Stormux

Creating A Bootable X86_64 Stormux Gaming Image

Added 2025-08-13 05:41:19 +0000 UTC

Here are a few ways to write the x86_64 Stormux Gaming Image to disk. Following these instructions will ensure you have as few problems as possible getting a working Gaming Image.

DD for Linux

If you are on Linux and wish to create a bootable Stormux Gaming Image, the easiest method is to use dd.

Be 100 percent sure you have the correct destination drive. The dd program will happily overwrite your current installation, no questions asked. If you are not completely sure you have the right drive, please get help before proceeding.

First, find the correct drive with the lsblk command:

lsblk

NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS

sda 8:0 1 460.2G 0 disk

├─sda1 8:1 1 190M 0 part

└─sda2 8:2 1 46.6G 0 part

nvme0n1 259:0 0 3.7T 0 disk

├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1G 0 part /boot

├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 499G 0 part /

└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 3.2T 0 part /home

In this output, I want the 512GB USB drive. Reading through the information, I see:

sda 8:0 1 460.2G 0 disk

Because drives never show up as the amount advertised, I know that is the one I need. Also, the other result is an NVMe drive, and I know that’s my internal storage. If you are not sure, you can run lsblk before adding the drive, then again after it has been added. Some desktop environments automatically mount the drive when it is attached. Make sure the drive is unmounted before continuing.

If you are writing the image from the directory where it is located, you are now at the easy part. At the time of this writing the current image is stormux_gaming_image-2025.08.03-x86_64.img.xz, so I will use it for this tutorial.

*Do not copy and paste the following command.* It will likely be different in your case. At best it will fail; at worst it will overwrite your installed system. Be sure you have the right image name and destination.

We will use xzcat, provided by the xz package, and dd to both decompress and write the image to the drive. Be sure you have the xz program installed. The drive has been changed to /dev/sdX for these instructions as a final safety precaution.

xzcat stormux_gaming_image-2025.08.03-x86_64.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M oflag=sync status=progress

When your prompt returns, you will have a ready-to-boot Stormux Gaming Image.

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Balena Etcher for Windows

If you are writing the Stormux Gaming Image from Windows, Balena Etcher is the most reliable option. You can get the software from:

https://etcher.balena.io/

After downloading and installing Balena Etcher, you can navigate it entirely from the keyboard. The following instructions assume you have already downloaded the Stormux Gaming Image.

1. Launch Balena Etcher. Press the Windows key, type the word etcher and press Enter.

2. Choose the image file. Press Tab until you reach “Flash from file,” then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to navigate to your image file. Press Enter to select it.

3. Select the target drive. Press Tab until you reach “Select target,” then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to highlight your USB drive. Press the Space bar to check it, then press Enter.

4. Start writing the image. Press Tab until you reach “Flash,” then press Enter. The process will start and you will hear a notification when it finishes.

Once Balena Etcher reports that the process has completed, your USB drive will be ready to boot into Stormux Gaming Image. The drive will now have Linux partitions on it, and Windows may prompt to format the drive. If this happens, select No.

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