FULL Debian installation on USB

Question

I tried to make a full Debian installation on USB.

I created a live Debian on USB1 with Rufus. no problem. I opened the live session, inserted USB2 and followed all installation steps (graphical) incl. putting GRUB all on that USB2.

At the end I received a confirmation that the installation was complete but when I try to boot from that USB2 (full Debian) I only get the black screen with blinking cursor.

Where did I go wrong?

FYI: installation without an internet connection. Could that matter?

Solution 1

The boot flag on USB2 may not be set. The Debian installer lets you set this flag but I think it does not do this by default on existing partitions.

Boot off your live CD, open a root terminal, and run cfdisk /dev/sdX where /dev/sdX is your USB2 (use blkid or lsblk if you don't know for sure). Make the partition where /boot lives bootable. Write the changes and see if you can boot off of it now.

Solution 2

You can create a debian live USB with persistence from a debian based operating system using mkusb tools (tested and work fine on debian jessie KDE)

If you don't have debian installed you can use 2 USB :

The first one is your current debian Live USB

The second USB is used to create the debian persistent live USB

Boot from your live USB then plug in your second USB

Open the terminal and run the following commands:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mkusb/ppa/ubuntu xenial main

Save your file ( Ctrl + O ) then press Enter

Run the foolowing command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 54B8C8AC
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mkusb

Run the program .

Choose:

1. "Install (make a boot device)"
2. p : persistent live
3. upefi : usb-pack-efi
4. choose your Usb device ( becarful if you are using 2 USB , run fdisk -l before pluging the second one)
5. check Go

You will be asked to set the percentage of the persistent partition ( e,g: 50%) then validate , it will take about 15 min .

Comments

[SuzukiBlue]

my intention is to make a full installation on usb2 (a live Debian I already have on usb1 and it works)

[GAD3R]

@SuzukiBlue Ok i will edit my answer , What is your current Linux system ( debian , ubuntu ....) ?

[SuzukiBlue]

great, thanks. I am new to linux reason why for the moment I would like to have it on a pen drive for testing (but full version). os installed on my machine is windows 8.1

[SuzukiBlue]

thanks a lot, I tried UNetbootin. everything took much longer but the end result the same: black screen with blinking cursor... :(

[simlev]

@SuzukiBlue Another thing you could try is switch to UEFI mode (or legacy, depending on which one you tried already).

[GAD3R]

It is write protected

[LawrenceC]

If your USB2 is write protected you need to fix that. If the drive suddenly became write protected out of nowhere, it could be due to the flash drive going bad.