Live USB won't launch in persistent mode on all computers

[C.S.Cameron]

If there is a casper-rw file on the root of the thumb drive, does isolating or deleting it do anything to help boot the casper-rw partition?

[nk565]

If there is a casper-rw file on the root of the thumb drive, does isolating or deleting it do anything to help boot the casper-rw partition?

I'll check if there is tomorrow. How do I isolate it?

Just a quick thought before I head off to bed. Maybe the reason none of it is showing up is because it isn't giving me the option to log into the account I created. Tomorrow I'll try making account on one of the other computers, rebooting it, and seeing if my original account shows up at the log in screen. I'll post an update tomorrow after I try it. I'm doubtful this will work though.

[C.S.Cameron]

...How do I isolate it?...

Move the casper-rw file to a different folder or rename it.

[nk565]

Well, I started trying the new account thing, and I think it was working, but I didn't get to finish my PC shut down the wrong way and now the USB will only start in live mode, so I'm just going to start over. I wanted to start over anyways because I didn't want the partition to be as big as it was anyways.

[oldfred]

Most Windows 7 systems are BIOS installed even if UEFI/BIOS. And then your install to the flash drive will be a BIOS boot.

But all Windows 8 are UEFI with gpt partitioning and secure boot. Only the 64 bit version of Ubuntu works with secure boot.

With a 32GB flash I might consider a full install, but if one system is BIOS and the other UEFI you may have issues.
You may be able to install with grub-pc for BIOS boot and grub-efi for UEFI boot as Ubuntu is the same either way. But you have to use gpt partitioning on your flash drive. I know gpt works on flash drive as I have that on a couple of flash drives, but am only booting with BIOS. With BIOS gpt also needs a tiny bios_grub partition.

[nk565]

But all Windows 8 are UEFI with gpt partitioning and secure boot. Only the 64 bit version of Ubuntu works with secure boot.

Problem is, not all the computers I'm planning to use this USB on support 64 bit operating systems.

Anyways, I'm still making the new USB and i'll see if everything works fine now.

[aspireone722]

have you tried Unetbootin?

[C.S.Cameron]

For what it is worth, the following is how I make a Persistent flash drive:

Boot Live CD or Live USB.
Plug in flash drive.
Start Gparted.

Create 2 GB FAT32 partition, (on the left side of the bar). (size is optional, extra space can be used for file storage and transfer to Windows machines).

Create a 4 GB ext2 partition to the right of this, labeled it "casper-rw". (ext3 and ext4 also work).

Create a partition in the remaining space and label it "home-rw". (optional, creates a separate home partition).

Close gparted.
Un-mount and re-mount flash drive.
Start "Create a live usb startup disk", (usb-creator).
Select "Discard on shutdown".
Press "Make Startup Disk.
When usb-creator finishes, Go to the root folder of your Live USB
Enter the syslinux directory, (or for UNetbootin the root directory).
Make the syslinux.cfg file writeable
Replace the contents of the file syslinux.cfg with:

    default persistent
    label persistent
      say Booting a persistent Ubuntu session...
      kernel /casper/vmlinuz
      append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper persistent initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash noprompt --

Shutdown, remove CD, reboot.


First time booting go to users and groups and create an account with yourself up as an Administrator, with password if desired.

Note:
The above code will bypass the Try/Install and Language screens.

[nk565]

For what it is worth, the following is how I make a Persistent flash drive:

The program I used for the Live USB created the persistent partition for me, I just expanded it later.


I have literally no Idea what the hell is going on, but I just recreated my live USB, booted it, and it booted to the login screen with my account there. I did a double take here. So I log in, and my desktop is just the way I left it before formating the USB. I'm just sitting there with a blank expression trying to figure out how the hell this could possible happen if I just wiped and remade the live USB. I look through the files, and it looks like the steam game I downloaded is gone, but steam itself is still there. I figure this means, and I have no idea how this could happen, but the place where it was storing most of my data was my computers primary HDD (obviously the game I got downloaded to the USB). I look at my HDD in Gparted, and look at what I found.



I'm at a loss for how that partition was created. The USB casper-rw partition was created automatically by the program, I don't know how to make one manually (now I do thanks to C.S.Cameron), and I didn't even know it was possible to have the casper-rw partition on another drive.



So I guess I have my original problem mostly figured out now. Ignoring all the questions I have on how the hell that partition got there, is it safe to delete that partition from my HDD? Its not going to affect my other data, right? And deleting it should force my computer to resort to using the correct casper-rw partition, correct?

[nk565]

Right after I posted I realized what happened. The program never created the casper-rw partition on the USB, it did it on my hard drive both times. Looking at my flash drive, this is what it looked like before I followed that tutorial to extend the partition




There is only one partition. I realize now that I created the casper-rw partition after the live USB stick was created, without knowing what i was doing. All in all, it seems like it was the programs fault for creating the casper-rw partition on the wrong drive.

But my question from the last post i made still stands, can I delete the casper-rw partition from my HDD, and will that make the casper-rw partition on my USB work?