What happened?
I make many microSD cards using Imager. I only recently tried out the "Write Another" feature because I thought I could save some time on selecting model, OS, and declining to use customisations.
However, it seems that Imager always writes the OS customisations when you use "Write Another". I use a simple "dir d:\ /od" (sort on date) to determine if I am working with a newly imaged microSD card or a used one (which has been booted on the Pi). I began to have lots of "old cards", until I suddenly realized that the issue was that "Write Another" writes the OS customisations even if I have politely asked it not to :-)
It is easy to confirm that OS customisations are written by the "Write Another" feature because the cloud-init files will have today's date whereas all other files with have the OS' release date. If you disable OS customisations, the cloud-init files will have the same date as all other files.
I would expect it to skip customisations if that's what the user did when writing the first image in the write -> write another -> write another -> ... -> finish loop.
I almost never use OS customisations (because I generate the cloud-init files myself), but I needed to upgrade the bootloader EEPROM on a few Pis the other day and that's why I ran into this issue - the customizations were never cleared again.
Version
2.0.9 (Default)
What host operating system were you using?
Windows
Host OS Version
25H2 Build 26200.8524
Selected OS
Ubuntu Server 24.04.4
Which Raspberry Pi Device are you using?
Raspberry Pi 5, 500, and Compute Modules 5
What kind of storage device are you using?
microSD Card in an internal reader
OS Customisation
Relevant log output
What happened?
I make many microSD cards using Imager. I only recently tried out the "Write Another" feature because I thought I could save some time on selecting model, OS, and declining to use customisations.
However, it seems that Imager always writes the OS customisations when you use "Write Another". I use a simple "dir d:\ /od" (sort on date) to determine if I am working with a newly imaged microSD card or a used one (which has been booted on the Pi). I began to have lots of "old cards", until I suddenly realized that the issue was that "Write Another" writes the OS customisations even if I have politely asked it not to :-)
It is easy to confirm that OS customisations are written by the "Write Another" feature because the cloud-init files will have today's date whereas all other files with have the OS' release date. If you disable OS customisations, the cloud-init files will have the same date as all other files.
I would expect it to skip customisations if that's what the user did when writing the first image in the write -> write another -> write another -> ... -> finish loop.
I almost never use OS customisations (because I generate the cloud-init files myself), but I needed to upgrade the bootloader EEPROM on a few Pis the other day and that's why I ran into this issue - the customizations were never cleared again.
Version
2.0.9 (Default)
What host operating system were you using?
Windows
Host OS Version
25H2 Build 26200.8524
Selected OS
Ubuntu Server 24.04.4
Which Raspberry Pi Device are you using?
Raspberry Pi 5, 500, and Compute Modules 5
What kind of storage device are you using?
microSD Card in an internal reader
OS Customisation
Relevant log output