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I want to install Ubuntu on a usb stick and run the OS from it and also use the same usb as main drive, like everything i install it's kept on there so then I'm able to run like "my user" on another computer. It's possible?

Franco Osorio
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    @FrancoOsorio it's really not recommended though. you'll experience considerable slowdowns. also switching PC's won't be as plug and play as you might imagine. – tatsu Apr 10 '19 at 07:10
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    Most computers see a USB drive as just another hard drive with Linux. Unplug your internal drive, plug in your USB and install to it as you would an internal drive. – C.S.Cameron Apr 10 '19 at 15:07

3 Answers3

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Yes it is possible. when you install the OS make sure to install the OS in the USB drive of your choosing.

1) when you install the OS go to something else option

2) select the drive that you want to install the OS (In your case your USB drive)

3) select USB drive as root partition (/)

4) after that change boot-loader install location to your USB Drive

5) click continue

now if the installation successful then your USB drive is now bootable.

and don't forget to override the boot order inside the BIOS when you want to use that USB drive.

vyshnav vyshu
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What you describe is called persistent live installation. You can achieve this in two ways:

  1. favourite option: https://unetbootin.github.io/ (you can also partition the USB storage in two parts with gedit
  2. alternative option: create a casper-rw "virtual partition" (it's nothing but a file in fact) for the persistent data storage. (see How do I get a live-USB to use a partition for persistence?)
Andrea Borga
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You could try mkusb https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb and its persistent live system. But keeping such a system up to date cab be problematic.

jarno
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