ONE of the features of Ubuntu 8.10 I overlooked in my recent review was the utility included for creating a bootable version of Intrepid Ibex on a USB Flash memory stick.
Personally I love the idea of having a whole operating system on a memory stick - it appeals to the geek in me and I love the look on a non-geek's face when you boot up their machine and your operating system comes up instead of theirs!
But one of the issues I have frequently come across with such pocket-sized OSes is, how to make them persistent ie. getting any changes you make in the live environment to remain for your next boot.
There are certain Linux/FOSS distributions which specialise in USB pendrives - FaunOS, Slax and NimbleX spring immediately to mind - and all of them seem to handle installation to USB drives in similar but suitably different ways to make it quite challenging (the excellent www.pendrivelinux.com is always a good place to start finding solutions to your problems).
With the latest version of Ubuntu, however, everything you need is included in the GNOME menu - just look in System>Administration>Create a USB startup disk (this was also available in Ubuntu 8.04).
The procedure to get Ubuntu installed, working and persistent is really very simple indeed.
1. Download the Ubuntu 8.10 ISO and burn it to a CDThis last step will vary according to how you BIOS is set up, but on my machine it was a case of holding down the F2 button during the boot process, then editing the Boot Devices section to make sure USB came first, followed by CD then HDD.
2. Restart your computer, booting from the Live CD
3. Insert a 1GB or larger USB flash drive
4. Navigate to System>Administration>Create a USB startup disk
5. Next, select the USB disk to use, select the option 'Stored in reserved extra space' and adjust the slider to set the capacity you wish to use (I set mine at 2GB on an 8GB stick), then click the 'Make Startup Disk' button. It is not a fast process, so go and make a coffee
6. Once the installation is complete, simply remove the CD, restart your computer and set your boot menu or BIOS to boot from the USB device.
And that, basically, is it. Thanks to Ubuntu's inclusion of the application Casper, any subsequent changes you make or data you create will be saved in the slice of the flash drive you created during step 5.
Running Ubuntu from a flash drive on my Dell Latitude X1 laptop (1.1GHz, 512MB RAM) means everything actually works faster than it would from the CD drive, and possibly the HDD too, although I have to say the boot procedure takes an eternity.
Even if you seldom use the flash-based Ubuntu, it is worth creating just for the exercise, then chuck it in the bottom of your gadget bag - it might come in handy one day.
EDIT: I thought it might be helpful for anyone else trying this to be able to see how their USB drive should look after a successful install, so check out the screenshot below..
38 comments:
Well, I bought the Acer Aspire One netbook and wanted to install ubuntu - but, no cd-reader.
will the ubuntu flash allow me to install ubuntu from it?
@ nitzan
When you install Ubuntu to flash drive you get a full install so, yes, you should have no problems installing FROM the drive - the install icon will be sat on your desktop. I haven't actually tried this myself but what you're doing is running Ubuntu in live mode, just like you do from the live CD - the mode doesn't change, only the medium.
Good luck and let me know how you get on.
I am currently running Intrepid Ibex from a USB 2GB drive. Works fine. However, every time I use the device I get less and less usable space even though i don't populate it with data. I use mine as a diagnostics disc. Strange...
"I am currently running Intrepid Ibex from a USB 2GB drive. Works fine. However, every time I use the device I get less and less usable space even though i don't populate it with data. I use mine as a diagnostics disc. Strange..."
That is curious. It should only be adding data that you have changed.
I have Puppy Linux 4.1 installed on a 1GB flash drive which I'm using an awful lot at the moment, and what I do is I have an 8GB SD card in the built-in card reader in my laptop, and I save all my user data - files, photos, web pages etc - to that instead of to the USB flash stick holding my OS. This has the added benefit of being accessible from both my live USB flash-based Linux distro, and Windows XP which is on the laptop hard drive.
Thank you for this useful info.
I would like to know how to run an Ubuntu Server from a USB Flash.
Hello, can i install Ubuntu 8,10 on a flash drive if i have no hard disk on it at the moment? i mean will it store the temporary files for installation in the same usb?
"Hello, can i install Ubuntu 8,10 on a flash drive if i have no hard disk on it at the moment? i mean will it store the temporary files for installation in the same usb?"
I'm not absolutely clear on what you're wanting to do here.
If you mean can you install Ubuntu onto a USB drive via the live CD running on a PC without a hard drive, the answer is yes - all the files you need are on the live CD, and they will install straight onto the USB pendrive.
Just make sure you identify the USB pendrive correctly during the install process.
If, however, what you're wanting to do is use the USB pendrive CONTAINING the Ubuntu ISO to install BACK to the USB pendrive, then I'd hazard a guess and say no you can't - the live CD won't install Ubuntu back onto the same place it already lives! And why would you want to?
Hope that helps but don't hesitate to ask again if I haven't answered your question properly.
Well I made the ubuntu usb flash drive on a vista pc because I want to install it on a mini laptop HP 2133 which has SuSe 10 sp1 on it at present but no cd drive, only network connections and usb drive. However the mini responds 'missing operating system' when I try and start it from the usb stick. Very frustrating - ant ideas please?
@ johnnyfav
A couple of things spring immediately to mind.
Firstly, I'd pop the USB stick in your Vista machine and have a look what's in it - you should see 15 items including a folder called 'casper', one called 'syslinux' and a bunch of others.
If you don't see those, or anything at all - and from that error message you mentioned I'm guessing you won't - then Ubuntu didn't install to the USB stick.
And my best guess for why that didn't happen (you don't give too much info), is because you didn't direct the installer to your USB stick correctly.
Let me know how you get on.
Many thanks for reply - in fact I have 8 folders and 12 files on the usb stick including the ones you mentioned, as follows
folders:
.disk
casper
dists
install
isolinux
pix
pool
preseed
and files:
autorun
Idlinux
md5sum
readme.diskdefines
syslinux.cfg
ubnfile1
ubninit
ubnkern
ubnpathl
ubuntu
vesamenu.c32
wubi
any clues?
OOps sorry ignore the above, after it didnt work I found unetbootin and the files mentioned above are from that - it didnt work either. Just tried your way again and got the 15 files, and it installed on the mini to the point that all the install sections happened until the screen went dark after the orange bar filled up, then a small white circle towards the bottom right corner just sits there. Grrr
hi!!! i recently installed ubuntu 8.10 on my 4gib,i-ball pen drive(simply select pen drive as hard disk partition n installed on it)..all i did it from lenovo lappy(vista)..it installed successfully....but it overwrite MBR on lappy....n vista won't run(however i cleared tht thing)....but now my pen drive don't boot anymore....i dont know what's da problem....is there nything to do with MBR....can u guys suggest how to successfully install ubuntu in usb....n can i run it on any machine....
@ romil
This is a common error - it's because you didn't direct the installer to the usb stick when it came to installing the bootloader - it defaults to the mbr.
Run the install again and, when you get to the bootloader install section, select 'Advanced' and direct it to your usb stick - that should do the trick.
Hope that helps
Red Devil
thanx for reply devil sir....
well i run da usb startup disk....used 3gb space of usb,it created tht thingy....but whn i reboot n boot frm usb a msg "GRUB" comes....n nothing happens beyond tht
romil
Hi!
I have an Ubuntu 8.10 live cd: I booted it and executed the application which will allow me to install the OS on an usb pendrive. Everything goes fine, but when I try to boot the message "Missing operating system..." appears.
Help? ç_ç
@ Nexos
It sounds like you've had the same problem as a few other people who left a comment and I suspect you've done the same thing - you have to make sure you direct the installer to your USB drive correctly at the outset, plus, make sure you click on the Advanced tab when it comes to the GRUB bootloader installation, and again make sure it's installing to the USB stick and not somewhere else.
It's just a case of taking your time and a little care to make sure everything is doing what it's supposed to be doing - I've never had it fail yet.
Hope that helps and good luck
Your speciality is Linux but do you know how to back up Windows XP straight onto a USB Pen Drive? I only want to back-up the files I need to reboot my PC, (not my personal files) if it should crash.
I have a Netbook PC so I don't have a Disc Drive, only a SD Card Reader and 3 USB ports. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.
Try this guide for some ideas on how to backup important Windows system files: http://www.argentuma.com/backup/system-backup.html
and I found this software which seems to be mquite good but will cost you a few dollars: http://www.backupusb.com/
As you say, it's not really my field, but I hope those sites are some help
Red Devil
Hi there,
I am looking to try out ubuntu 8.10 on my XP laptop. I have purchased a Ubuntu 8.10 live CD off ebay but i would like to copy the OS to a USB drive so that i can run Ubuntu from that without installing it. As i am very new to computers please could you tell me step by step instructions on how to do this,
Many thanks,
I recently posted about this on my blog.
Although the process you outlined worked for me before, I had to do an extra set of running the following code after the USB stick was created. This was to make the USB stick bootable.
I used the following code fixed the problem.
install-mbr /dev/sdX
where /dev/sdX is the location of your USB stick
Hope this helps someone, I spent 2-3 days trying to figure out why it wasn't booting from USB!
More info here
Hi there, I also installed everythiing according to the installation and it was working out well. Beside 1 important thing: it is not persistant mode, means, ubuntu forget all docs and changes after reeboot. I used 1 GB stick and set during installation for the casper file the bar on total right. (so approx 250 MB should be used for persistance information) Can somebody help me? I would appreciate it a lot!
Also had this issue but it only happened on older versions of usb-creator. In versions older than 0.1.8 the usb stick would boot correctly but it wasn't persistent.
The only way I got it persistent was to get versions newer than 0.1.8 or I used the Live CD to create the USB stick.
I created a post to show all the things I tried.
Hope this helps
Code Singh
@Sony,
thank you for your post. I will try it. So far, I am always using the live CD. Anyhow, lets see...
Hi all, im wondering how to do a full install of ubuntu 8.10 to an external hdd. When i tried installing ubuntu with my internal hdd drive disconnected to prevent overwrite, ubuntu would recognise my external 80gb hdd as a removable device but i found that it was not possible to install to it when i ran the installer as the live cd did not display the external hdd. is there any way to install safely or any work arounds. Please note im trying to do a full installation.
I have followed your instructions and started installation with "guided partitioning". for I was afraid to loose WinXP on my SSD. I was given the list of partitions, which included SSD and 8 GB USB flash. What should I choose? I ended up with the pop window "istallation of file system failed". What did I do wrong?
Thanks a lot. Vitaly Purto
@ anonymous - I'm assuming you're using a netbook if an SSD shows up at the partitioning stage.
It would be helpful to know what it is you're trying to achieve.
If you want to install Ubuntu to a USB flash drive, then choose the USB Flash option.
If you want it on the SSD (solid state drive) alongside your Windows install, select that. Ubuntu will install GRUB, which will detect and list your Windows install for you.
Hope that helps
Thank you, Steven. I want to install Ubuntu on USB disk without even touching SSD, for I cannot risk losing my wireless function.
You write “choose the USB Flash option”. Can you be more specific and point out at what stage I see this option? So far I tried 3 times and did not get into this option.
Thanx in advance. Vitaly
@ Vitaly,
Let me try to break this down for you.
I'll assume you are running Ubuntu as a live CD in the first place.
Make sure your USB stick is plugged in as well.
Launch a terminal and enter:
sudo fdisk -l
This will give you the names of the drives on your machine, including the SSD and the USB stick.
In most cases your main drive - in your case the SSD - will be listed as sda1, while the USB stick will be sdx1 (the 'x' may be a 'b' or a 'c' or whatever, you should be able to identify it exactly by double checking its size (was it 8GB you said?)
Write down the name of the USB drive - let's assume it's sdb1, for now.
Now run the 'Install to USB' utility as per my blog post and you should come to a point where the installer asks you which drive you wish to install to.
It's here that you choose 'sdb1' - or whatever your USB disk is called as per the fdisk - l command I mentioned earlier.
Let the installer do its thing, and make sure that when you come to the option to install the GRUB bootloader that you make sure it installs it in the same place - sdb1 (or whatever it is...).
This last step is important to keep your Windows bootloader intact.
That should complete the install to USB - if your machine's BIOS is set to boot from USB devices before the SSD/HDD, you should go straight into your new Ubuntu install when you reboot.
Hope that helps but if you get stuck, don't hesitate to ask again ;-)
Thank you from Yalta for your help - launch of Ubuntu I did. But terminal and some drivers are not activated. System detects wireless device but does not activate it. Any help?
@ Vitaly - I don't mind answer short questions in the comments section but you really need to use the Ubuntu forums for detailed stuff - that's what they're there for and several thousand 'eyes' are better at solving your problems than just little old me!
Try to be more specific about your problems - what do you mean the terminal will not activate? It's in the main menu under Accessories.
And which drivers? I assume you mean graphics card drivers, but which graphics card are you using? See what I mean about being detailed?
You can activate graphics card drivers through the Restricted Drivers tool in your Administration menu - if you're going for an Nvidia driver, I've found version 177 to be a bit unstable, while version 173 works fine.
As for your wi-fi, have you put in your ESSID and encryption key?
It's hard to help when you give so little detailed information - what kind of wi-fi adaptor do you have, for example?
I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 on ASUS Eee pc 4g WinXP. Installation failed to install wi-fi drivers. Is there any way to uninstall it and bring system back to original status w/o reformatting SSD?
@ novice - I assume you mean you have wiped the XP install and replaced it with Ubuntu?
If so, then no, there's no way of simply returning to your XP install, short of reformatting the SSD and reinstalling it.
But why go to all that trouble when all that appears to be wrong is not having your wi-fi working yet?
Have you tried searching Ubuntu/Eeee forums for a solution? Thousands of folk are using this Ubuntu/Eee combination; I'd be amazed if you can't find someone to help you with a solution.
Good luck.
Is it possible to do a full install to the USB? What I mean specifically is booting from a liveCD and then doing a standard install, but instead of installing to a HDD, installing to the USB.
Or is that just ridiculous because the live environment installed on the USB would be essentially the same thing thats achieved above?
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://laptopseries.net
Very handy article, Im doing a course on Perl and Python so this setup is great, I even feel a full Linux conversion coming on, Thanks a lot.
how to install eeebuntu on SD card (16 Gb)? Any help will be appreciated.
Hi, I have created USB persistent Ubuntu 8.10 on 1GB pendrive. However it fills up all the available space gradually(even though I don't save any settings). Once the space is full the USB is not usable until you re-format and reinstall everything. Is there a way I can keep using the same USB installation ?
- Balboa
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