I want to install Trusty on a system with EFI / secure boot, but not on the first disk. I'd rather prefer to have it from a USB device (stick or USB drive) which I would like to be portable. Bottom line, I want to have a portable installation - not in a squashfs or other layers in-between - on USB for EFI systems. So far, the EFI install instructions all assume that you want to install on disk #1, which should stay as it was to make the install portable. Trusty mainly for the fact that it's the newest and should support this best, as of tomorrow, it will have feature freeze, so no moving target. Any ideas?
I really do not understand the problem. You want to install Trusty on a USB memory stick. Where is the problem? That should be no different from installing any stable version of Ubuntu on to a memory stick. I have Trusty Edubuntu installed on a 16GB memory stick. I used Startup Disk Creator and I set it up with persistence. The only issue a user has in using a "portable" install of Ubuntu is whether the boot system (BIOS/UEFI) is set to boot from an opperating system on a USB port before booting from an OS on a hard disk. As I say, I do not understand your problem. Regards.
It is a machine. It is more stupid than we are. It will not stop us from doing stupid things. Ubuntu user #33,200. Linux user #530,530
Originally Posted by grahammechanical I really do not understand the problem. You want to install Trusty on a USB memory stick. Where is the problem? That should be no different from installing any stable version of Ubuntu on to a memory stick. I have Trusty Edubuntu installed on a 16GB memory stick. I used Startup Disk Creator and I set it up with persistence. The only issue a user has in using a "portable" install of Ubuntu is whether the boot system (BIOS/UEFI) is set to boot from an opperating system on a USB port before booting from an OS on a hard disk. No, this is not what I want. I thought the additional information was clear. I do not want to just simply install a Ubuntu distro on a USB stick. Others have already mentioned potential downsides to that, there are more. This is good for a limited live system, but nothing else. I want a standard install to a portable medium which can be booted on a PC with EFI / secure boot. Any PC, if possible. The USB medium should be able to boot without BIOS / EFI changes, just by changing the boot order temporarily with [F12]. Every PC sold now has EFI and secure boot together with Windows 8. The USB medium should boot on these PCs without having to change their settings. You plug the stick in, reboot with [F12], choose the stick and have Ubuntu. If you shut down and reboot, you get the normal Windows 8 again with EFI and secure boot.
Last edited by emk; February 20th, 2014 at 01:38 PM. Reason: Added quote
Originally Posted by emk No, this is not what I want. I thought the additional information was clear. I do not want to just simply install a Ubuntu distro on a USB stick. Others have already mentioned potential downsides to that, there are more. This is good for a limited live system, but nothing else. I want a standard install to a portable medium which can be booted on a PC with EFI / secure boot. Any PC, if possible. As I said earlier, if you do the original install using a laptop with Intel Based graphics and then stick the key into a laptop with ATi graphics then there could be some problems on older machines, You can still get terminal but not desktop. Mostly older ATi. Otherwise it works just swell as a super_OS on most machines with different graphics. Perhaps this cycle may have solved that bug.
Originally Posted by emk I want to install Trusty on a system with EFI / secure boot, but not on the first disk. I'd rather prefer to have it from a USB device (stick or USB drive) which I would like to be portable. Bottom line, I want to have a portable installation - not in a squashfs or other layers in-between - on USB for EFI systems. So far, the EFI install instructions all assume that you want to install on disk #1, which should stay as it was to make the install portable. Trusty mainly for the fact that it's the newest and should support this best, as of tomorrow, it will have feature freeze, so no moving target. Any ideas? What I do is first have your bootable trusty.iso on a 2GB USB pendrive. ( I do not use persistence as recommended by grahamechanical). Then have your empty formated 16GB or 32GB USB drive ready. Then , what I do, is remove the hdd. At this point the 2GB drive will boot by default. It will auto detect the other 16/32GB USB as your hdd. Then, just install ubuntu as you would as if it were an hdd. I have mine working on a B75MA-P45 with UEFI. I have, of course, disabled the UEFI. It is a Ver 3.0 USB and works faster than most hdds and is portable. There will sometimes be problems if you do a set-up on a machine with Intel Graphics adapter and then try to run it on a machine with ATi Graphics.. but for the most part , it jockeys correctly (for switching graphics adapters) on my machines. Others use persistence (as suggested by other) but I have found that this can really slow down the desktop experience. Regards..
Originally Posted by ventrical I have, of course, disabled the UEFI. My use case are laptops where I might not even be able to change settings, just boot. But I give your ideas a try, maybe I can get this to work with enabled EFI/secure boot. Others use persistence (as suggested by other) but I have found that this can really slow down the desktop experience. Yes, one of many reasons why persistence and live CDs are of limited value. Good for a quick change of settings or rescue, but not more.
Originally Posted by emk My use case are laptops where I might not even be able to change settings, just boot. But I give your ideas a try, maybe I can get this to work with enabled EFI/secure boot. Yes, one of many reasons why persistence and live CDs are of limited value. Good for a quick change of settings or rescue, but not more. In this case then you can use <something else> (as suggested by OldFred) when the partitoner comes up after booting the trusty .iso and you should see the USB drive there and just choose that one and Ubuntu should install. Again , I know this is not exactly what you are looking for but on all the laptops I have done this proceedure on I have always removed the physical hdd first. The Ubuntu.iso seems to trick the PC into thinking that the USB is an actual hardrive and I have yet to have a fail using this manner and I have USB keys from 4 years ago that I installed this way that work on a dime. Yep .. even the USB ver 2.0 runs faster than most 7200 SATA hdds. Regards..
Ubuntu will boot in BIOS or UEFI from gpt partitioned drives. And I have formatted flash drives with gpt and booted in BIOS mode. But have not actually booted with UEFI. To have a full install on an external drive you have to partition with gpt. You can use gparted or gdisk. I used gparted and selected gpt under device, advanced & select gpt over msdos(MBR) default partitioning.... Or with gdisk sudo apt-get install gdisk sudo gdisk /dev/sdb Command (? for help): If sharing a flash drive with Windows you would have to have the first partition as NTFS, but otherwise for UEFI boot, the efi partition should be first and then the partitions you want for Ubuntu / (root), /home or data depending on size of your flash drive. Then using Something Else or manual install format partitions and choose which partition to mount as / and other. Be sure on partitioning screen to choose to install the grub2 boot loader to sdb (or whatever drive is). Whether hard drive or flash drive, install to any second drive is the same. Two Drive UEFI installs http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2192378 HP Envy 2 drive install i7 & 2 1TB drives http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2175877 Samsung Series 7 laptop - Ubuntu UEFI install to sdc (ignore CSM sidetrack) http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2135459 Installing Ubuntu 12.10 alongside Windows 8 on Asus K95V laptop HD/SSD (EFI) Two drives. Details in post #6 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2116610 UEFI dual boot two drives - HP http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2072950 UEFI dual boot two drives see #14 on how edit UUID to Windows efi partiton http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2031836 UEFI boot Issue with Alienware X51 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2039451
UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated : https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295 Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.
Originally Posted by oldfred Ubuntu will boot in BIOS or UEFI from gpt partitioned drives. And I have formatted flash drives with gpt and booted in BIOS mode. But have not actually booted with UEFI. Even if you didn't try with UEFI, it looks like at least one of your suggestions and links should be able to succeed. Thanks! If I find a painless way to install, I post it here. I surely can't be the only one who wants to boot Ubuntu on a machine where you have little to no options to change something.
Is there any difference technically between installing and booting Ubuntu from a USB memory stick or an external USB disk? I do not think so. I would not anticipate more problems trying it with Trusty Tahr then I would trying it with 13.10. Mind you, I would use Nouveau as a way around the video driver not being suitable for the video adapter in the machine that the USB drive was being attached to. When we run a Ubuntu live session we use Nouveau. We do not set a specific video driver. Even then there are times when the nomodeset and other options are needed. There would also be limitations on the data transfer rate of USB with USB 2 being slower than USB 3 and that may effect the user experience on certain machines. It is the hardware causing the limitation not the software installation. I really do not see this thread as being appropriate for Ubuntu+1.
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