Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 19, 2015 Moderator Share Posted December 19, 2015 I have like 20 different USB Flash Drives. Is there a way to figure out what distro is on them? You know, rather than booting up with them? Ubuntu, Arch, Mint, Debian, whatever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 19, 2015 Administrators Share Posted December 19, 2015 Can't you simply plug them into a Windows, Mac, or Linux running computer's USB drive and read the files that it contains? Just look at it through the file manager. If it is a OS not recognized by Windows or OS X, any Linux computer should read it (hopefully). If nothing else, the README.txt files should hold a clue. That should give you at least a start to see what's on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMPSV Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Sticky Labels once you know whats on them!! DConnell 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 19, 2015 Author Moderator Share Posted December 19, 2015 I tried that, Barney., but not ALL distros have a readme file. As for Arch, I only noticed it from the Arch folder. I'm running Mint 17.3 now. Macs suck btw :laugh* No duh, AMPSV... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 19, 2015 Administrators Share Posted December 19, 2015 3 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said: I tried that, Barney., but not ALL distros have a readme file. As for Arch, I only noticed it from the Arch folder. I'm running Mint 17.3 now. Macs suck btw :laugh* No duh, AMPSV... Yeah, the no README.txt file in some distros is true, but you could check to see. Macs can read many files, as can Windows. Alternately, you could boot from the USB drive and cancel it once you see what distro shows up. Those are my suggestions so I hope that they help. Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) MOM (I know, abbreviation), you should be able to plug the USB Drives in, and depending on what you used to create the installers with, actually see what OS's are on the sticks. For example, I used WinSetupFromUSB, so I can see the actual .iso's themselves on the stick, even which Windows installs are available too. I've got: /ISO linuxmint-17_2-cinnamon-64bit-.iso ubuntu-14_04-desktop-amd64.iso ubuntu-mate-15_10-desktop-amd64.iso /WINSETUP (in folders) /WIN10 /WIN81-64 /WIN81-32 /AOMEIPARTMGR And that's my 32 gig stick. I prefer WinSetupFromUSB. It's got logging so I can see what's going on as it's happening. I can use BCD Edit after I setup the Windows installs to change the Windows Setup items' names after I get them on the stick. GRUB entries, well, we all know that's easy to change menu entries as long as we know what we're doing. Tedious, but fortunately I only have to do it once (unless something goes wrong). I've gotten it down to a science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplezz Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 (edited) $ mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/usb && cat /mnt/usb/etc/*-release && umount /mnt/usb Though that probably only works for installations rather than installation ISO's. Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 20, 2015 Administrators Share Posted December 20, 2015 ^ Yeah, that is for installed Linux distros. But that is a good one to use! Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 We really need a dedicated thread just for useful commands, tips and tricks. I thought we already had one, though? Hmm ... Because simplezz's comment belongs in that category. simplezz 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 20, 2015 Administrators Share Posted December 20, 2015 3 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said: We really need a dedicated thread just for useful commands, tips and tricks. I thought we already had one, though? Hmm ... Because simplezz's comment belongs in that category. That would be a great idea. I know Haggis would help too. Feel free to start one and I will pin it when it gets made. The only thing close that I found was this (and it isn't close to what your suggestion is). Haggis and Unobscured Vision 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Thanks Barney. I'll do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 20, 2015 Administrators Share Posted December 20, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Veteran Posted December 20, 2015 Veteran Share Posted December 20, 2015 yeah defo Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Veteran Posted January 5, 2016 Veteran Share Posted January 5, 2016 @Unobscured Vision do you want to create one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 @Haggis already done, the link is in my siggie. I'm working on another set of tips to add, just doing my homework. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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