JustDD

JustDD is a small, focused USB image writer with a simple wizard-style UI. It helps you write Linux and Windows ISO images to USB drives safely and with progress feedback.

Note: You can use the app either by running with uvx (recommended), pipx, or building from source:

• Run with uvx: uvx justdd.
• Run with pipx: pipx run justdd.
• Build from source: follow the Quick Start below.

Before running the app, make sure you have the prerequisites installed (described below).

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

Name	What it does	Where to obtain
Python 3.9 or higher	-	Linux got it by default
uv or pipx	Allows to run the app without installing it or building from source	astral.sh (uv) or pipx.pypa.io
polkit (policykit-1 on Ubuntu/Debian)	Allows safe root access	Your distribution's package manager, usually pre-installed
rsync	Allows to copy files without syncing file system after copying is done	Your distribution's package manager, usually pre-installed
libcdio	Allows to read CD/DVD images	Your distribution's package manager, usually pre-installed
Windows specific packages (optional)	If you want to install Windows images, you need to install the following packages, if not app still will work for Linux images	-
ms-sys	Allows to write Microsoft-compatible boot records for MBR (optional)	Fedora (RPM Sphere), Arch (AUR), Ubuntu/Debian (only building from source)
ntfs-3g	Allows to read/write NTFS filesystems (optional)	Your distribution's package manager, usually pre-installed

Run via uvx (Recommended and the best way)

uvx justdd

(Thanks to @Technetium1 for configuring uvx.)

Run via pipx (Also recommended)

pipx run justdd

Build and run

Using UV (recommended):

git clone https://github.com/xxanqw/justdd.git
cd justdd
uv run justdd

Or using a plain venv + pip:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python -m justdd

Other methods were deprecated. As i didn't figure out how to properly package DEB and RPM packages. lul

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Basic Usage

1. Select an ISO file.
2. Choose the target removable drive.
   • Choose partitioning options (e.g., GPT, MBR) if flashing Windows.
3. Confirm and Flash.

Important: Flashing will overwrite the target drive. Always double-check the selected device.

Capabilities

Capability	What it does
ISO writing (raw)	Write ISO images directly to removable drives (dd-style) with progress and status.
Windows support	Prepare Windows installer drives (partitioning and file handling).
Drive detection	Show removable drives only to reduce the risk of selecting system drives.
Live logs	View detailed operation logs for troubleshooting.
Safe cancellation	Cancel operations with best-effort cleanup and warnings.
Notifications	Desktop notifications on completion or failure.

Note

ISO Downloader was removed from the project due to its complexity and lack of enthusiasm.
But you can implement it yourself if you want. (will appreciate this)

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Contributing & Support

Contributions and bug reports are welcome — open an issue or submit a PR on GitHub.