Howto make USB boot drives

[sudodus]

I thought it might be connected to the problem. When you make a boot usb of over 4 GB it takes quit a long time before Done is written.
The terminal window is the main window and perhaps a text like this should give a better understanding
"Please wait for sync until 'Done* is written and the dus-live window shows a ready transfer"
I will install Ubuntu 20.10 on another computer and see if I get the crash.

or maybe:

"Please wait for sync until 'Done' is written
and, if there is a progress window
wait for the buffered data to get flushed,
so that all data are transferred to the target device"

[P-I H]

That's fine.

[sudodus]

That's fine.

Done, mkusb-dus version 12.6.8 is uploaded with the new information (text with blue background)

[kagashe]

I am away from my home and borrowed Dell Inspiron Laptop with Windows 7 for my use. I downloaded Rufus and Xubuntu 20.04.1 ISO and installed persistent Live system on USB and it is working fine.

I installed mkusb on it and installed persistent Live system on another USB but the boot gets stuck at splash image showing mkusb icon.

Please note that the usb made with Rufus boots with Syslinux.

Kamalakar

[sudodus]

@Kamalakar,

Thanks for the heads up

I need some more details to troubleshoot this bug. (I have access to two Dell laptops (with generation 4 Intel i5 and i7 CPUs) but no Inspiron, and mkusb can make working persistent live systems in those computers.)

- Which version of Dell Inspiron is it (version letters and number)? Which CPU, graphics chip and how much RAM is there?

- Which version of mkusb did you use (you find dus 12.6.8 and mkusb-plug 2.8.4 via ppa:mkusb/unstable according to mkusb -v)?

- Did you install from the Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso file also with mkusb? Did you check that the iso file was good (correctly downloaded/copied)?

- Did you use mkusb-dus or mkusb-plug to create the persistent live system? If the computer refuses to boot from USB via grub, please try mkusb-plug.

- Did you connect only one USB drive with a persistent live system during boot? It may cause problems to boot with both the Rufus-made system and the mkusb-made system connected at the same time because there are two partitions for persistence and maybe also because of other confusing system partitions.

[kagashe]

@Kamalakar,
- Which version of Dell Inspiron is it (version letters and number)? Which CPU, graphics chip and how much RAM is there?

Inspiron N4010
Reg Model P11G
CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 370 @ 2.40GHz
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
RAM 3 GB

- Which version of mkusb did you use (you find dus 12.6.8 and mkusb-plug 2.8.4 via ppa:mkusb/unstable according to mkusb -v)?

dus 12.6.6

- Did you install from the Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso file also with mkusb? Did you check that the iso file was good (correctly downloaded/copied)?

Yes. Yes..

- Did you use mkusb-dus or mkusb-plug to create the persistent live system?

mkusb--dus

If the computer refuses to boot from USB via grub, please try mkusb-plug.

I have tried mkusb-plug and it works. The Live System boots using syslinux like the usb created with Rufus.
Does it mean this Laptop can't boot with grub?

- Did you connect only one USB drive with a persistent live system during boot?

Yes.

Kamalakar

[sudodus]

@Kamalakar,

Thanks for the details

The specs that you report should be good enough for a persistent live drive by mkusb-dus to work. But I know that there are things beyond what is easy to see, that can create problems. There are old HP computers that are unwilling to boot from USB via grub (usually in BIOS mode). This can be worked around by selecting MSDOS partition table (instead of default GPT) in the settings menu of mkusb-dus, when preparing for a persistent live drive.

Your problem may be the same. You can test it (by selecting MSDOS partition table in the settings menu). But it may also be another problem, so if that does not work, but it works to make live-only as well as persistent live drives with mkusb-plug, you may have to boot Xubuntu 20.04.1 via syslinux (at least in BIOS mode). Please notice that you can create a persistent live drive with mkusb-plug from a Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso file.

Xubuntu 20.10 is always booting via grub, also when cloned to a USB drive. If you are interested and have the time, you can test creating a persistent live drive (of 20.10) with Rufus as well as with mkusb-dus and mkusb-plug and share your results

[kagashe]

@Kamalakar,

Thanks for the details

The specs that you report should be good enough for a persistent live drive by mkusb-dus to work. But I know that there are things beyond what is easy to see, that can create problems. There are old HP computers that are unwilling to boot from USB via grub (usually in BIOS mode). This can be worked around by selecting MSDOS partition table (instead of default GPT) in the settings menu of mkusb-dus, when preparing for a persistent live drive.

Your problem may be the same. You can test it (by selecting MSDOS partition table in the settings menu). But it may also be another problem, so if that does not work, but it works to make live-only as well as persistent live drives with mkusb-plug, you may have to boot Xubuntu 20.04.1 via syslinux (at least in BIOS mode). Please notice that you can create a persistent live drive with mkusb-plug from a Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso file.

Xubuntu 20.10 is always booting via grub, also when cloned to a USB drive. If you are interested and have the time, you can test creating a persistent live drive (of 20.10) with Rufus as well as with mkusb-dus and mkusb-plug and share your results

I have tried by selecting MSDOS partition table in mkusb-dus both on Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso and Xubuntu 20.10i,iso. The Live drive does not boot.
It boots only via syslinux when created through Rufus or mkusb-plug.

This leads me to another question. Suppose I do full install to usb will it boot?
If it does not is there any way to install syslinux on full install to usb so that it boots.

Kamalakar

[sudodus]

I have tried by selecting MSDOS partition table in mkusb-dus both on Xubuntu 20.04.1 iso and Xubuntu 20.10i,iso. The Live drive does not boot.
It boots only via syslinux when created through Rufus or mkusb-plug.

This leads me to another question. Suppose I do full install to usb will it boot?
If it does not is there any way to install syslinux on full install to usb so that it boots.

Kamalakar

I don't know, but I think that you will get the same behaviour with a full install as with a persistent live system. I have read some paper about booting an installed system via syslinux, but I have never tried it, so I don't know the details.

Another option might be to try booting that Dell Inspiron in UEFI mode - I think it is more likely to work via grub (persistent live as well as installed compared to booting in BIOS mode).

[kagashe]

I don't know, but I think that you will get the same behaviour with a full install as with a persistent live system. I have read some paper about booting an installed system via syslinux, but I have never tried it, so I don't know the details.

Another option might be to try booting that Dell Inspiron in UEFI mode - I think it is more likely to work via grub (persistent live as well as installed compared to booting in BIOS mode).

There is no UEFI on this Laptop.

Kamalakar