How to Install balenaEtcher on Debian

BalenaEtcher provides a reliable way to create bootable USB drives and flash SD cards from ISO, IMG, and other disk image formats. Specifically, whether you need to install a new Linux distribution, create a recovery drive, or prepare installation media for another computer, balenaEtcher handles the process. Furthermore, it includes built-in validation to ensure your bootable media works correctly on the first boot.

By the end of this guide, you will have balenaEtcher installed on your Debian system, ready to flash disk images to USB drives and SD cards. The installation uses the official .deb package from the balenaEtcher GitHub releases, which provides the latest stable version with all dependencies automatically resolved.

Update Debian Before Installing balenaEtcher

First, update your Debian system to ensure all existing packages are current. This step essentially helps avoid dependency conflicts during the balenaEtcher installation.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Consequently, this command refreshes your package database and upgrades any outdated packages to their latest versions.

Additionally, install wget if it is not already present on your system. Minimal Debian installations may not include this tool by default:

sudo apt install wget

Install balenaEtcher via .deb Package

BalenaEtcher distributes official .deb packages through their GitHub releases page. Notably, this method provides the latest stable version and handles dependency resolution automatically.

Download the balenaEtcher Package

The following command automatically fetches the latest balenaEtcher release from GitHub and downloads the .deb package:

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/balena-io/etcher/releases/latest | grep -oP '"browser_download_url": "\K[^"]+amd64[^"]*\.deb(?=")' | xargs wget

This command uses the GitHub API to find the latest release, extracts the .deb download URL, and passes it to wget. Consequently, you will always download the current version without manually checking version numbers.

Once the download completes, you will see output similar to:

balena-etcher_2.x.x_amd64.deb    100%[=============================================>] 118.14M  12.5MB/s    in 9.8s

Install the Downloaded Package

Next, install the downloaded .deb package using APT, which automatically resolves and installs any missing dependencies:

sudo apt install ./balena-etcher*.deb

The ./ prefix explicitly tells APT to install from a local file rather than searching the repositories. Moreover, APT handles all required dependencies automatically, eliminating the need for separate dpkg and fix-broken commands. The wildcard pattern matches whatever version was downloaded.

Verify the Installation

After the installation completes, confirm that balenaEtcher installed correctly by checking the package status:

dpkg -l balena-etcher

Expected output confirming successful installation:

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-===========================================
ii  balena-etcher  2.x.x        amd64        Flash OS images to SD cards and USB drives

Debian users might recall the previously available hosted APT repository for balenaEtcher. However, this repository is now deprecated and no longer receives updates. Therefore, future installations and updates require downloading the .deb package directly from GitHub as shown in this guide.

Launch balenaEtcher

After installation completes, you can launch balenaEtcher using either the terminal or the graphical application menu. Typically, most desktop users prefer the menu method.

Launch from Terminal

To start balenaEtcher from the command line, run:

balena-etcher

Subsequently, the application window opens, displaying the three-step flashing interface: select image, select target drive, and flash.

Launch from Applications Menu

However, for users who prefer the graphical interface, balenaEtcher appears in your application menu after installation:

1. Click on the “Activities” button in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Select “Show Applications” to display all installed applications.
3. Search for “balenaEtcher” or scroll through the application list to find it.
4. Click the balenaEtcher icon to launch the application.

Troubleshoot balenaEtcher

Command Not Found After Installation

If you receive a “command not found” error when running balena-etcher, verify the package installed correctly:

dpkg -l | grep balena

Expected output confirming installation:

ii  balena-etcher    2.x.x    amd64    Flash OS images to SD cards and USB drives, safely and easily.

Conversely, if the package appears with status iU or iF instead of ii, dependencies are missing. Resolve this immediately by running:

sudo apt --fix-broken install

Permission Denied When Flashing

If balenaEtcher fails to write to your USB drive with a permission error, ensure you have proper access to the device. Specifically, the application requires elevated privileges to write directly to block devices.

First, identify your target device:

lsblk

Example output showing a USB drive at /dev/sdb:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0 238.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2   8:2    0   238G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   1  14.9G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1  14.9G  0 part 

Should the issue persist, try launching balenaEtcher with elevated privileges:

sudo balena-etcher

Application Fails to Start

If the application fails to start, check for error messages by running it from the terminal:

balena-etcher 2>&1 | head -20

Common issues include missing GTK libraries or display server problems. Therefore, ensure your desktop environment is fully loaded before launching the application.

Remove balenaEtcher

To remove balenaEtcher from your Debian system, first uninstall the package and then clean up orphaned dependencies:

sudo apt remove balena-etcher

Next, remove any packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer needed:

sudo apt autoremove

Remove Configuration Files

BalenaEtcher stores user configuration in your home directory. If you want a complete removal, explicitly delete these files as well.

Warning: The following command permanently deletes balenaEtcher configuration files, including any saved preferences. This action cannot be undone.

rm -rf ~/.config/balenaEtcher

After removal, verify the package is no longer installed:

dpkg -l | grep balena

Finally, no output confirms the package was successfully removed.

Conclusion

You now have balenaEtcher installed on Debian, ready to create bootable USB drives and flash SD cards from disk images. Additionally, the application validates written data automatically, ensuring your installation media works correctly. For future updates, satisfy dependencies by downloading the latest .deb package from the GitHub releases page and repeating the installation process.