've downloaded the minimal iso for CentOS 6.4, and copied it to a USB drive (8gb), which works fine for installation on Parallels virtual machines. I tried to install it on a server with an empty hard drive, but it fails to boot, with a black screen and white blinking underscore. I just now wiped the drive, and it worked with CentOS before.

simon_matthews · Post by **simon_matthews** » 2013/04/04 05:33:26

Just copying the ISO to the USB drive won't work. You need to use something like unetbootin to install a bootable image on the USB drive.

Post by **TrevorH** » 2013/04/04 10:12:28

There are several methods of creating a USB install stick detailed in http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey

You may also need to review BIOS options on the machine in question as I've found some are picky - one I have here needs an option about treating USB removable drives as floppies either turned off or set to be automatic for drives larger than xMB where x is some reasonable floppy sized amount.

bjfreeman · Post by **bjfreeman** » 2013/04/04 17:09:01

used liveUSBSuite to install CentOS-6.4-i386-bin-DVD1.iso on a 32GB USB stick to boot under win 7 on a netbook english. I get a "hit enter to continue", but will not do anything.
the ISO for 5.6 worked

rtainc · Post by **rtainc** » 2013/04/04 20:20:00

I've adjusted the BIOS settings before trying, so that's not the problem.

I used Unetbootin initially, but it failed to work as well. Again, the same flash drive works in Parallels.

CentOS