How to run Debian from USB independently of the host operating system with out virtualbox
 

Run Debian from USB independently of the host operating system with out virtualbox



Hi, Im tying to install Debian on an USB. The idea is eventually to run debian->virtualbox->whonix. However I have run in to some problem already trying to make debian work on its own.

I have tried all sort software just trying to figure out whats going on: rufus, win32 diskimager, dotnetimager, UNibootin and linux live usb creator (and i used a iso image obviously).

But im not sure what im getting on my usb drive when running the programs (and haven't dared flowing trough) is it just files that can be installed on a computer much like using a cd rom? Resulting in the possibility to run Debian or windows on the computer with no involvement from the usb what so ever? Or will Debian replace the original operating system? Or are the programs/files supposed to enable Debian to run from the usb with no involvement from the original operating system? The later is what i what to achieve.

What I have succeeded doing so far is to run Debian on a vitual box using "linux live usb creator". However Im not sure this is the right way. And I did not expect this outcome when I used "linux live usb software" I believed that i would be possible simply to start Debian from the USB drive in windows with out a virtualbox or any other device. and that might have bin an insane assumption from an educated person perspective.

From what i read it seams to takes some kind of "booting" once Debin finally is install on the usb and that seems to imply choosing the operating system one wants when starting the computer: Ether windows that is situated on the host computer or Debian that is situated on the USB. Or perhaps thats wrong altogether...

So I guse my my question is what options there is give my objectives and how to get there. I whant Debian to run independently of the original operating system from the usb. Pleas keep in mind that I want debian->virtualbox->whonix eventually.

Thanks a lot. I have spent all day trying to figure this out.

You either boot to Debian [a GNU/Linux operating system] or boot to Windows.
You do not boot to one OS from another unless it is in a virtual machine.
That dealt with:
If you install a "Live" version of Linux onto a USB stick that allows you to choose it within BIOS or UEFI and load up that operating system. You then run it without the ability to save any changes to the operating system.
If you boot to a "Live" USB or an installation USB you can, then, plug in another USB drive and install Linux to that.

It may be worth doing a bit more research?

Do you have a CD or DVD writer and a suitable CDR or DVDR? If so, then you may find it much easier and less confusing to download and burn the Debian netinst iso to a CD and boot from that. This will avoid your confusion with rufus and such. Just burn the iso to disc and then boot up that disc.

After booting up the netinst installer, choose manual partitioning and create just one partition on your USB stick. Delete any existing partitions, and just create one. It doesn't need to take up the full size - 4GB in size will be enough if you choose the XFCE4 desktop environment software suite. Do not create a swap partition (this will make your life complicated for your later ideas of virtualbox etc).

The Debian partitioner will ask you if you really want to continue without creating a swap partition. You do indeed.

When it gets to the part about installing the GRUB bootloader, install onto the USB drive (probably /dev/sdb). Install to the drive itself, not the partition you just created (/dev/sdb, not /dev/sdb1).

To be hones I just want it to work. With my prior knowledge cant understand it in depth any way.

I think the later is right. Not being able to make save changes means that its not possible to save stuff in the operating system I guess? With that option excluded I dont even have to know what BIOS or UEFI is (not right now any way).

Im not sure what boting means however a definition that is accurate in this context would be much appropriated. Is it just choosing operating system i various situations? Its used all the time i different context with no consistency to me.

What you mention as the last option brinks this to mind:
https://tails.boum.org/install/win/usb/index.en.html

So i guise that is exactly what I what to do with Debian! Im surprised i have came across this solution. But in detail how is it done?

And once its i place I will be abel "boot" to Debian that is on the usb drive when I start up the computer? And Debian will run independently of windows?

To put it very simply the BIOS or UEFI on a computer points to somethig which it is told to load into memory and start booting. I really suggest you just read about boot loaders and the like.

Unfortunately i dont have a CD/DVD right now. actually I got all the files on the usb with ruffus and unetbootin with no problem. But once I started de installation file it say: permanent changes to the computer... I kind of bailed out because it seams to imply that the files are going on to my hard drive or something.

will it work to install Debian och the same usb as the installation files are on? whats going on withe procedure with two usb?

If you want live persistent usb with Debian, you should follow certain procedure. Here are some links that describe it:

https://debian-live.alioth.debian.or...al.en.html#556

https://www.linux.com/blog/creating-...ce-non-techies

You have gotten the installer on one USB drive. That is good. In that case, you do not need to worry about a bootable CD.

You still need a different drive to install Debian onto. If you're clever and you know what you're doing, you might be able to split things up on that one USB drive in order to install Debian into the free space. However, you are a novice at this so this is probably not worth the effort of even trying.

The simplest thing is to get a second USB drive to install Debian onto. You do not need to be scared about the permanent changes. You can avoid all changes to the internal hard drive in two possible ways:

1) If you know how to physically remove the hard drive, you can simply physically remove it before doing the install. That way, you will 100% know that nothing on the hard drive will be modified!

or

2) Make sure to specify installation only to your second USB drive in the following steps:

2a) During partitioning - choose manual partitioning and create just one partition on the USB drive (probably either /dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdc1).

2b) During GRUB install - choose to install GRUB onto that USB drive (probably either /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc).

As long as you are extra careful during those two steps, you will make no modifications to your internal hard drive. It will do the install only onto the second USB drive.

A live persistent USB is NOT the desirable thing for this use case. The original poster wants to do a traditional install - a hard drive style install - onto a USB drive. This is for purposes of converting into a VM, so a simple traditional install is the best. No need to get into a liveCD style install.

Ahh, sorry, misunderstood him, thought that he wants USB live with persistence enabled.

Thansk alot but I stoped right here:

In order to follow this tutorial you need:
-A machine with linux installed.

What is 273 talking about below (goes with out saying obviously that you are free to answer your self if youre around). any guide or instructions for this?

I know Tails is design to run on usb but there seams to be a very straight forward way to get it on a usb. Involving two usb and a windows computer. as solution 273 mention in tis case as well.

Is it realy that mutch more complicated with Debian witch is the operating system I whant than it is with tails?

How would virtualbox->debian->virtualbox->whonix work by the way? Would it be slow?

Tails runs on a live USB stick, you put the image on that and it runs from that stick. Yes, the Debian Live installer does that too.
Again, please read a little more about operating systems.

Tails is very different from a normal linux distribution. It is designed specifically to be a LiveCD distribution. It is purposefully designed in a way to NOT install anything or even leave any data on the computer.

But looking up Whonix, I think I misunderstand what, precisely, you want to do. What is your goal?

I thought you were intending to convert the Debian install into a VM, but after looking up Whonix I'm guessing that you actually want to run Virtualbox within the Debian install.

Okay, but first a word of warning - the performance of this will be BAD unless you're doing this with a very fast USB 3.0 drive (on a USB 3.0 port).
It is very much not obvious what these arrows are supposed to mean. Please word what exactly you mean. I had assumed the arrows meant some sort of conversion, but now I am guessing that it actually means something about running some software on something else.

sure, but im sure there is a step by step guide ut there. im confident that I could work this out:
https://tails.boum.org/install/win/usb/index.en.html

I dont whant Tails by the way.

That's just some instructions on how to install from a USB installer to another USB drive but it's been dressed up as something special. Take some time to read about what Live USBs do, what installers do and how OSs boot and you'll find how to interpret that to install what you want how you want.

What do you want, USB stick, or USB hard drive? If former, it will not save anything without persistence enabled, if you create live image on it. If later, you can install debian on it and choose during boot process to boot into it. Also, for installing debian 9, do not use live images, those are flaky in this version. Use regular installer.

I think I've figured out what the goal is. The goal is to run Whonix, which is a privacy oriented distribution similar in spirit to Tails - but using a couple VMs instead of a LiveCD/LiveUSB.

But in order to run those VMs, there must be a host OS running VirtualBox (or one of the other supported VM hosts). The original poster wants to run VirtualBox on Debian.

Now that I understand the goals, I can explain the steps required:

1) Get a second USB drive. It's good that you have the Debian installer working on a USB drive. You need a second one to install Debian onto. Bear in mind that performance will be sluggish, so keep your expectations realistic. (Performance can be better if it's a fast USB drive using USB 3.0 and plugged into a USB 3.0 port.)

2) Boot up with the Debian installer, and do the Debian install onto the second USB drive. As I previously noted, take care during the partitioning and GRUB install steps to do this onto the second USB drive (and not the internal hard drive). I recommend making a single large ext4 partition for the OS - as big as will fit on the USB drive.

Previously, I recommended a size of only 4GB would be enough. However, your intent is to eventually run VirtualBox and host a couple VMs on it. This will take up a good deal of space. The system requirements say 10GB of free space is needed for Whonix. Debian and VirtualBox itself will take up perhaps 5GB. So, I'd go with at least 15GB and preferably more than 20GB USB drive.

When you do this install, I recommend selecting the XFCE4 Desktop Environment. This is a lot less taxing on resources than GNOME3, which is important since you'll be splitting up resources three ways (for the host OS as well as two VMs).

3) Use apt-get to install VirtualBox. You'll have to add a third party software repository for this, as detailed here:

https://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox

4) Install Whonix ... left as exercise for the reader ...

1. Install system to USB (stick or drive, both are suitable) as regular installation
2. Install bootloader, (GRUB).
3. Make sure your system uses initrd, it's important.
4. You system will not boot due to missed usb drivers, so, you have to boot into any other linux system, mount your USB stick and chroot into the system that installed to USB.
5. Decompress initrd, add required USB drivers to initrd and compress it again. You need two or three drivers: usb_xhci usb_ehci usb_storage or something similar, do not remember for sure. Kernel uses this drivers for mounting root partition.
6. Bootloader should point to the root partition by UUID or by Label, not as /dev/sda or /dev/sdb.
7. If you have enough RAM, pack /usr /home /lib into squashfs images, your system will boot faster and apps will start faster as well.
8. If you want to save changes you can rebuild squashfs "on-the-fly" so your changes would be reflected on next boot.

Did it few times with Slackware and with Gentoo. One of the USB Gentoo installations I using every day as a rescue system.
Unfortunately there is no ready to use "step-by-step" instruction how to install system to USB. At least I didn't find such an instruction.
But all the thing can be found on web, including this forum.

What I whant is a safe internet connection avoiding VPN providers and the risk of being the end nod in tor network (I dont want Tor if not necessary any way).

I have bin reading a bit and concluded that first installing Debian then running virtualbox in debian and running whonix in the virtualbox (whonix always runs in a VB by the way)is a god solution. Or at least its seams that way to me for various reasons. I know Tails is so posed to protect the content on the computer or some thing I presume this goes for the content on a usb drive as well. but I dont relay need to worry about that. and Im not sure I know that means ether. after all there are all sorts of ways to encrypt hard drives and so on so I dont see the advantage.

As to The problem at hand:

Im some what familiar with partition magic because I watched a fiend use it on my computer once. however I just fetched a DVD at from my kind neighbor and Im going to use that unless I rely need a usb for the iso file in order to make this work. so I start up de DVD and hoping to be able to select where I want to install the iso file. but all it say is: "begin install on this computer". Why is that? What dose it take to make the usb the destination?

Now im starting to wounder if there is some kind of iso for portable drives or some thing?

I have installed Debian onto USB many times, and never had this problem. The default Debian initrd must be sufficiently loaded with usb storage drivers that no such customization is required. I just install Debian onto a USB drive just as I would any hard drive, and it works exactly the same.

Still, the tip about using squashfs sounds like it can be useful for someone who knows what they're doing (like myself). For a novice, though, it may be more trouble than it's worth. The original poster is trying something pretty complex involving virtualbox and VMs already, so...probably not worth the trouble.

The first problem seams to be to even get the installer to install on the usb. it say: "begin install on this computer" Im using a DVD now not a second USB. However im willing to get partition magi right now and divide the USB if i have to if necessary. I Have a 32 gigabyte USB by the way.

I did not realized that the virtual box would be difficult to install. Seams to be an other challenge thanks for sharing.

I used to make usb installs from virtualbox. Just don't add in a virtual hard drive and use usb drive attached.

A safe way to make a real install to a usb could be this way.

Use a windows live to usb installer program. (pendrivelinux.com)
Power down system and remove either power or data from internal hard drive.
Boot to the usb you created.
Install a new usb 16G or so. Best if it is fast usb 3.
Install your OS to this last usb drive following the installer.

The USB stick is in "...this computer" so that's the option you want. The USB stick is just another hard drive in that computer as far as operating systems are concerned.
Now I understand what you are trying to achieve a 32GB USB stick may be a little small (you should probably use it as just one partition and be careful not to install too much). A USB stick also sounds far too slow for what you want to do -- I know when I used a USB3 stick it was a little slow and I didn't run a virtual machine from that.

When you say you have a DVD, what do you mean? Do you mean a DVD disc of the Debian installer? Or something else?

If you have a DVD disc of the Debian installer, then just use that. You will wipe out everything that is currently on the 32GB USB drive (which should easily be big enough for your application).

Choose manual partitioning and create just one ext4 primary partition on the USB drive. I would recommend against creating a swap partition; note that the installer will ask to confirm that you really want this. Later on, you can create a swap file if you really want it.

The install of virtual box is not difficult, it just involves some more steps. However, looking at the Whonix web site, I think maybe their KVM option might be an easier option for you:

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/KVM
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/KVM/Inst...on_Screenshots

In either case, the steps for installing whonix will likely be the most complex part.

The current version of Debian is Debian Stretch (Debian 9), so the instructions say to install kvm with:

One annoying thing - the whonix instructions assume an Ubuntu style set up of "sudo", whereas Debian does not install sudo by default. In order to deal with this, simply use "su" to log in as root within a terminal console, and everywhere you see instructions with "sudo" ignore the "sudo".

For example, if you see:

simply do this instead:

Optionally, you could instead set up sudo in an Ubuntu-like way. With the current Debian installer, one way to do this is to NOT provide a root password during the installation steps requesting this. This will set things up in an Ubuntu-like way. Or you can do a traditional Debian install and ignore "sudo". Either way, it's just one more annoying thing you'll have to keep in mind due to the way the whonix documentation is done.

I have a DVD with the iso image. however when start up the cd rom intending to install on the F drive where my usb is that is not an option. It only say "being install on this computer". Its not possible to select where to install files.

How ever Im starting to wounder if its realy the iso file that sould be on the dvd (when flowing the procedure you suggested).

I actually stated out using the disk image programs (the I did not realize the need for two "hard drives" when starating up the installation files at that point) what I got om the usb when I used it was not the iso file but a lot of different files. I guess this is the installation files.

So right now I think what I should do is to run the iso fil in the disk imager have usb as my destination folder. Then simply copy paste it to my regular hard drive. And then make a dvd with the installation files not the iso file. And finally start up the installation from the dvd and select the usb drive as the destination folder.

Edit: Just did it and its exactly the same as when using the iso file. Every thing seems to work installation is starting up but I cant select what drive to install to. Is that an option that comes later in the installation process? "being install on this computer" sound kind of finale.

I looked in to this guide:

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/debian...-from-windows/

They dont mention any thing about installation just get the iso fil on the usb with Win32 DiskImager (i use ruffus by the way)

Then as step 6:

6. A progress bar will indicate the progress of the write. Once it has finished, simply reboot your PC and set your BIOS or Boot Menu to boot from the USB Device

I have absolutely no idea what means am I missing something fundamental in the installation process that is implicit?

You can rsync an HDD install to the stick and install grub on the stick. Just change the /etc/fstab and the bootloader to know it's new location.

Otherwise I tend to do a debootstrap install method. Be sure to install a bootable kernel in the chroot and set a root password or it's pretty useless even if you could boot it. The advantage of the debootstrap route is that you can install network drivers and firmware from a running distro before you ever boot it up. Since you can spam a key and boot from another device (usb) I almost never boot the storage device that comes with the systems I buy. Or need to do anything with that space until I've made a good backup, if ever. With usb 3 and a decent speed usb storage device, it's pretty functional. As long as you cycle through new media enough to cover paranoid trust like issues. A new stick once every 3 to 6 months keeps me calm.

Ignore that how-to. It is about "Debian Live", not the Debian installer. The netinst Debian installer is here:

https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/

If you're not sure which architecture to get, use amd64. (If you have a 32 bit CPU, then you'd need to use i386 instead of amd64 - but this is a waste of time because you won't be able to get VMs working on a 32 bit CPU.)

"Debian Live" are Debian LiveCDs, which are different from the official Debian installer. You won't be able to set up a decent VM host with a LiveCD style install.

Which iso image? It does not sound like you have gotten the Debian installer.

This won't work for the original poster because he has no working linux install whatsoever. He only has Windows on the hard drive, and is unfamiliar with how to install linux or even where to get an iso for an actual linux installer. There is no HDD install to rsync from, nor is there any working linux install to run debootstrap from.

You can do the rsync or debootstrap install from an ubuntu live image. You just need two usb sticks, one for the live, one for the destination. Or two readers and such. Rufus can help place such on image on the initial bootable device from windows.

The original poster is having difficulty getting any working linux system at all, and may have only one USB stick. Also, doing rsync from / while booted to an Ubuntu live image will not produce a Debian install. I'm not sure really what it would produce.

Yes, it is possible to select where to install. As I mentioned above the USB stick is a drive on "...this computer..." so you install to "...this computer..." then select exactly where on "...this computer..." to install later on in the process.
Again, please actually read about what you are doing! Take a little time to understand the process (I suggest you start from the beginning rather than the sample I linked to) and things will be much clearer to you.

Actually doing installations from VB sounds like a grate ide for other purposes so Im going to keep that in mind. However i dont think it solves the problem in this case. I installed windows 7 on a portable VB once and it toke a day to get the drivers for the usb and printer and get it working so I would kind of ad more obstacles.

I have a number of iso files that have bin downloaded from:
https://www.debian.org/distrib/

The one I tried now is named:
debian-9.1.0-i386-netinst.iso

It might not be the optimal Debian platform for VB (its 32bit and that wouldn't work with VB). But anyway I can get or use another one once I got the installation working. But fil has to be an Debian installer right?

Any way Im showing the process step by step below. The images below is from USB not from DVD that is I used ruffus on the iso file and selected usb as destination folder and started installation from there (just ignore that part). but 2,3,4 lucks just same as when starting up installation from DVD with iso file.

This is step by step and as every one cant see its not possible to select drive before installation starts. So obviously Im missing something.

file used: https://i.imgur.com/1EFw4Ab.png
step 1. https://i.imgur.com/o9wN2d6.png
step 2. https://i.imgur.com/He48RPE.png
step 3. https://i.imgur.com/59h5Yy3.png
step 4. https://i.imgur.com/PTtPmBS.png

By the way is doing this with as much trial and error as I am. I strongly suggest getting: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool because all the installations eventually mess up the USB drive it did so for me anyway.

Yes, but you really want the amd64 version, not i386.

First off, do not use anything like setup.exe. If you want to make your life simple, do not run any sort of installer from Windows. Do not use setup.exe.

Instead, burn the iso file to a CDR and boot up the CDR. This means shutting down the computer and powering on the computer with the CD in the computer.

This makes sense, although you want the amd64 version.
Not good. Don't do anything with any sort of file named setup.exe. I think that this method is provided in case you can't get your computer to boot from the CD or USB drive, but it's definitely better to get normal booting working.

Also, the menu options given look very different from the menu options you would get from the normal installer. You may not get the required options. Here is what the installer looks like normally, when you boot off of the install CD/USB:

http://www.itzgeek.com/how-tos/linux...reenshots.html

I have to start up computer from cd rom! Ok, so that the booting! how is that even done can I chose to do so before windows starts up or what?

Im getting back to this tomorrow.

I didn't mean to imply an rsync of a running system. But the usb-storage device isn't really treated any differently than any other bootable media. You just have to be careful and not use /dev/ names since they can change depending on which port you are plugged into, and how many other things are plugged into the others. But there's LABELs and UUIDs which work perfectly swell. The only "disk" install I've done in recent history was to an SSD. And mostly because I had never had an SSD and the system in question lacked any usb3 type ports. Everything else I do in linux is on a "card" or a "stick". I prefer the "stick" since you aren't likely to "break" or "forget" the reader, and they're fast enough these days, plus cheap.

It kind of sounds like you have never booted up to a CDROM before. Have you ever installed Windows on a computer?
Basically, imagine that you have a brand new computer build that has nothing on any hard drives yet. You do not expect to first boot up into Windows in order to install Windows, right? Windows is not yet installed on the computer!

No, everything required to run the Windows Install CD is on the CD itself. You just put the Windows Install CD in the CD-ROM and, maybe, tell the BIOS to boot off of the CD. When you turn on the computer, it will boot up from the Windows Install CD and then you go from there.

This is fundamentally how a Linux install CD works also. You don't first boot up from the hard drive into Windows and then run the CD. No, you boot up directly to the Linux install CD. It is interesting if the CD happens to also include a program "setup.exe" on the CD, but this apparently does something a bit unusual - probably because Windows is running and already utilizing various hardware which the Linux install CD would normally be using and modifying. In particular, the fact that Windows is running will prevent the partitioner from doing its normal job.

Anyway, the bottom line is - don't use anything called "setup.exe". Boot up into the installer. This means not doing ANYTHING with Windows. Don't boot up Windows. Don't run Windows at all. Run only the Debian installer disc, by booting up directly to it.

If you were wondering, rsync of a running system works great! I rsync running systems all the time. It's a key capability I use for my increasing number of RAMBOOT and NFS-RAMBOOT systems, since the / filesystem is in RAM. Using rsync to back up to non-volatile media is kind of like an asymmetric poor man's RAID1, where the primary is super fast and the backup is comparatively slow.

So, since I use rsync from running systems all the time I did not assume you didn't mean that. Still, using rsync from a LiveCD running system...not really sure how well that would work. I'd think it would have problems due to boot issues and /etc/fstab, among other things...

Sounds cool. I work with what I get my hands on, and that means a lot of older systems that don't have any USB3 ports. And I've managed to get my hands on more and more RAM over the years...such that most of my currently active systems have enough RAM for RAMBOOT. It's a poor man's SSD when you didn't actually spend money on sufficient RAM for it.

Anyway, since you're not familiar with the traditional Debian installer lately, it uses UUIDs out-of-box. This means that a traditional Debian install onto a USB drive will pretty much just plain work. The Grub bootloader will point to /boot via UUID; the boot entries will use UUIDs; and /etc/fstab will use UUIDs. This makes the setup insensitive to whether the USB drive is /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc or whatever.

In either case, once an install is in a NEW location (via rsync or other means), in order to make it bootable by itself, in it's NEW location, one does need to update /etc/fstab and the bootloader that will boot it. SystemD will boot an /etc/fstab-less system, but the root filesystem " / " will be read-only. And grub tends to use /etc/fstab to determine the root= parameter passed to the kernel.

I tend to like doing the rsync method since you can change filesystem types, and your install is effectively defragmented at the end of the process. But yes, most installers will install to USB storage just fine. Even BSD. Although my first attempt at that OS it did NOT see my internal drive so it installed BSD over the installer. But once I figured that out, two USB storage options and it installed just fine to the other.

Hi, every one! Its good to be back at the forum. First of all I would like to thank every one posting in this thread and for being very generous! It was very us full reading every ones reply as well as fallowing the discussion. And I did get it to work (that is running Debian from the USB drive), the problem seemed to be the booting menu that had bin modified but it did work out after disconnecting the hard-drive and creating a bootable USB rather then a DVD.

Its kind of slow however (partly due to the old USB I think) now I decided to install Qubes and run Whonix in Debian from a new USB in a temporary Qube in Qubes-operating system as this seams optimal from a security point of view and besides Qubes seams to be a very neat system as well.

But now once Qube is installed the internet connection wont work... I have no idea how to solve this problem. I looked at installation videos and it's supposed to work automatically with out any need for configuration.

So first of all I wounder if its possible that my hardware is in compatible with Qubes? Or could this be excluded as everything else seams to work well? And presuming that the hardware is fine what should I do next? Im not to keen on reinstalling and I think the installation is an issue and also as there already is an operating system on the SSD drive (Qubes), I would probably encounter a sett of new problems if I attempt to reinstall. So what would be the next step?

dose any know?

No, I'm not familuar with Qubes OS. So....I looked it up-

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=qubes

https://www.qubes-os.org/

-::-It's a distribution based on Fedora.-::-

IF your hardware is in-compatible it would of been mentioned in the operating systems documentation.
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/#choosing-your-hardware

***You might need to install a driver.***

Read the Fedora documentation for wireless networking.
http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/...ess_Networking
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Networking/CLI

Is your connection wired or wireless? Wired should work out of the box:-

Do you see your network in the Network Manager?

Yes unless you use gparted or some other partition mgr to resize Qubes to make room for another fresh install.
OR install overtop of Qubes.

Work with the os that is already installed and try to get the internet connection working.
IF that fails you could install another os.

When I was running Fedora and other Fedora based distro's I never had a problem with Network Manager not working.

Hi thanks for the info on fedora and drivers! In Qubes I got this message: faild to load "Kernel modules" is that driver? That would be a software problem I guess.

you asked if I see a network in the network manager Im not sure there is one youre so posed to manage the network in the net-VM I think.

I just made some findings however that perhaps indicate that its not a software problem:

I tried to install Debian on the same hard-drive from a usb drive yesterday and that iso file requiters internet connection during the installation process. I did find my wireless network entered the password and got this error message: "Network configuration faild" "not using DHCD protocol". that is in Debian during the installation process but perhaps its the same underlying problem that I encounter while running Qubes?

I tried to install twice and at some point during the installation proces got this message: "Multipelnework interfaces"

I guse this are the two interfaces:

1. en2sofo:Brodcom Limeted Net Link BCM577__ Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
2. wlp3so:Qualcomm Athersos Ar92287 Wireless network Adapter (PCI-Express) (Wireless)

I just figured I ask if you ore any one ells knows what to make of this before reinstalling Qubes and going trough the drivers as you suggested.

Yes:-

Looking at these:
Broadcom is a card that requires a driver to work for the enternet. Can't tell if that your on board card or not.
But the Qualcomm Athersos Wireless network adapter.....thats you wireless network card that you would look for a driver for it.

The non-free firmware that you would need to install for your Qualcomm Atheros nic for Debian is here:

https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware

Install the firmware and than reboot. You should have a working internet connection after installing the firmware.

Ok, that makes it clearer. Its seams kind of strange tough that Debbian require specific drivers during installation. My regular internet connection works fine in windows.


Any way I relay want Qubes to work as well sould I reinstall and look for that specific driver related to the error message in Qubes (that is:"Kernel modules")?

Or sould I install the driver for Qualcomm Athersos Wireless network adapter in windows first? How come my regular internet connection in Windows works fine if a driver i missing? And why wont Qubes install all drivers necessary to run it during the installation (this installation dont require internet connection while installing)? It cant be standard procedure to have to install drivers after the operating system has bin install? Perhaps fixing the driver for the Qualcomm Athersos Wireless network adapter will solve the problem i Qubes with no need for downloads ones its installed?

Thanks for youre relply! Its seams soluble at this point!

With Qubes I have no idea what kernel module is missing. The kernel has a lot of different modules. IF I'm not mistaken the ath10k driver/module is included in the kernel. The ath10k is included starting with kernel 3.11.

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/...drivers/ath10k

IF your not able to connect your Windows os to the internet than yes, you would need to install the windows driver for your Qualcomm Athersos nic.

You might want to read the Qubes documentation to see how to install a driver if your internet connection isn't working with a fresh install of Qubes. Go to the bottom of the page under "Docs".

IF you get no where with that read the Fedora documentation.

If you still have trouble with Qubes than I suggest you install Fedora Workstation. It should see your nic no problem and work right out of the box.
https://getfedora.org/

-:::-Sometimes drivers are not included like for example with Debian. You have to download and install the firmware in order for an internet connection to work.-:::-

I looked for about an hour for the exact number of your nic AR92287 and all I could find was drivers for the QC series.
The ath5k driver and the ath10k driver for your Qualcomm Athersos card should be included in the kernel.

What kernel is Qubus using? Run uname -r in the terminal to find out.

I will as son as I reinstall and got my Chromebook! You mean the DOM-teminal? theirs a terminal for the "Net-Qube" as well but I haven bin able to open it.