How to Create a EFI/UEFI GRUB2 Multiboot USB drive to boot ISO images

[Sbininit]

For this Tutorial, there are some Assumptions:

1. You can format your usb drive (did you do a backup?)
2. Your USB drive is the /dev/sdb device (You can check yours with sudo fdisk -l or using Gparted)
3. Your USB drive will be mounted at /mnt
4. You are using a Ubuntu distro (any Ubuntu flavour) - Could be a live session (LiveCD)
5. You are logged with the first user (setted at installation or live session default)
6. You are not afraid of Linux Command Interface

First Step: Format USB drive computer. Each manufacturer has its own keys to do it. Search for your machine's manual if needed.

Hey when I do gdisk zap all, I get an error number 2. Did not wipe out MBR. I went on with the tutorial to the letter and my USB wil not boot. It pauses never showingthe USB grub.cfg then falls back to the main PC grub2 menu. Any ideas?

[Sbininit]

For this Tutorial, there are some Assumptions:

1. You can format your usb drive (did you do a backup?)
2. Your USB drive is the /dev/sdb device (You can check yours with sudo fdisk -l or using Gparted)
3. Your USB drive will be mounted at /mnt
4. You are using a Ubuntu distro (any Ubuntu flavour) - Could be a live session (LiveCD)
5. You are logged with the first user (setted at installation or live session default)
6. You are not afraid of Linux Command Interface

First Step: Format USB drive
computer. Each manufacturer has its own keys to do it. Search for your machine's manual if needed.

Hey when I do gdisk zap all, I get an error number 2. Did not wipe out MBR. I went on with the tutorial to the letter and my USB wil not boot.
It pauses never showing the USB grub.cfg then falls back to the main PC grub2 menu.

Any ideas?

[Sbininit]

Hey Sysmatck! I have installed the bootlaoder to a new USB just as you have described here but cant boot to a grub menu in bios.
I did get an error messsage after gdisk zap all had run as follows : Warning MBR was not removed error 2.
Any suggestions?

[sysmatck]

Hey Sysmatck! I have installed the bootlaoder to a new USB just as you have described here but cant boot to a grub menu in bios.
I did get an error messsage after gdisk zap all had run as follows : Warning MBR was not removed error 2.
Any suggestions?

Yes there is something you can try. Using Gparted, go to menu "Devices" -> "Create partition Table". Choose GPT option. This is it, but remember, this will make empty everything on your drive... Always backup!

If you want to try any different command or understand better gdisk, follow this link

[Sbininit]

Yes there is something you can try. Using Gparted, go to menu "Devices" -> "Create partition Table". Choose GPT option. This is it, but remember, this will make empty everything on your drive... Always backup!

If you want to try any different command or understand better gdisk, follow this link

When I go through the instructions at the front of this thread and look in hexedit /dev/sdc1 I see this drive is not bootable.
Is that the way it should read?

I have no UEFI machine to boot it in now that I know of unless one of the lap tops around here happens to be so.

[Sbininit]

Testdisk fixed my MBR after everything else failed.

[QDR06VV9]

Testdisk fixed my MBR after everything else failed.

Good Job and thanks for posting your solution.
Regards

[Sbininit]

Will older BIOS systems boot an EFI fromatted linux flash drive that boots up just like a live CD?

[oldfred]

The standard Ubuntu installer is both BIOS & UEFI.

But old BIOS systems will not boot UEFI only configured flash drive.

I normally create separate flash drives for BIOS & UEFI.
But some have configured with both copies of grub, so you can boot both ways.

Another new, simpler and so far successful attempt to create a stable portable system, that works in UEFI and BIOS mode 16.04
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...0#post13468260
Flash drive to boot in UEFI or BIOS - sudodus
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In.../UEFI-and-BIOS
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...t_in_UEFI_mode

[Sbininit]

I found a way to get my GPT partitioned Tails USB to boot on my older BIOS system by raising its boot flag which is not set by default. Getting that OS to work with persistence has plagued me for a week now. It has to have been the most aggravating linux OS I have ever seen.

sudo parted /dev/sdc1
and type disk_toggle pmbr_boot
exit out and reboot, BAM done! Awsome! Why couldn't I have learned that a week ago?


Come to find out after much searching and reading the bash scripts info .... none of the tails installers or create persistent scripts will run if they find the / partition is not GPT. The scripts error out immeditely and continues to boot without option for persistence.

The live-persistent script in the boot menu will not load if it finds no GPT partition. If that doesn't load then the Tails Greeter never offers to make a persistent storage device. This was a problem for me because I had not been able to make a GPT partition boot in my machine.

I did get Tails USB working with a fat32 partition on sdc1 for my boot and grub2 folders.
sdc2 was ext3 for the iso or mounted and copied files systems via rsync.
Either way I could boot it but never was offered the persistence because the scripts will not run unless there is a GPT partiiton present named Tails.


I never could make the USB boot in this tutorial in my computer so I'm gonna go back and try this with it as well.