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I have downloaded an ISO image (Debian Netinst, Ubuntu Live, or any simlar thing ...) that is designed to be burned on USB sticks. It boots fine from USB via EFI, but, I would like to be able to store this image directly on the HDD, and make it bootable via EFI. It will be on a dedicated partition (maybe 2 if required). How to do it ?

My HDD is GPT.

My BIOS is able to configure and remember boot options via EFI files.

Is it possible to do the same with the Microsoft Windows installer (also stored at the moment on USB stick) ?

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    If I had the need to do something like this I would look at installing Ventoy on the physical disk, then I could add/remove ISOs quickly and easily without screwing around with the BIOS/UEFI every time. Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 0:25
  • If it is a live image (i.e. Ubuntu Live) just running it from the USB will give you the option to install it permanently. Look at unetbootin. It is a program that will make live disks for a variety of distros. It will automatically download the image as well, if you need it. As for ms installer, if it is the online recovery image, yes. plugging in & booting should be all that is needed. Sometimes there are a few extra steps in the bios menu, if it fails to boot. Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 2:17
  • If it boots into the old OS with the USB stick plugged in, google MAKE MODEL linux install. Most likely, there will be a YouTube video walkthrough that explains any needed configuration changes. Requirements differ from one model to the next. Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 2:29
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    You can use grub2's loopmount if using grub to boot. ISO boot & link to examples help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot more examples help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot/Examples & gist.github.com/Pysis868/27203177bdef15fbb70c Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 3:39

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Ventoy does what I wanted.

It can do it in several manners.

What most people will want:

  • install Ventoy on a USB stick (I use SD cards with USB adapters)
  • copy ISOs on the first large partition

But I wanted to be able to run ISOs directly from my HDD. So it's a bit more tricky for me:

  • copy Ventoy on USB stick (or, install it, then, put the Ventoy ISO inside the stick itself)
  • install Ventoy on the HDD, but ask to keep as much free space after Ventoy as possible (it forced me to keep 70G; I only need 20)
  • boot any live CD, copy the live disk inside Ventoy, and any other image you like
  • create the EFI-SP partition (100MB, FAT32, boot&ESP flags)

I have personally put in Ventoy ... Ventoy itself (the installer ISO), Debian Netinst, Ubuntu live, and Windows 10 (you can download the ISO for free from Microsoft.com).

NEVER change the size or position of any of the two Ventoy partitions. Whatever I did to them (regarding partition table) broke Ventoy. The only thing you can do is to reformat the first bug part to FAT32/NTFS/UDF/XFS/Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/exFAT .

I am curently starting Ventoy directly from UEFI (configured in my BIOS boot menu).

I have failed 4 or 5 times before concluding that this procedure is t only one that can work. Ventoy installer always destroys the whole disk. Any modification of start or end sector to any partition will break it. Not creating EFI-SP before installing an OS may break Ventoy. Changing partition numbers may break Ventoy.

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