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New to Linux and Ubuntu here.... Looking to try Ubuntu but don't want to mess up main drive and install it on there yet till I know I like it. I have OS installed on USB so I can boot into it but then I an locked into the try version or install full thing. Can I install the whole OS on the USB for now until I decide I like it??

Thanks in Advance everyone!

NewtDispute
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  • You haven't provided any release details, but yes I've tested Lubuntu 18.04 LTS (default ubiquity installer, didn't try di installer) and was able to install it to thumb-drive, however was unable to do the same with Lubuntu 20.04 LTS using the default calamares installer. Both can be written to a thumb-drive with the use of persistence though, and this will apply to all Ubuntu release & flavors I believe. ie. yes but there can be technicalities depending on release, flavor, ISO you start with etc. – guiverc Sep 10 '20 at 04:47
  • Yeah. I have Ubuntu 20.04 on a thumb drive so I can boot from USB to at least try it out. But now I am trying to figure out whether I want to dual boot, run just Ubuntu on my Laptop or have Ubuntu on another Thumb Drive. I am totally new to Linux and everything that comes with it but up to trying it and see what I think – NewtDispute Sep 10 '20 at 04:51
  • I now know your release (20.04), but not if you're talking about a desktop ISO, server ISO, or other.. In my first comment I mentioned Lubuntu 18.04 (Lubuntu is desktop only) with default ISO/installer (which uses ubiquity) rather than the alternate ISO (the di I didn't test), let alone 18.04 offers 18.04.1, 18.04.2 etc (20.04 has a 20.04.1 so far) Regardless, writing it with persistence is probably easiest, even if not as fast as an installed version (assuming you're talking desktop). – guiverc Sep 10 '20 at 04:58
  • Yeah, my mistake. Desktop ISO. Just thinking about running it on my laptop and thats it until I like it then I might put it on my Desktop as well. But will not be for Server stuff. Dont mess with any of that. Haha.

    Sorry, I am just new with all this and trying to learn all the terms and stuff. Haha. Currently making a recovery Drive of my Windows on a USB in case I mess anything up

     – NewtDispute Sep 10 '20 at 05:00
  • There are several methods of varying difficulty on this page for making a Full install to USB: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1217832/how-to-create-a-full-install-of-ubuntu-20-04-to-usb-device-step-by-step – C.S.Cameron Sep 10 '20 at 05:48
  • C.S, Can you tell me.... When I am trying to partition the USB. I cant do the last step with making the rest of free space as a EXT partition cause it says I have 4 primary already. Do you know which ones need to be primary and which ones can be Extended Partitions? – NewtDispute Sep 10 '20 at 07:16
  • If you are trying the first method on the pae I mentioned, did you "Select Device tab and create a GPT partition table on the Target drive" in GParted? This method only used primary partitions, with GPT you can have very many partitions. The method below is better suited for a first attempt at Full install USB. This is also the answer by sudodus on the other page. – C.S.Cameron Sep 10 '20 at 08:23
  • I actually got it figured out. Picked the wrong partition table. Whoops! Almost finished but trying to figure out where to get files and move them – NewtDispute Sep 11 '20 at 17:41

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Quick Method for Making Full Install of Ubuntu to USB.

The creator of mkusb has been perfecting the use of image files for creating Full installs of Ubuntu on USB. Download Image file is 1.5GB, not 15GB.

MD5Sum can be found here: https://phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/uefi-n-bios/md5sum.txt.asc

C.S.Cameron
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