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Thread: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Mac

  1. #11
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    I don't think it's relevant to me personally but it may be relevant to people who have a Mac of that age and may come across those particular problems, maybe.
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  2. #12
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Quote Originally Posted by sudodus View Post
    Could this be a clue to why it is difficult to make USB flash drive that can boot on Macs? See this link

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...k#Known_Issues
    I don't have the knowledge for extensive testing, just some anecdotal evidence: I took the Sandisk Cruzer that I had prepared following Quackers' great tutorial, wiped the content and used unetbootin under linux to install a different linux system (xubuntu 13.04). The drive booted both my MacBook and a Lenovo Thinkpad. So the information might be not 100 % accurate.

  3. #13
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    That's good to know. Thanks pindar.
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  4. #14
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    I added this note in the paragraph 'Known Issues'

    [This information about known issues is a few years old, and may or may not be valid today (September 2013).]

  5. #15
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Thanks sudodus
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  6. #16
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Quote Originally Posted by Quackers View Post
    pindar
    I'm glad it worked for you. and thanks for your comments.
    I'm looking for other places to post this information but would appreciate confirmation of the guide's validity first. ie different versions of Ubuntu and Syslinux etc.

    For my own information could you please give me the following details?
    The size and make of your USB stick
    Which exact version of Ubuntu/Linux iso file you used
    Which version of Syslinux you downloaded and which of its directories the mbr.bin was in
    Were there any problems for you or was there anything I have missed from the guide?

    Many thanks and enjoy your new Live USB
    Thank you for your effort and your information, i followed your guide but i didn't manage to make a functional live-usb. This are my information:

    OS: Mac OS X 10.6.8
    Hardware: Mac Mini 3,1
    Ubuntu ISO version: ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64+mac
    syslinux version: 6.01
    usb pen drive: Corsair 8gb

    I tried the following:

    1. format and partition the flash drive with MBR (disk utility -> options) and use:
    1.1 /syslinux-6.01/bios/mbr/mbr.bin/
    1.2 /syslinux-6.01/efi32/mbr/mbr.bin/
    1.3 /syslinux-6.01/efi64/mbr/mbr.bin/

    2. with GUID:
    2.1 /syslinux-6.01/bios/mbr/mbr.bin/
    2.2 /syslinux-6.01/efi32/mbr/mbr.bin/
    2.3 /syslinux-6.01/efi64/mbr/mbr.bin/

    "Boot Error" was the result and of course after each of these 6 "experimentations" re-format the flash drive and follow step-by-step your instructions, always checking if the flash-drive was mounted.

    Also, the command:
    Code:
    diskutil unmount /dev/diskX
    never worked for me, instead i used:
    Code:
    diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX
    If you could provide me with any insights/suggestions/directions i'm happy to test them

    ps: I even replaced the rEFIt program i used with the rEFInd that you used, so i could reduce the possible errors/problems.

    ps2: all 3 mbr.bin files seems to contain the same (bytecode?) text, so i assume that it doesn't make any difference which one anyone choose.
    Last edited by sthrss; October 1st, 2013 at 08:09 PM.

  7. #17
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    sthrss, you're right about the unmount command. I suspect I've chopped the end off whilst editing. Thanks I've edited that.

    Just for clarification you need to cd to syslinux-6/bios/mbr then run the command (not to /syslinux-6.01/bios/mbr/mbr.bin/)
    I would have expected your command to give an error message. Was that the case?

    You're probably better off with rEFInd than with rEFIt as that's not maintained any more.
    Last edited by Quackers; October 2nd, 2013 at 01:53 AM.
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  8. #18
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Quote Originally Posted by Quackers View Post
    sthrss, you're right about the unmount command. I suspect I've chopped the end off whilst editing. Thanks I've edited that.

    Just for clarification you need to cd to syslinux-6/bios/mbr then run the command (not to /syslinux-6.01/bios/mbr/mbr.bin/)
    I would have expected your command to give an error message. Was that the case?

    You're probably better off with rEFInd than with rEFIt as that's not maintained any more.
    Thank you for your quick reply and info! Yes, you're right about the folder i actually run (each time reformating my flash drive and repeating your steps from the beginning):

    Code:
    1st time:
    sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=/Users/sthrss/Downloads/syslinux-6.01/bios/mbr/mbr.bin of=/dev/disk1
    
    2nd time:
    sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=/Users/sthrss/Downloads/syslinux-6.01/efi64/mbr/mbr.bin of=/dev/disk1
    
    3rd time:
    sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=/Users/sthrss/Downloads/syslinux-6.01/efi32/mbr/mbr.bin of=/dev/disk1
    which is the same. My system didn't gave more errors than those that you've mentioned at your 1st post, the ones you've ignored.
    Last edited by sthrss; October 2nd, 2013 at 03:12 AM.

  9. #19
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Hi, just checking but does your Mac boot from a flash drive? It has that capability? Some don't.
    Secondly do you have a different kind of flash drive to try? I have read that some types of flash drive may not have EFI drivers available which could be a problem.
    I can think of no reason why it shouldn't work other than the above.

    It's really the same thing but a different way to go about it but if you copy or move the Syslinux folder to your user's home directory it makes it a lot easier to cd to it. You can then try to run the commands as posted.
    However, if you aren't getting any errors when entering the commands I can't explain why it isn't working.
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  10. #20
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    Re: Fix for making bootable Ubuntu Live USB with persistence using Unetbootin on a Ma

    Quote Originally Posted by Quackers View Post
    Hi, just checking but does your Mac boot from a flash drive? It has that capability? Some don't.
    Secondly do you have a different kind of flash drive to try? I have read that some types of flash drive may not have EFI drivers available which could be a problem.
    I can think of no reason why it shouldn't work other than the above.

    It's really the same thing but a different way to go about it but if you copy or move the Syslinux folder to your user's home directory it makes it a lot easier to cd to it. You can then try to run the commands as posted.
    However, if you aren't getting any errors when entering the commands I can't explain why it isn't working.
    After a long series of tests (lol) i managed to make it work!

    0. GUID partitioning of usb
    1. follow all the steps from your guide except the unebootin part.
    2. sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.isoof=/dev/diskN bs=1m

    I read that the "r" in front of disk is like a parameter for faster copy, so i just preferred the "simple and safer" method; silly thought but it might did the trick.

    Then mac os x returned a window with an error message, something that my device is not recognised and i ignored it. Reboot and voila! the usb worked!

    BUT after the first steps of installation the partition i wanted to use (my hdd was already partitioned, 1 mac os x, 1 16gb for linux and 1 2,1gb for swap), was already in use by /cdrom, i couldn't unmount it by any means, so i opened the partition it was mount [/dev/sda5 -> the one i want to use for the installation] and found that it contained data from the usb, i returned to mac os, reformat them [/dev/sda5; /dev/sda6 -> swap] in ntfs (just in case ubuntu mounts the usb to any free fat32 -like the usb's fs- partition), reboot and the installation run smoothly...

    ... after the final -thought to be- reboot, i tryied to load the new ubuntu installation but efi returned this message:

    No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key



    I'm really exhausted with the situation and the worst part is that i don't have 2nd computer, the cdrom driver is broken and i really need a linux distro in my stupid-for-buying-it-because-it-was-on-discount-offer, old mac mini...


    If you have any thoughts/directions/info on how i should proceed i'm happy to follow, because right now i'm really puzzled and confused on what to do, thanks in advance


    PS: Suddenly now i have no boot options (just boot directly to the mac os), tried to reinstall rEFInd but it didn't help, also i cant reformat the partition were i made the installation nor the swap; when i used "disk utility.app" to erase (format) the partitions, it returned:

    Volume Erase failed with the error:

    Could not modify partition map


    Last edited by sthrss; October 2nd, 2013 at 06:07 PM.

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