Installing balenaEtcher to a System76 Linux Mint (Ubuntu). Clicking on “Select target” to reach the “Select a Drive” page. Arrow-cursor of my computer turns into a circle-bar-through-it icon when I hover over the one (grayed-out) item in the list of drive options to choose from. The grayed-out text tells me Etcher is looking at the USB stick that contains the .ISO file I’m trying to install. And there’s what might be an error message (I suspect it’s an error message because it’s white text in a red box) that says “Drive Mountpoint Contains Image.” I click on the blue Continue button, and it takes me back to the Etcher interface where the second of three steps is “Select target,” i.e. back to right where I started.
Hello,
I just wan to make sure I understand your situation correctly. So you have etcher installed, and have a USB stick with an .iso file on it, which you want to turn into a bootable USB driver? In this case, it sounds like you need to move the .iso file off the USB stick (and e.g. on to your hdd). They image cannot be on the same drive as the target. Please let me know if I’ve misunderstood!
Thanks for your reply! Final goal is to install the Pop! operating system on to a System 76. (Pop is the o.s. that System 76 provides for use on its computers, as you probably know.) I’m reading that I need to install Etcher in order to install Pop. I managed to run Etcher with help from https://linuxhint.com/install_etcher_linux/ (others left out crucial steps). I have the downloaded zip and AppImage in my Downloads folder. I follow the instructions to install and it runs. But it doesn’t appear to get installed, i.e. when I type the strings Etcher or balena into my current o.s.'s menu/search window (Linux Mint), I get no results. Same thing when I search for Etcher or Balena with Software and Software Manager. So I have to follow the install instructions linked-to above every time I try to do this. On my USB drive, I have the Pop operating system ISO file. I want to install it to my System 76. It’s my understanding that in order to install it, I have to first install Etcher. https://linoxide.com/distros/install-pop_os-system76/ As described above, I was able to run Etcher, and then proceeded to the second step of “Select target.” But I’m unable to Select a Drive as explained in my original post. Thanks very very much if you can help, and I hope this post helps someone else some day too.
p.s. I’m at the bottom of this steep learning curve. Don’t quite get “flashing” yet. “Flash” used to be a noun, then it became an adjective, as in “flash drive,” and I was still keeping up. Now “flash” is being used as a verb, but nobody’s explaining what it means to “flash” something. Oh, I just remembered an old-time use of “flash” as a verb that had something to do with trench coats. But current topic is “flash” as a verb in the brutal world of endlessly changing computer technology.
Hello @auser I had a look at the links you posted. As far as your first issues goes (re-installing etcher every time) it looks like the last steps outlined in the link you provided has you run sudo mv etcher-electron-1.4.6-x86_64.AppImage /opt. This moves the etcher executable into the /opt folder. As mentioned in the last step, you can now run etcher by simply typing /opt/etcher-electron-1.4.6-x86_64.AppImage, you might want to move the etcher-electron-1.4.6-x86_64.AppImage some place else, if having it in the /opt folder is not convenient for you.
Now, flashing… This one has little to do with trench coats 
In this context the term flashing can be read as “writing something somewhere”, what you need to do, according to the guide you linked, is to flash the Pop_os ISO onto the USB stick; basically to write the ISO file you downloaded (this file will be used to install the OS) onto the USB stick you plugged into your PC.
Etcher asks you to select two things to perform a flash: the what and the where. The first step asks you to select the image (the what), this image should be somewhere on your computer after you downloaded from the Pop website. After that you should be able to select a target (the where), this should be the USB you plugged into PC.
The error you mentioned initially seems to point to the fact that the image you selected was actually stored onto the USB you are trying to flash, so make sure you download the ISO to your computer before attempting again. Should you run into more issues I would also recommend formatting your USB stick (make a backup of the contents before that though) and trying with that.
Let me know if any of this doesn’t make sense, or if you run into any other issues when trying to follow these steps.
Good luck
Many thanks for your detailed and clear reply. I can move the ISO file for the Pop o.s. anywhere, such as to the downloads folder. And I can insert a blank USB stick into a USB insert-socket on my computer. And I can tell Etcher to install the ISO to the blank USB stick. But what I want to do is install the ISO file for the Pop o.s. onto the computer. I know you explained very clearly, but I also know sometimes I’m so uncomprehending it’s incomprehensible. …//… Also, could you tell me where I could move Etcher so that I don’t have to open it with the terminal with the command directing it to /opt/? It would be nice to be able to open it from Software or Software Manager. // Thank you again!
Hi, you need to flash the ISO file to a USB and then you need to boot your PC from the USB drive in order to install Pop!_OS. Have you seen the instructions here for installation https://pop.system76.com/docs/install-pop-os/ (the make bootable drive section also explains how to use Etcher). As for the location, you can place the downloaded AppImage wherever you want and then execute the AppImage to run it - there’s a nice guide to using AppImages here https://itsfoss.com/use-appimage-linux/
Peace be upon you, I have this problem, knowing that the usb is defined on the program, and when I click on the option to select image and choose the file then the name of the usb disappears and returns to me the select target option then click on this option and this message appears to me (drive mountains…), and I ask you to solve my problem🙏 Thank u🌷
Hi @adoody , I don’t quite understand what your issue is, could you perhaps film a video or take a screen shot of the issue you are seeing. Where are you seeing “drive mountains…”?
my computer is DELL windows
and I have the program version 1.5.80
and my USB type is ( sandisk )
When I click on select drive, this message will appear to me ( drive mountpoint contains image )
١١-٤-٢٠٢٠، ١١:١٧ م Office Lens.pdf (959.3 KB)
look at my problem 
Hi, this is shown since you already have an image on the SD card/usb. To re write it, you need to delete it (format the drive) from the USB drive, and then try flashing it. Let us know if that works, and if you need any further assistance. Another thing is to make sure you are using the latest version of Etcher.