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I apologise for the wall of text, but I want you to scrutinize my thought-process to make sure there's no mistakes and no other way around it:

I wish to have a full install of lubuntu with full disk encryption on one of my usb drives.

The laptop I would be booting it from also has windows 7. I want to maintain that OS.

From what I've read I must place grub2 on the usb drive so that:

  • If I have the usb plugged in, the laptop would start lubuntu (having USB > HD in the BIOS Boot options)

  • If I don't have the usb plugged in, it would normally start windows 7.

That's exactly what I want it to do. But:

  • If I install from the normal .iso:

    • Clicking "install lubuntu alongside them" would install it onto my normal HD.

    • Clicking "Erase disk and install lunbuntu" would delete all the stuff I have in my HD and install lubuntu on it.

    • Clicking "Something else" would allow me to choose to install lunbuntu and grub2 onto the usb drive, but would not provide it with encryption.

So the normal .iso won't work for what I want. Then I found the alternate .iso and this tutorial:

  • It allows me to install lubuntu with all the options I want and gives me the option to choose where to place the grub2!

Hopefully there are no flaws in my train of thought. If there aren't, I have a few questions regarding that tutorial:

  • The author says in his case choosing "Yes to install GRUB to your MBR" installed the grub to the usb drive's mbr. I can't have "in his case". I need to be sure that's what it will do, so that it doesn't mess up the windows boot loader.

  • Choosing "no" would open this window and allow to choose where I want to install the grub. Unfortunately I don't understand which option I should type in the box to install it into the usb drive.

  • Would removing my laptop's Hard Drive ensure that the grub is installed onto the usb drive if i picked first option, "yes"?

I apologise once again for the wall of text and appreciate any help you guys can offer me.

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  • If you unplug your internal HDD before proceeding it will be impossible to mess it up. Dec 3, 2016 at 4:13

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Unplug internal HDD and try to install on USB. If you can reboot after installation and have linux running from USB. Just change the boot order: 1 Usb device (I use Sandisk EXREME 32GB and USB3) 2 Internal CD/DVD 3 Internal HDD When you have USB plugged will boot from Usb.

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