Installing Full Ubuntu onto USB Flash drive

[Joemoma]

Hey Everyone! This is just My personal success installation guide to putting a Full installation of Ubuntu 14.04 onto a Flash Drive that will boot with (nearly) any system you plug it into! This is Great for Virus removal on an infected computer, or even file recovery! Yes i know i may have some unnecessary steps but i had a lot of trouble with this and finally found a sequence that worked for me

 

Things Needed:  

2 USB Flash Drives (Both 8+Gb, high recommended) (recommended USB 3.0)

USB 1: bootable Ubuntu installer 

USB 2: the USB that the final install will be put onto

 

1) Download Ubuntu .iso: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop (14.04.3 LTS,  64bit used in this tutorial)

2) Download usb installer: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

 

3) Boot Universal USB, Click Accept

4) select the Linux distribution you are wanting to install (Ubuntu)

5) Browse for the Ubuntu .iso that you just downloaded (ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso)

6) Select USB 1 to install bootable Ubuntu onto

7) Designate Persistant storage (slider bar) (recommended: 1024, 2048, 4096)

8) Click create, Click Ok, wait for instalation to finish

9) Green Text will say "completed", Click close and shut down system

 

Next 2 steps are my personal preference

10) physically disconnect Hard Drives (helps me make sure i dont change anything with my primary OS)

11) Insert USB 1

 

Back to the normal stuff

12) Power on system, repeatedly press Del or F2 to enter BIOS

13) Once inside BIOS navigate to your Boot priority section

14) Make sure USB 1 is set to the #1 Boot option

15) Select Save settings, Exit, and Reboot

16) Let your system boot and it should bring you to a selection list with the top option being "try Ubuntu without installing", Select that

17) Once you're loaded in, insert USB 2 (the USB that the full installation will be put onto)

18) In the launcher bar on the left of the screen, looks like a Sharingan eye.... "search your computer ..."

19) Type "disks" and select it

20) Click on USB 2 to highlight it

21) in the options in the right panel look for the little square (pause button) and click it

22) then Click the little Gears to Bring up format options, Select "format"

23) Erase: "don't overwirte existing data (quick)"

24) Type: "compatible with all systems and devices (FAT)"

25) Name: whatever you want,   Click Format...

TAKE NOT OF USB 2 ADRESS! (/dev/sdX) (X changes depending on your setup, so mine may not be the same)

 

27) Now click "install ubuntu" that should be on the desktop

28) Let it load, Select your language, Click Continue

29) Click continue again (you can change this stuff after install)

30) Select "somethign else" (last selection), click install now

 

This is where imprtant things happen

32) select the free space and click change

 

This is where the size of your Flash Drive is going to matter what you put

I personally installed onto a 32Gb so i can affort to allot more space to "swap area"

 

Recommendations: 8Gb USB ->  Swap area = 1024MB

16Gb USB ->  Swap area = 2048MB or 4096MB

32Gb+ USB ->  Swap area = 4096MB or whatever you want

 

I choose to designate Primary file system first before the Swap Area

33) Size: (Total Amount - Swap area space you want= what you're going to enter here) (31,600MB - 4096MB = 27504MB)

    Type for the New partition: Primary

    Location for the new Partition: Beginning of this space

    Use as: Ext4 journaling file system

    Mount Point: /

 

34) Click ok and it let finish allocating the space

35) Now select the new free space and click change again

36) Size: whatever is left (1024, 2048, 4096 if you chose my recommendations)

    Type of the new partition: Logical

    Location for the new partition: Beginning of this space

    Use as: Swap Area

 

Probably the most important part here!~!!!~!~!

37) Below the "change..." button should be "Device for boot loader installation:"  make sure you have the correct USB selected here (USB 2)

 

38) Type in your location, Click continue

39) Select your keyboard layout, Click continue

40) Fill out your desired information, click continue

 

The installation process should begin, now you wait

41) Once installation finished, Select "Continue Testing", then shut down computer manually

42) Remove USB 1 (installer USB) while leaving USB 2 (full Ubuntu installation) inserted to be booted from

43) Boot system with only USB 2 inserted, it should boot straight to main screen

 

AND YOU'RE DONE!!!! .... i really hope i typed everything out in the correct order and with enough ease for nearly anyone to follow

 

Recommendations after installtion:

 

Install Clamav (antivirus scanner)

1) Open Command "terminal" and enter:

    Sudo apt-get install clamav     , click enter

2) enter your password (assuming you entered one during installation)(your password will be invisible as you type.. but yes it is entering), click enter

3)the Terminal will promt you for a confirmation, enter "y" and click enter on your keyboard

4) Once it is finished: enter:

    Sudo apt-get install clamtk

 

Update system 

1) Open Command Terminal 

2) enter:

   Sudo apt-get update    , click enter

   Sudo apt-get upgrade  , click enter

3) let that install and  do a system reboot for updates to take affect

 

 

If there is a way to make this easier to follow i'm always open for suggestions!

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

It's worth noting that a full install of any OS is writing a LOT to the disk, in this case the NAND.  

Seeing as flash drive NAND is vastly inferior to that of an SSD, this will wear out your flash drive fast. 

Not so much an issue if you only plan to use it for tech support, but don't think about using it as your regular OS.

 

This is why it's usually better to use a regular live stick with a persistent file, that only writes the changes to disk once, when you shut down the system.

 

EDIT : also, you forgot a bit near the end.  sudo apt-get update only refreshes the package list.  You need to add sudo apt-get upgrade to install the latest versions.

[Joemoma]

It's worth noting that a full install of any OS is writing a LOT to the disk, in this case the NAND.  

Seeing as flash drive NAND is vastly inferior to that of an SSD, this will wear out your flash drive fast. 

Not so much an issue if you only plan to use it for tech support, but don't think about using it as your regular OS.

 

This is why it's usually better to use a regular live stick with a persistent file, that only writes the changes to disk once, when you shut down the system.

 

EDIT : also, you forgot a bit near the end.  sudo apt-get update only refreshes the package list.  You need to add sudo apt-get upgrade to install the latest versions.

 

EDIT 2 : Also check the title, You made a typo in "Ubuntu".  I'll remove this bit when I notice you've corrected it.

Thanks for the feedback!!

 

and ya, the reason i chose to do the install vs. the live is i was tired of having to select "try without installing" .. i just wanted a version to boot directly to the Desktop

2nd, the full install would enable my Clamav definitions to stay up to day and not have to reinstall / reupdate each time  (yes i know about persistent settings but then comes back problem 1 of the boot screen)

and 3rd, i'll just be using this as a virus removal tool for friends and local jobs

[techguru]

theres a MUCH easier way to do this

[Joemoma]

theres a MUCH easier way to do this

I've tried lots of different options... The main problem i kept running into was the inability to boot on different systems,  This is the way that i found worked for me... just figured i'd share and hope it helps someone else

[LogicalDrm]

Looks too much trouble. I just use Slax. And while I'm too noob to install any good software on that (or the drive is too small), it works for me. I have another for "benchmarking" which is also just USB bootable linux with benchmarking preinstalled. Running from flash card....