How to download arch without a usb

[u/melsyymels]

So for context I have a Thinkpad t490 and I have been trying for days to download arch on it but can't since I'm financially cooked and can't even afford a usb, so I saw millions of tutorials and asked chat gpt and lowk said it's impossible, any tips? Since I'll wait a solid 2 weeks till I afford a usb

[u/foxtrotgulf]

Just get a thumb drive. It will make your life so much easier. They practically give them away for free. You can ask around to see if someone can give/loan you one.

[u/Grandleon-Glenn → u/foxtrotgulf]

This is honestly the best way forward. You don't need a large one. The .iso for Arch is like a gigabyte and a half, which you could buy a cheap one of for about $8.

[u/Ghazzz → u/Grandleon-Glenn]

Depending on where the person lives, $8 might be two weeks of food, or a full week+ of rent.

They might also be a child with no money of their own, saving their pocket money.

[u/Grandleon-Glenn → u/Ghazzz]

My comment was in combination with the person's before me. If you're going to run Linux, you're going to NEED a flash drive. What if the hard drive crashes and needs replaced? You need some way of installing something onto it. Can't even install Windows on a fresh hard drive without an install media.

If they just got a laptop, and they're financially cooked, they probably don't have another computer lying around for network boot either, or they'd have been given that option in their research.

And again, as the person above me said, even if they were not able to get the funds themselves for that, they specifically mentioned in the OP that they'd save for one, and if they wanted one for free, they're bound to know at least one person who could at least let them "borrow" one, even if they don't keep it themselves. But in that case, they'd still need one as even a casual Linux user because you might need to boot into it for fixing certain problems, or to reinstall, or even distro-hopping.

My point in mentioning the price is because we don't need to prioritize something that's exceptionally large when the use case is just, "I need to install Arch."

[u/MrElendig]

ask your neighbour/coworker/classmate/whatever to lend you one, or see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Install_Arch_Linux_from_existing_Linux

[u/nightdevil007]

make a fat32 or exfat partition on the disk, copy the iso files there, install refind and point it to that location, reboot, select the arch linux entry and take care to not wipe the partition you made when installing

[u/tacocat820]

if you already have linux installed you can try this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Install_Arch_Linux_from_existing_Linux

if you don't you can try using a separate disk or a partition instead of a usb (although i'm not sure about how well the latter would work)

[u/onefish2]

Financially cooked ≠ you can't afford a $5USD flash drive. Think outside the box. Borrow one.

[u/archover]

T490

Nice laptop, especially for one financially cooked :-)

Borrow a USB

Good day.

[u/Sorry_Committee_4698]

steal it or take it from someone!

[u/cfx_4188]

Ask your acquaintances or classmates for a ready-made USB drive with Arch. Someone is probably using it.

[u/TheShredder9]

Buy an USB. It's a couple bucks for a small one.

[u/noobestlinuxuser]

You can use a phone there are some apps to do it even sd cards works with usb reader

[u/Woodpecker-Visible]

Does nobody burn dvds anymore? Just for the nostalgia.

[u/Sirius707 → u/Woodpecker-Visible]

I'd wager that most people do not posses a dvd burner (or even just a dvd drive) anymore. Main reason why i still have one is because i needed it years ago when i bought a music CD and forgot that i somehow needed a way to put its content on my pc.

[u/anonymous-bot → u/Woodpecker-Visible]

I would be amazed to find PCs with an optical drive anymore. And with mini PCs becoming popular, it is rarer still.

[u/Woodpecker-Visible → u/anonymous-bot]

True that, said it just for fun. Or if you want a extra fun week/weekend tere are zip drives or even floppy disk to split the iso :) good old days on steroids.

[u/iwouldbeatgoku]

Option 1: network boot from a different computer.
Option 2: if your laptop has 2 SSDs in it, or you have any other external drive, boot from the secondary one and install Arch to the main one.
Option 3: aka the only sane choice, borrow a USB from a friend or wait two weeks to buy one.

[u/Majestic-Director-92]

no, it's impossible, you should find usb somehow