Ubuntu Installation :: Variation That Can Be Installed On An USB Stick?
Jan 18, 2010
so i know that i can create a live usb stick, but i dont want to do that. i want a full install of the system on the stick. at the moment i have a 2GB usb stick, and when i try to install kubuntu, i get an not enough space error. thats understandable. but if there is an ubuntu variation that i can install on less than 2GB of space (and optionally run the KDE environment), then please provide a link. if there isnt an ubuntu variation, then please provide something other then Damn Small Linux.
What I have done so far with Debian: I used dd in Ubuntu Lucid to put the Debian live GDE version onto a USB stick, and I successfully booted my Toshiba Mini with it in under a minute! That even blows Easy Peasy away! I love the simplicity of the DE. For now I want to get the GDE version of Debain installed to a USB stick. (That is, I will use the live USB that I created to direct the installation to a USB stick that is plugged into the computer).
What I think that I know: I was successful to use a live Ubuntu Lucid USB to install Ubuntu Lucid to both a USB stick and an SDHC card, and that is what I am running right now. I have encountered issues with this process, such as apparently the /dev/sdx that was recognized during install being different when I try to boot the new stick, and I only happen to eventually mysteriously boot after, say, trying a different USB port. My main concern is a functional internet connection, otherwise I will be helpless when I try to confront any other kind of Debian problem, and of course I will soon want to begin installing packages. In Ubuntu Lucid my wireless card was nonfunctional, and I spent two weeks working on finding a "solution", which was something I believe called a Personal Package Archive, my first and only use of such a thing.
As far as I understand the first command, as with much of what I do with GNU/Linux, I must simply trust the benevolence of the package provider that their code will not ruin my hardware. The firmware issue does disburb me a bit, and it seems that Toshiba and Realtek or whoever is responsible would like to require me to use Windows in order to configure my wireless card. (That seems like it should be illegal.) Thank god I did manage to find a completely GNU solution, and thank the community for always being there trying to provide solutions like this.
So, appologizing for that overly elaborate introduction: Are there any pitfalls that I should avoid in the process of installing from the live GDE Debian USB to another USB stick on my Toshiba Mini, or if this is even possible in Debian? Is there a more appropriate solution to get my wireless card to work (instead of using the PPA mentioned above)? For instance, the wireless light never changes from amber to green (which I guess is what should indicate that the card is connected or not?), even though I am obviously connected to the interent (here I am). How do I force the installation to recognize my USB more primitively/reliably than as a /dev/sdx file (which seems to be quite dynamicly allocated from one boot to the next)?
Mmm the title has too many times the word "install" Anyway, I installed Ubuntu 10.10 in an USB stick and now i want to erase it. But when i try to delete it, a sign says it's protected and cannot by modified.
How do I erase it? PD: Sory if this is the wrong section.
I Installed Debian on my laptop using a USB-stick. After the installation, everything seemed ok, though it didn't boot anything, it was just waiting with a flashing marker. I put in the USB-stick and rebooted the system and it worked for some reason, GRUB started this time. Now i've had the system like this for a couple of weeks, I have to put in my USB-stick in order to be able to get GRUB to start, but can remove the USB-stick when the OS has started.
The only thing I could think of, was that GRUB was installed into the USB-stick. So I removed the USB-stick when Debian was started and and reinstalled GRUB using aptitude. Still didn't work. What could be wrong?
I de-crappified a new laptop last week for a friend and set him up with OpenOffice.I had earlier salvaged files from his old PC HD, saved them to my Box. Most of his office files were actually the dreaded M$ Works (.wps)But I tried them and OpenOffice had no trouble, least in Linux that is.I burned his files to a DVD-RW and copied them to his new Laptop. OpenOffice for windows wouldn't have anything to do with the .wps filesStrange or what !
I decided to install Fedora today ( from Debian ) so I downloaded the 64 bit variation and then burnt it and booted from it. My partition table before looked like this ( the XXXs of values I do not know ) :
I wanted to seperate my /home and / (root) partitions in my new system so that in the future, distro-hopping would be easier. I deleted everything in my fifth partition except for my home folder, from which I moved my home folder ( /home/whales ) to the top layer of the partition ( now /whales ).
I then did a yum install gparted so I could shrink partition 5 (now going to be /home) and add another 20gb one for / (root). Unfortunately Gparted spat out an error about the kernel not reading the partition table until reboot ( but first it succeeded in shrinking the FS to 286GB ). I panicked and tried to format p5 to ext3 ( it was ext3 ) but then realised this was dumb before it could 'create the ext3 filesystem' and I cancelled the operation.
I then rebooted, realising I should have done what the error said to in the first place.Nope. The partition was 'empty' apart from lost+found ( which is empty ). Nuts I thought to myself. The filesystem must have been overwritten . I tried a 'rescue' on parted on the command line, but that did not work. So I then removed the parition reference and then tried a rescue, but nothing happened. No output other than progress, and now I am stuck with this layout:
i was writing a .img file to my usb stick with ImageWriter, but it didn't seem to do anything so i clicked the close gtk button and pulled the stick out of my pc. now my pc gives my an when i try to open the stick. is there any way to fix this. I can use win xp pro, win xp media center, win 7 starter, ubuntu 9.10 and ubuntu 10.04
I'm about to ditch Freenas as my NAS software and make it an Ubuntu server box. The mainboard is an Asus AT3ION-T dual core Atom board. Freenas runs happily from USB stick. I have no optical device to install Ubuntu from and would like to install Ubuntu Server to a USB stick.
I copied the unr 9.10 iso to my usb stick fine using the program from pendrivelinux for ubuntu 9.1. I think it worked well, because it now has a ubuntu logo on the usb and says "install ubuntu netbook remix." When I get to the BIOS menu and to the boot options, I get a box which says three things: SDD slot, D: drive, and disabled (maybe talking about the D)When I press enter on the D: drive nothing happens. When I say to save configuration and exit it goes right to xp again. I have no idea what to do... I'm on an EEEpc 1005-HA running xp.
I wish to install a fully working Ubuntu system on my 16GB USB disk so that when I boot from my USB stick I get directly into Ubuntu. I do not want to be prompted with the option of "Try Ubuntu" or "Install Ubuntu". How do I do this?
I'm using an old netbook with Ubuntu Remix 9.04 and I thought it's about time I installed the newest version.Therefore I put the latest Ubuntu Netbook version on my 4GB USB stick with USB Startup Disk Creator.Furthermore I would like to have the Desktop version on the same USB stick. I tried but the second version (Desktop) seems to overwrite the first (Netbook). Is it possible at all to have 2 bootable versions side by side on one USB stick?
i am trying to reinstall Ubuntu from an SD card on my still alive and kicking Eee Pc 901 Go. I know this is working since i have done it before, when creating the startup disc, i just put it on the SD card instead of an USB stick. As i said; it have worked before, to boot and install from the SD card but for some reason when i restart nothing happens, just normal restart and yes; i have checked the boot order so it isn't that, 1:st boot priority is "external device", which would be the same as USB or SD card, and again, i have easily installed from SD card before so i can't understand why nothing happens now, has something changed?
I had been running ubuntu 9.03 for quite some time, but for school I needed windows, so after installing windows on a free'd partition, it will not give me the ubuntu boot option and loads staright into windows(vista)[typical windows]. I am aware that one is able to repair it with an ubuntu boot disk, but my dvd-rom isn't functioning.My question is, is it possible to repair it with a USB stick instead?
I want to stay with release 10.10 (maverick) until the support expires. So how should I configure 'software sources' so that I don't get offered to upgrade to the next release (11.04?). When on 10.04, I had the 'show new distribution releases' set to 'Long term support releases only', but it didn't offer the upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10 unless I changed it to 'Normal releases'. Should I now be setting it back to 'Long term support releases only' in order to stay with maverick? What would I miss out on if I do that?
I would like to reformat my hard drive and reinstall 10.10 desktop from a stick. However when I try and boot from the stick it comes up with the SysLinux 4.0... one liner and hangs. I have tried:
- different usb sticks - running as ISO - mounting ISO using Startup disk creator - finding the known Bug re something similar and deleting the first two letters in the last line of a certain file wihtin the syslinux folder
I am currently running 10.10 - is this why it ignores it? I'm not understanding something,
I have 3 usb stick all 3 working in a friend's computer on my sick toshiba equium i can't get one working . my friend has a usb stick that work on my pc but i can't understand why.i have tried every sick thing like
fat32 boot flag 3 gigs
I have tried to change head cylindres and what ever nothing
Is it possible to use one USB stick having two startup OSs? I would like to get an 8GB USB stick and use it to have a startup stick. I would to have both Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
I have a Xubuntu 10.10 (Merkat) installed on boot-able usb drive. This is working fine , however changes on e.g. timezone settings, accounts created in thunderbird are not stored on the USB stick?
I was wondering if someone could give me some advice with regards to updating Ubuntu 10.04. I have my system set up running to a T ( it's perfect ) How many of you have upgraded from 10.04 to 10.10 using the update manager, and what problems (if any) have you experienced? Is it recommended to upgrade to 10.10 considering 10.04 is LTS?
I am trying to clean install from a USB stick onto an Acer Aspire One ZG5.
Here are the steps I have followed: - Downloaded ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso from [url] - Downloaded Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.5.3.exe from [url]and run it - Selected 11.04 in USB Installer, pointed to ISO, left persistence at 0MB and run it on a freshly FAT32 formatted USB stick
When the Aspire One boots from the USB stick, it displays "SYSLINUX 4.04 EDD 2011-04-18 Copyright (C) 1994-2011 H. Peter Anvin et al", followed by a flashing cursor on the next line.
1) I cannot type anything (read on some forums that typing "help" should work, but I cannot) 2) MD5 check of ISO is correct 3) I have also tried using unetbootin-win-549.exe to create the bootable stick, but the result is the same (although slightly older version of SYSLINUX)
I've got a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop (4 years old, I think.) Running Windows xp 32 bit. I'm trying to dual boot it with ubuntu. I've installed ubuntu on a couple of other computer just fine. This laptop though, has decided it hates linux and I can't get ubuntu to install. I get to the first screen and can boot into ubuntu as a live cd just fine but if I try to install it the screen goes black, a ton of text appears, and then nothing else will happen.
So I tried using a usb stick to install. Same issue. Then I tried downloading mint and could not get past the first screen either. I tried debian, and my computer didn't even boot into the installer, it just booted into Windows..
I dont really use ubuntu too much, just for my programming class. Anyways I want to have ubuntu on a USB stick so I can use it on my laptop, netbook, desktop PC at home and desktop PC in class, all of which run Windows natively.
I would prefer the Virtual Machine (VM) on a USB stick but im not sure if its possible to install virtualbox (my VM of choice) on a USB drive. if not then a liveUSB, though correct me if im wrong but would i be able to save files on a liveusb?
If I do go with the VM on the usb stick option, i need an idea what size USB stick to buy so what is the bare minimum space you can run ubuntu on? I also intend to run OpenSUSE which is why i prefer the portable vm option.
I have a couple of laptops without hard drives lying around; and I'd like to use them with ubuntu studio. Ubuntu studio doesn't have a live image, so I can't use any of the millions of "copy live-cd ISO to usb" instructions I'm finding all over the web. I only want to use them with creox, but I figure I'll need the real-time kernel as well.
I'm trying to install Ubuntu 9.10 from USB stick. I used System>Admin>USB Start up Disk Creator and a 9.10 .ISO version to create the bootable USB stick.
When I plug my USB key into my computer, my computer doesn't boot from it. I tried on several other computers and none of them boot from my USB key. The bios settings on all my computers boot from removable media first.
I repeated the above steps with a different USB key and I still can't boot from the USB key. When I browse the USB key directories, I can see all the necessary files to install ubuntu.
Last year, I didn't have trouble installing ubuntu 9.04 from USB key. Not sure what I'm doing wrong this time.
Can anyone tell me how to trouble shoot this problem?
I'm running Ubuntu from my USB stick (using UNetbootin). Unfortunately every time I turn my computer off my personal preferences are deleted. how can I save my personal preferences on the USB stick, so I'll always be able to use them?
I have a 4 gig Kingston USB stick. I have an Eee PC with 4 gig internal flash drive (no hard drive). I can't find the specs but I believe it is roughly equivalent to an Eee PC 900 or something.
About a year ago I downloaded the then latest version of ubuntu for netbooks, created a bootable USB drive from my Mac, as per the instructions at:url
or whatever the equivalent site was then. It booted fine, it installed fine and everything was great.
Eventually the tiny flash drive in my EeePC got full. I couldn't upgrade to the new 9.10 distro through auto updates because there wasn't enough room to download them.
I tried to delete some old kernels and then delete some other stuff. I broke my linux installation and now it won't boot to a desktop. I can get a login prompt and I can boot to the fail safe terminal but not much else.
So, I tried repeating the steps above.
I downloaded the NEW version of ubuntu netbook remix from:url
I followed the instructions for making a bootable USB stick from the first link above. I used the EXACT SAME USB stick as last time (in fact, it still had the older version of the ubuntu install files on it).
There were no errors "creating" the USB drive and it can be mounted on my Mac and I can see the files are on it.
I stuck it into my EeePC and rebooted and hit the ESC key and selected the Kingston USB drive to boot from. The light on the USB drive flashed some, then the internal flash drive light flashed some and the EeePC booted from the internal drive.
I rebooted and went into the bios settings and made triple sure that it was set to boot from USB drive first and rebooted. The same thing happened (it "looked at" the USB drive, then booted from the internal drive).
I repeated the above a dozen times. I REinstalled the ubuntu files on the USB drive from my Mac. I repeated. Still the same.
I redownloaded the ubuntu files and did everything from scratch. Again no errors "creating" the USB drive and it can be mounted on my Mac and I can see the files are on it, but again, it is absolutely useless because it is unbootable.
I tried booting my Mac from the USB drive and my Mac didn't recognize it as a bootable drive either.
I found another 4 gig USB drive and repeated the steps above with it. It was exactly the same: no errors creating it, the drive is mountable on my Mac, but it is completely unbootable.
I am at a loss to find any info on this nor do I have any idea what to try next. I KNOW this worked with the first USB drive last year (with an earlier version of ubuntu). What could possibly have changed?
