Ubuntu 9.10 from Flash Drive: How do I save settings?

[BuntforaHR]

I have booted into Ubuntu 9.10 from a flash drive using Universal USB Installer. How do I save any changes in preferences and installed applications to the flash drive? For example, display resolution, AbiWord settings, wireless settings, etc. THANKS!

[sgosnell]

If you didn't set it up for persistence at the start, you can't. If you really want to use the USB drive to run Linux, don't use it as a liveCD/install drive, do that to another small 1GB drive, and use that to do a full install to the drive you have. You can then boot from it, and it will save everything, running just like an install to a HDD. You can have your system running on any computer, completely portable.

[BuntforaHR]

Could you explain what you said a bit more. I don't quite follow. I have a laptop with a bad hard drive that I cannot access/use, a 2GB flash drive, and I want to run Ubuntu from the flash drive and have it be persistent/save everything to the flash drive. I have a working desktop that I can use for downloading things and setting up the flash drive the way I want it. Thanks for clarifying for a Linux noob. I appreciate it. :)

[Ozymandias_117]

Boot to your live CD, go to System -> Administration -> USB Startup Disk Creator. Then select your CD in the top box and your flash drive in the bottom. then select the "Stored in reserved extra space" option and move the slider bar all the way to the right.

[sgosnell]

Yeah, for a 2GB drive that may be all that will work. You need a larger drive for an actual install. 8GB is about the minimum for that.