Instruct Ubuntu to boot to RAM from flash drive using unetbootin

Question

I have used UNetbootin to create an installable / live bootable flash drive from Ubuntu 12.04. However that didn't preserve the normal Ubuntu boot menu which allows to me to enter advanced options. It has a custom menu that I can pick from predefined choices like "Install Ubuntu" and "Try Ubuntu without installing". What I would like is to be able to boot from the USB flash drive, but then be able to remove it from the computer once the desktop has loaded. The laptop I would like to use this on does not have an optical (CD/DVD) drive - nor do I have a USB version available.

What do I need to modify on the flash drive to add an option to "Try Ubuntu (RAM)" that passes the TORAM=yes parameter to the initrd options? Are their other things I need to touch/change as well? Is it even possible? I am not restricted to version 12.04 if that makes a difference.

Bonus: I would guess the answer would also allow for other options like acpi=off as well, but if it is different I would appreciate having that answer too.

Solution 1

I hit tab and replaced quiet splash with toram. Do not use TORAM=yes, just use toram. This worked for both Ubuntu and Mint, although some versions of Mint needed toram -- toram. Hope this helps as I am doing some modifications along these lines.

Example of my modded syslinux.cfg:

initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/linuxmint.seed boot=casper toram --

You may add whatever other flags between toram and --, but keep in mind some may crash your system.

Solution 2

To add a boot parameter press F6 or to type it manually Down then Up

Comments

[Admin]

Perhaps try a network boot? Just an idea.

[A.G.]

You could add the boot params to syslinux/menu.cfg

[Goyuix]

F6 doesn't work in the UNetbootin menu. I can press tab to edit the command line but adding TORAM=yes still doesn't allow me to remove the USB flash drive after booting. The same is true of adding it to the syslinux.cfg file on the root of the flash drive.

[A.G.]

wiki.ubuntu.com/BootToRAM (You may want to format it first)

[Goyuix]

Wow. More than two years later this finally gets an answer that works. I am astounded. Thank you!