4

I installed unetbootin from Ubuntu Software Center. It's a simple utility so it was hard to get wrong. I Flashed the ISO image of memtest86+. It didn't work. It did not start memtest86+. Booting it shows a title of "unetbootin" and a countdown to boot the "default" and nothing happens and the countdown repeats.

I verified that the USB port is bootable and that the BIOS is expecting to boot an external USB Flash drive by booting an old Flash drive that has the Ubuntu 14.04 image.

The Windows version of unetbootin has worked for me in the past (probably to create an Ubuntu installer and I'm not sure about other applications) but I prefer an all Ubuntu method of creating the bootable Flash drive.

Addendum: I saw on the unetbootin website that they recommend FAT32 so I reformatted and reFlashed. The result is "worse" in that an attempt to boot results in the prompt "No default or UI configuration directive found!" and the exclamation mark is in the original text.

Improve this question
1

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
1

I managed to create a bootable usb flash drive with the help of unetbootin (Version 0.0.702-2.2) and a simple file modification. I am referring to memtest86+ (Version 5.31b) and not to memtest86 maintained by Passmark.

Download from here:

http://memtest.org/

Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.gz)

or

Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.zip)

Choose one of the two compressed files listed above and extract it. => memtest86+-5.31b.bin

Start unetbootin and select memtest86+-5.31b.bin as a floppy drive image and press OK to write to your inserted usb flash drive.

On the mounted usb drive open the file syslinux.cfg with an editor and modify the 3 lines at the end:

unchanged file:

label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit

changed file:

label unetbootindefault
menu label memtest86+
kernel /ubninit

Delete the last line containing "append". The changing of menu label is optional. The file ubninit (identical with the original file memtest86+-5.31b.bin) is assigned as a bootable kernel file. => Save the cfg file and memtest86+ should be loaded successfully on next boot of the usb flash drive.

Improve this answer
0

The memtest86+.iso should be used to boot only from CD/DVD

To create a bootable USB you need to download the appropriate image from here :

To download it through the browser , choose the Image for creating bootable USB Drive under Linux/Mac Downloads:

Or use the command line:

wget http://www.memtest86.com/downloads/memtest86-usb.tar.gz

Uncompress it:

tar xvf memtest86-usb.tar.gz

Use the command dd to create a bootable USB ( you don't need an alternative to unetbootin):

sudo dd if=memtest86-usb.img of=/dev/sdb

Change /dev/sdb with yours , it depends on the output of sudo fdisk -l.

Improve this answer
5
  • This seems to be a more straightforward way to get it. But dd is dangerous, so I made mkusb (and now dus) to wrap security around it. I think you are referring to another fork, or maybe this is the original memtest, while memtest+ is the fork :-)
    – sudodus
    Dec 10, 2016 at 12:28
  • @sudodus I test it on my OS before adding an answer
    – GAD3R
    Dec 10, 2016 at 12:31
  • I tested both, and they are completely different programs. Both work (tested in a laptop booted from USB pendrives.
    – sudodus
    Dec 10, 2016 at 12:44
  • This one, that you link to works in UEFI mode (I run it now, version 7.1 Free). I did not think it was possible to run without buying it. Now I see that there is a free version :-)
    – sudodus
    Dec 10, 2016 at 12:57
  • 1
    This answer is for a different product. memtest86 is not the same product as memtest86+. The website for memtest86+ is memtest.org.
    – H2ONaCl
    Dec 19, 2016 at 21:35
0
  1. Download MemTest86 from https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
  2. Extract the zip downloaded;
  3. Open Startup Disk Creator
  4. Select memtest86-usb.img from extracted folder.

Startup Disk Creator

Select Disk Image type

Improve this answer
1
  • The question was about Ubuntu. This freemium software memtest86 (without the "+") does not even work without UEFI / secure boot, which would only be present from a windows installation.
    – Alkanshel
    Sep 30, 2023 at 22:07
-1

I used Ubuntu's Nautilus to make a bootable DVD from the memtest86+ ISO image. It seems to want to create a "data" disk from the "CD/DVD Creator" window that pops up when a blank DVD is inserted. There did not appear to be a way to burn an ISO image. I don't know if this is a bug or just an intentional omission. The "help" identifies this program as "Files"; not "Brasero" and not "CD/DVD Creator".

Using Nautilus, and right-clicking produces a menu that shows a possibility of producing an ISO image on DVD. The dialog indicates the ability to burn an "image" which is a strong clue that this would be burning an ISO image. Nautilus also identifies itself as "Files".

Addendum: This method takes less time than creating a USB Flash drive image with unetbootin because that utility seems not to work for memtest86+. The DVD method I described will work. If you burn the disk from the window that pops up when a blank DVD is inserted and find that it works it will take even less time but since I suspect it will be a "data" disk (not an ISO image) I guessed that it wasn't worth trying.

Improve this answer
1
  • Yes, please try and share your result :-) Nautilus might be using Disks under the hood.
    – sudodus
    Dec 8, 2016 at 21:37

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .