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NEVERMIND~

Before I start, I am completely new to Ubuntu and the terminal commands used. I only know a few from what I have tried.

I have been working on trying to install Ubuntu on a 31GB flash drive, which hasn't been working. So far I've been able to boot onto the Ubuntu desktop and run some programs. However, I still need to install Ubuntu onto the flash drive. When I use GPartition, I cannot unmount the partition /dev/sdb1 because it is "busy", even with umount -l /dev/sdb1. But if I use sudo, it works fine.

After I split 2GB off of the full flash drive space to be used as "swap space" (using GPartition), I set the first partition with more space to be a ext4 file system with the "/" (which I assume is "/root"), and click "format system files", and set the other partition to be "swap area."

I then set the installation file to the /dev/sdb file (not /dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdb5). When I click the install button, an error comes up saying

"Failed to create system file; The ext4 file system creation in partition #1 SCS17 (0,0,0) (sdb) failed."

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  • FYI, / and /root are two different things. / is the filesystem root (like C: or D: on Windows) and /root is the home folder of the root user.
    – wjandrea
    Apr 30, 2016 at 21:16
  • You're not trying to install onto the same USB drive that you booted from, are you?
    – wjandrea
    Apr 30, 2016 at 21:18
  • @wjandrea Yeah, guess I'm dumb. Anyway, where would I install it then? I want it to be installed on a USB so I can access Ubuntu on most computers. Is there any way to do this?
    – user537855
    Apr 30, 2016 at 22:16
  • I'll write you an answer.
    – wjandrea
    May 1, 2016 at 3:30

2 Answers 2

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So we've already established in comments that you're trying to run Ubuntu and install it on the same disk at the same time, which isn't going to work.

Where you want to have a portable version of Ubuntu on a USB drive, you have two options to choose from:

  1. Live USB with persistence

    • This is part of the walkthrough for using LiLi USB Creator. I'm assuming you're using Windows. There are other possible methods. Let me know if this one doesn't work.

  2. Full install on the USB drive

    • This method should work on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Live USB with persistence is much easier for beginners (you've practically already done it) but it has some limitations, which are explained in the instructions linked above. For more discussion on the differences between the two methods:

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The installation of the Operating System should go to /dev/sdb1 (if it is the "/" partition, the installatoin of the Grub Bootloader should go to /dev/sdb (if there are not any other bootloaders on that drive, ex Windows bootloader, or if you don' t mind overwright it).

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  • I tried this and I still get the error. There is no more information than "Failed to create system file; The ext4 file system creation in partition #1 SCS17 (0,0,0) (sdb) failed."
    – user537855
    Apr 30, 2016 at 20:49

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