Howto make USB boot drives

[rountree]

Short version: Selecting "Start Lubuntu - persistent live", "Start Lubuntu - persistent live to RAM" and "Start Lubuntu" from the grub menu all lead to the following error:

error:  disk `hd0,4' not found.
error:  you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue. . .

Looking at /dev/sdb3, the grub.cfg file indeed has set root=(hd0,4) in each stanza. Dropping into the grub command line and doing the set root=([TAB] thing, the available drives are memdisk, hd0, hd1 and hd2. We're looking for ($root)/casper/vmlinuz, and it'll be on the EFI partition. Hand-editing the grub cfg at boot time so that root points to (hd1,gpt3) works a charm.

Any ideas on why the correct partition wasn't picked up when the USB was created?

System info:
USB created using mkusb 11.2.2 running under and up-to-date Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS host. ISO is lubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso.

[sudodus]

@rountree,

Thanks for the feedback

The development of mkusb version 11 was discontinued long ago (there was some overlap with version 12 'dus'). But I must admit, that version 11 has not been tested with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and later versions, while it may still be a good alternative for older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu community flavours like Lubuntu.

Please use the current version 12.3.2 (also known as 'dus' and 'mkusb-dus'). It is tested with all the current versions of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu community flavours including 18.04.x LTS, 18.10 and Disco Dingo (to be released as 19.04), and I think it can do what it is expected to do.

By the way, lubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso is debugged and polished compared to lubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso. Both iso files come with the linux 4.15 kernel series.

In the attached file (created with default settings by mkusb version 12.3.2 in my Lubuntu 18.04.1 LTS installed system) you can see that there is persistence (the root partition has the same data as the casper-rw partition as shown by df).

[rountree]

@sudodus

Thanks for the quick response! I'll grab the latest version and see if it's fixed there.

Barry

[jis]

Hello Sudodus

I made presistent live USB stick of Xubuntu 18.04.1 by dus 12.3.2. In presistent session I installed nvidia-340 (in Additional drivers dialog) in order to test, if the driver works with certain Nvidia graphics hardware. I wish it could be used with more than one hardware for which the driver is meant for. When I rebooted the persistent live, I saw by

sudo lshw -c video | grep driver

that nouveau driver was still be used instead of nvidia. This happended with a hardware on which I have successfully installed Xubuntu 18.04.1 along with nvidia-340 that works there. So I wonder why the driver can not work in persistent USB session?

[C.S.Cameron]

So I wonder why the driver can not work in persistent USB session?

Proprietary video drivers need to load before the casper-rw persistence partition loads. A cart before the horse thing as the instructions to load the driver are located in the persistence file.

If you want to use proprietary drivers, you need to do a Full install to USB.

Good news is that Nvidia now does not load the drivers if the computer does not have a Nvidia card.

[sudodus]

Proprietary video drivers need to load before the casper-rw persistence partition loads. A cart before the horse thing as the instructions to load the driver are located in the persistence file.

If you want to use proprietary drivers, you need to do a Full install to USB.

Good news is that Nvidia now does not load the drivers if the computer does not have a Nvidia card.

+1

See for example How do I install Ubuntu to a USB key? (without using Startup Disk Creator)

@C.S.Cameron, you know some good methods too (please post a link or two).

[khbkhb]

mkusb is well documented ... but I'm puzzled at the behavior on Ubuntu 18.10

Installed per the wiki

sudo -H dus custom.iso
dus 12.3.2
Drive that contains source file: /dev/sda
Live drive, that is booted from: /dev/sda
cands=2
20G
20G
built-in device
sdc
SanDisk_Cruzer_Glide
14.3G
usb
USB or memory card
p_target: target=/dev/14.3G
No target device or bad target device
p_clean:

That is, creating a persistent volume keeps failing ... the target appears healthy (can install other stuff to it, reformat, etc.) I'd have expected it to be addressed as /dev/sdc (actually, at the time I thought it was sdb, but I've done enough experiments and changed ports, it's changed places over time).

Is there some part of the fine wiki I've missed? Some obvious configuration blunder?

[sudodus]

@khbkhb,

0. Something goes very wrong when you get

p_target: target=/dev/14.3G

Let us try to debug the problem together.

1. Is Ubuntu 18.10

- the operating system, where you installed mkusb, or
- the operating system, that you want to install (somehow customized)?

2. Please describe with more details your custom iso file.

3. I run dus directly without sudo as

dus custom.iso

Please try if that works better.

---

4. Please run the following commands (with your USB pendrive, the SanDisk_Cruzer_Glide, connected).

sudo lsblk -f
sudo lsblk -m
sudo parted -ls
df -h

Post the output between code tags like this (it makes the output easier to read)

[code]
output
[/code]

to get output like this

output

---

Edit 1:

I tested in an Ubuntu 18.10 system, installed and up to date (updated & upgraded today), and mkusb works for me. There is something in your Ubuntu system, that is confusing the identification of drives.

It will be interesting to see the output of the four command lines according to item 4 above.

tester@tester-desktop:/mnt/home/tester/Downloads$ dus ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso 
 dus 12.3.2 
live system or temporary superuser permissions
Drive that contains source file: /dev/sda
Live drive, that is booted from: /dev/sda
cands=2
sdb
DT_Workspace_32GB
29,1G
ata
built-in device
sdc
SanDisk_Cruzer_Blade
 3,7G
usb
USB or memory card
p_target: target=/dev/sdb
live system or temporary superuser permissions
settings=
percent=50
Prepare  persistent live  system from
'ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso'
to the target device (drive) '/dev/sdb'
MODEL            NAME   FSTYPE  LABEL               SIZE
DT Workspace     sdb                               29,1G
                 ├─sdb1 ntfs    usbdata            13,5G
                 ├─sdb2                               1M
                 ├─sdb3 vfat    usbboot             244M
                 ├─sdb4 iso9660 Ubuntu 18.10 amd64  1,9G
                 └─sdb5 ext4    casper-rw          13,5G
p_clean:
live system or temporary superuser permissions
Drive that contains source file: /dev/sda
Live drive, that is booted from: /dev/sda
cands=2
sdb
DT_Workspace_32GB
29,1G
ata
built-in device
sdc
SanDisk_Cruzer_Blade
 3,7G
usb
USB or memory card
p_target: target=/dev/sdb
settings=msdos
percent=50
Prepare  persistent live  system from
'/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso'
to the target device (drive) '/dev/sdb'
MODEL            NAME   FSTYPE  LABEL               SIZE
DT Workspace     sdb                               29,1G
                 ├─sdb1 ntfs    usbdata            13,5G
                 ├─sdb2                               1M
                 ├─sdb3 vfat    usbboot             244M
                 ├─sdb4 iso9660 Ubuntu 18.10 amd64  1,9G
                 └─sdb5 ext4    casper-rw          13,5G
/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
/dev/sdb
50
settings=msdos
-----
live system or temporary superuser permissions
/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
/dev/sdb
50
settings=msdos
source=/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
target=/dev/sdb
percent=50
msdos=true
upefi=false
dni=false
source=/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
ls -l  /mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 tester 1003 1999503360 mar  2 11:59 /mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
start [dus-persistent 12.3.0] @ 2019-03-02 14:17:20
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Making a USB boot drive or memory card ..........................
running operating system:  ubuntu 
grub_n_iso "$source" "$target" "$result"
grub_n_iso /mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso /dev/sdb 
***** tu=/dev/sdb ****************************************************
selected target partition table: 'msdos'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
mount: /tmp/dus.q7IdlRWz28: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
 Ubuntu 18.10 "Cosmic Cuttlefish" - Release amd64 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
mount: /tmp/dus.xPQtOVETj3: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
select_boot_system: usb-pack_efi is available
select_boot_system: usb-pack_efi: using variable 'upefi=false'
item 00
'/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso' is identified as the source ISO file
<pre>
MODEL            NAME   FSTYPE  LABEL              MOUNTPOINT  SIZE
DT Workspace     sdb                                          29.1G
                 |-sdb1 ntfs    usbdata                       13.5G
                 |-sdb2                                          1M
                 |-sdb3 vfat    usbboot                        244M
                 |-sdb4 iso9660 Ubuntu 18.10 amd64             1.9G
                 `-sdb5 ext4    casper-rw                     13.5G
</pre>
Using the file '/usr/share/mkusb/grub.cfg'
item 10
Clean for a GUID partition table
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.3

Warning! Disk size is smaller than the main header indicates! Loading
secondary header from the last sector of the disk! You should use 'v' to
verify disk integrity, and perhaps options on the experts' menu to repair
the disk.
Caution: invalid backup GPT header, but valid main header; regenerating
backup header from main header.

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: damaged

****************************************************************************
Caution: Found protective or hybrid MBR and corrupt GPT. Using GPT, but disk
verification and recovery are STRONGLY recommended.
****************************************************************************

Command (? for help): This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): 
Command (? for help): 
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sdb.
The operation has completed successfully.
Wipe the first megabyte (mibibyte) to get a clean boot area
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.00255564 s, 410 MB/s
Wait 5 seconds and a little more ...
item 20

 selected 'grub.img' 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Selected percentage of remaining space for persistence = 50 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
partition 2 - bios_grub  installing via 'grub.img'
partition 3 - fat32 boot,efi        via 'grub.img' ...
62976+0 records in
62976+0 records out
257949696 bytes (258 MB, 246 MiB) copied, 2.52553 s, 102 MB/s
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.3

Caution: invalid backup GPT header, but valid main header; regenerating
backup header from main header.

Warning! Main and backup partition tables differ! Use the 'c' and 'e' options
on the recovery & transformation menu to examine the two tables.

Warning! One or more CRCs don't match. You should repair the disk!

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: damaged

****************************************************************************
Caution: Found protective or hybrid MBR and corrupt GPT. Using GPT, but disk
verification and recovery are STRONGLY recommended.
****************************************************************************

Command (? for help): 
Caution: The CRC for the backup partition table is invalid. This table may
be corrupt. This program will automatically create a new backup partition
table when you save your partitions.

Problem: The secondary header's self-pointer indicates that it doesn't reside
at the end of the disk. If you've added a disk to a RAID array, use the 'e'
option on the experts' menu to adjust the secondary header's and partition
table's locations.

Identified 2 problems!

Command (? for help): 
Expert command (? for help): Relocating backup data structures to the end of the disk

Expert command (? for help): 
Recovery/transformation command (? for help): 
Recovery/transformation command (? for help): 
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sdb.
The operation has completed successfully.
partition 1 - ntfs 'usbdata'
Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
partition 4 - iso9660 - cloned system
Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
partition 5 - ext4 - 'casper-rw'
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
item 30
 using grub.img: keeping file system of /dev/sdb3:  
item 40
preparing /dev/sdb1  ------------------------------------------------
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.0643452 s, 16.3 MB/s
umount: /dev/sdb1: not mounted.
Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.
Creating NTFS volume structures.
Creating root directory (mft record 5)
Creating $MFT (mft record 0)
Creating $MFTMirr (mft record 1)
Creating $LogFile (mft record 2)
Creating $AttrDef (mft record 4)
Creating $Bitmap (mft record 6)
Creating $Boot (mft record 7)
Creating backup boot sector.
Creating $Volume (mft record 3)
Creating $BadClus (mft record 8)
Creating $Secure (mft record 9)
Creating $UpCase (mft record 0xa)
Creating $Extend (mft record 11)
Creating system file (mft record 0xc)
Creating system file (mft record 0xd)
Creating system file (mft record 0xe)
Creating system file (mft record 0xf)
Creating $Quota (mft record 24)
Creating $ObjId (mft record 25)
Creating $Reparse (mft record 26)
Syncing root directory index record.
Syncing $Bitmap.
Syncing $MFT.
Updating $MFTMirr.
Syncing device.
mkntfs completed successfully. Have a nice day.
preparing /dev/sdb5  ------------------------------------------------
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.0117795 s, 89.0 MB/s
umount: /dev/sdb5: not mounted.
mke2fs 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)
Creating filesystem with 3532667 4k blocks and 884736 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 93537b80-4975-4357-814f-c028242afcd2
Superblock backups stored on blocks: 
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208

Allocating group tables: done                            
Writing inode tables: done                            
Creating journal (16384 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done   

item 50
mount: /tmp/dus.xPQtOVETj3: /mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso is already mounted.
fatlabel: warning - lowercase labels might not work properly with DOS or Windows
tune2fs 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
source=/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
item 60
umount: /dev/sdb3: not mounted.
mount /dev/sdb3 /tmp/dus.ss4BsyAKRB
/dev/sdb3       241M  6.1M  235M   3% /tmp/dus.ss4BsyAKRB
item 65
umount: /dev/sdb1: not mounted.
/dev/sdb1        14G   65M   14G   1% /tmp/dus.VhmwNfOMl0
 use 'grub.img' so do not remove files:  
item 70
 UEFI Bootloader:  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
item 80
 Bootloaders via 'grub.img', skipping 'usb-pack_efi':  
set timeout=10
set default=0
menuname: ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
 set security upgrade action to 'Display immediately' 
umount: /dev/sdb4: not mounted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
do_n_show:
&lt; "/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso" pv -ni2 | dd of=/dev/sdb4 bs=4096
 
( < "/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso" pv -ni2 | dd of=/dev/sdb4 bs=4096 && echo 'Done' > /dev/stderr ) 2>&1 || ( echo '# failed';sleep 1 )
Please wait for sync (flushing file system buffers to the device)
until 'Done' is written ...
'pv %'; 'dd final output'
31
41
49
55
61
67
72
78
84
91
97
100
488160+0 poster in
488160+0 poster ut
1999503360 byte (2,0 GB, 1,9 GiB) kopierade, 31,0616 s, 64,4 MB/s
Done
do_n_show: Work done
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
Syncing the target device ...
item 90
Wait 5 seconds and a little more ...
<pre>
parted -s "/dev/sdb" print
Model: Kingston DT Workspace (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 31.2GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name     Flags
 2      1049kB  2097kB  1049kB               primary  bios_grub
 3      2097kB  258MB   256MB   fat32        primary  boot, esp
 4      258MB   2277MB  2019MB               primary
 5      2277MB  16.7GB  14.5GB  ext2         primary
 1      16.7GB  31.2GB  14.5GB  ntfs         primary  msftdata

lsblk -o MODEL,NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE "/dev/sdb"
MODEL            NAME   FSTYPE  LABEL              MOUNTPOINT  SIZE
DT Workspace     sdb                                          29.1G
                 |-sdb1 ntfs    usbdata                       13.5G
                 |-sdb2                                          1M
                 |-sdb3 vfat    usbboot                        244M
                 |-sdb4 iso9660 Ubuntu 18.10 amd64             1.9G
                 `-sdb5 ext4    casper-rw                     13.5G
</pre>
 Done :-) 
The target device is ready to use.
'/mnt/home/tester/Downloads/ubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso'
was installed
item 100
Cleanup after dus-persistent finished :-)
Cleanup after dus-persistent finished :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total time used [by dus-persistent] = 91 s; 00:01:31
p_clean:
live system or temporary superuser permissions
clean if necessary and return

tester@tester-desktop:/mnt/home/tester/Downloads$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 18.10
Release:	18.10
Codename:	cosmic

tester@tester-desktop:/mnt/home/tester/Downloads$ uname -a
Linux tester-desktop 4.18.0-15-generic #16-Ubuntu SMP Thu Feb 7 10:56:39 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
tester@tester-desktop:/mnt/home/tester/Downloads$

[sudodus]

Problem with the 4 GiB max file size in FAT32

Several (but not all) Windows 10 iso files released in October 2018,

Win10_1809Oct_Language_x64.iso

contain a version of the file install.wim with size > 4 GiB. It means that mkusb's method does not work because the FAT32 file system cannot manage it. Until this is fixed in mkusb, you can

- use woeusb according to this link. This works in both BIOS and UEFI mode but not with secure boot.

- do it yourself with detailed help at help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/iso2usb/diy/windows-installer-for-big-files. This works in both BIOS and UEFI mode also with secure boot.

[jdeca57]

Hi, I found this thread because I had some problems with an installation of KNOPPIX and the DVD version exceeds 4GB. For my problem I found the use of ddrescue to be the solution as in the third possibility of https://fossbytes.com/create-bootabl...om-iso-ubuntu/ and it has the advantage of being straightforward and it works on Ubuntu 18.10 as that is what I'm running on this PC.