How to install for USB booting

joboy · 08-11-2017, 02:54 AM

I just tested the drive on another Dell and it booted without problem, it is a Dell "Dimension" where the non booting one is "Inspiron", both are quite old w/o secure boot, I think I'll leave it won't bother to 'fix' it, thank guys for the tips !

IsaacKuo · 08-11-2017, 02:16 PM

What model of Inspiron is giving you problems? I have had at least two different Dell Inspiron laptops (one really old, one not so old - a Dell inspiron 15 n5050 i3). The old one was so old there was no secure boot or UEFI boot option at all. The newer one does have a secure boot option or UEFI option, I think, but I purposefully left it deactivated in the BIOS.

I'd have to look around in the BIOS to see if I can figure out what its secure boot or UEFI or MBR boot option looks like or what it's even called.

joboy · 08-12-2017, 10:42 PM

FYI the non booting machine is a Inspiron 560 Desktop not a notebook.

Please remember, my problem is when I install the OS with standard hard drive installation method with ext4, the hard drive won't boot properly on some computer via USB adapter, but if I install on flash drive with fat32 it boots on any USB bootable computer.

IsaacKuo · 08-13-2017, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joboy

FYI the non booting machine is a Inspiron 560 Desktop not a notebook.

Please remember, my problem is when I install the OS with standard hard drive installation method with ext4, the hard drive won't boot properly on some computer via USB adapter, but if I install on flash drive with fat32 it boots on any USB bootable computer.

Ah, okay. I don't really know what's going on there, but it sounds like things might work if you install with "/" on ext4 and have a separate /boot partition as FAT32. Make /boot, say, 200MB in size, and make the rest of the drive an ext partition for "/".

I don't really understand what you mean by "install on flash drive with fat32".

colorpurple21859 · 08-13-2017, 11:55 AM

boot into the drive and post

Code:

fdisk -l

joboy · 08-14-2017, 09:39 AM

There is a USB image writer on Ubuntu and Mint to create a bootable usb flash drive with the ISO, the whole thing is reside on fat32, and that boots on any computer. I couldn't post anything until the drive complete normal booting.

IsaacKuo · 08-14-2017, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joboy

There is a USB image writer on Ubuntu and Mint to create a bootable usb flash drive with the ISO, the whole thing is reside on fat32, and that boots on any computer. I couldn't post anything until the drive complete normal booting.

If that works on all of your machines, then you could try to do a normal Debian install with /boot on a FAT32 partition (200MB would be plenty of space for this). The other partition on your USB drive, taking up the rest of the space, would be an ext4 partition for "/".

colorpurple21859 · 08-14-2017, 11:02 AM

if in msdos/mbr drive then will need a fat32 partition flagged as EFI(ef00) for uefi systems then grub-pc to install grub in mbr mode and grub-efi to install grub in efi mode. If your going to use the efi partition as /boot would suggest that you make it 500MB otherwise 200Mb as already suggested would be enough.
for a gpt drive besides the EFI partition will also need at least a 1 MB BIOS boot(EF02) partition so to be able to boot on a msdos/mbr system.

jefro · 08-14-2017, 05:43 PM

oppps

joboy · 08-15-2017, 12:00 AM

Thanks for the tips, but I would not do that, coz FAT32 is not a preferred file system for Linux and less reliable, since only one of my machine doesn't work with the portable installation I would simply leave it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsaacKuo

If that works on all of your machines, then you could try to do a normal Debian install with /boot on a FAT32 partition (200MB would be plenty of space for this). The other partition on your USB drive, taking up the rest of the space, would be an ext4 partition for "/".

joboy · 08-15-2017, 03:20 AM

I just did a BIOS update on the Dell, it was 5 version behind A0->A6, but nothing changed after the update, there is no secure boot feature, I played with the USB settings a bit still no luck, I will leave it there won't bother to waste time on the USB boot thing.

colorpurple21859 · 08-15-2017, 08:42 AM

Quote:

I just did a BIOS update on the Dell, it was 5 version behind A0->A6, but nothing changed after the update, there is no secure boot feature, I played with the USB settings a bit still no luck

The usb drive may not be booting because it is a gpt drive therefore would need to create an empty 2 MB BIOS boot(EF02) partition, then regardless if it is a msdos or gpt drive

Code:

grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdx.

x would be the number of the usb drive and assuming your doing this from within the booted usbdrive or chrooted to the usbdrive.

joboy · 08-16-2017, 01:12 AM

That's new to me, but why it boot on other PC ? that Dell Inspiron is the only PC not booting so far, other model include Dell Dimension booted no problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

The usb drive may not be booting because it is a gpt drive therefore would need to create an empty 2 MB BIOS boot(EF02) partition, then regardless if it is a msdos or gpt drive

Code:

grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdx.

x would be the number of the usb drive and assuming your doing this from within the booted usbdrive or chrooted to the usbdrive.

colorpurple21859 · 08-16-2017, 04:57 AM

this is a quess without the output of 'fdisk -l" while booted into the usb drive.