Live environment wont load "invalid magic number"

[sand hamlet]

See attached screenshots. Search results day disable secure boot, but bios doesn't have an option to disable it. It's on "user" setting but it cannot be adjusted.

This is a 22.3 image put on a USB and the installation was able to verify the ISO.

[fierce field]

had you windows on it before?

[sand hamlet]

A long time ago, but it's been deleted a while.

But I want to re-claim the space from that into my Mint boot drive, so tried to load from the live environment to do it.

[fierce field]

so... 1) you already installed mint in the past? and 2) there was a ntfs/fat partition remained?

[sand hamlet]

There was a partition but I deleted it, it's now unallocated space. Yes this drive also has a full mint installation on it.

[fierce field]

everything works - only the unallocated space needs a place. whatever it is: A) add to the / (root) partition or B) create a separate /home partition, you already know, it needs a live linux on a separate usb/disk. since it was able to boot with secure boot enabled, it shouldn't be the culprit.
"bad magic number" error messages could be 1) wrong/unexpected file system format or 2) bit-flipped data

[sand hamlet]

Unexpected file format on the actual hard disk? I thought the point of running from a live environment would be that it wouldn't be depending on stuff on that hard disk?

[fierce field]

i fear that your live linux usb stick or disk could be damaged. did you verify its SHA256 checksum?
OH, and you maybe installed it onto your stick in mbr instead of uefi partitioning scheme?

[sand hamlet]

I verified the file before burning it on and it said it was fine. I dont understand your 2nd question sorry.

Could be the USB I suppose, dont have a 2nd one atm to check it

[fierce field]

how did you prepare your usb stick? with rufus? ventoy?

[sand hamlet]

I just did what it said here:

[fierce field]

i guess the image writer prepares the stick with mbr partitioning scheme, trying to be compatible with old systems. i suggest that you download ventoy 1.1.10 from https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html and choose gpt partitioning scheme . then copy the mint iso to the stick - you can verify its integrity after booting with ventoy... check first, if 'UEFI' is written in the left bottom corner.

[sand hamlet]

So i burn the ventoy iso to a usb, but where do I put the ISO files? Can't find any simple step by step instructions on the website for it

[fierce field]

see section 'Document' - here: https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_start.html

[sand hamlet]

Oh no I can't copy it on anyway, theres no free space after burning it on

Yeah i dont understand what to do, burning on the ventoy ISO to the disk means there is no freespace afterwards

The install instructions say to run files, but the download is for an ISO it just doesnt make any sense.

[fierce field]

i managed to prepare a ventoy in the past and it worked! 🙂 show a screenshot of the app 'Disks' (gnome-disks) with the ventoy stick selected.

[sand hamlet]

says theres 4gb free space but it wont let me copy the ISO file which is 3.1gb what

[fierce field]

you see, it got the partitioning scheme 'Master Boot Record' (or mbr) - i think it should be GPT (or GUID Partition Table). go back to ventoy and choose this.

[sand hamlet]

What do you mean go back to ventoy?

I've just burned the ISO to the disk there wasnt any program run to do that

just right clicked the ventoy iso file and used the option to make bootable USB stick

And that have no options to change the partitioning

[fierce field]

no, start the downloaded app 'ventoy' (the USB Image Writer does the same mbr scheme like it did last time, and that didn't work).

[sand hamlet]

The downloads doesn't have an app, it downloads an ISO file: https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html

When I click the green "download latest version" it downloads an ISO file.

[fierce field]

you can choose ventoy-1.1.10-linux.tar.gz because it is for a linux system.

[sand hamlet]

Oki dokie, that downloads a zip and I extract it, but what do I run?

I tried to run the x86_64 file as a program, but nothing happened.

[fierce field]

right click in the folder, choose 'open in terminal'

[sand hamlet]

Oki dokie

[fierce field]

type ./VentoyGUI.x86_64 it should start now

[sand hamlet]

Ahh i did that, but when trying to install it to USB it gives

[fierce field]

and... did you do what it says?
okay, reinserting the stick was easy. copy the log.txt file to here, please.

[sand hamlet]

It shows this when the program is run with the ./ command:

But yeah it gives the same error message

[fierce field]

if you start a GUI app, some messages of such sort do appear, but you can ignore them most of the time. close the ventoy error window. does a prompt appear in the terminal?

[sand hamlet]

Im guessing probably the USB is just a bit ded

[sand hamlet]

No prompt no, those messages pop up when it is run

If i close it down totally the prompt comes back

[fierce field]

that's possible - do you have another one with at least 4 GB?
'vendor does not exist' means to me: maybe fake stick or no reputable source.

[sand hamlet]

I do have a 64gb one somewhere, but the "somewhere" is a key problem

[fierce field]

OH, maybe the app 'USB Image Writer' is still open? could have interfered with Ventoy...

[sand hamlet]

There was, but I tried again just now after closing and it did not work. Think I will have to get a new USB ordered and try again.

[fierce field]

you can check usb sticks with Gibson Research Corp.'s VALIDRIVE.exe (no Linux version available) https://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm
... and don't buy the cheapest usb stick. look for verbatim, kingston, sandisk, samsung - ignore the fake products on ebay or amazon , etc.

[lavish dawn]

USB Image writer usually work properly

I doubt the issue come from it