Creating a boot usb failing

[Britannic]

Hi,

So following the instructions on the support page I downloaded the image and installed Rufus.

I Renamed a 64gb usb Steam Deck and on Rufus chose Disk or ISO image ( not sure if this was right).
I then selected the downloaded image and hit start. Rufus reformatted then installed the image onto the usb but at the end it fails and tries to open 3 other imaginary Drives it creates in devices and drives.

On the USB there are two folders
EFI with steamOS folder in it containing two files, Grub and Grubx64.
The Other folder StreamOS has another folder within parsets with four files A, all, self and Shard.

When I plug the drive into PC again it tries to open the USB and the 3 imaginary drives.

What am I doing wrong?

[BezaoBuilder]

Does Rufus itself display an error? If so could you give us the exact text of it?
Could you provide us with the full log?
If you try to boot it, what happens?
Creating those 3 "imaginary" devices is normal. They aren't "imaginary", they are really there on your usb drive.

[BezaoBuilder]

Are you using a Windows or Linux PC?
Because if it is Windows, it should only be trying to use 2 devices.
If it is Linux, it should recognize all 5.
As far as I can tell, you should be able to boot from it

[Britannic]

Sorry at work so can only answer a couple of these.

Using win 10
The green bar on Rufus at 100% turn red and says failed on it.

The image I'm trying to add to usb is the one downloaded
Name: steamdeck-recovery-4.img.bz2.

Should I be extracting this file first? Could This be my problem?

[BezaoBuilder]

Originally posted by Britannic:

Sorry at work so can only answer a couple of these.

Using win 10
The green bar on Rufus at 100% turn red and says failed on it.

The image I'm trying to add to usb is the one downloaded
Name: steamdeck-recovery-4.img.bz2.

Should I be extracting this file first? Could This be my problem?

Yes, try that. The extracted image is about 7.2 GB
7-Zip ( https://www.7-zip.org/ ) should work for extracting it. But make sure that the resulting file is a .img file

[UrbanPewer]

@Bezaobuilder, Thanks for mentioning the downloaded file needs to be unzipped. Steam left that part out in their instructions and wasted my time.

[PopinFRESH]

It doesn't need to be uncompressed, it will work if you write the bz2 compressed image to the UFD or if you decompress it and then write the resulting .img to the UFD. It does take slightly less time to boot to the recovery environment from the UFD if you decompress the image before writing the .img to the UFD but other than that it will be functionally the same.

I've tested it both ways and confirmed it works both ways. You'll need to make sure Rufus is making the UFD as a UEFI boot device and not a legacy BIOS boot device.

[THE DEATH]

Just don't use Rufus.... lol
There are Balena Etcher! Use it.

[Bubblejuiceman]

Has anyone found a solution to this?

I've tried Balena and Rufus, both fail, both create 5 partitions. Windows blows up with pop-ups saying the extra 4 partitions are not available to access.

I've tried deleting the partitions via the windows disk partitions control panel. I've changed the formatted drive from NTFS to Fat32. I've tried both the compressed and uncompressed image. I've tried different USB drives (one 2.0, the other 3.0). I've had my Rufus settings exactly match Youtube videos that had no issues.

Still I get the same result. 5 partitions, 4 paritions not available warning pop-ups, a partition with the folders mentioned in the main post, but only Balena says failed every time, Rufus says 100% in the green bar. I don't see a red bar saying that it failed.

I'm using Windows 10.

I would appreciate any new info on this. I can't find any Steam or reddit posts that solved this, nothing in Youtube comments either.

UPDATE: I'm updating this within the same comment because I just found a solution that worked for me, and I would like there to be a log for others who are dealing with this issue.

I used a FAT32 formatted usb drive (both 2.0 and 3.0 worked), with the uncompressed .img file. Then in rufus, once my drive was selected and I had selected the .img file, I saw the Partition scheme showing up as "GPT", and the Target system as "UEFI (non CSM). Then I click on Show advanced drive properties. I saw only one check box available "List USB Hard Drives". I check the box, and then unchecked it. Now my partition scheme shows up as "MBR" and my Target system as "BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)". Then I clicked start and when it finished I didn't get any pop-ups.

There is still 5 partitions in the drive if you look at the windows disk control panel. But the USB doesn't show up at all in my documents folder anymore.

I've spent 8 hours today trying to figure this out. Even if the drive doesn't work later today when I try it, I'm glad to have made some progress.

[ELPresidente]

Originally posted by Bubblejuiceman:

Has anyone found a solution to this?

I've tried Balena and Rufus, both fail, both create 5 partitions. Windows blows up with pop-ups saying the extra 4 partitions are not available to access.

I've tried deleting the partitions via the windows disk partitions control panel. I've changed the formatted drive from NTFS to Fat32. I've tried both the compressed and uncompressed image. I've tried different USB drives (one 2.0, the other 3.0). I've had my Rufus settings exactly match Youtube videos that had no issues.

Still I get the same result. 5 partitions, 4 paritions not available warning pop-ups, a partition with the folders mentioned in the main post, but only Balena says failed every time, Rufus says 100% in the green bar. I don't see a red bar saying that it failed.

I'm using Windows 10.

I would appreciate any new info on this. I can't find any Steam or reddit posts that solved this, nothing in Youtube comments either.

UPDATE: I'm updating this within the same comment because I just found a solution that worked for me, and I would like there to be a log for others who are dealing with this issue.

I used a FAT32 formatted usb drive (both 2.0 and 3.0 worked), with the uncompressed .img file. Then in rufus, once my drive was selected and I had selected the .img file, I saw the Partition scheme showing up as "GPT", and the Target system as "UEFI (non CSM). Then I click on Show advanced drive properties. I saw only one check box available "List USB Hard Drives". I check the box, and then unchecked it. Now my partition scheme shows up as "MBR" and my Target system as "BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)". Then I clicked start and when it finished I didn't get any pop-ups.

There is still 5 partitions in the drive if you look at the windows disk control panel. But the USB doesn't show up at all in my documents folder anymore.

I've spent 8 hours today trying to figure this out. Even if the drive doesn't work later today when I try it, I'm glad to have made some progress.

Thank you so much dude! After spending several hours trying to find the solution, yours is what actually worked. Person who created the official ♥♥♥♥♥♥ manual for Steam Deck re-image does not know how proper instructions should look like.

[monotone72]

Thank you so much, man. Your method worked for me and saved my sanity.

[Ogletreb]

Originally posted by Bubblejuiceman:

Has anyone found a solution to this?

I've tried Balena and Rufus, both fail, both create 5 partitions. Windows blows up with pop-ups saying the extra 4 partitions are not available to access.

I've tried deleting the partitions via the windows disk partitions control panel. I've changed the formatted drive from NTFS to Fat32. I've tried both the compressed and uncompressed image. I've tried different USB drives (one 2.0, the other 3.0). I've had my Rufus settings exactly match Youtube videos that had no issues.

Still I get the same result. 5 partitions, 4 paritions not available warning pop-ups, a partition with the folders mentioned in the main post, but only Balena says failed every time, Rufus says 100% in the green bar. I don't see a red bar saying that it failed.

I'm using Windows 10.

I would appreciate any new info on this. I can't find any Steam or reddit posts that solved this, nothing in Youtube comments either.

UPDATE: I'm updating this within the same comment because I just found a solution that worked for me, and I would like there to be a log for others who are dealing with this issue.

I used a FAT32 formatted usb drive (both 2.0 and 3.0 worked), with the uncompressed .img file. Then in rufus, once my drive was selected and I had selected the .img file, I saw the Partition scheme showing up as "GPT", and the Target system as "UEFI (non CSM). Then I click on Show advanced drive properties. I saw only one check box available "List USB Hard Drives". I check the box, and then unchecked it. Now my partition scheme shows up as "MBR" and my Target system as "BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)". Then I clicked start and when it finished I didn't get any pop-ups.

There is still 5 partitions in the drive if you look at the windows disk control panel. But the USB doesn't show up at all in my documents folder anymore.

I've spent 8 hours today trying to figure this out. Even if the drive doesn't work later today when I try it, I'm glad to have made some progress.

You have no idea how much this helped. Thank you so much.

[Z3US.]

Originally posted by Bubblejuiceman:

Has anyone found a solution to this?

I've tried Balena and Rufus, both fail, both create 5 partitions. Windows blows up with pop-ups saying the extra 4 partitions are not available to access.

I've tried deleting the partitions via the windows disk partitions control panel. I've changed the formatted drive from NTFS to Fat32. I've tried both the compressed and uncompressed image. I've tried different USB drives (one 2.0, the other 3.0). I've had my Rufus settings exactly match Youtube videos that had no issues.

Still I get the same result. 5 partitions, 4 paritions not available warning pop-ups, a partition with the folders mentioned in the main post, but only Balena says failed every time, Rufus says 100% in the green bar. I don't see a red bar saying that it failed.

I'm using Windows 10.

I would appreciate any new info on this. I can't find any Steam or reddit posts that solved this, nothing in Youtube comments either.

UPDATE: I'm updating this within the same comment because I just found a solution that worked for me, and I would like there to be a log for others who are dealing with this issue.

I used a FAT32 formatted usb drive (both 2.0 and 3.0 worked), with the uncompressed .img file. Then in rufus, once my drive was selected and I had selected the .img file, I saw the Partition scheme showing up as "GPT", and the Target system as "UEFI (non CSM). Then I click on Show advanced drive properties. I saw only one check box available "List USB Hard Drives". I check the box, and then unchecked it. Now my partition scheme shows up as "MBR" and my Target system as "BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)". Then I clicked start and when it finished I didn't get any pop-ups.

There is still 5 partitions in the drive if you look at the windows disk control panel. But the USB doesn't show up at all in my documents folder anymore.

I've spent 8 hours today trying to figure this out. Even if the drive doesn't work later today when I try it, I'm glad to have made some progress.

I've tried this and have had no sucsess and am out of ideas other than to get another flash drive and hope it works with that one

[shekh.anton]

Originally posted by Bubblejuiceman:

Has anyone found a solution to this?

I used a FAT32 formatted usb drive (both 2.0 and 3.0 worked), with the uncompressed .img file. Then in rufus, once my drive was selected and I had selected the .img file, I saw the Partition scheme showing up as "GPT", and the Target system as "UEFI (non CSM). Then I click on Show advanced drive properties. I saw only one check box available "List USB Hard Drives". I check the box, and then unchecked it. Now my partition scheme shows up as "MBR" and my Target system as "BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)". Then I clicked start and when it finished I didn't get any pop-ups.

There is still 5 partitions in the drive if you look at the windows disk control panel. But the USB doesn't show up at all in my documents folder anymore.

I've spent 8 hours today trying to figure this out. Even if the drive doesn't work later today when I try it, I'm glad to have made some progress.

I tried to follow this and see no difference. Rufus creates all 5 partitions as specified in the image, it does not matter whether I format anything before or not. Although there is a UI bug: I can sort of change MBR/BIOS options with mouse wheel, it does not seem to have any effect. The result for me: seems the flash is prepared as intended, but it does not boot in the deck.

[aaronthapa13]

YES BROTHER I AM ALSO HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM.. I WANNA GO BACK TO STEAM OS FROM WINDOWS BUT YOU GOT MY TONGUE,...

[aaronthapa13]

Originally posted by THE DEATH:

Just don't use Rufus.... lol
There are Balena Etcher! Use it.

BALENA ETHCHER FOR WINDOWS IS A WASTE DOESNT WORK AT ALL