Hi, I know there are a few Ubuntu/Linux users around here, so I thought I'd ask about this here rather than register on the Ubuntu forums. Although, I should state that I am a total 'Linux' virgin and am just going with Ubuntu as it seems to be the most popular/easiest to use. Any suggestions for other distros to try are definitely welcome.

I've got a large USB flash drive here that I'm interested in using to create a bootable drive running Ubuntu. My computer at work is shared, so I can't really set anything up how I like it. Therefore, the idea of carrying a portable OS in my pocket with all of my programs and documents is very tempting.

I've tooled around with a few 'USB creator' programs, which unpack the Ubuntu ISO and set it up on the USB drive, but this has been a very problematic experience so far. Issues I've seen range from rendering the USB drive unable to boot after a few uses to actually altering the bootloader on the Windows drive (to the extent that I couldn't boot my Windows computer without the USB drive inserted!). So far, no real success.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with trying to do something like this, and might know of a 'surefire' way to get an install of Ubuntu or other Linux distro running on a bootable USB drive.

Take a look at OpenSUSE. I run 11.4 on my desktop but the new release is out. There are Gnome and KDE versions that are listed as bootable from USB drives.

OpenSUSE has been a quite complete and robust distribution for me.
http://software.opensuse.org/121/en

All my USB flash drives are simply too slow to actually run an OS. I guess the new USB 3.0 flash drives coming out now would run OK.

IMO Mint is the easiest to get used to and "Windows-like". OpenSUSE is a close 2nd, I like it a lot too.

Thanks very much for the suggestions. The few times Ubuntu was actually able to fully boot and let me log in, performance (even on USB 1.0) was not much different than the harddrive-based Windows install, certainly acceptable. I'll take a look at OpenSUSE and Mint, hopefully they'll be a bit more USB friendly than Ubuntu has so far been.

If you're keeping it on a usb drive or disc, you need to run it as a livecd so it runs out of the computer's memory. It just loads off of the usb drive or disc. The thing is that this is temporary, and any files you create etc are gone after you shut down if not stored in the right places. Good for troubleshooting, but not a good option for normal day to day use.

If you want an actual install, start with the live cd and you'll have the option to install the OS on your harddrive, beside Windows--actually, around it. You'll have the option to keep Windows. The main thing to get used to with Linux is how it uses partitions. You'll have hundreds, most not even used. Windows will be in one.
I run Mint with XP on my netbook, it's a nice way to have it.
Obviously if this is a work pc you don't want to do this.

I've been booting the UBuntu Live DVD w/ no problems.

I never "Installed" to a USB Drive, as It would constantly have to re-load drivers for new devices as I take it from System to System.

I Started Booting 7.10 from a DvD-R or USB Stick it loads up and is fully functional in the "Try UBuntu" state, Minus the "Specialized/Proprietary Drivers".

I only found 1 system that didnt load "Generic" drivers for network, and that was because his system's Network Chip was newer than the build I had at the time..

I Save any data I need to an External USB Harddisk.

Running in 'Live' mode from USB was almost trivial, however I quickly found that none of my settings to personalize the install were being saved between reboots. As you note, RK, this is not acceptable for day-to-day use.

Most of the USB installers (like Universal USB-Installer) seem to have an option for enabling 'persistence,' which means that they create a cache file of whatever size you choose to store those settings. Good results while it lasted in Ubuntu, but eventually the device stopped booting. Admittedly I didn't spend a whole lot of time troubleshooting, but I presume Ubuntu just doesn't really like being run this way.

The USB installers also have the benefit of allowing the drive to be formatted in FAT32, meaning it can be read by a normal Windows machine and used for file storage.

Installing from Live CD to USB had the nasty side effect of overwriting the Windows bootloader on my C:\ drive with GNU GRUB, so that I could not start into Windows without the USB stick inserted. I'm not sure if there's a way to prevent the installer from doing this; perhaps by physically disconnecting the harddrive before installing?

run the install from DVD-> USB w/ no drives connected :p

IMO this was an oversight or failure on the part of the installer. No properly working USB installer should touch the HDD in the host machine.

And while it may seem strange, as SkateZilla mentions you can double safe your work by disconnecting your HDDs while installing. I did this myself, so that the OpenSUSE installer would not detect my Win7 installation. This allows me to choose my boot HDD via the motherboard BIOS with no interaction from any bootloader.

Thats what I did for my Ubuntu Live USB, Disconnected HDDs, Inserted live DVD, chose install, Thumbstick shows up as a Drive, Install to thumb Stick, Change Boot Order in BIOS to USB->DVD->HDD

If USB Stick is present it boots to UBuntu, If Not it checks DVD Drive for Live CD, then Boots from HDD (My Mobo has the option to skip directly to HDD Boot by pressing ESC.)

My other System I Built for my brother I can set a Prompt at post (ie F1=Setup, F2=DVD, F3=USB, ESC=HDD), and it would auto boot HDD after 10 seconds.



If you dont want to unplug everything, Setup a Virtual Machine with no Shared HDDs, But with Optical/ISO and USB Drive,
Insert USB Key,
Load LiveDVD ISO or Insert in DVD Drive.
Have VM Boot the Live DVD, Choose install, select the USB Thumbstick.


I May start using Virtual Machines on all my other systems and just use the Same UBuntu Linux Key, Since the Video and Everything is nearly the same in the Virtual Machine Environment, its less hassle, just boot Virtual Machine off the USB Key inside Windows at home, or at office or friends house.

Thanks my men. I'll give it a try later tonight and report back.

Okay, Linux Mint was working great at home, and even on another computer here at the office. On my own computer, however, I get the blank screen on boot. Pressing ESC to view the boot process during start-up showed the following error:



A bit of research seems to suggest that this error is the fault of the USB installer, in this case Universal USB Installer. Some people report success using unetbootin to setup the USB stick; I'll have to grab that and give it a try later tonight.

Well, an update for anyone who was interested in this. Eventually I ditched the USB installers altogether. As a total Linux newbie, my understanding is very shaky, but I think both Universal USB Installer and unetbootin function on the same principle; running the install as a live CD and creating a casper-rw image to trick the install into seeing the image as persistent storage. Each install following this route worked for a few days, but would inevitably become corrupted after a few uses so that I could no longer even get a command prompt.

In the end I just totally ditched these installers, and went back to one of the original suggestions: just do a normal install from the CD to the USB stick as if it were a harddrive.

Paying closer attention this time in the install process, I did NOT install GRUB to my Windows harddrive. That was my bad in the first place, the option IS there in the installer. Though to be fair, it is set to the harddrive by default, and being the neophyte that I am, I had NFC what it meant.

Anyways, long story made short, the whole shebang is working great. Going on two weeks of use with no issues to report. I ended up going with Xubuntu as my distro of choice - I tried Linux Mint and a few others, but the final installs were just too big to fit comfortably on the flash drive. No problems whatsoever switching between computers, as well - it functions equally well on my work computer, home computer, and a few others I've tried.

Fun way to try Linux if you have a big flash drive kicking around.