Live CD on USB Flash Drive

rrrssssss · 03-28-2010, 05:39 AM

Hello forum,

I installed Kubuntu 8.04.2 Live CD on a USB flash drive using a software program called Unetbootin (from Gentoo), and I can successfully boot into the OS with no problem but I am not able to save any changes such as preferences, because once I reboot, everything I changed or installed is lost. I guess this is because the OS is dumped into RAM and all of my changes were made in RAM instead of the USB flash drive.

My question would be is there a way (keeping my present configuration) I can save any changes to the USB flash drive so that when I reboot, the changes will stick?

Thanks in advance,
Roy

rubentje1991 · 03-28-2010, 06:23 AM

I think you have 'copied' (with UnetBootin) the live-cd (the .iso/.img - file to the usb)... so it is possible you can't make changes to it...

Maybe you better install it (with the kubuntu-installer) as a seperate OS... (thus you have to boot up linux, and use the installer available there to install it on that usb (it is not allowed to boot it up from the usb at that moment!)

If this wasn't clear, say it... :-S

linus72 · 03-28-2010, 06:26 AM

here you go
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-ubu...a-the-live-cd/

you know 8.04 is pretty old?
I like it too though; it was my first distro

OH wait it seems theres issue with persistence in 8.04
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent

Quote:

8.04 Hardy: Unfortunately, there is a bug in the versions of casper in Hardy that cause the persistent partition to not be mounted on boot. There is a workaround available, and you can download a replacement initrd.gz for 8.04.1 (place in casper directory on first partition of USB key).

I would go with a newer version like 9.04 or 9.10

and theres a really easy way to have persistent usb

Basically; you just install it to usb with Unetbootin
Then; open a Terminal and become root (sudo su, su, whatever)

Then, goin by these directions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/Persistence

make a casper-rw file of whatever size

Quote:

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=casper-rw bs=1M count=128
128+0 records in
128+0 records out
134217728 bytes transferred in 0.947819 seconds (141606919 bytes/sec)

thats a 128MB casper-rw

then you format it

Quote:

mkfs.ext3 casper-rw

Easiest way is to use USB Creator in 9.04 and it will make a casper-rw for you

rrrssssss · 04-02-2010, 01:32 PM

Hello linux72,

Thank you for you help.

The link you provided took me to the pendrivelinux web page for ubuntu 8.04.03 so I found the pendrivelinux web page for Kubuntu 8.04.02 and followed its instructions instead since I have the 8.04.02 Kubuntu live CD. Both pages are practicaly the same anyway. Here is the link I used:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-kub...a-the-live-cd/

I followed the instructions perfectly but while attempting to boot into the USB pen drive, early in the boot stage I get the message saying it doesn't recognize the line that says GFXBOOT in syslinux.cfg, plus I didn't get the gfx boot menu that the syslinux.cfg file says I should get with the different boot options. But vmlinuz and initrd loaded up fine in spite of the error message, but 20 seconds into the boot process I am dropped into a Busybox prompt where the game ends. I even updated the initrd like the instructions said.

I have tried several methods to get the USB stick to boot such as Unetbootin and USB_CREATOR from Kubuntu but with no success at all. I always get dropped into a Busybox. And I can't find any log files to help me diagnose the problem.

Why do I get dropped into Busybox? Does it have anything to do with the gfxboot logo failing to appear?

I would like to get this pen drive to boot into Kubuntu in persistence mode but I am having a hard time succeding. Do you have any more ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Roy

jefro · 04-02-2010, 02:53 PM

I think that gfxboot is a graphics issue. I forget how I fixed it. Either I selected safe video at boot or changed the resolution or what I can't remember but I am pretty sure it has to do with video somehow.

rrrssssss · 04-02-2010, 05:47 PM

If I disable the persistence feature by editing the syslinux.cfg file, I still get dropped into a Busybox prompt during the boot process. What could be wrong?

Roy

linus72 · 04-02-2010, 07:19 PM

Do you have this on your "append" line in syslinux.cfg

Code:

cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent

so it would be like

Code:

LABEL persistent
  menu label Start Ubuntu 8.04.2 in ^persistent mode
  kernel /casper/vmlinuz
  append  file=/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --

you also need to add a forward slash / and give full path to anything in menu
like gfxboot

Code:

GFXBOOT /syslinux/bootlogo

thats assuming its in syslinux folder

if that doesnt work you should go to 9.04/9.10 or 10.04 new
as they all work

9.04's usb creator works the best too

Unetbootin wont make the casper-rw persistence file
as I said though 9.04s usb creator works great

see if that boot parameter works in both nonpersistent and persistent mode

rrrssssss · 04-03-2010, 01:56 PM

Thanks again linus72 for your time.

I was able to remove the splash screen during boot in Kubuntu 8.04.2 and it stalls where it tries to mount the root file system. Do you know why it is doing this?

==================================================================================================

I also have another project going. To shift to another gear, I tried installing a higher version of Kubuntu Jaunty9.04 (from the CD) on my USB stick using the usb-creator utility from Kubuntu Jaunty 9.04, (which was already installed on my HD).

I also let usb-creator make a 250 MB persistence file (casper-rw).

But when I reboot from the USB stick (with persistence enabled or not) the following message constantly repeats itself over and over again for about 2 minutes until I am finally dropped into a Busybox command prompt. And all this time my hard drive light is flashing meaning there is a lot of HD activity. Here is the message:

"EXT3-fs mounted filesystem with ordered data mode - kjournaling starting - commit interval every 5 seconds"

The above message repeats itself over and over during the boot process.

Here is what my boot command looks like before I boot into the USB stick:

noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/kubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.gz.

( I removed the words "quiet" and "spash" so I could read the writing during boot. I tried it with and without the word "persistent").

I really need your help bad. Can you help?

Thanks in advance,
Roy

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

I read if I unplug the USB stick for a few seconds and then plug it back in again while those messages kept repeating themselves over and over, the system would stabilize and continue to boot so I tried it and it worked, even with persistence. I think it had something to do with certain motherboard chipsets, I'm not sure. Does anybody have any ideas on this behaviour? This only works with Kubuntu 9.04, not 8.04.2.

Roy

rrrssssss · 04-11-2010, 02:48 PM

Hello again,

I solved my problem by editing the original initrd.gz myself by removing the "mode=" entry instead of using the fixed initrd.gz file some sites provide for you.. Now the USB stick will boot but not before it goes to busybox concerning a floppy error and a dev/sr2 error. But after I exit busybox twice, it will continue to boot successfully.

Does anybody know how to keep it from going into busybox?

I ordered a USB flash drive from On-disk.com with the latest Kubuntu already installed and it also has those errors but it does not drop into busybox. It keeps on booting. How did they do that?

When I decompress the initrd.gz file and compress it back again after editing it, why is the file twice as large? I've read that many people have that problem.

Thanks,
Roy