Howto make USB boot drives

[sudodus]

@Kamalakar,

- Well, I think it would be possible (but maybe difficult) to make this old Dell Inspiron boot into an installed system in a USB drive via syslinux.

- Maybe it will be good enough to run a persistent live system created with Rufus or mkusb-plug.

- But it might work to boot via grub into an internal drive, if your friend wants to replace the old Windows 7.

- If still problems with grub, mkusb-sedd (a sub-shellscript of mkusb-plug) can install a persistent live system into an internal drive, and a persistent live system is more reliable when running from a SATA-connected drive (compared to a USB drive).

[C.S.Cameron]

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

It is very easy to try a full install to USB using a pre-built image file. The one on the following link was created by sudodus and boots in either BIOS or UEFI mode. It should work on just about any old computer that boots USB. See: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1300...-bios-and-uefi

[kagashe]

It is very easy to try a full install to USB using a pre-built image file. The one on the following link was created by sudodus and boots in either BIOS or UEFI mode. It should work on just about any old computer that boots USB. See: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1300...-bios-and-uefi

Thanks. Created on 16 GB USB through Rufus on Windows 7.
It boots on Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop..

Kamalakar

[guiverc]

@sudodus

Created a persistent Lubuntu 20.04.2 thumb-drive using dus 12.6.9 (persistence)

Output and command at terminal can be viewed (for now) via https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/6xpctxFXTF/

System was booted first on
- dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e6850, 5gb, amd/ati radeon rv516/x1300/x1550)

quick play, sudo apt update, 4 upgrades applied & system rebooted
booted again on same box & looked good... no upgrades available, command history present

Next boot was on (command history present, no package upgrades found etc)
- hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290)


Next boot was tried on uEFI
- sony vaio svp112a1cw (i5-9400u, 4gb, intel haswell-ULT)

On this box I get a "Your vaio failed to Start Windows" ??

There was a delay before that appearing, where I assume it tried to boot thumb-drive from prior tests. The vaio has a Lubuntu installed (or other installed, probably focal.2) which boots.

I suspect this is an issue with persistent-thumb drive, as Lubuntu 20.04.2 daily boots when written via cloning...

Next boots on (without issues)
- hp 8200 elite sff (i5-2400, 8gb, nvidia quadro 600)
- hp dc7900 (c2d-e8400, 4gb, intel 4 series integrated i915)
- dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e8300, 8gb, amd/ati radeon rv610/radeon hd2400 pro/xt)
- dell [optiplex] 780 (c2q-q9400, 8gb, amd/ati cedar radeon hd 5000/6000/7350/8350) ; persistent to ram option used

An install was attempted on (persistence)
-- dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e8300, 8gb, amd/ati radeon rv610/radeon hd2400 pro/xt)
but it failed.. the reason is a known calamares (lubuntu) bug, but on a box that has never experienced it before, but most likely unrelated to mkusb/dus/

FYI: of minimal value, but iso.qa.ubu page is http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/m.../1303/results/

[guiverc]

Don't know what to make of this, but @sudodus

New RC has been spun for Lubuntu 20.04.2 now, so it was written to thumb-drives
`dus focal-deskt<tab>`

First was written with the standard LIVE mode only
Second was written with persistence as before.

So far I've only booted on
- sony vaio svp112a1cw (i5-9400u, 4gb, intel haswell-ULT)

which is where I had issues last time with persistence.. but both have booted on sony crapbook.

I then rebooted box; ejected & re-inserted media & it booted again...

Persistence is working, as it knew my wifi & could connect...
Sorry I'm not sure what to make of this, maybe as it contradicts (I think) my prior findings... but it's what I've got now.. I'll continue testing, but my current focus is on Lubuntu's latest RC.

I could later boot it on sony device, but when I attempted to boot it on
- hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290)
the box skipped it (like it does for non-bootable media)

[sudodus]

@guiverc,

Thanks for testing mkusb-dus version 12.6.9

I am looking forward to your final conclusions from testing how the released Lubuntu 20.04.2 LTS iso file can be used to create persistent live drives, and how they work in your Sony Vaio and the hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290).

If still some failures, it will also be interesting to compare the result with 20.04.1 LTS and hirsute hippo. (For example: maybe we should not force dus-persistent to use usb-pack_efi for 20.04.2.)

It is also possible that there is a race condition, that can explain unpredictable results when booting.

[guiverc]

Sorry, my primary focus was on the 20.04.2 release.. and mkusb testing only when time permitted.

My conclusions (as far as I recall) were it was bad luck (it failed, then it worked?? I'd need to do more testing, but on 50% I'd blame bad luck & not mkusb, as I seem to have occasional bad luck with thumb-drives, which get used, re-used so often....

The current daily ISO of hirsute written with persistence appears to have issues with hirsute

It's failed to boot on
- hp 8200 elite sff (i5-2400, 8gb, nvidia quadro 600) ; uEFI capable box
- sony vaio svp112a1cw (i5-9400u, 4gb, intel haswell-ULT)

It boots as expected
- hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290)
- dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e6850, 5gb, amd/ati radeon rv516/x1300/x1550)

(log of 'mkusb' write can be seen at https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/pyRTxK8gB2/)

First successful boot was done on hp dc7700, packages updated (3), `touch blah`, then reboot. On reboot (same box), all updates were applied, command history present & my touched file present.

attempts to reboot on hp.8200 & sony.vaiocrap were re-attempted but failed. dell.755 which was next tried with updated packages present, my 'blah' file present, command history etc & all as expected. dell.755-5 was reboot & all good again.

It looks to me like issues are with uEFI; at least from this very limited testing.

I've had issues today and on uEFI boxes including the sony.crap, which is a little consistent with the other day (but still inconsistent). I'm unlikely to do more today (mkusb wise), as I want to repeat some Lubuntu install testing (and it's getting too warm with multiple boxes on; something most people will likely be envious of!).

http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/m...s/1303/results

[sudodus]

@guiverc,

Thanks for continuing the tests with mkusb-dus.

My conclusions (as far as I recall) were it was bad luck (it failed, then it worked?? I'd need to do more testing, but on 50% I'd blame bad luck & not mkusb, as I seem to have occasional bad luck with thumb-drives, which get used, re-used so often....

I have failed to provoke the failures of mkusb similar to yours, but I have different hardware (computers and USB pendrives). I will keep testing mkusb-dus (making persistent live drives) ...

I notice in your log of the mkusb console that cloning the iso file into partition #4 is very slow (the long list of numbers from 11 to 100 and the total time 9 min 31 sec). It would be interesting to check if your luck will be better after wiping the whole devices (thumb-drives, which get used, re-used so often). The problem might not only be speed, but also choking of the buffer in the USB management system, and my experience is that wiping the whole device will remove some obstacles so that things will work smoother.

[C.S.Cameron]

Greeting:

I have been trialing mkusb 12.6.9 and mkusb-plug 2.8.4 with 20.04.2 for a while now.
It has been a totally boring experience, everything has worked as expected.

The highlight was finding the option in mkusb-plug to create a usbdata partition with a choice of filesystems.
Mkusb has gained a lot of features, I wonder if new manpage(s) are necessary.

My next exercise will be to test the latest version of mkusb with the latest version of Ubuntu to become designated as being supported, 14.04 LTS. For the story on this one see:

https://meta.askubuntu.com/questions...ent42249_19514

Regards

[C.S.Cameron]

I installed Ubuntu 14.04.3 to a USB using dus 12.6.9 installed on 20.04.
(Wow running 14.04 again was great).
I installed mkusb 12.6.9 onto the 14.04 USB.
mkusb-plug had unmet dependencies, (fdisk), and would not install.
I also had no luck installing fdisk.
Once mkusb 12.6.9 was installed I used it to install 14.04.3 to another USB.
I could not find the dus icon but dus boots okay from Terminal.
Ubuntu 14.04 installed on USB from 12.6.9 installed on 14.04 works as expected.
To bad about mkusb-plug.