Flashdrive installs using Windows Category

USB Ubuntu 8.04 Persistent install tutorial for current Windows users. This tutorial covers the process of installing Ubuntu Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive using the Live CD to create the partitions and a Windows host to perform the build. Ubuntu will uses the persistence feature to save and restore changes back to the flash drive. Hence your changes and settings can be saved and restored upon subsequent boots. The persistence feature was broken with the release of Ubuntu 8.04 and this tutorial includes a fixed initrd.gz that addresses the permissions problem which was pointed out here

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Ubuntu 8.04 USB Live installation from Windows: This simple tutorial covers how to install, boot and then run Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) from a USB flash drive. Upon completion of this tutorial, Ubuntu 8.04 can be run from the portable flash device in the same fashion (but much faster) than it would from the Live CD. This specific tutorial does not cover a Ubuntu 8.04 persistence (persistent) feature option. Hence the user cannot save changes back to the USB device using this tutorial.

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The following tutorial covers how to quickly and easily install gOS to a USB flash drive or other portable device using Windows. gOS is a Debian derivative based on Ubuntu with a unique Enlightenment Window manager, making gOS a very attractive Linux package. Everex Computers offered at Walmart often ship with this intuitive Operating System pre-installed. We really enjoyed installing and using the latest release of gOS and think you will enjoy running it portably from a USB device as well. It's clean, simple, graphically appealing, elegant and fun to play with.

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BackTrack is a Live Linux distribution based on SLAX that is focused purely on penetration testing. Distributed by remote-exploit.org, BackTrack is the successor to Auditor. It comes prepackaged with security tools including network analyzers, password crackers, wireless tools and fuzzers. Although originally designed to Boot from a CD or DVD, BackTrack contains USB installation scripts that make portable installation to a USB device a snap. In the following tutorial, we cover the process of installing BackTrack to a USB flash drive from within a working Windows environment.

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Pendrivelinux 2008 is a remaster created from MCNLive and based purely on Mandriva Linux. Like Mandriva Flash and MCNLive, Pendrivelinux 2008 allows the user to save "ALL" installed software, changes, bookmarks, email, contacts and more by utilizing a persistent loop image. This means that you no longer needs to create a partition on the USB device for saving changes. Changes are saved and restored via a loop file that resides on the USB device by booting "Boot with Persistent changes" boot option.

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The following tutorial will show you how to easily install PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 to a USB flash drive using Windows. This enables a user to quickly create a portable version of PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 without having to go through the redundant steps of burning the iso to a CD and then booting from the CD to perform the USB flash drive install from another iso. We really like the latest release of MiniMe from PCLinuxOS and think you will enjoy it as well.

PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 is simple, small, clean and works very well on a USB flash pendrive.

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The following tutorial will show you how to easily install MCNLive Toronto to a USB flash pen drive in just a few steps from within Windows. By using this tutorial, you don't need to burn the ISO to a CD and then run the installer from Linux. Instead, the user simply runs the batch installer, moves the content from the created folder to the USB flash drive and then launches the makeboot batch file to make the USB device bootable. In addition, the second part of this tutorial explains how to make MCNLive "save all" of your changes to a persistent mcnlive.loop file.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing PCLinuxOS 2007 to a USB flash drive via Windows. PCLinuxOS 2007 is based on Mandriva kernel 2.6.18.8 and utilizes an easy to navigate KDE desktop environment. With over 2GB of compressed data, Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Frostwire, Ktorrent, Amarok, Flash, Java JRE and Beryl 3D are just a few of the many included applications you will find on the Live CD making PCLinuxOS 2007 a great candidate to install to a USB flash drive.

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The following tutorial covers the process of easily installing the Pendrivelinux V1 remix (Based purely on Debian) to a USB flash pen drive using Windows. Due to the overly simplified flash drive installation process, this tutorial is especially tailored for current Windows users being freshly introduced to Linux. However, even the seasoned Linux user "who also owns a Windows box" and would like to quickly try out Linux on a USB device should find this tutorial useful.

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The following USB Linux Mint tutorial covers how to install, boot and run Linux Mint from a USB device using Windows. Linux Mint is a popular remix of Ubuntu Linux. Originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs, Linux Mint has developed into a very user-friendly Linux distribution. Currently maintained by Clement Lefebvre, more information about Linux Mint can be found at the Official Linux Mint site.

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The following USB Simply MEPIS installation tutorial was created per the request of Jason Frothingham. He couldn't fathom why we didn't list a USB install tutorial for the ever so popular MEPIS Linux. Well Jason, here it is. In the following tutorial we cover how to install, boot and run MEPIS from a USB device using your Windows PC.

MEPIS is a popular Linux version founded by Warren Woodford in November 2002. It was created because Warren didn't like how other desktops worked, so he decided to create his own. The first version was released to the public in May 2003. MEPIS originally used Debian packages and now includes and is based on Ubuntu packages.

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USB Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn install This tutorial explains how to install, boot and run Ubuntu 7.04 from a USB flash thumb drive using Windows, the Ubuntu Linux CD and a new custom FIXED initrd.gz to correct the persistent feature that was previously broken with the original 7.04 release. Upon completion of this tutorial, the user will be able to save changes and settings back to the flash drive making for a completely Portable Ubuntu version 7.04. Now you can take your Feisty Fawn with you!

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In the following USB Gentoo tutorial we cover how to install, boot and run Gentoo 2007.0 from a USB device using Windows. Gentoo is a popular Linux version named after the Gentoo Penguin. Gentoo was originally created by Daniel Robbins with a goal to create a smaller portable Linux distribution that only included required programs. This Gentoo USB installation tutorial was developed per the request and with a little help from Brendan Jocson, a Pendrivelinux.com subscriber. Kudo's goes to Brendan for helping establish this Portable Gentoo tutorial.

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Making a casper persistent Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn): Since the initial release of Ubuntu 7.04, much of the portable linux community has been eager to run Ubuntu 7.04 persistently from a USB device or emulated using Qemu. It only makes sense that we should be able to save and restore settings changes via a persistent partition or img (image). In the following tutorial, we are simply re-enabling the old casper system.

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Ophcrack is an open source Windows password cracking utility that uses rainbow tables to find passwords. It can be run from Windows, Linux or Live CD. The following tutorial explains how to install and boot Ophcrack from a portable USB device. Since the Live CD version (running from a SLAX core) is already available, creating USB Ophcrack is similar to converting any other Live Linux CD to USB.

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The following tutorial will enable a user to install USB Pen Drive Linux to a flash pen drive or other USB device via a customized basic Debian Linux Live CD. This installation method is especially convenient for those who may currently be running Windows on their computer and or do not have easy access to a Linux PC to otherwise perform the installation to USB via Linux.

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USB Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy install This tutorial explains how to install, boot and run Ubuntu Edgy portably from a USB flash thumb drive using Windows and the Ubuntu Live Linux CD. By utilizing multiple partitions, the user can save all changes and settings back to the flash thumb drive making for a completely Portable Ubuntu. Note that the second partition must be labeled "casper-rw" to use the "persistent" feature and save changes back to the stick.

Ubuntu® was produced by Canonical ltd and is based on Debian Linux. It is both user friendly and stable. Ubuntu's famous slogan is (it should "Just Work", TM)

Note: This tutorial is based on Ubuntu 6.10. In Ubuntu 7.04, the Persistent feature is currently broken. If your planning to save your changes use 6.10 as suggested here.

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USB Damn Small Linux (DSL) This is a revisit of the Windows DSL USB installation tutorial: "Putting damn small linux on a USB pendrive". Damn Small Linux was created by John Andrews of damnsmalllinux.org and is basically a trimmed down version of an early Knoppix build, making it perfect for smaller drives. Based on the 2.4 kernel, DSL is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or drives as small as 64MB.

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USB Knoppix 5.1 This tutorial covers how to install and run Knoppix Linux from a USB Flash Pen Drive through Windows. Knoppix is based on Debian GNU/Linux and includes many useful applications such as Abiword, OpenOffice, Gimp, Konqueror, Mozilla, Apache, PHP, MySQL along with hundreds of other Open Source applications. This guide will show you how to make your own Portable Knoppix that you can then boot from any PC that supports USB boot.

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SLAX is a small Live Linux CD distribution created by Tomas Matejicek. SLAX is basically a stripped down version of Slackware Linux. It uses the unification file system or (unionfs) allowing a read only filesystem to behave as a writable filesystem which allows the user to save system wide changes without a secondary persistent partition. The following tutorial explains how to create a Portable SLAX. This guide will show you how to easily install SLAX to a portable USB device via Windows.

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PCLinuxOS is a clean, compact and beautiful Live Linux CD compilation created by Texstar of pclinuxos.com. PCLOS is based on Mandriva Linux and will comfortably fit on a 512MB USB stick. PCLinuxOS is one of our favorite Live Linux distributions. In the following tutorial, we show you how to convert it to run from USB to make for a Portable PCLinuxOS that you can bring with you on a flash drive.
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In this simplified USB Ultimate Boot CD walkthrough tutorial, we will demonstrate How To create a USB bootable Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) using a Windows host PC to create the USB UBCD. Ultimate Boot CD is an awesome PC diagnostics tool that condenses over 100 useful PC diagnostics and hardware troubleshooting tools into a single easy to use interface.

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The following walkthrough will illustrate how to install Feather Linux to a USB flash pen drive through Windows and make Feather boot from the USB device. Feather is yet another very small (under 128MB) clean and simple Knoppix Linux remix (based on Debian) that is straight forward and easy to use. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Feather to a USB device using Windows to produce the USB version.

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This walkthrough illustrates how to do a simple install of RUNT linux on a USB Thumbdrive and boot from USB. RUNT Linux is a super super tiny and very basic Linux version and is only recommended for intermediate to advanced Linux users who prefer to do work without using a graphical interface like X.

Beware that RUNT by default does not use GUI. It's a text only based distro.

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