LiveUsbPendrivePersistent

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Take out the pendrive and put it back. Ubuntu Dapper will mount the pendrive automatically. Mount the partitions on the pendrive. Take out the pendrive and put it back. Ubuntu Dapper will mount the pendrive automatically if you have checked this option under System -->Preferences--> Removable media. Otherwise use 'mount' :
{{{
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/mountpointyouhave1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/mountpointyouhave2
}}}
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So you do not linux the folder 'isolinux' on the pendrive but only its contents directly in the root. So you do not copy the folder 'isolinux' on the pendrive but only its contents directly in the root of the first partition of the pendrive.

Page under construction.

Introduction

It is possible to have Ubuntu on a USB pendrive with persistent mode. This means that you can boot from a USB pendrive and keep customisations such as keyboard layout, numlock, preferences, additional packages saved on the pendrive. This can be done using linux or windows. You will need a USB pendrive of 1 GB or more. This page is written after having tested the instructions on a Peak III 1 GB pendrive. The preparation of the pendrive is explained using 'fdisk' because I had errors with 'gparted' and i could not give the partitions a volume name.

Installing Ubuntu on USB pendrive using Linux

Preparing the USB pendrive

Making partitions

The preparation of the pendrive is explained using 'fdisk'. You could use 'gparted' or 'qtparted' as well. However I had errors with 'gparted' and I could not give the partitions a volume name. I tested 'qtparted' as well and it worked fine. You can install 'qtparted' under Ubuntu through synaptic although it is native to Kubuntu. Another issue in my case was that 'fdisk' recognised a fat32 filesystem as linux. So I checked it with gparted and it was OK.

Plug in the pendrive and check its device name :

sudo fdisk -l

We are going to suppose that its name is /dev/sda1. Please replace 'sda1' by 'the name you find for your pen drive'. Double check it !

Now we are going to create 2 partitions : 1 partition of 700 MB with a fat32 filesystem and 1 partition with the rest of the pendrive space with volume name "casper-rw" and ext2 filesystem. The first partition will be made active.

Go in terminal and unmount the drive :

sudo umount /dev/sda

Fire up fdisk for the pendrive :

sudo fdisk /dev/sda1

This will give you the fdisk prompt. Look to what you have on the pendrive. Check if you have to backup the data you have on it. 'p' will print the content of /dev/sda. If you have partitions on it remove them ('d', 'partition number', 'w'). Make partition 1 : 'n' for new partition, 'p' to make it a primary partition, then just press enter to accept the proposed starting cylinder, '+700M' to make its size 700 MB. Then 'a' to make it the active partition. Make partition 2 : 'n' for new partition, 'p' to make it a primary partition, then just press enter to accept the proposed starting cylinder, then press enter to accept the proposed ending cylinder. Save and quit fdisk with 'w' to write the new settings. Check the result : sudo fdisk -l You should see the 2 partitions with the first marked with a * because it is active.

Formatting the partitions

We will now format the partitions by putting a filesystem on and giving them the name 'dapper' (or any other name you want) and 'casper-rw' (this name is MANDATORY, do not change other names and do not use capital letters) :

sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n dapper /dev/sda1
sudo mkfs.ext2 -b 4096 -L casper-rw /dev/sda2

Mount the partitions on the pendrive. Take out the pendrive and put it back. Ubuntu Dapper will mount the pendrive automatically if you have checked this option under System -->Preferences--> Removable media. Otherwise use 'mount' :

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/mountpointyouhave1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/mountpointyouhave2

Installing Dapper on the USB pendrive

Download the dapper image (ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso) or put in the install CD if you have it. If you use the downloaded image you can access it as follows (supposing that the image is in the path you are working in):

mkdir ubuntuCD
sudo mount ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso ubuntuCD -o loop

Now put in the CD or open the 'ubuntuCD' and make sure that you see the hidden files too. (verify if View-->Show Hidden Files is checked).

Copy the following folders and files to the 1st partition of your USB pendrive :

Folders : 'casper', 'disktree', 'dists', 'install', 'pics', 'pool', 'preseed', 'programs', '.disk'

Files : all files from the folder 'isolinux', 'md5sum.txt', 'README.diskdefines', 'ubuntu.ico'

So you do not copy the folder 'isolinux' on the pendrive but only its contents directly in the root of the first partition of the pendrive.

Copy 'casper/vmlinuz', 'casper/initrd.gz', 'install/md86plus'. So you will have these files double on the pendrive : once in the root '/' of the partition and once in the folder 'casper' or 'install'.

Rename the file 'isolinux.cfg' to 'syslinux.cfg' either by right clicking on it and selecting 'rename' or in terminal :

rename isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg

LiveUsbPendrivePersistent (last edited 2017-04-30 18:13:47 by es20490446e)