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Author Topic: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive  (Read 19212 times)

jkitc

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Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« on: March 26, 2008, 05:58 AM »
I have been trying to set up my USB Flash drive to boot to a Linux distro, but so far I have not been successful. I have followed all of the instruction successfully, but when booting to my USB drive it just says: "NTLDR is missing" then it says do a Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get back into Windows.
I use F12 to get into the Boot Menu and the select: USB Flash Drive
Go here for the instructions: http://www.pendrivel...nstall-from-windows/

I am running WindowsXPSP2
Dell Dimension4600

Can someone help?

tinjaw

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2008, 07:12 AM »
Without knowing what you are doing, my guess is that you are either skipping step 4 or are getting an error doing so.

From your USB device, click makeboot.bat to make the drive bootable
-Pendrivelinux 2008

jkitc

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2008, 08:50 AM »
Without knowing what you are doing, my guess is that you are either skipping step 4 or are getting an error doing so.

From your USB device, click makeboot.bat to make the drive bootable
-Pendrivelinux 2008
I have not skipped any steps. I have run "makeboot.bat". If the solution was only that easy.

Armando

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2008, 10:21 PM »
Have you tried other USB Flash drive distributions -- just to see if they'd work?

jkitc

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2008, 06:14 AM »
Have you tried other USB Flash drive distributions -- just to see if they'd work?

Yes

Armando

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2008, 07:18 PM »
And... so? what happened?  :)

To be able to boot into Linux, you need to first make sure that your Flash Drive will boot in general... Did you try this test?

If that doesn't work there's likely a problem with one of these : 1- your USB device as such (corrupt boot sector or master boot record, incompatible device...), 2- your BIOS settings (did you try to turn off quick boot in the BIOS?), 3- The process of making your device bootable (through makeboot.bat ), etc.

wreckedcarzz

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2008, 03:55 AM »
I run a linux destro on my laptop via USB hard drive - I just installed the thing to the external drive and let GRUB be the boot loader. Only problem is that I need the hard drive to boot the laptop, but I always have them both together. :-\

I have tried guides to making USB devices bootable, and all the ones I have read, quite frankly, suck. It is basically a guess-and-check process - every computer and device is different, so you have to fiddle to get it to work. Just depends on your needs, your options, and your computer setup.

jkitc

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2008, 09:38 AM »
I run a linux destro on my laptop via USB hard drive - I just installed the thing to the external drive and let GRUB be the boot loader. Only problem is that I need the hard drive to boot the laptop, but I always have them both together. :-\

I have tried guides to making USB devices bootable, and all the ones I have read, quite frankly, suck. It is basically a guess-and-check process - every computer and device is different, so you have to fiddle to get it to work. Just depends on your needs, your options, and your computer setup.
-wreckedcarzz (March 29, 2008, 03:55 AM)

What is GRUB?

wreckedcarzz

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2008, 12:54 PM »
GRUB is nothing more than a boot loader. It lets you choose between various bootable Operating Systems. Most major Linux distributions install it automatically to your MBR when you install the distro - you can usually change it to be installed to the flash drive itself in advanced options.

It can be tricky though, so if you plan on trying what I did, proceed with caution.

Anatolie

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2008, 12:11 PM »
my web site is ToyCatSoft.com

bassclarinetl2

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2009, 10:22 PM »
Ubuntu (my distro of choice) has an installer for USB flash drives built into the live cd.  http://www.ubuntu.org
-No one instrument is more important than the other.  All are needed for the band to play.

kartal

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Re: Boot Linux From USB Flash Drive
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2009, 10:33 PM »
I use puppylinux and works great. I did the tut from penlinux website as well