USB Startup Disk Creator Fails to Install Bootloader

[J]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 3:42 PM, Amichai Rotman <amichai at iglu.org.il> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am trying to create an installation USB stick for Ubuntu 14.04.3.
>
> Every time i try, with different USB sticks - I get an error at the very end
> that the installation of the bootloader failed.
>
> Why?!
> Is there a way to install it manually?
>
> Could ot find any solution on AskUbuntu
>
> Please help!
>
> I need it for tomorrow...

For 14.04 and later, you should be able to DD teh image directly to
the thumbdrive, rather than use startupdiskcreator (usb-creator).

I've honestly never had much luck with usb-creator, it's always been
very hit or miss as to whether or not it successfully makes a bootable
disk, especially when trying to make a disk from a different release
(e.g. making a 14.04 usb disk from a 12.04 version of usb-creator).

These days, this works very well:

sudo dd if=/path/to/ubuntu-image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4096

where sdX above is the device of your USB stick when you plug it in
(be sure to unmount it first).

Success rate for me using dd directly is 100% whereas my success rate
with usb-creator never got above about 30%.

Alternatively, if you must have a GUI, unetbootin works just fine as
well and has never let me down.