Jetson Orin Nano (Super) boot from NVMe - using a VM to configure this

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Orin Nano
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With the price drop and the the popularity of this devkit there will be many new users (like me), many of whom will want to boot from NVMe, but who don’t have a Linux computer to run SDK Manager to make that work. I wanted to share what I have learned in succeeding to flash everything to the Jetson from a Virtual Machine (VM).

  • Make sure you are on the latest firmware, as per the instructions here.
  • Do not use VirtualBox, but use VMWare Player. You can get that here.
  • Only use Ubuntu as the OS for your VM, not Debian or something else.
  • Give your machine at least 8 GB of RAM, or else SDK Manager won’t start. Also give your VM at least 50 GB of harddisk space, or you might run out of space for the downloads (depending on your choices). Configure the USB ports as 3.1.
  • When you have started your VM, set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 in Settings → Display within Ubuntu. SDK Manager won’t start if the resolution is too low.
  • Download SDK Manager using Firefox within Ubuntu and install and start it (using the icon for all apps in the bottom left).
  • In order to get through Step 1, you will need to short pins 9 and 10 (to put the Jetson in Recovery Mode) and connect the Jetson using a high quality USB cable to a USB port that is directly on your computers motherboard (usually in the back of your computer (if you use a desktop computer).
  • Make sure to activate the device on the USB port in the VM after you connect it, using Player (in the upper left) → Removable Devices. If you don’t do this, the VM can’t see the Jetson.
  • Select de Developer kit-version.
  • It is a good idea to first only download everything and not install it in Step 2 using the option for that on the bottom.
  • When you have downloaded everything, turn off the Jetson, remove the jumper, and turn it on and reconnect it. Now you can also add this USB device to Ubuntu through VMWare Player, so part of the process can run on the Jetson being in Normal mode later on.
  • Turn the Jetson off, put in Recovery Mode and connect it again.
  • Start again at Step 1
  • When reaching Step 3 and the flashing is well underway (say 5%) unplug the jumper. The actual flashing of the NVMe will be done in normal mode.

When everything is done, you can power down the Jetson, remove the MicroSD and boot from the NVMe-disk. I did not have to change anything in the Boot Manager (which you can access by hitting esc during boot).

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Julian -

I saw your posting on this topic, and was impressed with the sheer detail you shared.

I have been struggling for almost a week to get VMware to work for me, with no luck.

Your posting sugests you had similar problems, but were able to crack the problem.

I now have three options:

  • go through your procedure - there are many moving steps, and I am not totally confident I might miss something

  • install on a real PC with real HW (suggested by Nvidia) - I do not have real PC that I can use for that

  • see if someone, who has done it already would be willing to flash my SSD for me, with 6.2, where I would pay them for their time and effort.

I am totally stuck, and option 3 seems worth looking into, it would surely work. Would like to get your thoughts?

Thx much again for your great community effort.

Avnish