Make a USB Boot CD for Kubuntu

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This USB Boot CD can be used to boot Kubuntu 8.10 from a USB flash drive on computers with a BIOS that does not support booting from USB (including the Apple Mac, Macbook and, Macbook Pro). Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. This boot CD loads the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD and then loads the necessary USB drivers, proceeding to locate and extract the filesystem from the USB flash drive.

Can also be used to Boot Kubuntu from a USB Flash Drive on an Apple Mac, Macbook or, Macbook Pro.

Please Note: This USB Boot CD should work on most systems. However, it should be noted that the USB Boot CD may not work on really old computers with only USB 1.0 hardware support.

Can be used to boot flash drives created using the USB Kubuntu 8.10 tutorial

If you wish, you can skip this tutorial and download the USBCDK810.ISO we created using the same process.

USB Boot CD for Kubuntu 8.10 build essentials:

  • PC with a BIOS that does not support booting from USB
  • Kubuntu 8.10 CD
  • Working CD Drive and USB Port
  • USB flash drive with Kubuntu 8.10 preinstalled

Creating a CD to Boot Kubuntu from USB

The following process will enable you to create a Boot CD that can be used to Boot Kubuntu 8.10 from a USB Flash Drive on systems that do not natively support booting from USB.

  1. Insert the Kubuntu 8.10 Live CD and restart your computer, booting from the CD
  2. Open a terminal and type mkdir -p usbcdk/boot/grub
  3. Type cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/stage2_eltorito usbcdk/boot/grub
  4. Type touch usbcdk/boot/grub/menu.lst
  5. Type kate usbcdx/boot/grub/menu.lst
  6. Add the following information to your menu.lst file and save it

    7. title Run Kubuntu 8.10 from USB DISK
    root (cd)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/kubuntu.seed boot=casper noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent quiet splash
    initrd /boot/initrd.gz
    boot

  7. Type cp /cdrom/casper/initrd.gz ~/usbcdk/boot
  8. Type cp /cdrom/casper/vmlinuz ~/usbcdk/boot
  9. Type mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o ubcdk810.iso usbcdk
  10. Burn the usbcdk810.iso to a CD

Booting from the USB Boot CD

  1. Shutdown your computer
  2. Insert the USB Boot CD and your Kubuntu 8.10 flash drive
  3. Set your BIOS or Startup Menu to boot from CD
  4. Start your computer (booting from the CD)

If all goes well, the CD should load the necessary USB drivers, detect your
USB device and proceed to boot Kubuntu 8.10 from the flash drive.

*Kubuntu is a product of Canonical Ltd


                            

Posted November 23rd, 2008 at 10:13 pm under: Boot from USB using a Boot CD

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