How can I install a USB based linux distro onto a hard drive?

electricimage · 02-20-2018, 11:49 AM

Some time ago, I came across some Linux distro which was an ISO file. There were some instructions that it can be installed on a USB flash drive, a CD or a hard drive.

I believe it used some compatible file system.

I don't remember the specifics or what distro it actually was. I'm still new to this.

Now I have come across a great Lightweight distro: Minimal Linux Live

http://minimal.linux-bg.org/#home

I was wondering if it is possible to take one of the ISO's and if there is a generic way to install it on a 512GB hard drive. Since the ISO images are small, I am not sure if it would mean to create a small partition. Instead I just want to install the distro on my HD.

Is this at all possible? how would I do so if it is?

dogpatch · 02-20-2018, 08:28 PM

Typically, you would burn the iso image to a cd. Then boot from the cd, and look for an option to install from there to your hard drive.

I say, this is typical. Don't know the specifics of Minimal Linux Live.

frankbell · 02-20-2018, 08:46 PM

I generally burn *.iso files to disk also (using the "burn image" tool), but one method to install from a USB stick would be to use unetbootin. It works very nicely.

ivandavidov · 02-21-2018, 03:26 AM

Minimal Linux Live is and educational operating system. It can be installed on standard HDD but there is no official installer. You have to prepare manually your HDD boot partition by copying all MLL files/folders on it. Then make your HDD partition bootable by using one of the Syslinux tools, e.g. extlinux.

Please remember that Minimal Linux Live is really "minimal". It is small, because it comes with just few built-in drivers in it. You don't get USB support, you don't get NTFS support and you definitely don't get graphical support out of the box. MLL has been designed to run smoothly on virtual machines and most recently to be used as container template from which you can create more mature images which you can import in Docker for example. Using MLL as main OS has never been part of the project plan.

Habitual · 02-21-2018, 09:17 AM

Not seeing install to HD up there.
burn generated ISO (made on your host) to USB is up there.

You can also burn the ISO image file on CD/DVD or on USB flash device by issuing

Code:

dd if=minimal_linux_live.iso of=/dev/xxx

where /dev/xxx is your USB flash device.
it further states.

DavidMcCann · 02-21-2018, 11:57 AM

Having read the Minimal Linux home page, it doesn't seem to be intended for installation on the hard drive. You can run it from USB stick, CD, or using a virtual machine. Installing a distro without an installer can be complicated, especially without any instructions! One alternative is a frugal install. This shows how it can be done for antiX
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Frugal_install
The instructions could obviously be adapted to Minimal.