Linux on a USB boot drive
 

I have tried to create a usb drive that I can boot linux from. I have the BIOS set but am not able to get it to run. I downloaded Kali Linux onto the usb drive and unpacked it. Is there something else I am not doing right?

How did you put it on the flash drive?

You can't just copy-and-paste, or even use an archive tool to extract the files over. You need a program like Win32DiskImager to "burn" the image to the drive. Make sure to back up all data on the drive, since this will erase everything on it.

could you tell us a little more about what you're doing there?
- which file are you trying to put on the usb?
- do you create the usb live media from linux or from windows?
- how exactly does it fail (error messages, blank screen)?

If it is a live distro, it needs to be 'written' to the usb pendrive with a program such as 'dd', which copies an exact 'image' onto the drive.
If you are 'installing' Linux to a pendrive, likely the grub boot program is looking at the wrong disk when you try booting from it.