I am running a live CD with Ubuntu 16.04 and I am trying to create a persistent image on a usb. I have tried everything, but nothing is working. I am on a Toshiba satellite c-50 b. Please help, it is important.
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1It would help other if you mention what you have tried till now– twister_voidMay 15, 2016 at 13:07
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You also can have a look here– VideonauthMay 15, 2016 at 13:08
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4Logically, your problem is insoluble - nothing is left to try if you have already tried "everything".– waltinatorMay 15, 2016 at 13:19
1 Answer
I too have previously tried many different instructions without success and had almost given up when I found a working method using the very nicely created mkusb
tool.
Prior Considerations
I am assuming you have the .iso file (of Ubuntu 16.04) already downloaded. If not get it.
I have tried running these instructions from a Live USB stick so they should work from a LiveCD as well. Note that the USB stick I am live booting from is different from the one I intend to make as a persistent system. I.e. I have 2 USB sticks:
- The one I am booting from (it has Ubuntu 16.04 already)
- The one I am about to make a persistent live USB.
Installing mkusb
Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the following commands one by one:
sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mkusb
The last command might fail (though unlikely) as mkusb
(GUI version) has some dependencies that are not preinstalled/active in the live version of Ubuntu.
No need to panic though, the developer has also created a text only version. Run:
sudo apt-get install mkusb-nox
Creating the persistent drive
I will focus on the main GUI version as that is the one I have used. So if you installed the default mkusb
(GUI version) run:
sudo -H mkusb /path/to/iso/filename.iso p
For example I have copied my Ubuntu iso to the the home folder, so I type:
sudo -H mkusb ubuntu-16.04-desktop-i386.iso p
The last p
parameter tells mkusb that I want a persistent live install. If you omit that you will get a simple live USB.
After you run the command the GUI will open. Follow these steps next:
- Screen 1: Click Select target device
- Screen 2: Double-Click the device you want to install to.
- Screen 3: Double check you have selected the right device. Tick the check-box and click Go.
Screens 4, 5: Just click quit and let
mkusb
decide what's best.After this
mkusb
will load some files. Wait patiently till the next input screen.Screen 6: Enter the percentage of USB drive space you want to allot for persistence file-system. The remaining will show up as portable storage device.
Note: Do not enter a value like 100% as some memory will be required for the Ubuntu OS files.Apparently entering 100% now works. As mentioned in @LMB comment, using 100% means the entire USB is used for the OS and the persistent storage
Done!
Screenshots
The whole process should look something like the following.
Run the command in terminal:
Click Select target device:
Click on the USB drive to make persistent. I want to use my 32 GB one so I double click on option 2:
Double check very carefully and confirm. You don't want to mess up another drive.
Click quit to let mkusb
choose default:
Click quit to let mkusb choose default:
Enter a percentage of the drive to reserve for persistence. Mine is a large (32GB) so I allot only 20% ~ 6GB:
If all goes well you will be greeted by a nice green finished screen:
Now plug your newly made persistent drive in any system and check if it really stores data/settings across reboots (Mine does).
References
You can refer to a nice tutorial by Calvin Bui here to guide you through the GUI step by step or read through the detailed documentation
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb
There has been a previous discussion about it here https://askubuntu.com/a/753163/585316 which I found useful.
Update [August 2017]
As of 01-August-2017 the current version of mkusb
(ver 12) is renamed as dus
. An updated version of this answer for dus
is available here: https://askubuntu.com/a/853839/585316
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@AndreaLazzarotto@terdon Chill guys , I have now added more detailed explicit steps to my answer as I promised in my previous comment. Sorry for the delay, I had a long day and needed rest. I had also prepared a more tutorial-esqe version (which took time) with screen-shots etc but the site wont let me link/show images as I am new here. Anyway please tell me if I can improve the answer further. Thanks.– HarshAug 23, 2016 at 11:13
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4This is an extremely good edit! If you need pictures just post their links as source code and ping me so I can insert them for you. Aug 23, 2016 at 11:26
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2@Andrea Lazzarotto Thanks. I think the up vote to my answer got me enough points to let me attach multiple images. I have added them too in another edit.– HarshAug 23, 2016 at 12:30
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@bvpx Yes. In-fact he screen-shots are from a 32-bit Ubuntu if I remember it right.– HarshJul 19, 2017 at 11:06