ReljamCorp
memburn / Install / v0.9.5

Write the stick.

Any USB stick of 128 MB or more. Writing erases everything on it. Windows with Rufus first; balenaEtcher and dd below.

memburn-0.9.5-usb.img 96 MB

x86-64 PCs with UEFI · Release notes

Windows: Rufus

01

  1. Download the image

    memburn-0.9.5-usb.img from this page or the GitHub release.

  2. Get Rufus from rufus.ie

    Download it from rufus.ie only; its download links go to GitHub. Look-alike download sites can bundle other software. Or, in a terminal: winget install Rufus.Rufus

    Standard or portable: both are one .exe with nothing to install. The portable one keeps its settings in a rufus.ini file next to it.

    Rufus 4.15, June 2026. Its file properties show the signer Akeo Consulting. Windows asks to let it make changes: Yes. On first start it may ask whether to check for updates online; either answer works.

  3. Plug in the stick

    128 MB or more. Copy off anything you want to keep.

  4. Write it

    • 1 Device: the stick. Check its size.
    • 2 Boot selection: Disk or ISO image, then SELECT and pick the .img.
    • 3 START, then OK to erase the stick.

    Rufus greys out Partition scheme and Target system for a disk image and writes it byte for byte; leave them. If it asks how to write the image, choose Write in DD Image mode.

    Everything on the selected device is erased. If more than one USB drive is plugged in, unplug the others first.

  5. Eject the stick

    When Rufus shows READY, close it and eject the stick in Explorer.

Rufus 4.15 with memburn-0.9.0-usb.img selected: 1 Device, 2 Boot selection and SELECT, 3 START
Fig. 1 / Rufus 4.15 on Windows 11, stick name blanked

Boot it

02

  1. Open the boot menu

    Plug the stick into the PC to test, switch it on and press the one-time boot menu key straight away.

  2. Pick the stick

    Choose the entry that starts with UEFI and names the stick. Secure Boot can stay on.

  3. GRUB, 5 s

    GRUB starts memburn 0.9.5 after 5 s. Linux then checks memory for about 6 s per 16 GiB while GRUB's text stays on screen.

  4. The menu

    The quick check starts after 10 s. Enter starts it now; F, B, S, C and A pick another mode.

Board or PCBoot menu key
ASUSF8
MSI, ASRockF11
Gigabyte, Dell, Lenovo, AcerF12
HPEsc, then F9
OtherThe key shown on the first screen, often F10, F11, F12 or Esc
GRUB menu: memburn (works with Secure Boot on), memburn bare-metal UEFI (Secure Boot must be off; tests nearly all RAM), UEFI firmware settings
Fig. 2 / GRUB: the first entry starts after 5 s
memburn start menu: the quick check starts in 10 s; keys Enter, F, B, S, C and A pick a mode
Fig. 3 / The menu: the quick check starts after 10 s

Troubleshooting

03

The stick is not listed

The stick boots in UEFI mode only. In the firmware setup, turn off a CSM-only or legacy-only boot mode. Try another USB port, ideally one on the back of the board.

Secure Boot violation

Only the second GRUB entry, bare-metal UEFI, needs Secure Boot off. Pick the first entry, or turn Secure Boot off for that one.

Black screen

Some PCs show the boot only on one GPU. Connect the display to the graphics card or board output the firmware screen appears on.

Other ways

04

balenaEtcher

Windows, macOS, Linux. In balenaEtcher: Flash from file → the .img, Select target → the stick, Flash!

Linux: dd

lsblk  # the stick: e.g. sdb, not sdb1
sudo dd if=memburn-0.9.5-usb.img \
  of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync \
  status=progress

macOS: dd

diskutil list  # external, physical
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
sudo dd if=memburn-0.9.5-usb.img \
  of=/dev/rdiskN bs=4m
diskutil eject /dev/diskN

A wrong disk name erases that disk. Check the size in lsblk or diskutil list first.