General :: Install Ubuntu On USB Flash Drive For Another System?
Jul 2, 2010
I realize Ubuntu Desktop comes with a simple tool that makes "installs to a USB", but isn't that a bit different from REGULAR Ubuntu installation?
So: If I boot the Ubuntu CD installer, and choose my Flash Drive as the destination, will it configure things specific to the hardware I am running on, so when I swap the flash drive to another system, there will be problems?
BTW, I've actually done this a couple times and it's worked, but I'm just wondering if those were flukes or if it is like this always.
System: Linux flashvoyager 2.6.32-23-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 11 07:54:58 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux Ubuntu 10.04 Installed onto 64gig Flash Voyager GTR plugged into Tosh satpro laptop dual core 4 gig memory. This is not a casper r/w persistent install version. This is installed directly onto the flash pen and running as if the flash drive was a solid state disc.
I have obtained a 64gig which can read at 34mb/s and write at 28mb/s. The reason I wanted this was so I could install linux ubuntu and run the OS straight of the flash as if it was a Solid state disc. I have tried using the pendrivelinux method where the persistent data is stored inside a virtual file system but I found it did not allow grub or kernel updates without the need to rebuild the entire datapen plus I did not know how to get rid of the live boot menu where it asks for language and the like.
I boot the pen straight into linux ubuntu 10.04 via the bios boot menu and select the usb pen drive. Once into grub I select the most recent kernel and then load up ubuntu. When I first started using the distro from the pen the speed of the web browsing was so slow. I have since configured the browser to store the cache inside tmpfs /media/ramdisk and browsing seems fine now however there is underlying speed issue with using the method of install. Uncompressing installs takes an age. I have configured fstab like so:
PS: I am not allowed to use the HDD on the laptop since it is company laptop. My previous company laptop had Kubuntu 8.04 with XP as VM. Also having the install on the flash drive would give me the convenience of booting the pen from any hardware.
I have an Intel Core2 Duo system that I want to upgrade from Fedora 12 to Fedora 14. I have downloaded the DVD iso for Fedora 14, however, I do not want to burn a DVD for installation, and would like to be able to perform the upgrade from a USB flash drive. Where can I find information that will explain how to make a bootable flash drive that can install Fedora 14?
I wanted to install a Linux distro to a flash drive so that I can have a portable OS with all my settings, programs, etc. wherever I go. So I fired up a Linux Mint Live CD and installed Mint to the flash drive, and this seems to work OK. But now, whenever I try to boot up my system normally without the flash drive plugged in, it doesn't seem to work. It basically hangs for a bit, and then I get the following prompt:
However, when I try powering my system up when the USB is plugged into the computer, it gives me an option between using the OS installed on my USB and the OS installed on my HD. Selecting the latter, everything loads up just fine. I'm guessing that installing Mint to the flash drive somehow messed with my native Grub installation.
I've read plenty of tutorials for this kind of thing, and they all seem to be about putting a full fledged OS on your flash drive. All I'd like to do is put the install medium (slackware dvd) onto my 8GB flash drive to install it to my old desktop's HDD.
I have one new laptop that doesn't see one usb bootable device. The usb is a 1G with Mint8 on it that works on plenty of other systems. This is a newer HP laptop core i7 that see's two other flash drives and tries even to boot to my older flash install (only has syslinux no other files) but doesn't show the newer one in bios boot order or boot order choice F9.
It will work correctly under windows so the system does see it.
how to that that single drive to show up in order to boot to it?
Did power down, remove all usb except this one, tried to see if it fell under hard drives instead of usb.
I want to move my "currently installed Debian and its all settings" to a USB flash drive. I am wondering what methods are available out there. I looked into Remastersys but it failed on my system so I am wondering if there is another method available?
Windows XP is installed in my C drive. Can I install an another fresh copy of Windows XP or Linux or Windows 7 in same C drive without formatting the previous one?
My Toshiba Satellite 5205-S705 laptop with Win XP Home sp3 has a non-working cd drive, is riddled with viruses, and isn't capable of booting to a USB drive. (please no comments about paperweights etc., it's all I have!) I want to install a Linux dual-boot version that is heavy on antivirus scanning support. Since I can't boot to an .iso disk, is there any other way to do this? I can transfer files to it via USB thumbdrive or download via Internet.
I have a bit of a problem with this laptop. It came with windows vista, and then the owner decided to upgrade to 7. Unfortunately the laptop wasn't compatible with 7 therefore, sound card didn't work at times. The CD/DVD drive is broken. The only option i had was to use a USB drive to try out Ubuntu. I foolishly however, deleted 7.
Since Im not used to Linux I can't really do much in it and I am sure the owner wouldn't be able to use it properly. What I need to know is how can I make my USB drive bootable with XP USING Ubuntu. I've done a lot of research but I keep coming by answers that work on Windows only like running .cmd or .exe files.
My cd-rom is weak on my laptop and the laptop cannot boot from a usb flash drive. Is there any way to copy the installation iso file to a flash drive to INSTALL from there? I wouldn't trust gparted to run from a cd either.
I have two different laptops that I would like to make bootable flash drive installs for, but would then like to have at least /home on a common removable storage (either a big flash drive or USB or ethernet hard drive) to share between the two laptops (I'll only be using one laptop as a Linux box at a time). One laptop (Dell Latitude D410) is only 32 bit capable (Pentium M - I think there's a 64 bit Core 2 CPU available for the socket 479, but I don't know if the BIOS / mobo will support it). If I'm going back and forth between 32 and 64 bits, can I share /home? What else can I share - /usr or anything else?
I have a DELL D420 without optical drive and i want to install opensuse 11.3 on it, also i don't have an external Optical drive. I want to know if it's possible to install OpenSuse 11.3 from a Flash drive or Amovible disk, and how to proceed to do that.
PS: is it a good idea to install Opensuse on dell d420: C2D ulv 1.2, 1gb ram, 60 HD ? it it'll work well.
I want to install fedora 12 side by side with ubuntu. But my cd drive does not function so i will have to do it using flash drive. I've only ubuntu on my laptop.
I need to put Windows 7 on here, I have the ISO file. I don't have a cd-rom drive, only a USB port. None of the applications on here allow me to put Windows 7 onto the flash drive, I tried multiple commands to 'try' but they all failed. I searched online for most of the day, some said to try Win-To-Flash but of course it only runs in Windows, I tried it in wine only to get a error message. I also tried Windows 7 usb-dvd-download from cnet download. I ran them all in XP, Vista, 7 and what-not and they still come up with a error that keeps me from continuing. I also tried running the command "sudo dd if=/home/sean/Downloads/X15-65732.iso of=/dev/sdb1" without the quotes of course, but it appeared to only copy the contents and doesn't load Windows 7.
I need to, I'm guessing, burn it to the flash drive. Its a Centon Data Stick Pro 4GB. I also tried USB Startup Disk Creator but it only works with Ubuntu .ISO's not Windows, and half the time or well basically all the time it never pulls up the ISO when i click on it I'm not sure why? I also tried Unetbootin, but it doesn't work with Windows. It only shows 'default' and 10. Clicking on Enter does nothing. Nothing loads. how to install Windows 7 to a USB flash drive? Or should I try running a windows program from some other computer just to do this task?
I am wanting to build a NAS. There are lots of pre-built NAS boxes out there, but what fun would that be? I have many 8GB USB drives and would want to install Lucid on the drive. I don't mean create a bootable USB flash drive in place of the LiveCD, I mean install the OS to a USB drive and boot the computer using the flash drive. This way the OS would have 8GB of space and could access say a 1TB HDD added to the PC. Once I get the OS installed on the USB drive I would install NFS and Samba. I could then remote into the NAS and make changes if needed. From everything I have read, I would need to not have a swap file on the USB drive as well.
I wanted to keep kon-boot and ubuntu live on USB drives instead of CDs for the ease of carrying around. I wonder if its at all possible to put both tools on same USB drive instead of keeping them on two separate ones?
So I'm planning to do a full install on a flash drive. I searched the forums for previous threads and there were loads. Was there a BIG one that I missed in the mess? If so, please direct me to it.
There was two contentious issues in all the threads and I'd like em resolved once and for all
1.Should I or should I not make a swap partition on the flash drive? What about /var, /tmp and /log?
2.Also can someone rank the following in terms of access speed and snappiness:
1) Live CD 2) Live USB with or without persistence (average Sandisk stick) 3) External 2.5" HDD (5400-7200 RPM connected via USB 2.0) 4) Internal 5400-7200RPM HDD using SATAII 5) Full install on USB flash stick (average Sandisk stick)
I have built a small spare computer and I dont have a cd/dvd rom. I would like to install ubuntu 10.04 from a flash drive. The bios is AwardBios 3.01. I cant seem to boot from flash drive. I disable everything in the boot menu at the exeption of "removable device". In this sub menu I have; "LS120", "ZIP-100" and "ATAPI MO". In the "other boot device" menu I have "SCSI BOOT DEVICE". I have also changed USB to "primary" instead of "auto". There could also be a chance that I havent prepared the files on the flash drive properly.
I am using the universal usb installer from [URL] and i have tried putting kubuntu on my usb flash drive and when i plug it in my netbook and boot from usb it comes up kubuntu and it gives me options and i select install to harddrive and when i press enter is comes to a grey screen and nothing happens? am i supposed to type something in? after i formated my usb flash drive and tried xubuntu and the same thing happend...?
I've briefly looked around and didn't find a forum dealing with installation problems, but then I wear glasses, too, so please forgive me if I missed it. This is my first post here and I don't know your structure well yet, either.I am experimenting with different distributions by installing them onto USB memory sticks. Sometimes, this gives me a persistent install, sometimes not, therefore I want to install Linux to the USB stick as if it was a hard drive to circumvent certain problems, such as getting rid of the open login for anyone, securely adding more users, not using casper files which may leave unused space on the stick, having a more reliable update system, and so on. I have no interest at all about dual-booting with any other system (but I want access to the host computer's hard drive), so I want a stand-alone USB solution to using Linux on USB memory sticks - plug it in, boot and go - a real computer on a stick. This should be a cake-walk, but I have had varying successes and far too many failures.
Some of the failures have been reliability related. Many of the installs have broken down for a few reasons, one of them is pretty serious. While Linux distros may be CD-sized (typically under 700Mb), by the time I install a few programs and wait a month, the empty space on the USB stick is now too small and it corrupts while updating Linux. A 4Gb memory stick should be considered the smallest size to use when installing Linux in this manner and I would go so far as to state 8Gb (or larger) would be better, if you are really serious about actually using the install. You can't have too much room.
I am also trying to figure out if some of the reliability problems are related to the quality of the memory stick itself. I have used the FlashMemoryKit Windows program to test the READ ability, but the free version does not test the WRITE reliability, therefore I am searching for a Linux way to test WRITEing. Since flash memory breaks down over time, if bad blocks can be written out of the block table at the same time, too, that's great.My biggest problem when using Linux/Installer is GRUB. At Step 7, we are given the choice, in Advanced Options, of where to install the boot loader block and the help doesn't make it clear where to put it. The renaming of partitions (hd0 or sdb or sdb#) is confusing and I've installed it just about everywhere (that was safe).At the moment, I am trying desperately to get Linux Mint working and I am getting nowhere. While I have gotten other installs, such as some Fedora and Ubuntu distros, to install in this way, at the moment I just can't get any Mint working. I have checked the MD5 checksums, so I know the install discs are OK, therefore I am missing something pretty obvious.
I want to install CentOS on a netbook I have that's currently running Mandriva. I know often with a distro you can run the LiveCD/Live USB version from a USB Flash Drive. I understand maybe I can do that but want I want to do is do an actual install. Is this possible? I assume I'd need to download the distro to my netbook under Mandriva and then after do an install and choose the USB Flash Drive after inserted as the hard drive to install to. Then when I boot up the computer I'd just choose the USB Drive as the bootup drive. Is this possible though? Would it damage my Mandriva install? Like I said I know I can use the USB Flash Drive likely as a bootup/Live CD type of solution but since I will be using it semi-regularly and saving data at times I'd like to use it simply like another hard drive. Is this possible?
