Install Ubuntu on USB drive

Question

I'm trying to install Ubuntu 18.10 on my USB drive, but all the methods I've tried failed.

I booted a virtual machine from ISO file, and installed on my USB drive, but after I've tried to boot from my USB, it didn't even show up in my boot menu.

I used 2 USB drives to do it, one as a live USB, and installing the system on the other, but grub gets installed on my hard drive, not on the USB drive.

I manually installed grub on my USB drive, but it shows "Secure Boot Failure".

So how do I install Ubuntu on my USB drive?

Besides, I need the system to be able to boot in both BIOS and UEFI.

I think the following link can help you. There are many details how to install into a USB drive (make an installed system like into an internal drive, but into a USB drive). My answer at 'How do I install Ubuntu to a USB key? (without using Startup Disk Creator)' — sudodus, Jan 11 '19 at 15:55
This method will insure no problems with grub: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1083330/how-to-make-an-usb-ubuntu-installation-more-compatible-with-different-computers/1083577#1083577 — C.S.Cameron, Jan 12 '19 at 03:58

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 11 '19 at 14:29

If it says "Secure Boot Failure", then I would suggest disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS. This will be different depending on your motherboard's firmware. I.E: American Megatrends, Dell, etc..

For creating an Ubuntu bootable USB I would recommend a tool called unetbootin, which writes files to the USB, as long as it is formatted in FAT32. It shouldn't overwrite personal files, it just copies the contents of the ISO to the USB and it's SYSLINUX boot files.

Other tools like DD are better because they copy the raw data as blocks, but this means overwriting the partition-table, partition(s) and their size(s), filesystem(s) and personal data.

Also, if you want to install Ubuntu onto your USB, you can either:

Load Ubuntu on USB/DVD 2, to install as a regular Ubuntu install onto the target USB.
Create a live USB with storage persistence using unetbootin, where the desktop and system files reset after reboot and are loaded into RAM, but the user's home folder is read-write and permanent storage. NOTE: YOU CANNOT INSTALL ANY PROGRAMS OR UPDATES.

I recommend option 1, because that's the official method and you can update the system, install your own programs and you're not just limited to read-write in your home folder.

Also persistent storage is limited to 4GB on unetbootin.

Install Ubuntu on USB drive

1 Answers1