Qemu Persistent Knoppix

The following tutorial covers the process of running Knoppix persistently from a portable USB flash drive using Qemu from a Windows 98, XP or Vista host PC without ever rebooting. Most of your personal settings and changes are automatically saved back to the stick and restored at boot via the Persistence image. This is accomplished using Qemu emulation software in conjunction with a persistent virtual hard disk image file for saving and restoring changes.

Qemu Knoppix basic essentials:

  • 1GB + USB flash drive
  • A Windows Host computer
  • Knoppix ISO
  • QKB.exe

Qemu Knoppix USB installation procedure:

  1. Download QKB.exe and run, a QKnoppix folder is created
  2. Download the Knoppix Linux ISO and move it to the QKnoppix directory
  3. Click the LaunchKP.bat from the QKnoppix folder to start Knoppix
  4. Press Enter at the boot prompt
  5. At the Knoppix-Configuration prompt, to use the home persistence option, Click OK
  6. Knoppix-Configuration boot screen (persistence)

  7. If all goes well you should now be booting into Knoppix via Qemu:
  8. Knoppix running on Qemu from a USB flash drive