Burnout v1.0.0

Burnout writes a bootable USB drive from the command line. The commands are the same on Windows, on macOS and on Linux, and the image decides the rest.

This is version 1. It ends the plan in the roadmap.

What changed since 0.3.0

• Each error names the fix. Every refusal says what went wrong, and then what to do about it. A busy drive gives the same error on every host.
• A drive that takes no write is refused. The list marks it (read only), for example an SD card with its lock switch on. The write refuses it before it asks for a password, and it names the lock switch as the fix.
• An image that is not complete is refused. An ISO that ends before its own volume ends is refused in both modes, before anything is written.
• A stopped write says what the drive holds. After an error, after Ctrl-C, or after SIGTERM or SIGHUP, Burnout says that the drive is now unusable. On Linux and macOS a signal ends with 128 plus its number, and on Windows a stop ends with 130. A signal that the parent ignores stays ignored, so nohup still works.
• --json for scripts. burnout list --json prints one object. burnout write --json prints one object on a line for the confirmation, each step, the progress, the result, an error and a stop. Each kind of error has a name that a script can test.
• install.esd. A Windows ISO whose install image is install.esd works like one with install.wim.

Install

• Homebrew, on macOS and on Linux: brew install stiven-gjekaj/tap/burnout
• Scoop, on Windows: scoop bucket add stiven-gjekaj https://github.com/Stiven-Gjekaj/scoop-bucket, then scoop install stiven-gjekaj/burnout
• winget, on Windows, when Microsoft accepts the manifest: winget install Stiven-Gjekaj.Burnout
• Cargo: cargo install burnout
• A binary below. Check it against SHA256SUMS, and check its build provenance with gh attestation verify <file> --repo Stiven-Gjekaj/burnout. docs/releasing.md says how, and how to pass the warning that a download in a browser brings.

What was tested

• On macOS with disk images, on Linux in a Fedora virtual machine, and on Windows in a Windows 11 virtual machine: the refusal of a read-only drive and of a busy drive, the stop messages and their exit codes, and --json.
• Burnout on macOS wrote a Windows 11 ISO whose install image is an install.esd of 5.3 GB. That drive installed Windows 11 in an Arm64 virtual machine, and the log of Setup names install.esd as the image that it applied.
• The drives of 0.3.0 still stand: a drive written on each of the three hosts installed Windows 11, and a drive written on each host started Linux.

The roadmap records each measurement.

Known limits

• Windows mode is tested on Arm64 only. An x64 machine and the firmware of a physical PC are not tested yet.
• The binaries carry no code signing certificate. Each one carries build provenance instead.
• Burnout erases the drive that you give it, and nothing undoes that. Read TERMS.md before you run it.

Burnout v0.3.0

Burnout writes a bootable USB drive from the command line. The commands are the same on Windows, on macOS and on Linux, and the image decides the rest.

This is the first release.

What it does

• Raw mode. A hybrid image, such as a Linux or BSD ISO or a raw .img, goes onto the drive byte for byte. Burnout then reads the drive back against one SHA-256.
• Windows mode. A Windows installer ISO gets an MBR, a FAT32 partition that holds the boot files, and an exFAT partition that holds the install image, whole and never split. autounattend.xml tells Setup where the image is. Burnout then reads each file back against its own SHA-256.
• --skip-hardware-checks turns off the checks of Windows 11 for TPM, Secure Boot, RAM, CPU and storage.
• --no-microsoft-account takes away the step of the Microsoft account. Setup then asks for a local account and its password, so Burnout holds no password.
• Burnout refuses the disk that the system starts from. It names the target drive, with its size to the byte, and you confirm it.
• On macOS, Burnout ejects the drive when the check ends, so that macOS does not mount it and write to it.

Install

• Homebrew, on macOS and on Linux: brew install stiven-gjekaj/tap/burnout
• Cargo: cargo install burnout
• A binary below. Check it against SHA256SUMS, and check its build provenance with gh attestation verify <file> --repo Stiven-Gjekaj/burnout. docs/releasing.md says how, and how to pass the warning that a download in a browser brings.

What was tested

A drive written on macOS, one written on Fedora and one written on Windows each installed Windows 11 Home 25H2 in an Arm64 virtual machine with no TPM and no network. None of the three installs had a Microsoft account step. The ISO holds an install.wim of 6.59 GiB. The roadmap records each measurement.

Known limits

• Windows mode is tested on Arm64 only. An x64 machine and the firmware of a physical PC are not tested yet.
• The binaries carry no code signing certificate. Each one carries build provenance instead.
• Burnout erases the drive that you give it, and nothing undoes that. Read TERMS.md before you run it.