Restoring Your NavVis VLX/MLX Device with an ISO Image

  • Updated on May 23, 2025
  • Published on May 23, 2025
  • 2 minute(s) read
Prev Next

Introduction

In corner cases, when the NavVis VLX / MLX device is experiencing operating system failures and cannot boot correctly, it is then required to flash and restore the system to a specific image.

This procedure describes how the system restore can be done with an ISO image from an external disk.

Download the ISO image file

Contact NavVis Support team (support@navvis.com) with your device’s serial number to get the latest ISO image file. Depending on the serial number, there will be a dedicated version of ISO image provided.

The ISO file will be shared via a Onedrive link.

Create a bootable drive using the ISO image

Prerequisites

  • Hardware

    • VLX: Device’s own SSD as the bootable drive, a keyboard with USB-A connector

    • MLX: A USB-C dongle that can connect a USB drive and a USB keyboard

  • ISO file

  • A computer that can create a bootable USB drive

Creating the bootable drive

There are various tools that can create a bootable drive from an ISO image. For example, Ubuntu has its own tool from the native system named “Startup Disk Creator“.

The tool that we recommend is called “balenaEtcher“: https://etcher.balena.io/ . This is a cross-platform tool that can be used on Windows/macOS/Linux.

The bootable drive creation is quite simple; the balenaEtcher tool will guide you through the following steps:

Example of using balenaEtcher on macOS

The following steps show how a bootable drive is created in macOS.

A similar procedure also applies to Windows/Linux.

  1. Select Flash from file.

  2. Select the downloaded VLX/MLX ISO file.
    File selection window showing G9.iso disk image in Documents folder.

  3. Select the Target Drive.

    Balena Etcher interface showing file selection and target selection options for flashing.

  4. For example, the external drive is the Samsung T5 SSD
    Balena Etcher interface showing a selected Samsung Portable SSD for flashing images.

  5. Click Flash.
    Balena Etcher interface showing ISO file and USB drive selection for flashing.

  6. A final confirmation on the target drive. Select Yes I’m sure.
    Warning message about erasing a large drive in balenaEtcher software interface.

  7. Type in the user password to flash disk.
    balenaEtcher prompts for password to flash a disk drive during the process.

  8. Flash Completed
    Balena Etcher interface showing successful flash completion and options for further actions.

Flash the NavVis VLX/MLX

Preparation

Navvis VLX

NavVis MLX

Connect the USB keyboard to the external USB port

Plug in the bootable drive SSD as usual

One needs a USB-C hub similar to what is in the picture.

Connect the USB keyb

Step 1: Power on into BIOS boot menu

  • Power on the device.

  • Press F10 on the keyboard to enter boot menu.

Step 2: Select the correct bootable USB

The bootable disk display last, which is marked Samsung Portable SSD xx Boot Drive.

Note: Do not select the “Samsung SSD 250GB“ selection → This is the device’s internal computer disk.

For NavVis VLX1

Navvis VLX 2/VLX3

For NavVis MLX

Step 3: Installation

For NavVis MLX

Installation should be fully automatic for the NaVis MLX, displayed in a command line view.

Total process may take around 5min, and the Navvis MLX will automatically restart after the installation.

For the NavVis VLX

a. Click on Try Ubuntu without installing

b. Double click on Upgrade System Software

c. Wait until the integrity check and installation complete

Step 4: Reboot the device

  1. Power off the device by pressing the power button once.

  2. Disconnect the USB Keyboard.

  3. Format the SSD again into exFAT, and label it as “data“ (case sensitive).

    1. More info can be found here: https://knowledge.navvis.com/docs/formatting-an-ssd-card

  4. Plug in the SSD to the device and power it on.

  5. The device should have the system image flashed and ready to map.

Related articles