The following procedures are followed in the production of Linux Mint flash drive installation media (after updating versions/links and so forth the latest release):
# CD to downloads folder and make linux mint directory/cd to it
cd Downloads
mkdir linuxmint
cd linuxmint
# Download latest release of Linux Mint ISO
wget https://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint/stable/22.1/linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon...
2025-01-29 17:53:05 (34.8 MB/s) - ‘linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso’ saved [2980511744/2980511744]
# Download sha256sum.txt and sha256sum.txt.gpg
wget https://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint/stable/22.1/sha256sum.txt
2025-01-29 17:54:25 (132 MB/s) - ‘sha256sum.txt’ saved [292/292]
wget https://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint/stable/22.1/sha256sum.txt.gpg
2025-01-29 17:54:42 (282 MB/s) - ‘sha256sum.txt.gpg’ saved [833/833]
# Perform an integrity check on the downloaded image
sha256sum -b linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
ccf482436df954c0ad6d41123a49fde79352ca71f7a684a97d5e0a0c39d7f39f *linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
# Compare the above output against the content of sha256sum.txt, the outputs should match
cat sha256sum.txt
ccf482436df954c0ad6d41123a49fde79352ca71f7a684a97d5e0a0c39d7f39f *linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
d286306d0f40bd7268f08c523ece5fba87c0369a27a72465a19447e3606c5fa0 *linuxmint-22.1-mate-64bit.iso
6451496af35e6855ffe1454f061993ea9cb884d2b4bc8bf17e7d5925ae2ae86d *linuxmint-22.1-xfce-64bit.iso
# Import the Linux Mint signing key
gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-key "27DE B156 44C6 B3CF 3BD7 D291 300F 846B A25B AE09"
gpg: key 300F846BA25BAE09: "Linux Mint ISO Signing Key " not changed
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: unchanged: 1
# Verify the authenticity of sha256sum.txt: The output of the last command should tell you that the file signature is
# "good signature" and that it was signed with the A25BAE09 key. If you see a warning about not being certified
# with a trusted signature this is normal, and generally not a concern
gpg --verify sha256sum.txt.gpg sha256sum.txt
gpg: Signature made Tue 14 Jan 2025 06:35:18 AM EST
gpg: using RSA key 27DEB15644C6B3CF3BD7D291300F846BA25BAE09
gpg: Good signature from "Linux Mint ISO Signing Key " [unknown]
Primary key fingerprint: 27DE B156 44C6 B3CF 3BD7 D291 300F 846B A25B AE09
Note: It's OK if it says it's not certified with a trusted signature, it just means you haven't marked it as a key you trust
# Plug in a USB flash drive and unmount any auto-mounted partitions to ensure reliability of written image
# At a minimum make sure the size of the flash drive matches what you inserted to avoid accidentally
# overwriting important data
sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 15.58 GiB, 16726884352 bytes, 32669696 sectors
Disk model: BOOT DISK
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xb7003c5a
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 64 5821311 5821248 2.8G 0 Empty
/dev/sda2 8460 18699 10240 5M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda3 5824512 32669695 26845184 12.8G 83 Linux
umount /dev/sda1
umount /dev/sda2
umount /dev/sda3
# Write the Linux Mint ISO to disk
sudo dd if=linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso of=/dev/sda bs=4M
710+1 records in
710+1 records out
2980511744 bytes (3.0 GB, 2.8 GiB) copied, 149.864 s, 19.9 MB/s
# Run the sync command to flush any data to disk and make sure it's written
sync
# Identify the size of the ISO image using the stat command
stat -c '%s' linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
2980511744
# Along with the above number output use the head command to check the portion of the disk we've written
# the ISO to Prior to running this command it isn't a bad idea to unplug the USB drive and connect it again
sudo head -c 2980511744 /dev/sda | sha256sum
ccf482436df954c0ad6d41123a49fde79352ca71f7a684a97d5e0a0c39d7f39f -
# Make sure the output above matches what is in the sha256sum.txt file we downloaded earlier
cat sha256sum.txt
ccf482436df954c0ad6d41123a49fde79352ca71f7a684a97d5e0a0c39d7f39f *linuxmint-22.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
d286306d0f40bd7268f08c523ece5fba87c0369a27a72465a19447e3606c5fa0 *linuxmint-22.1-mate-64bit.iso
6451496af35e6855ffe1454f061993ea9cb884d2b4bc8bf17e7d5925ae2ae86d *linuxmint-22.1-xfce-64bit.iso
# In this case the above matches so we can conclude that the ISO image is fully and properly written to disk