Preparing Boot Media

Once you have downloaded a MocaccinoOS ISO, you need to make it bootable. This page covers three methods: USB stick (recommended), DVD, and booting directly from an ISO file on your hard drive using GRUB.

Option 1: USB Stick (Recommended)

This is the simplest and most reliable method for most users.

Using Etcher (Beginner-friendly)

balenaEtcher is a free, cross-platform tool that works on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

1. Download and install balenaEtcher.
2. Click Flash from file and select the MocaccinoOS ISO.
3. Click Select target and choose your USB stick.
4. Click Flash and wait for the process to complete.

Using Ventoy (Multiboot)

Ventoy lets you store multiple ISOs on a single USB stick and boot any of them from a menu.

1. Install Ventoy to your USB stick using the Ventoy installer.
2. Copy the MocaccinoOS ISO to the USB stick — no further steps needed.
3. Boot from the USB and select MocaccinoOS from the Ventoy menu.

Using dd (Linux command line)

Replace /dev/sdX with your USB device (check with lsblk first — do not select your hard drive):

1

sudo dd if=MocaccinoOS-COSMIC-0.20260605.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Option 2: DVD

Burn the ISO to a blank DVD using your preferred tool:

• Linux: growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/dvd=MocaccinoOS.iso
• Windows: Right-click the ISO and choose Burn disc image.
• macOS: Use Disk Utility → Burn.

Option 3: Boot from ISO file on Hard Drive (Advanced)

If you already have a Linux system with GRUB installed, you can boot MocaccinoOS directly from an ISO file stored on your hard drive — no USB stick or DVD required. This is useful for testing or multiboot setups.

Note: This method only works with MocaccinoOS ISOs. It cannot be used with ISOs from other distributions.

Preparing the ISO file

Copy the MocaccinoOS ISO to a location on your hard drive, for example:

1
2

sudo mkdir -p /boot/iso
sudo cp MocaccinoOS-COSMIC-0.20260605.iso /boot/iso/

Adding a GRUB menu entry

Add the following to /etc/grub.d/40_custom, adjusting the isofile path to match your ISO:

menuentry "MocaccinoOS Live (ISO Loopback)" {
    set isofile="/boot/iso/MocaccinoOS-COSMIC-0.20260605.iso"
    search --no-floppy --file --set=root $isofile
    loopback loop $isofile
    linux (loop)/boot/kernel.xz iso-scan/filename=$isofile rootdelay=5 quiet
    initrd (loop)/boot/rootfs.xz
}

Parameter details:

• isofile: The path to the ISO file, relative to the root of the partition it resides on.
• iso-scan/filename: Tells the MocaccinoOS initramfs which ISO file to find and mount.
• rootdelay=5: Recommended — gives the kernel time to initialize storage devices before scanning.

Then regenerate your GRUB configuration:

1

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot and select MocaccinoOS Live (ISO Loopback) from the GRUB menu.

Manual boot from the GRUB console

If you are at the GRUB command line, you can boot manually:

1. Find and set root to the partition containing the ISO: grub> search --no-floppy --file --set=root /boot/iso/MocaccinoOS.iso
2. Loop-mount the ISO: grub> loopback loop /boot/iso/MocaccinoOS.iso
3. Load the kernel: grub> linux (loop)/boot/kernel.xz iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/MocaccinoOS.iso rootdelay=5
4. Load the initramfs: grub> initrd (loop)/boot/rootfs.xz

   Note: rootfs.xz is the MocaccinoOS live initramfs, despite the name.

5. Boot: grub> boot

Requirements

• The ISO must be a MocaccinoOS ISO. ISOs from other distributions will not work with this method.
• The ISO must be stored on a filesystem supported by the initramfs (ext2/4, FAT32, NTFS).
• An existing GRUB2 installation is required.
• The path to the ISO must be the absolute path from the root of the partition it resides on.