Howto: Make a Xubuntu qemu-embedded USB drive

[revoltism]

Ok, guy's this is my first try to make a howto.. so bare with me..

I bought a cheap Transcend JetFlash V10 4 gig USB stick and decided to make it emulate linux. I needed this as I have Windows XP at work with a no install policy.
First i tried an DSL-embedded install witch worked as a charm but I love Ubuntu so i decided to try Xubuntu. I could not find a howto so here it is.


#1#

First you need to download the latest
xubuntu-feisty-alternative-i386 herd2
qemu-0.8.2-windows
syslinux-3.31.

#2#

I don't know if syslinux acctually is needed if you you only want to emulate as it is an alternative bootloader. Use only if you like boot from usb.
In the command promt (change X: to youre USB drive letter) and restart.

syslinux.exe X:

#3#

Format the USB to fat32 (right click on usb in explorer).
Extract and copy/paste the qemu folder to the USB flash drive and make a hda.img (virtual hdd).

In the command promt (win+r and cmd):

qemu-img.exe create -f qcow hda.img 3800M

Install Xubuntu to the virtual drive (hda.img)

Still in command promt:

qemu.exe -L \qemu -cdrom path-to-xubuntu-cd-img.iso -hda hda.img -m 256 -boot d

"-boot d" is only for booting the cdrom later you change it to "-boot c" whitch are to boot from the virtual hdd. I used a command-line system install to get it minimum (350 MB without X windows etc). This is all written here. I choosed Thunar, Dillo, Firefox and XFCE (ofcourse). I picked this cause i like blingbling and don't mind little lagg (if to much i go console). not rekommended for slower boxes.


#4#

Make a xubuntu.bat file and put it in the root of youre USB.

In Notepad and rename to xubuntu.bat:

REM Start qemu on windows.
@ECHO OFF

START qemu\qemu.exe -L qemu\ -no-kqemu -localtime -hda qemu\hda.img -cdrom path-to-xubuntu-cd-img.iso -m 256 -boot c

CLS
EXIT

In the below Qemu link you can read what all the options means. If you get in to troubble delete the -cdrom with path and you might want to change -m 256 to 64 or 128 the "-m" indicates ram.


Sources i had help from:
Qemu Official
QemuOnWindows