Howto make USB boot drives

[sudodus]

mkusb version 12.3.5, 12.3.6

mkusb 12.3.5 - dus: p_target: warning if target size>sizwarn (128 GB) mkusb 12.3.6 - dus: p_target: red warning if target size >= sizwarn (now 60 GB)

The normal usage of mkusb is to create a bootable live-only or persistent live system in a USB pendrive, which is usually small compared to drives used for installed operating systems or mass storage of data. But it is also possible for mkusb to write to a big target drive (to make it bootable, to restore it to a storage device and to wipe it).

There is a new pop up menu warning when trying to write to a drive with size >= 60 GB. This should help the end user avoid overwriting a big drive, when they intend to write to a small USB pendrive or small SSD.

There is already an old warning when the user tries to write to a drive that is identified by the system as an ATA drive or mmcblk drive: 'not a USB drive'. The new warning is similar (but with different text: the target drive size in GB). One of these warnings or both of them may pop up. See the attached screenshots.

---

Unstable 1: You get/update this new version of mkusb from the unstable PPA via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe  # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb mkusb-nox                # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade                         # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems

sudo apt-get install mkusb guidus dus mkusb-common  # to upgrade all mkusb basic components including dus

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi  # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus

Unstable 2: This new version of mkusb might also be available via this link: mkusb/gui#from_phillw.net.
Unstable 3: There are tarballs with only dus and guidus (mkusb version 12) as a last alternative.

---

Stable: mkusb version 12.3.6 is in the stable PPA. The policy is to test mkusb for a long time and in several environments before it is uploaded to the stable PPA (unless there are minor tweaks or bug-fixes).

You get/update this version via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe  # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb mkusb-nox                # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade                         # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems
sudo apt-get install mkusb guidus dus mkusb-common  # to upgrade all mkusb basic components including dus

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi  # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus

[uRock]

The install of unstable via PPA went without a hitch on 18.04 and 19.10. Thanks for this!

[sudodus]

@uRock,

Thanks for testing

[C.S.Cameron]

Thanks Sudodus, now that I have finally got some SSDs, I am sure that I will make good use of the extra warning.
It looks good, but is there a possibility to do it in red?

[sudodus]

It would be possible, but I try to keep mkusb as independent as possible of special features, so that it can work with many distros and versions, with various versions of zenity and libraries that it uses. I used colour high-lighting with red background in mkusb versions 9-11, but skipped it in mkusb version 12, dus, for this reason.

Text colour high-lighting should be common enough to be available and working in most linux systems (and is used in the welcome window of dus).

<b><span bgcolor=$logorgb>- Do USB Stuff -</span>

and

<span fgcolor='#cc0000'>The target device will be completely overwritten</span>

Please edit the file /usr/bin/dus in the function p_target at or near line number 1744 and when you get something that you think works well, please show it to me, and I can enter it into the official code.

Maybe

line number 1744 can be modified to

 tell_risk="<span fgcolor='#cc0000'>'$target' drive size = $sizgb GB. $pls_chk</span>"

Please try and maybe you can improve it for example by adding asterisks or exclamation marks.

Edit:

This warning with red text is uploaded to the PPAs now as mkusb - 12.3.6-1ubuntu2

After testing in ppa:mkusb/unstable

it is also uploaded to the stable ppa:mkusb/ppa

[linmanfu]

sudodus,

This is continuing our discussion on askubuntu (I couldn't use the same username here).

> @Matthew, I like your comment in the bug report about errors in the ext3 file system made by Rufus. I wish that we will be able to cooperate with Pete Batard. You mention that Rufus is user friendly, more so than mkusb. I have to agree with that. You are welcome to help improving the user interface of mkusb - You can go deeply into the code (which is simply bash shellscripts, nothing advanced, no compiling). Or you can stay at the design level, suggesting how the user interface should be (and someone else may be able to implement it, maybe I maybe some other person).


> @Matthew, I have also some other ideas, that can make things much simpler for end users, Please let me know if you are interested and have time to cooperate. In that case you can get a user ID at the Ubuntu Forums, and we can use the message system over there (or some other way of direct communication, maybe even email).

I can't make a long-term commitment to mkusb, because it is just one stage on my journey to getting a working computer when Windows 7 support ends. However, as I offered to do with Rufus, I would like to give something back to the project, since you have so kindly helped me (both personally and by maintaining the project for everyone).

I think the way that I can best help is with the documentation. This is actually one of the strongest points of your work, because you are very careful to document everything you do, either in this thread or on the Ubuntu Community Wiki. It could not be easier for someone to get involved on the scripting side. However, it makes sense to use my professional training in textbook design.

The 'Quick Start Guide' has many good points: the spelling and grammar are adequate, each individual page is clearly designed, and technical jargon is explained. However, I sometimes struggled to understand the relationship between the different slides/pages, as in this example:



I also did not understand the relationship between mkusb, dus, and guidus until I found the Superuser howto. I think it is important to establish this at the start of the document.

I would guess that the weak points in the information structure are the natural result of a document that has been revised by someone who already knows the software well.

If you are able to place an editable version of the Quick Start Guide (ODT, ODP, PPT?) in a place where I can find it (forum attachment, Box, Dropbox?), then perhaps I could edit the document and then send it back to you.

[sudodus]

Hi linmanfu alias Matthew,

I'm glad that you want to edit the mkusb quick start manual

I'm uploading it at

phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/mkusb/mkUSB-quick-start-manual-12.odp

We can decide to use some other location in the future, for example at the locations you suggested or google drive, where both of us can access the same document.

[sudodus]

mkusb version 12.3.7, 12.3.8

mkusb 12.3.7 - dus-persistent: menu_entry_1: new menuentry with toram nopersistent - grub.cfg: new menuentry with toram nopersistent mkusb 12.3.8 - modifications for nvme drives (alongside mmcblk) in dus, dus-live, dus-persistent, dus-restore

A new feature in Ubuntu 19.10 causes the creation of a partition with the label 'casper-rw' if there is unallocated drive space available. This happens not only with the boot option 'persistent' but it is the default (without any particular 'casper' boot option). A live drive will mount the 'casper-rw' parition to /var/crash which can be unmounted and /var/log which will be busy, so that it cannot be unmounted.

But there is a boot option to make the live drive truly live-only: nopersistent, and I have added a menuentry for mkusb to make it easy for you in order to

- backup, restore or repair the partition for persistence
- unmount all partitions on the boot drive so that it can be unplugged or used as a target for a new installation.

nvme drives are getting more popular, and it is time for mkusb to manage such drives. It will still be very uncommon with persistent live system in nvme drives, but it will probably be more common to wipe such a drive using mkusb.

---

Unstable 1: You get/update this new version of mkusb from the unstable PPA via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe     # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb           # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade          # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems

sudo apt-get install mkusb guidus dus mkusb-common  # to upgrade all mkusb basic components including dus

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi    # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus

Unstable 2: This new version of mkusb might also be available via this link: mkusb/gui#from_phillw.net.
Unstable 3: There are tarballs with only dus and guidus (mkusb version 12) as a last alternative.

---

Stable: mkusb version 12.3.8 is in the stable PPA. The policy is to test mkusb for a long time and in several environments before it is uploaded to the stable PPA (unless there are minor tweaks or bug-fixes).

You get/update this version via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe      # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb            # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade           # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi     # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus

[sudodus]

I have tested mkusb in a fairly new laptop with an nvme drive.

- It is a Lenovo V130 with a Samsung drive
- Windows was installed with the storage controller mode RST (a setting in a UEFI/BIOS menu)
- In order for Ubuntu to see the drive I had to change to the storage controller mode AHCI
- I backed up Windows with Clonezilla

- I installed persistent live Lubuntu Focal (yes, into the nvme drive, so the persistent live system is really fast).

It works as it should in this drive. See the attached screenshot.

---

Edit: Please notice that you need mkusb version 12.3.8 in order to manage nvme drives.

[sudodus]

mkusb version 12.3.7, 12.3.8

mkusb 12.3.7 - dus-persistent: menu_entry_1: new menuentry with toram nopersistent - grub.cfg: new menuentry with toram nopersistent mkusb 12.3.8 - modifications for nvme drives (alongside mmcblk) in dus, dus-live, dus-persistent, dus-restore mkusb 12.3.8-1ubuntu3 - mkusb-11 deprecated, replaced by a 'goodbye message'

$ mkusb-11
mkusb-11 version 11.2.3 - goodbye message

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                       |
|  The real mkusb version 11 was edited last time  2018-03-10 (11.2.2)  |
|  and it was only cosmetic. The previous edit was 2017-03-28 (11.2.1)  | 
|  It has been replaced by mkusb version 12 alias dus.                  |
|                                                                       |
|  If you are still using version 11, please try version 12, which has  |
|  been developed with several new features and bugfixes.               |
|                                                                       |
|  If you really want to continue using version 11 (mkusb-11), please   |
|  let me know via a post here in this thread.                          |
|                                                                       |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------- +

---

Unstable 1: You get/update this new version of mkusb from the unstable PPA via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe     # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb           # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade          # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems

sudo apt-get install mkusb guidus dus mkusb-common  # to upgrade all mkusb basic components including dus

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi    # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus

Unstable 2: This new version of mkusb might also be available via this link: mkusb/gui#from_phillw.net.
Unstable 3: There are tarballs with only dus and guidus (mkusb version 12) as a last alternative.

---

Stable: mkusb version 12.3.8 is in the stable PPA. The policy is to test mkusb for a long time and in several environments before it is uploaded to the stable PPA (unless there are minor tweaks or bug-fixes).

You get/update this version via the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository universe      # this line only for standard Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb            # to install
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade           # upgrade to current version (with all other upgrades), only for installed systems

sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi     # for persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files

and you get only the version dus (alone or with guidus) via one of the following commands (if you don't care about mkusb-11, mkusb-nox, mkusb-bas)

sudo apt-get install dus
sudo apt-get install guidus