Bootable USB from Windows only creates 3.97MB MISO_EFI partition

First of all, I’m not really a Windows user. I used to have a USB Linux installer handy somewhere but for some reason, I can’t find it anywhere. dd command would have been nice but the laptop I borrowed only runs Windows. I tried to create a bootable USB using different software such as Rufus (tried all different options), and others, I forgot their names. I also tried different latest ISOs from the Manjaro website and also different USB flash drives but the results are all the same.

For some reason my installer ends up with a 2.21GB Unallocated partition, a 4MB FAT labeled MISO_EFI, and the rest is another unallocated partition. The MISO_EFI partition contains only 1 folder called “efi” and another folder in it called “boot” which contains a single file called “bootx64.efi.” There’s nothing else in the flash drive. When I try to boot the flash drive I only get a black screen. No blinking cursor, nothing.

This is the Log I get from Rufus:

Format operation started
Requesting disk access...
Will use 'D:' as volume mountpoint
Deleting partitions (This may take a while)...
Deleting ALL partition(s) from disk '\\?\PhysicalDrive1':
● Partition 1 (offset: 2377273344, size: 4 MB)
Opened \\.\PhysicalDrive1 for exclusive write access
Writing Image...
Remounted \\?\Volume{03269ab1-e697-11ea-9064-806e6f6e6963}\ as D:

Found USB 2.0 device 'Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 USB Device' (0930:6544)
Using autorun.inf label for drive F: 'Linux Mint 20 Xfce 64-bit'
Found USB 2.0 device 'SanDisk Cruzer Force USB Device' (0781:557D)
2 devices found
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 32 GB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3818, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x00000000
Drive has an unknown Master Boot Record
Partition 2:
  Type: EFI FAT (0xef)
  Size: 4 MB (4194304 bytes)
  Start Sector: 5152352, Boot: No
Found USB 2.0 device 'Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 USB Device' (0930:6544)
Using autorun.inf label for drive F: 'Linux Mint 20 Xfce 64-bit'
Found USB 2.0 device 'SanDisk Cruzer Force USB Device' (0781:557D)
2 devices found
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 32 GB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3818, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x00000000
Drive has an unknown Master Boot Record
Partition 2:
  Type: EFI FAT (0xef)
  Size: 4 MB (4194304 bytes)
  Start Sector: 5152352, Boot: No

I tried a couple of other distros (Debian-based) and the installer works. But I need a Manjaro installer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

rufus is … weird. … but yes you need to make sure to use the dd option if you use rufus … if it even still works … that dev is hostile about their broken code :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I dont want to recommend etcher either as its bloated crapware … but thats one a lot of win users use.

I also tried etcher but in my case, it’s worst. The media was undetected when I use etcher. My other plan is to install any Linux distro in my other drive with a USB installer that I can create in Windows, 'coz for some reason I can create a USB installer using other distro’s ISOs, but not Manjaro’s, which is weird. Then use dd from there to re-create a Manjaro installer. It would be a long shot that’s why I’m trying to figure out why the hell it doesn’t work in Windows.

Are you sure the download is intact? Have you tried verifying the shasum ?
(also … sorry, but are you getting current official version? maybe share the link of download?)

I already mentioned I tried several different ISOs. 20.0.3 Gnome (Official), 20.0.3 Cinnamon (Community), and some other later versions as well. And yes, I always verify checksum.

try with ventoy

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This is completely normal.

The reason is - Windows cannot read a Linux filesystem which is what is inside the ISO - the only partition Windows can read is the EFI partition.

Because the ISO uses the ISO9660 filesystem - the rest of your USB stick will remain unallocated and unusable.


Try the ventoy project. I can almost guarantee - you will never use anything else in the future.

2 Likes

If you are using Windows system to dual boot, try disabling secure boot, that might be the problem…

I’ve tried several programs in Windoze already, I think I had enough. I just installed Linux Mint and created my installer from there. That of course did the trick for me. Btw, I also tried dd just on the live Linux Mint installer, for some reason the result was exactly the same as on Windoze, I had to install it to make dd work.

Right now I’m writing this on a freshly installed Manjaro 20.0.3 Cinnamon. Thank you for those who replied. I really appreciate it.

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