How to remaster/respin Linux Mint ISO images

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clem

Score: 47
votes: 50
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How to remaster/respin Linux Mint ISO images

This tutorial describes how to remaster Linux Mint ISO images and modify their content.

Decompress the ISO

Install the package "mintconstructor" from the repositories
Open a terminal
Type sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintConstructor/mintConstructor.py
In the mintconstructor window that opens:
- In the "Directory" field, choose a directory for the ISO (use a new directory with nothing in it for this)
- Make sure to select the "New project" radio option
- Click the browse button on the right of the "ISO file" field and point it to your ISO file
- Click "Next" and then "Yes" to confirm.

Modify the content of the ISO

All modifications are done via the mintconstructor chroot terminal. To access the content of the ISO and modify it, click on the "Open a chroot terminal" button.

In this chroot terminal, you can type commands, install and remove packages and this will have a direct impact on the ISO, its content and the content of the system which installs itself from the ISO to the Hard drive during the installation.

Once you're finished making modifications, make sure to clean up with the following commands:

aptitude purge ~c
aptitude unmarkauto ~M
apt-get clean; rm -rf /var/cache/debconf/*.dat-old; rm -rf /var/lib/aptitude/*.old; rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/*-old; rm -rf /var/cache/apt/*.bin; updatedb
history -c
rm /root/.bash_history
rm /root/.nano_history
history -c

Rebuild a new ISO

Close the chroot terminal
Click Next
Give your ISO a description (which will be embedded as the name of the CD or USB stick onto which the ISO is burnt)
Click Next

Tags: remaster respin linux mint
Created: 1 year ago.
Last edited: 1 year ago.
Reviewed: 1 year ago.
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Comments
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1 week ago	asbesto	Hi there, I tried this but when the script says "Open a chroot terminal" it does nothing; the xterm appears for a millisecond and suddenly close itself. At console I have only this: Copying DNS info... Mounting /proc filesystem... Copying wgetrc configuration... Launching Xterm for advanced customization... Restoring wgetrc configuration... Removing DNS info... Umounting /proc... Any hint? :(
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1 month ago	coss_michael	As a tutorial goes, this is about halfway there. I've been writing training instructions and materials for over thirty years, and this tutorial makes a very simple error. It assumes skills that don't exist on the part of the reader. Examples. Examples. Examples.
1 month ago	nssy	Thanks clem for this tutorial. to change timezone just run (inside chroot window) dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
1 month ago	neowiz73	very nice tutorial, I just wanted to add EFI to a 32 bit build and this worked very simple and flawless thank you.
1 month ago	erlantz	I'm trying to use mintconstructor to respin a Mint Debian image, but when I try to run apt-get in the chroot terminal, I have this error: Could not resolve 'debian.linuxmint.com'.
2 months ago	LarryHI	Is there a simple way to change the time zone and them remaster the ISO? Here in Hawaii the time/date setting is way off, and some users I've suggest Mint to have complained that even after trying the Mint DVD, their system time remains wrong. I found the same. So I'd like to be able to set one up with Honolulu as the location and the correct time zone, then burn new DVDs for them to try out. It sounds like a minor annoyance, but it repeats every time the DVD is booted, of course. It would be nice to eliminate the problem if that's easy to do. Thanks for any suggestions you might give a newbie on this.
2 months ago	Art1	Probably it was some problem with the kernel 3.3.6. I downloaded the latest kernel package 3.2.0 non-PAE from Ubuntu Precise and now it works. So, now I have an ISO of Mint 14 Cinnamon, which takes 620 MB (it can be even smaller), works on non-PAE systems and the network works on the boot. For the network I wrote in the chroot terminal: rm /etc/resolv.conf; rm /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf dpkg-reconfigure resolvconf (I answered Yes, OK) mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.con Then I followed the tutorial with "aptitude purge ~c" etc., and after closing the chroot terminal, from a terminal outside the chroot I renamed the chroot /etc/resolv.con to /etc/resolv.conf Finally I clicked "Next".
2 months ago	Art1	I try to create a CD ISO of Mint 14 Cinnamon for non-PAE systems. I followed this tutorial, removed some packages. I downloaded the .deb package of the Linux kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.3.6-precise/ then (from a terminal outside my chroot) mount --bind /dev into my chroot /dev, I installed the kernel 3.3.6 non-PAE (dpkg -i) in chroot and removed the kernel 3.5.0, then (from a terminal outside my chroot) umount /dev and I finished the tutorial. When I boot the CD, the kernel starts normally, but after a while it stops with this message: (initramfs) mount: mounting aufs on /root failed: No such device aufs mount failed
3 months ago	ace_N_kelly	Had the same problem as wilo108... I've copy my "/etc resolv.conf" file to "/root/etc" in working directory (as admin) just after closing the chroot terminal (final step) and , after rebuilt my ISO , i've got network on boot :) Don't konw why ?? but it work !! Be kind , my 1st time here and furthermore , on a english topic :) Hope it help somebody !!
3 months ago	peto22	hi, guys, could anyone please upload remastered image of Mint 14, that fits on a CD? I havent found it on internet. Thanks a lot.
4 months ago	wilo108	having the same problem as @philopachem -- every new iso I make has no network on boot, and dns-fix is required. what are we doing wrong? (note: trying to make a few edits to the ISO for Mint 14 XFCE)
5 months ago	philopachem	It all worked fine for me i am just adding my language to livecd, my release candidate as a bug, it has some network garbage on it! :) my language is fine, but when i go wireless i connect and i need to do a dns-fix so i can have networking! I remastered on a laptop with cable on, and tested the candidate with a connection by wireless without cable. No network, the dns-fix command fixes the problem but i didn't wanted to tell my ppl to do a dns-fix every time they boot :) can you help. regards and great work it helped a lot so far, i am at bytes of having my 1st remaster done :)
5 months ago	shared4you	For those looking for what packages to remove in Nadia (Mint 14), here's some tips: https://gist.github.com/4241449 As noted below, make sure your ISO name is less than 32 characters or else you'll get an error: "Volume ID string too long". Giving the name "LinuxMint-14-Cinnamon-i386" works fine. Also make sure your directory path doesn't have spaces anywhere.
5 months ago	RandyNose	Ok, So on my second attempt to get this down to a CD ISO image for Mint 13 XFCE. I have removed samba, banshee, libreoffice-core, and thunderbird.
5 months ago	dyfet	I have used this successfully, and there are a couple of small gothas that I think should be documented... First, if you make the volume name too long, it does not tell you until the very end, and this is after waiting for the squashfs to be rebuilt. It then says it can't write the iso... Also, if you update the kernel in the install image, you will need to bind mount /dev into chroot/dev, otherwise it will never successfully complete updating the kernel images. You can do so and then re-run apt in the chroot to complete it afterward, though. I also do not like that the ui dissapears when creating a new working directory immediately, rather than staying there until the image is actually unpacked and ready for use. If I didn't have a console window open I would never have known when/if it was ready.
6 months ago	brmccarty	Followed the instructions and I get the following in the chroot terminal. Copying DNS info... cp: target `13/root/etc/resolv.conf' is not a directory Mounting /proc filesystem... mount: mount point /home/billy/Downloads/Mint 13/root/proc does not exist Copying wgetrc configuration... mv: cannot stat `/home/billy/Downloads/Mint 13/root/etc/wgetrc': No such file or directory cp: target `13/root/etc/wgetrc' is not a directory Launching Xterm for advanced customization... Restoring wgetrc configuration... mv: cannot stat `/home/billy/Downloads/Mint 13/root/etc/wgetrc.orig': No such file or directory Removing DNS info... Umounting /proc... umount: /home/billy/Downloads/Mint 13/root/proc/: not found This is the new empty directory. /home/billy/Downloads/Mint 13 This is the location of the ISO file. /home/billy/Downloads/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso I have the "New project" button selected. Any help would be appreciated. Billy
7 months ago	dyfet	This is perfect! We are looking at using Linuxmint 13 xfce as part of a project to create reproducable and complete free software infrastructure for tribal administrations/govts, starting with a nation I already work with. I could see doing a spin where we would pre-add a ppa source for certain meta packages, relevant tribal artwork, etc, and also preload some packages as we need, and then create a new standardized iso as an install image out of that.
7 months ago	Darkness	Hello, Just switched to Mint Debian from Ubuntu 12.04. Decided in light of the Unity and 'Amazon' lens fiasco I want nothing more to do with it or Canonical. That aside... Will this remastering work for the following scenario: I have two SSDs configured in a RAID array. It was a fair amount of effort to get this setup ahead of dropping Linux Mint Debian on it. So, could I drop down the packages and locales and so forth together with the specific packages I require and then remaster that as an new ISO so that if I ever need to reinstall again I could just be able to call mdadm (and others) without needing to get it first? Is tht one such application of this? Can anyone explain the difference between remastering and respinning too please or are they one and the same?
9 months ago	dritominous	Once you get into the chroot term, I've found the following command to be very useful: dpkg --get-selections \| less (helps you to know what's on the iso already)
10 months ago	MiLeon	Thx. This howto works fine with Maya 64 Bit Cinnamon. Bye
10 months ago	rodolfoarce	I ran into some problems. I got to change the packages according to my needs, and when i got to the part of making the livecd, it finished according to the gui, but there was no .iso file. After chekcing the terminal window in wich i lounched the command, i could see this error: Building ISO... genisoimage: Volume ID string too long Making Hybrid ISO... isohybrid: could not open file `/var/cache/livecd/dev-20120718-1041.iso': No such file or directory Build Complete... The software didn't find the iso either when converting to hybrid. I found the command in the mintConstructor.py for generating the image: and i ran it in the terminal, with all the parameters. sudo genisoimage -o ./livecd.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -V "LiveCD" -cache-inodes -r -J -l ./remaster/ It gave an error of the locale utf8, but finished fine, and the livecd is working. Any thoughts on why the mintConstructor.py is not creating the image?
10 months ago	LeeC	On the positive side, if you are good with apptitude and know what packages are non-essential to get a working instance of Mint installed, then you can use these instructions to build a Mint boot CD. Removing removing packages such as Java, Mono, LibreOffice, and Gimp left my .iso file still larger than 800 MB, so the "etc" that needs to be removed needs to be defined. But I may have botched the apptitude update, since there were many components still flagged as "suggested" after I marked the parent with "-" to remove. So, what is documented here is well written and correct, but requires expertise that will likely be beyond many, especially those new to Linux.
10 months ago	LeeC	It would be really useful if someone would create an apptitude script that will remove nonessential packages and get the .iso file size down to 700 MB so it will fit on a CD. I spent a whole day with multiple attempts to build install media for my Dad's old laptop that wouldn't boot to DVD. I did not know how to use apptitude and the learning curve for that is more than a few minutes. I was glad to see that apptitude was giving error messages with strong warnings not to remove essential components, but even heeding these, I still managed to build a CD that was small enough, but would not install Mint. I'm fairly computer literate but just didn't have time to figure it all out while on a vacation visit. Ended up having to leave my Dad's old laptop running unsupported Ubuntu 10.4. Wasn't going to saddle him with Unity.
10 months ago	vjoshi	No...you should have full Mint13 cinnamon version installation once you add back 4 missing things - LibreOffice, GIMP, VLC and Samba.
10 months ago	RJVB	Great, vjoshi - if not only because the 'full' iso is way too small to waste a DVD on! BTW, that's not the codec-less version, or is it?
11 months ago	vjoshi	Thanks Clem, it worked perfectly (did not need last 3 steps in modify section). For those who could not get it to work or found the steps confusing, I have Linux Mint 13's cinnamon 64-bit CD ISO available for download at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18296139/Mint13CinCD-NoOffice_GIMP_VLC_Samba.iso - as name suggests, without LibreOffice, GIMP, VLC and Samba. You can get these back by "sudo apt-get install libreoffice gimp vlc samba" after you try LiveCD and install Mint to your hard disk from it.
11 months ago	jraz	Clem when I click Open a chroot terminal button I go straight to building the new ISO without any changes. I start in a clean Dir and nothing goes there. Everything ends up in /root/remaster. Am I missing some Python dependencies? I should also mention I am running 64-bit LMDE and loving it.
11 months ago	scharkalvin	The installer on the OEM version is different from the live cd versions. How can I transform a KDE, or XFC live CD into an OEM version that will use the OEM installer (like where IS the package for the installer?) and have it finish up the job so that once a system is installed and customized it will run though the end user setup dialog on the very next boot? I have been "recycling" old Windoze computers by installing Ubuntu or Mint on them and giving them away on "freecycle". I use the OEM type installer so the first time that the end user boots the computer they have the same experience that any new computer buyer has on power on.
11 months ago	raneern99	@Rangdrol There isn't a .dmg file, but you can install it onto a USB drive using a utility like unetootin.
11 months ago	Rangdrol	Hi, This is my first time here and I am still trying to figure out how to install Mint 13 MATE. I last used Linux around in 1995, when I simply used it while freelancing for a couple of industry book publishers in Boston. Linux sure has changed since then! While I am excited about Linux, there are so many sites, and so many different options, Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, and on and on. I have been trying to simply download the 32bit Maya 13 MATE edition, but for some reason I am not able to burn the iso file to a DVD. However, I have a feeling it's my Apple Mac Mini DVD that isn't working. That said, is there any other way to download the 32 bit Maya 13 MATE version? The instructions you provide are generous, but I'm not even sure I would be able to use my Terminal shell to decompress the iso as you mention, however, I might be able to do that, but the "make sure to clean up instructions" are rather complicated. Do I need to enter each of those lines as a separate line? I wonder if there is another way to download a Mac version (10.6.8) like a .dmg file, or a torrent file that I can actually launch and install from my Mac? Appreciate the help from anyone out there.
11 months ago	Gutknecht	I posted a torrent with a CD version in the forums. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=103449 Use at your own risk. I used it on one of my old system and seems to be working OK so far, in fact that machine is the machine seeding the torrent. Good luck. Hope it helps someone.
11 months ago	C-money	I'm having trouble pulling this off. I'm not much of an expert when it comes to commands. Basically, I want to make an ISO that doesn't have libreoffice and/or Gimp or whatever would be necessary to get the ISO under 700 mb to do a CD boot because I don't have a DVD burner. What commands would I use to remove them? Or even better, can someone connect me to a download where someone has already done this? I'm very happy with Linux Mint but I think it would be nice if there was always a smaller ISO available for a CD burn. I understand the justification for DVD only, but if all it takes is removing a couple programs to get it small enough, it would be nice if there was a link to download it along with the DVD ISOs. Keep up the good work! I love Linux mint and I'm excited to upgrade to another LTS version (I've been on Linux mint 9 since it came out).
11 months ago	mjjzf	This is quite interesting. I am assuming that it would be possible to do this with ISO on HD partition > USB stick > boot Mint live > do the remastering on the original file on the HD > create CD-sized file > burn it. Thing is, I am not interested in wiping my installation (which is Fedora at the moment), but I would be interested in creating a Mint CD.
11 months ago	boswbr25	Awesome!!! I asked about a CD iso when the release candidate came out. Thanks for getting back to me and for this tutorial. I never knew it this tool even existed. For future reference, would this work on the Debian editions as well? I'm assuming it should, right?
11 months ago	clem	@dalcde: That's how they're made. And yes, it will be installable.
1 year ago	chassum	wow, thanks!
1 year ago	dalcde	Just one more question - will the iso be installable?
1 year ago	dalcde	Is this how the official Mint releases are made or are they made in a more "professional" way?
1 year ago	clem	Also, since mintconstructor 3.1.0, the tool contains a command called "mint-remaster-iso" which can be used to automatically transform an ISO into a non-codec ISO. In the future this command should also let you transform an ISO into an OEM ISO, or localize an ISO in a different language (as of now, these two features don't work well though).
1 year ago	raneern99	Thank's Clem.
1 year ago	wei2912	I didn't know there was such a package. Thanks clem for this!

community.linuxmint.com

How to remaster/respin Linux Mint ISO images

Decompress the ISO

Modify the content of the ISO

Rebuild a new ISO

Other tutorials from clem