Manjaro ISO Download & Related

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6

It is unrealistic to ask a question like “Is that normal?” – it simply cannot be answered with any authority.

The relative size of an ISO file will vary across Editions and/or Distributions, dependent upon the content it contains, its purpose, and the intended audience.

Suffice to say ISO’s are typically not getting any smaller for any OS; whether it might be any of the distributions you mentioned, Manjaro, BSD, MacOS or Windows.

Step 1. Download the ISO – Manjaro Downloads – Download the full ISO rather than minimal (personal recommendation).

Note that it is also possible to download an ISO via Torrent (a bit-torrent client is required).

Step 2. Verify the ISO against the provided checksum (SHA256) – See the More button of your chosen OS download.

In KDE Plasma: right-click an ISO, select Properties → Checksums and validate the checksum via that dialog.

A worthwhile alternative to writing the ISO content directly to USB is to create a Ventoy USB instead:

Ventoy

Boot with a Ventoy USB, and ISO files are automatically listed in the Ventoy menu, and can be booted directly. A 32GB capacity USB should allow ample space to store several ISOs of your choice; an 8GB capacity USB might hold one, or two ISO’s; do the math.

Ventoy is available from the official Manjaro extra repository:

sudo pacman -S ventoy

Write the Ventoy system to an empty USB drive;

  • target the device itself /dev/sdX, and not a partition

Create a Ventoy USB (for UEFI mode): :eyes:

sudo sh ventoy -i -r 100 -S -g -L VOLUME /dev/sdX

Create a Ventoy USB (for BIOS mode):

sudo sh ventoy -i -r 100 -S -L VOLUME /dev/sdX
  • Enable -s or disable -S Secure Boot.
  • Substitute VOLUME for a volume label name to use.
  • Substitute /dev/sdX for the location of your USB device.
  • Preserve some space on the target device (example allows 100mb).
Ventoy general usage

Type ventoy (without arguments) to see usage information:

Usage:  Ventoy2Disk.sh CMD [ OPTION ] /dev/sdX  
 CMD:  
  -i  install Ventoy to sdX (fails if disk already installed with Ventoy)  
  -I  force install Ventoy to sdX (no matter if installed or not)  
  -u  update Ventoy in sdX  
  -l  list Ventoy information in sdX  
  
 OPTION: (optional)  
  -r SIZE_MB  preserve some space at the bottom of the disk (only for install)  
  -s/-S       enable/disable secure boot support (default is enabled)  
  -g          use GPT partition style, default is MBR (only for install)  
  -L          Label of the 1st exfat partition (default is Ventoy)  
  -n          try non-destructive installation (only for install)

Update a Ventoy USB:

  • ensure the updated Ventoy version is available in Manjaro; and then:

To update the Ventoy system on an existing Ventoy USB;

sudo ventoy -u /dev/sdX
  • The Ventoy USB update process is non-destructive.

See also: Ventoy (GitHub);

Notes

  • There is a Windows GUI version of Ventoy. If you choose to use it please pay attention to available options in the File menu before creating the Ventoy USB.
    See also: Ventoy (GitHub);

  • This is noted (somewhere) in Ventoy’s own documentation, but I’ll add it here for convenience; When an ISO is dragged/copied to the Ventoy USB it’s recommended to rename the ISO (using underscores) so that no blank spaces appear in the filename.

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Regards.

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