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Well digging through many discussions, but all being from a long time ago (Ubuntu 16 or something) tell to use, LiLi, Universal or something other, but others say that they are no longer in use.

So is there currently an application that allows you to create a persistent live USB from Windows, to a 8GB USB?

Kulfy
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GrammarsThough
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  • just saying the one you possible duplicate flagged me on, is not a duplicate, that boi is asking about some uefi and bios, also answer uses an already installed ubuntu and not windows – GrammarsThough Feb 08 '19 at 16:15
  • These installers were working with Windows as of Aug 2018: https://askubuntu.com/questions/674441/what-is-the-proper-way-of-creating-installation-media-from-ubuntu-iso/1069189#1069189 – C.S.Cameron Feb 09 '19 at 02:57
  • @C.S.Cameron but that post suggests mkusb, which requires you to have ubuntu already, and the windows options dont have persistance options – GrammarsThough Feb 09 '19 at 17:20
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    @GrammarsThough The persistent installers in that answer are MultiBootUSB, Linux Live USB Creator, UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer and YUMI. Rufus can be made Persistent by adding a casper-rw file. If you plan on keeping the Bootable USB for a while, it may be best to do a Full install to USB. – C.S.Cameron Feb 10 '19 at 03:21
  • @Elder Geek: "USB Live Pen Persistent Boot disk- in UEFI" is not a good duplicate question as the OP wants an installer "that allows you to create a persistent live USB from Windows". – C.S.Cameron Feb 10 '19 at 08:51
  • Options that suggest mkusb are possible, if you do things in two steps (1. make a live-only Ubuntu drive in a small and cheap USB pendrive; 2. Boot into Ubuntu live, install mkusb and use it to create a persistent live system in a second faster and bigger USB 3 pendrive), or if you bypass one step by cloning a compressed image file of an already created persistent live system. Please tell me, if you want a partition for persistence (to be able to store more than 4 GB), and I can provide more details. (You can clone in Windows.) – sudodus Feb 11 '19 at 07:31
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    @sudodus: I recall that it is possible to install mkusb on a Live flash drive and boot that drive toram to install a persistent OS to the same drive: https://askubuntu.com/questions/855696/can-a-persistent-ubuntu-install-be-made-to-the-pendrive-it-was-booted-from – C.S.Cameron Feb 11 '19 at 09:45
  • @C.S.Cameron, You are right, it is possible with one USB pendrive, but if you make a small mistake in the second step, you have to start from the beginning, so I would strongly recommend using two pendrives. By the way, did you see the new all-round image and method described at this link and links from it? – sudodus Feb 11 '19 at 10:07

1 Answers1

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Rufus Persistent Pendrive install

That works with both BIOS and UEFI

Rufus does an OK job of installing Ubuntu Live to USB. It works with both BIOS and UEFI. It does not do Persistent installs out of the box.

Many people prefer a Persistent pendrive that will save changes.

  • Create a Live pendrive using Rufus.

  • Boot the Rufus pendrive toram to make the drive editable, (press shift when booting, press Esc from language, press F6, press Esc, type a space and "toram" after "quiet splash ---", and press Enter).

  • Create a casper-rw file:

    sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=casper-rw bs=1M count=512

    sudo mkfs.ext3 -L casper-rw -F casper-rw

(where count=512 is persistence size, with max 4GB).

  • Move the new casper-rw file from home to the root of the Live Pendrive.

  • In Terminal edit /isolinux/txt.cfg, (for BIOS boot persistence) and /boot/grub/grub.cfg, (for UEFI boot persistence), add a space and the word "persistent" after "quiet splash ---" in each.

  • Shut down and reboot the persistent drive.

  • A home-rw file can be created by renaming a casper-rw file. It can add extra persistence by storing your home related data in it's own file up to 4GB in size.

*Casper-rw partitions do not work with Rufus.

C.S.Cameron
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  • @GrammarsThough, Max file size is 4 GB in a FAT32 file system. You can use all available drive space, if you share the available drive space (approximately 6 GB after using 2 GB for Ubuntu itself) between a casper-rw file for the system files (installed programs and system tweaks) and a home-rw file for personal files (documents, pictures etc and personal tweaks). Maybe use the same size (3 GB for each file), maybe different sizes depending on how you intend to use the persistence. – sudodus Feb 11 '19 at 10:27
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    @sudodus: I will add a line about home-rw, thanks. with out it, any extra space on a Rufus drive is wasted as cdrom folder is locked. – C.S.Cameron Feb 11 '19 at 10:43