Using liveusb-creator, I can create a live usb stick that works for the Fedora 18 xfce spin, but persistent storage does not. Is this a problem with the spin or liveusb-creator? Is there a workaround?

While running the liveusb-creator, the main window shows output. Did you see any warning/error messages there? What did you set the persistent storage to in size? What type filesystem did you use? If you mount the flash and look in the LiveOS directory, do you see an 'overlay...' file? If you look in the syslinux.cfg file in the syslinux directory, what do you see for the entry? You should see in the entry something like the following, obviously with different uuid numbers:

You need the uuid after 'root=live:' as well as the 'liveimg overlay..'.

While running the liveusb-creator, the main window shows output. Did you see any warning/error messages there?

No

What did you set the persistent storage to in size?

275 MiB

What type filesystem did you use?

fat16

If you mount the flash and look in the LiveOS directory, do you see an 'overlay...' file?

Yes: "overlay-LIVE-6217-7E3E"

If you look in the syslinux.cfg file in the syslinux directory, what do you see for the entry?

label basic0
menu label Start Fedora 18 in ^basic graphics mode.
kernel vmlinuz0
append initrd=initrd0.img root=live:UUID=6217-7E3E rootfstype=vfat ro rd.live.image quiet rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0 xdriver=vesa nomodeset
text help
Try this option out if you're having trouble starting.
endtext
label check0
menu label ^Test this media & start Fedora 18
kernel vmlinuz0
append initrd=initrd0.img root=live:UUID=6217-7E3E rootfstype=vfat ro rd.live.image quiet rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0 rd.live.check

You should see in the entry something like the following, obviously with different uuid numbers:

---Quote---
menu label ^Start Fedora 18
kernel vmlinuz0
append initrd=initrd0.img root=live:UUID=A7D1-A364 rootfstype=vfat liveimg overlay=UUID=A7D1-A364 rw rd.live.image quiet rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0
---End Quote---

You need the uuid after 'root=live:' as well as the 'liveimg overlay..'.

Obviously, I am missing that.

Did you change your syslinux.cfg entry and add: after rootfstype=vfat on the append line? What happened?

Thanks. Unfortunately, it did not work.

I don't know what the problem might be. I had some problems initially with Fedora 18 but with the change I mentioned, it worked. I ran the liveusb-creator again with Fedora 18 and Fuduntu and they both were persistent without changes. You might just try running it again?

Try creating it from a terminal.You just put in your Fedora .iso and device (sdx) use "df -h" with your usb device plugged in to find what it is listed as. You can open a terminal in or cd to the directory where the .iso is located and as "su" run the above command.

I tried this, but no luck.

I tried this some time ago, but no package existed, so just to double check, I ran it again without specifying the image and I don't have the livecd-iso-to-disk package:

# livecd-iso-to-disk --format --reset-mbr --overlay-size-mb 275 Fedoraxxxx.iso /dev/sdb
bash: livecd-iso-to-disk: command not found...
[root@xxxx~]# yum install livecd-iso-to-disk
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
adobe-linux-i386 | 951 B 00:00
fedora/18/i386/metalink | 19 kB 00:00
updates/18/i386/metalink | 14 kB 00:00
updates | 4.6 kB 00:00
updates/primary_db | 7.4 MB 00:04
No package livecd-iso-to-disk available.

I don't generally install packages except from Fedora repositories.

This worked. One of the things I discovered was the I had allocated too much space for persistent storage. I'm not sure why liveusb-creator did not find this.