Booting linux from usb flash

Ubuntu Documentation

Booting the Computer from USB

Remove all unneeded USB items, but keep the network cable attached.

Boot menu

Instead of editing BIOS settings, you can choose a boot device from the boot menu. Press the function key to enter the boot menu when your computer is booting. Typically, the boot screen displays which key you need to press. It maybe one of F12, F10, F9.

Hotkey

Insert the bootable USB flash drive that you just created in your target computer and restart it. Most newer computers can boot from a USB flash drive. If your computer does not automatically do so, you might need to edit the BIOS settings.

Restart your computer, and watch for a message telling you which key, hotkey to press to enter the BIOS setup.

• It will usually be one of F1, F2, F9, F10, DEL, Enter or ESC.
• The hotkey should be described in the user manual provided by the manufacturer of the computer (a printed or electronic document).

You can also search your hardware on boot-keys.org.

Press this hotkey continuously or tap repeatedly (different between computers) while your computer is booting to edit your BIOS settings. (On HP Mini Netbooks, the correct key is usually F9.)

Edit the BIOS settings

Select ‘hard disk/USB-HDD0’

Note: with some motherboards you have to select ‘hard disk/USB-HDD0’ to choose the USB flash disk. It may work like this because the system sees the USB drive ‘a mass storage device’ as a hard disk drive, and it should be at the top of the boot order list.

So you need to edit the Boot Order. Depending on your computer, and how your USB key was formatted, you should see an entry for «removable drive» or «USB media». Move this to the top of the list to make the computer attempt to boot from the USB device before booting from the hard disk.

Normally you would enter into the BIOS/UEFI menus directly at boot as described above, but if you are running Windows, you can also get there according to this link.

Chainloading

The 40_custom method

In the particular case, that you have linux and grub installed there is also the 40_custom method. Some pendrives boot from grub even if they won’t boot from the computer’s own BIOS USB boot menu entry. See the following link for a background about grub Scripts: /etc/grub.d/

Add the following text to the file 40_custom (notice that it is important to keep the first lines, that come with the file)

and run the command

Then you will get a grub menu option to boot from a second drive (hd1), which could be a USB pendrive. If another drive is hd1, you can edit the line to (hd2) etc.

If there is no grub menu, press the left shift key during boot, and it should appear.

This chainloading method does not work in UEFI mode.

The Chainloader

This method is developed into a method to boot the computer with one USB drive that is a good booter, and chainload to another USB drive, where the operating system resides. See this link Howto help USB boot drives

PLoP Boot Manager

• For old computers that cannot boot from USB. Some computers can see the USB flash drive and may have the option to boot from USB but cannot actually do so. All hope is not lost.

Requirements

• Windows running on the computer
• USB flash drive, ready to boot (shown below)

PLoP Boot Manager — Your alternative USB boot method, https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html

Just follow the instructions on the PLop website.

A detailed guide to make Plop Boot Manager work from GRUB by installing it on hard drive is available here — http://mgw.dumatics.com/how-to-boot-from-usb-when-bios-does-not-have-the-option/

Flow chart for trouble-shooting

There is a flow chart for trouble-shooting and corresponding lists of possible causes of problems to boot from USB at the following link,

Installation/FromUSBStick/bootUSB (последним исправлял пользователь nio-wiklund 2020-07-29 13:21:38)

The material on this wiki is available under a free license, see Copyright / License for details
You can contribute to this wiki, see Wiki Guide for details

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Booting from USB Media: A Comprehensive Overview

While fans of different operating systems might debate which one is the most stable, reliable, flexible or user-friendly, there’s one inarguable point: Every machine – regardless of the OS – can run into issues.

And while users historically would pop a boot media disk into their DVD or CD drive, many computers no longer come with optical disk drives. As a result, booting from USB media is becoming the standard.

How you start that rescue media can vary depending on the operating system you are using, but there are a few general guidelines that can help get your machine started, regardless of the OS you prefer.

So if your system is unstable, you need to run a diagnostic tool on the hard drive, or you just want to load a Linux desktop just to see what it’s all about, let’s look at how you start your machine using rescue USB boot media.

How to boot a Mac from USB media

Getting your Mac to load from a USB drive is fairly straightforward.

1. Insert the USB boot media into an open USB slot.
2. Press the Power button to turn on your Mac (or Restart your Mac if it’s already on).
3. When you hear the startup chime, press and hold the Option key. Holding that key gives you access to OS X’s Startup Manager. Once the Startup Manager screen appears, release the Option key. The utility will look for any available drives that include bootable content.
4. Using either the pointer or arrow keys on the keyboard, select the USB drive you wish to boot from.
5. Once selected, either hit the Return key or double-click your selection. The machine will start to boot from the USB drive.

NOTE: Have multiple USB devices connected to your Mac? Don’t worry. The Startup Manager only lists drives that include bootable content.

Boot from USB: Windows

Starting your PC using USB rescue media is not difficult, although it first requires an adjustment in the BIOS (Basic Input Output System). That’s because the BIOS settings include the boot sequence the machine follows when starting up. The boot order tells the machine which devices to search for the software needed to launch the computer and the priority each device in that search.

If you’re booting from USB media, you must change the BIOS boot order so the USB device is listed first. Otherwise the computer will load from the hard drive as normal.

Start by plugging the thumb drive into a USB port. Then to change the BIOS boot sequence:

1. Press the Power button for your computer.
2. During the initial startup screen, press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10. (Depending on the company that created your version of BIOS, a menu may appear.)
3. When you choose to enter BIOS Setup, the setup utility page will appear.
4. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select the BOOT tab. All of the available system devices will be displayed in order of their boot priority. You can reorder the devices here.
5. Move USB to be first in the boot sequence.

NOTE: If you cannot find USB or Removable Devices among the device options, your BIOS may list it under Hard Drive Devices. In that case, you’ll need to:

• Move Hard Drive Devices to the top
• Expand to show all hard drive device options
• Move USB device to the top of that hard drive list

Save the change and then exit the BIOS Setup.

The computer will restart using the new settings, booting from your USB drive.

Stay alert! Depending on your BIOS, you may be prompted with a message to Press any key to boot from external device and you will only have a few seconds to respond. If you do nothing, your computer will go to the next device in the boot sequence list, which will likely be your hard drive.

In the future, your computer will first check the USB port for boot media when starting up. That won’t be a problem, since the BIOS will move to the next device in the boot sequence . unless you keep the boot media in the USB port. Then the system will launch from that device every time.

Linux USB Boot Process

To boot Ubuntu from USB media, the process is very similar to the Windows instructions above.

1. Confirm the BIOS boot sequence lists the USB drive first, or make that change as needed.
2. After the USB flash drive is inserted into the USB port, press the Power button for your machine (or Restart if the computer is running).
3. The installer boot menu will load, where you will select Run Ubuntu from this USB.
4. Ubuntu will launch and you can begin to working in the system – setting preferences, reconfiguring the system as needed, or running any diagnostic tools.

Creating USB boot media

Regardless of the operating system you are using, booting your machine from USB media does not need to be difficult. A general understanding how your system loads can provide the basics needed to understand what is going on when you use boot media.

Creating USB boot media doesn’t need to be difficult either, although there are several options to consider.

For Mac users, we recommend visiting Apple’s support page on USB boot media. It provides guidance that is specific to the iteration of OS X you are running (i.e. Sierra, High Sierra, Yosemite, etc.) to help you get the boot version you need.

Windows and Linux users might consider Acronis Disk Director 12, which includes an intuitive Boot Media Builder that streamlines the process and offers tremendous flexibility for the type and kind of boot media you can create, including WinPE media.

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3 Ways To Boot Ubuntu Linux From a USB Flash Drive

In this article we’ll see 3 way of installing Ubuntu on a USB drive.
We’ll see how to create a live USB Ubuntu disk, just like your live CD. Only difference is that we’ll be booting and installing Ubuntu using this live USB diskette, and as last option how to do a full installation of ubuntu on your USB drive.

Option 1: Boot Ubuntu as a Live CD from a USB Flash Drive

Use this option to install Ubuntu as a Live Install, which allows you to boot from the USB flash drive in Ubuntu, experience the Linux environment but will not retain any changes or settings after you shut down. This is a great way to get a feel for the OS, test some of it’s capabilities as well as typical hardware compatibility.

Programs you may need to download:

Ubuntu 10.04 (soon 10.10) Live CD ISO available at ubuntu.com

Universal USB Installer available at pendrivelinux.com

What you will need:

Running Windows XP/Vista/7

Fat32 Formatted USB 2.0 Flash Drive, at least 1GB

PC with a Bios that can boot from USB

Now with all of the necessary components in place, we can begin to setup our Ubuntu Live USB Drive.

1. Run the Universal USB Installer by Pendrivelinux.com that you downloaded earlier.

2. Choose Ubuntu 9.10/10.04.1 Desktop i386

3. Select the Ubuntu Live CD that you downloaded earlier

4. Choose your Flash Drive

5. In this instance, we are going leave the persistence option unchecked.

This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the speed of your system. At one point the progress bar will freeze until it is done, and this is the lengthiest wait of the process.

Once complete, you can reboot your computer with the USB flash drive in the USB port, press F12 for the Boot Menu and choose the removable media to boot from and you are in.

As this is a Live USB, any changes you make to the Ubuntu environment will not persist through a reboot. This is because running in this mode, Ubuntu uses available RAM in place of Swap and Hard Disk space. This option also contains the install files needed to install Ubuntu directly to your desktop if you should so desire.

Option 2: Boot Ubuntu as a Live CD with Persistence from a USB Flash Drive

This option will install Ubuntu Linux onto your flash drive with an area for persistent storage. You will be able to restart the computer, boot back into the Linux environment and all settings or changes made previously will persist.

NOTE: This option is particularly hard on Flash Memory, as there can be quite a bit of reading and writing to the Flash Memory.

What you will need:

Running Windows XP/Vista/7

Fat32 Formatted USB 2.0 Flash Drive, at least 2GB

PC with a Bios that can boot from USB

Now with all of the necessary components in place, we can begin to setup our Ubuntu Live USB Drive.

1. Run the Universal USB Installer by Pendrivelinux.com that you downloaded earlier.

2. Choose Ubuntu 9.10/10.04.1 Desktop i386

3. Select the Ubuntu Live CD that you downloaded earlier

4. Choose your Flash Drive

5. Select the Persistence Option of 1GB Casper-RW

This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the speed of your system. At one point the progress bar will freeze until it is done, and this is the lengthiest wait of the process.

Once complete, you can reboot your computer with the USB flash drive in the USB port, press F12 for the Boot Menu and choose the removable media to boot from and you are in.

As this is a Live USB with Persistence, any changes you make to the Ubuntu environment will keep through a reboot. This option also contains the install files needed to install Ubuntu directly to your desktop if you should so desire.

Option 3: Install Ubuntu directly to a USB flash Drive

This option works through installing Ubuntu to the flash drive as a complete installation. It does not retain the installation files to install on another system. This will allow you to use Ubuntu exactly as if it were installed alone on the hard disk. You can boot from it with any computer that can boot from a USB flash drive.

Note: This method requires that you disable your hard drive in BIOS to prevent overwriting your current operating system and force the install onto the USB drive.

What you will need:

USB 2.0 Flash Drive, at least 4GB

PC with a BIOS that can boot from USB

A Computer with the ability to Burn CD/DVD

Now with all of the necessary components in place, we can begin the process.

1. First, you will need to burn your Ubuntu ISO to CD using a program like ImgBurn available at ImgBurn.com

2. Boot your computer and press F2 to enter the system BIOS. Within here you will want to disable your Hard Drive. If this is not an option in your BIOS, I would suggest shutting down your computer and unplugging the power and data cables from your hard drive before proceeding. NOTE: If you choose not to disable your hard drive, you run the risk of installing Ubuntu on top of your current OS and can lose valuable information.

3. After you have disabled your hard drive, place the Ubuntu Live CD into your computer and boot from this.

4. At the initial boot screen, choose to try Ubuntu, not install.

5. Once Ubuntu loads, plug in the desired flash drive into the computer.

6. Now, double click on the Install Ubuntu icon that appears on the desktop.

7. The first 3 screens are language, time zone, and keyboard layout.

8. Now Ubuntu will notify you that there is a disk mounted, and asks to unmount it. This is your flash drive. Give it permission to unmount.

9. This is the prepare disk space screen. I chose to leave mine at default and let the installer handle the partitions needed by Linux.

10. Now you will see the login and user information screen.

11. Now you are ready to install, click install.

12. At one point during the installation, you may notice a skip button appear on the bottom left. This is to skip the auto update, and finally the language packs. I chose to skip language packs update.

13. This may take a while, mine took atbout 35 minutes to complete. When it is done, eject the disk and shut down the computer. Plug your hard drive back in if necessary, or boot your computer into bios and re-enable it. Reboot your computer and press F12 to enter the boot menu, choose the flash drive and boot into Ubuntu.

About the Author

Joshua Bulman is a full time web designer and IT support technician for a company that provides custom USB drives via the web marketplace. He enjoys reading fiction, writing just about anything, and discovering new technologies.

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